On obedience. First of all, we are taught to love God with our whole heart and with our whole mind (Matt. 22:37) and with all our strength, and our neighbor as ourselves. Then, at the first word of the senior, all who hear must rise up to obey: for obedience is shown to God, since our Lord Jesus Christ says, 'He who hears you hears me' (Luke 10:16). If, therefore, anyone hearing the word does not rise at once, he is to be judged disobedient. But whoever contradicts incurs the charge of insolence; and therefore he is not only guilty of disobedience, but, opening to others a door of contradiction, he is to be reckoned the destroyer of many. But if anyone murmurs, he too, as one not obeying willingly, is to be deemed disobedient;
therefore let his work be rejected until his good will be made known. But to what limit is obedience defined? To death, assuredly, it has been commanded; for Christ obeyed the Father unto death for us, which he himself impresses upon us through the Apostle, saying: 'Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, though he was in the form of God, did not count it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and was found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself, becoming obedient to the Father unto death, even the death of the cross' (Phil. 2:5-8).
Therefore nothing is to be refused by those who obey, the true disciples of Christ, however hard and arduous it may be, but it is to be received with fervor and gladness. For if obedience be not such, it will not be acceptable to God, who says: 'And he who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me' (Luke 14:27). And therefore he says concerning the worthy disciple: 'That where I am, there shall my minister also be with me' (John 12:26).