LIFE OF HUMILITY
AND
MEEKNESS
12
BY HIS HOLINESS AMBA SHENOUDA III,
POPE AND PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA
AND
THE APOSTOLIC SEE OF ALL THE PREDICATION OF
SAINT MARK
Translated from "WATANY" newspaper, 24 September 2000
Pride and magnificence.
(C)
THERE ARE MANY TO WHOM GOD
HAS DONE FAVOURS
BUT THEY RAISED UP THEIR HEARTS
BEARING DIGNITY IS MORE DIFFICULT
THAN BEARING OUTRAGE
TRIALS HAPPEN TO THE GIFTED
TO KEEP THEM FROM PRIDE
THERE ARE
THREE KINDS OF ARROGANCE
WHICH
ENCOUNTER THE PROUD
He who thinks that he is something, sees himself great, and wants to become great in the eyes of people, and may become great in his relation with God, and thus he falls into blasphemy! as it happened to Satan and to many of the atheists.
This is arrogance. Some divide it into three kinds:
secular arrogance,
monastic arrogance,
doctrinal and theological arrogance.
Secular arrogance is that man is puffed up from inside. Pride appears in his looks, in his bearing, his sitting, and in the style of his words ...... He walks assumingly with haughtiness, and he takes an aristocratic appearance in all his dealings.
Monastic arrogance appears in swaggering about silence, solitude and sackcloth, which are all from the outside, without inside training toward the purity of heart and thoughts, and the practice of the fruits of the spirit. (Gal. 5: 22-23). Such a monk affects haughtiness over his fellow monks. He disdains and criticises those who have not his ascetism and his solitude.
Arrogance in the field of doctrine and theology appears in those who seek to speak in tongues, and they say that it is a sign of the filling with the Spirit ...... They talk publicly about their experiences from upon the ambons. They pretend giving the Holy Spirit by laying their hands upon people. They say that Satan is under their feet, and that they trod upon him with their feet.....!
Some of them pretend theological knowledge, and that they have come with something new which others have not understood. Therefore they fall into heresy and deviated knowledge..!
What is astonishing is that many of those who have become proud, or the majority of those who have become proud, were among those toward whom God had been benevolent, or those whom God had granted some gift.
A person to whom God gives intelligence, or a kind of art, is then puffed up because of his intelligence or his art. Another to whom God gives energy or a power to work, and then becomes proud because of his power. A third one to whom God gives riches, and then becomes puffed up because of his riches. Or a person is permitted by God to become in a high position or to obtain a desired job, and then his heart is raised up because of his position or his job...... and he looks at people from upward, or ignores his friends of old, as the poet said:
"When my friend had become one of the rich people......... I became certain that I have lost my friend".
People such as these have not been able to bear the dignity of the position and the riches, nor the dignity of intelligence and energy. And as the great saint Antonius said about that:
"There are those who are able to bear outrage, and cannot bear dignity; because bearing dignity is more difficult than bearing outrage."
Because many of those who had obtained dignity, have become puffed up and their hearts were raised up inside, and they have lost humility and meekness. Similar to them also, are those who obtained intellectual or artistic gifts, or even spiritual gifts, and these incited them to pride, or at least to self-admiration! Self-admiration reached even the apostles of the Lord themselves, when the devils were subjected to them according to the gift which the Lord had given them. [Then the seventy returned with joy, saying: "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name." And He said to them: .........."do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven"] (Luke 10: 17-20).
Therefore one of the fathers said:
"If God grants you a gift, ask from Him to grant you humility in order to preserve it, or else to take it from you".
Lest your heart be raised up because of the gift, and then you would fall......
Really, only the humble are those whom God confidently establishes over his boons; as it has been said in the Bible: He "gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6), (Prov. 3:34).
Therefore the Lord has chosen the most humble Virgin who could bear this magnificent dignity, to incarnate from her:
This one to whom saint Elisabeth said: "But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" (Luke 1:43). Although she was the mother of the Lord, she said to the angel who annunciated her: "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to you word" (Luke 1:38). Truthfully the Omnipotent "has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant" (Luke 1:48).
Thus by her humility, she bore the coming of the Spirit upon her and His work in her. She bore to contain the flame of the divinity inside her. She bore the visions and the angels and all the miracles which accompanied the Nativity of the Lord from her. She did not speak much about all these glories, but it was said of her that she: "kept all these things in her heart" (Luke 2:51).
