Metr. Saba on the True Meaning of the Church Fathers
Metr. Saba urged a return to the Church Fathers’ balance of holiness, intellect, and lived faith.
ENGLEWOOD, NJ — His Eminence Metr. Saba reflected on the meaning and role of the Church Fathers, emphasizing that they were not merely scholars but sanctified teachers who united holiness with intellectual depth. He explained that a true Church Father is one who has been deified through union with God and is able to nurture others in Christ while defending and articulating the Orthodox faith.
Metr. Saba noted that the great Fathers—such as St. Basil the Great, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Gregory the Theologian—mastered the sciences and culture of their time without separating intellect from spiritual life. Their teaching flowed from an enlightened heart shaped by the Holy Spirit.
Warning against modern extremes, he cautioned that an excessive focus on academic theology without lived experience risks reducing faith to cultural knowledge. The Church, he said, must recover a patristic sensibility that unites knowledge with life in Christ.
Previously, the UOJ reported on Metr. Saba's teaching on why apologetic theology still matters.
