Catechumens: In having led you, and with the very first lessons I provided from our father among the saints Ignatius, you know how I have always exhorted you to cling to the Bishop, venerating him as Christ, without whom there is no Church to save. And you have always done so. In fact, since there has been no priest at the local mission, which has been under the Bishop’s care, so that it is the Bishop who has been our priest, as Father Basil has put it. Again, I have had cause, recently, though you have not been the cause, to remind you to cling to the Bishop. We must always resist the temptation to do anything against his intent or instructions. Without the Bishop, we will drift in a sea of our own delusion, cutting ourselves off from the Apostles and from Christ, our first Bishop and prototype of all. I would be remiss, seeing how we have need again to seek the safety of his omophor, if I did not charge you, though I know already where you hearts lie, to flee independence, cast aside any temptation to illusory liberty, and to cling to him. Do not be lax in this endeavour. — Catechetical Letter 2/1/2006
Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. — The Apostle Paul