The Lord has likewise chosen His apostles, from the lowly classes:
It was said: "But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence" (1 Cor. 1: 27-29).
He has chosen Moses "of uncircumcised lips" (Ex. 6:30), who knew his weakness and said to the Lord, when He called him: "I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant, but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue" (Ex. 4:10).
He called that one who could not speak, to become the interlocutor of God, and the author of miracles!
Trials and gifts
The Lord has permitted that trials would attain those who had obtained gifts, in order to keep them from pride.
Let us take the apostle Paul as an example:
He had many visions. He saw the Lord when He reproached him and called him while he was on his way to Damascus (Acts 9). The Lord appeared to him in Corinth in a vision by night and said to him: "Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city" (Acts 18: 9-10). And He appeared to him in the temple in Jerusalem, and said to him: "Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles" (Acts 22:21). The Lord appeared to him another time and said to him: "Be of good cheer, Paul, for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome" (Acts 23:11).
It was that Paul who in the service "laboured more abundantly than they (the apostles) all" (1 Cor. 15:10), and who spoke with tongues more than all (1 Cor. 14:18), and who was a man of revelations, and who lastly said: "such a one was caught up to the third heaven" (2 Cor. 12:2), "And least I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure" (2 Cor. 12:7).
God permitted Satan to buffet Paul with a thorn in the flesh, lest he be exalted.
This thorn remained with him in his body, making him feel his weakness, lest his heart be exalted because of the exceeding spiritual glory which he attained, in spite of his supplication to God three times to heal him. But the Lord said to him: "My grace is sufficient for you" (2 Cor. 12: 8-9). Because the strength of God is made perfect in the weakness of that apostle.
Another example is the prophet David:
David, the man of the flute, the guitar, and the harp, who possessed gifts in poetry and in music, who was a man of war, "a mighty man of valor" (1 Sam. 16:18), who defeated Goliath (Sam. 17), and before that courageously killed a bear and a lion, and was not afraid of them (1 Sam. 17: 35,36), that David, with the gift of prophecy which he possessed, who had become the anointed of the Lord, after being anointed by the prophet Samuel, and the Spirit of the Lord had come upon him (1 Sam. 16:13).
That David with all his gifts, God permitted that king Saul would most violently raise against him and mortify his life
and chase him from desert to desert, and plot to kill him ..... David lived humiliated before Saul, and said about himself that he was a flea, a dead dog (1 Sam. 24:14).
God rather permitted that David would fall and sin. His fall was then a reason for the humility of his soul inside himself, and for a life full of weeping and tears, so that he said: "I am weary with my groaning; all night I make ny bed swim; I drench my couch with my tears" (Ps. 6:6). And he said to the Lord: "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes" (Ps. 119:71).
Yes, that subservience in which he lived, was better for him. It made inside him, an equilibrium with the glory of prophecy, the luxury of the king, and the music of the flute and the harp......!
We learn from this psalm a deep spiritual lesson: God permitted that subservience would subdue a prophet of His sons, because that was better for him, in order to subdue his heart, and not to be drawn to pride by the glories which encircled him.
A third example is the just Job.
God permitted servility of another kind, in which there were poverty, sickness, and the disdain of Job's friends ...... that man of whom God testified twice that he was "a blameless and upright man" (Job 1:8), (Job 2:3), and "that there is none like him on the earth ...... who fears God and shuns evil" (Job 2:3).
Besides his righteousness, he was surrounded by magnificence from every side "so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East" (Job 1:3). People respected him very much. "The young men saw me and hid, and the aged arose and stood ......... When the ear heard, then it blessed me, and when the eye saw, then it approved me" (Job 29: 8,11). He "delivered the poor who cried out, the fatherless and the one who had no helper ........ "I was eyes to the blind, and I was feet to the lame. I was a father to the poor" (Job 29: 12, 15-16).
God permitted trials for Job because of all this. The trials were severe but necessary for him in order to deliver him, so that he would not be righteous in his own eyes. (Job 32:1).
God is much preoccupied by the soundness and safety of His sons from pride which destroys the soul. Therefore He protects their souls with trials and tribulations, or with sufferings and sicknesses, so that they would not be hurt by the glory which surrounds them, or by their feeling of the life of righteousness which they live.
A fourth example is the patriarch Jacob.
God loved him before his birth (Rom. 9: 11,13). It was said to him in his benediction: "Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethern, and let your mother's sons bow down to you" (Gen.27:29). That Jacob to whom God appeared at the top of a ladder which "was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it", and God blessed him and said to him: "Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go" (Gen. 28: 12:15). That Jacob who "struggled with God and with men" and "prevailed" (Gen. 32:28), to whom God gave the benediction, and granted him a new name, and saw God face to face (Gen. 32:30).....
God "touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him" (Gen. 32:25); and Jacob went out "and he limped on his hip" (Gen. 32:31).
May be you ask saying: "Why, O Lord, do you strike Jacob on his hip, and then he lives as a cripple all his life? The answer would be: because that is profitable to him, and it is better than to be striken by pride and to perish ...... The same situation applies to the apostle saint Paul who was given "a thorn in the flesh" lest he "be exalted above measure" because of the abundance of the revelations. Likewise the just Job who was struck "with painful boils from the sole of his foot tot he crown of his head", lest he be righteous in his own eyes......
God cares primarily for the destiny of His sons in eternity. If blows which attack them on earth, are profitable for their eternity, since they let them reach the mortification of the heart, then there is no objection to that. The apostle saint Paul says about that:
"Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor. 12:10).
Weaknesses and tribulations impede pride, and lead to the humility of heart. Also during these tribulations, when man feels his weakness, he leans to God and takes strength from Him. Therefore the apostle saint Paul said:
"Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Cor. 12:9).
That will be enough for the time being, and we shall meet with the same subject in the next edition if God wills by His grace, and we live.
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
PART 11
LIFE OF HUMILITY
AND
MEEKNESS
11
BY HIS HOLINESS AMBA SHENOUDA III,
POPE AND PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA
AND
THE APOSTOLIC SEE OF ALL THE PREDICATION OF
SAINT MARK
Translated from "WATANY" newspaper, 17 September 2000
Pride and magnificence.
(B)
The proud is exalted and falls...
The proud always justifies himself...
The proud loses the life of meekness,
and the life of repentance.....
He is exalted and falls.
Saint Augustin explained that the proud seem like smoke, and said:
Smoke is much elevated upwards; and as it is elevated, it is dispersed and ends.
On the contrary, flames are not elevated like smoke, but they remain forceful.
This saint said in his explanation of the psalms 37 and 73:
[The psalm says: "I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a native green tree" (Ps. 37:35), higher than the cedar of Lebanon. Let us then suppose that he is raised upwards, and that he is haughty over the others, but what is he after that? The psalmist continues saying about him: "I passed by, and behold, he was no more; indeed I sought him, but he could not be found" (Ps. 37:36)..... exactly as if he were smoke, that was he whom I passed by.
It was also said in the psalm about such persons that they perish and are dispersed like smoke: "But the wicked shall perish.... Into smoke they shall vanish away" (Ps. 37:20)...... exactly like smoke which is dispersed while it is elevated upwards..... In its very elevation upwards, it is puffed up into a greater size, and as much great as its size is, so much its material will be disintegrated...... Thus we remark that what exterminates him, is his magnificence itself; because when he rises up and expands upwards, its volume increases and becomes lighter, it is lessened and lost, and then it disappears.
The enemies of God are likewise: when they start to be glorified and elevated, they rapidly disappear like smoke.....]
Saint Augustin
We mention here some persons who boast when grace supports them and they find that their life has been changed to better, and say: "My life has been changed and been renovated. I have become another person". They explain their experience to people, in the manner of saying: "I was.... and I have become......"!
While a person boasts about his elevation, grace goes far away from him, and then he falls. May he remember the words of the Bible about that:
"Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor. 10:12).
If you stand, do not think that your standing is a permanent position which does not change. Remember the saints who fell. Thus your heart will be humiliated, and you will take heed for yourself.
Humility keeps you; because the Lord is near to the mortified in their hearts.
The humble person takes heed and is meticulous while he confesses his weakness; and thus he keeps far away from scandals and does not fall. But the proud is self-satisfied with his strength and does take care, and thus sin strikes him in what he does not know.
Satan has an experience of thousands of years in fighting human beings.
He may find you taking heed from a certain sin, and so he does not fight you with it. But he attacks you in another way for a long period, until you think that you have been raised up over the level of wars, and you misapprehend warning. Then he returns to you, while you are not ready, while your heart has become exalted ....... and so when you fall like this, you become certain that you are not over the level of falling.
Do not then think that falling is only for the beginners! And that you are not a beginner! since you have advanced in spiritual life!
When you were humble and taking heed, you prayed heatfully, and you asked God to give you help lest you fall. But now, you do not pray for this help, but rather you ask it only for others who are the only ones liable to falling, and not you! Thus you remain without help, and then you fall......
Saint Isaac meditated upon the verse: "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." (Prov. 16:18). He said:
As much as magnificence appears in the soul, so much will be the fall, and the defeat which God permits. For God does not reject and abandon man, unless He finds his mind conversing with the thought of magnificence......
Those who come out of the way of humility, are denuded from the divine help and fall..... He who boasts about knowledge, is neglected and falls into blasphemy. He who is arrogant about asceticism is neglected and falls into adultery. He who is raised up because of his wisdom is neglected and falls into the dark snares of ignorance.
If he continues to be proud, then the angel who takes care of him goes far away from him. When the angel is near him, he moves him towards the preoccupation with righteousness. But when the angel is far away from him, the deceiver comes near him, and does not let him understand anything about the deed of righteousness.
Truthfully, is not Satan's raised up heart, the cause of his fall?....
It is said about him in the book of Ezechiel: "Because your heart is lifted up" (Ez. 28:1), "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor" (Ez. 28:17).
And it is said about him in the book of Isaiah: [For you have said in your heart: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High". Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the pit] (Isaiah 14: 13-15).
He was not satisfied with the glory which he possessed, but he desired a greater glory; and he lost what he had. The first man likewise desired the glory of divinity, and lost the glory of his humanity!
The astonishing matter is that the majority of proud people think that they are not proud.
That is undoubtfully due to their pride, because they constantly justify themselves. With that, they fall into another sin which is self-justification.
The proud justifies himself.
He constantly defends himself. He absolutely does not like to appear in the image of a sinner. He is always "righteous in his own eyes" and wants to be righteous in the eyes of people. If somebody draws his attention to an evident mistake, he will perhaps try to cover it with lies or excuses, far away from confession and repentance.
Our father Adam did not confess his sin, but he tried to justify himself; and that is what also our mother Eve did (Gen. 3); and we have inherited self-justification from them.
The sinner adds to his sin which he justifies, the sin of self-justication.
How many are the subterfuges to which the proud resorts for his justification! Among them, there are: casting the reponsibility upon others, or upon the environmental circumstances; denial, or the pretention of a sound intention, or that people did not understand him as he really is, or any other reasons which are all outside the spiritual limits.......!
How difficult is the word: "I have sinned", for the proud...... it hurts him.....
He would say it sometimes if that would draw praise to him! or if the image of false humility would satisfy his pride..... But inside himself, he absolutely does not feel that he has sinned. The word comes out of his mouth, and not out of his heart. He may say the word "I have sinned" or "I am wrong" by way of politics, and not with the spirit of humility.....
The proud do not confess, but they condemn others, in order to cover themselves.
Others must necessarily be wrong, because it is unreasonable for them to be wrong! As if they were infallible in all their doings!
Therefore the proud argues and discusses much, in order to justify himself.
It is not easy to deal with him. It is not easy to confer with him.
To him, conferring does not mean to understand another or to accept him. But his conferring with another means that this other accepts his opinion or is convinced of it.......
If the other is not convinced of his opinion, he may be irritated and angry, and treat the question with his nerves, so long as he could not treat it with opinion, thinking, and persuasion.
Therefore anger is the comrade of pride, the two follow each other.
In all this, the proud loses his meekness, contrarily to the humble who is a delicate, gentle, meek person, whose dealings with others are easy and therefore everybody loves him. He submits to them in the spirit of love, and thus he gains them. If he encounters a problem, he solves it with the meekness of wisdom. (James 3:13).
But the proud does not sin only from the spiritual point of view, but rather also from the social point of view, since he loses the love of many because of his pride.
The proud in his justification of himself, goes far away from the life of repentance.
How can a person repent, if he is constantly righteous in his own eyes?! Have those who are well, need of a physician?! (Matt. 9:12). Or how can that proud correct his mistakes, if he constantly justifies them?!
You do not abandon an error unless you first confess in yourself that it is wrong. But if you believe that you are right, you will remain where you are, you will change nothing in yourself.
The problem of self-reliance, dignity and personal pride, is what prevents man from confessing his faults, even before his father confessor!
Perhaps he confesses some sins whose mentioning does not shame him, and hides the rest, or simply passes by it, or he points to it from afar, or says it inclusively, or he says it while justifying it..... and he may not confess it all. And his confession is transformed into a complaint against another, as if he were confessing before the father confessor, the sins of others and not his own sins!
In his jusification of himself, one may call his sins by the name of virtues!
He may call the malice, the malevolence and the spitefulness in which he falls: a kind of wisdom! He may call his wrong adulation of his children: love and tenderness, while he may call his hardness: firmness and education. He may call his condemnation of others and his rebellion against situations: a sacred jealousy and a desire to correct....... and so on with the rest of his doings.
But what is the most dangerous matter in self-justification and in opposition, is for the mistaken proud, to begin philosophising his mistakes and justifying them in his ideas, in order to convince people about them!
Here comes to existence an atmosphere of intellectual perplexity, so that some people are embarrassed regarding where is truth! Self-justification in one's doings, is the justification of conduct that concerns the person himself alone. But the justification of ideas concerns values and principles. It takes a general direction..... Therefore the justification of wrong ideas is very dangerous, because truth is not its aim, but the self. A person is drawn to it when he is affected by psychological factors.
All that preoccupies the proud in his justification of himself, is the opinion of people about him, and he is not preoccupied by the destiny of this self in eternity, while he concentrates upon the veneration of people for himself!
He defends himself, he defends his thoughts and his actions. He explains, and perhaps he scandalises others with his explanation. He does not care for anything about that. But what is important to him, is that he himself appears to be innocent, sound, and far away from blame.
His justification of himself and his defence of himself, may lead him to accuse or hurt others; but he has no objection to that, so long as he comes to a satisfactory justification of himself.......
In their justification of themselves in intellectual errors, some have fallen into heresy or in doctrinal deviation. They persisted in that, or were prevented from confessing their error by their pride.
In self-justification, the conscience of the proud loses all power over him. He is lead by the spirit of pride and self-sufficiency.
What is astonishing is that those who justify themselves, pray asking for the forgiveness of their sins, while in their inside they do not see that they are sinners anyway!!
Verily self-justification does not benefit the soul, but it is repentance that benefits the soul.
Because repentance purifies the soul, while justification works towards covering the soul who remains in her wrong deeds..... Repentance means uncovering oneself and knowing his sins and blaming himself for those sins. But the proud, unfortunately, refuses to uncover himself and to confess his sins, and so he remains far away from repentance.
AND
MEEKNESS
11
BY HIS HOLINESS AMBA SHENOUDA III,
POPE AND PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA
AND
THE APOSTOLIC SEE OF ALL THE PREDICATION OF
SAINT MARK
Translated from "WATANY" newspaper, 17 September 2000
Pride and magnificence.
(B)
The proud is exalted and falls...
The proud always justifies himself...
The proud loses the life of meekness,
and the life of repentance.....
He is exalted and falls.
Saint Augustin explained that the proud seem like smoke, and said:
Smoke is much elevated upwards; and as it is elevated, it is dispersed and ends.
On the contrary, flames are not elevated like smoke, but they remain forceful.
This saint said in his explanation of the psalms 37 and 73:
[The psalm says: "I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a native green tree" (Ps. 37:35), higher than the cedar of Lebanon. Let us then suppose that he is raised upwards, and that he is haughty over the others, but what is he after that? The psalmist continues saying about him: "I passed by, and behold, he was no more; indeed I sought him, but he could not be found" (Ps. 37:36)..... exactly as if he were smoke, that was he whom I passed by.
It was also said in the psalm about such persons that they perish and are dispersed like smoke: "But the wicked shall perish.... Into smoke they shall vanish away" (Ps. 37:20)...... exactly like smoke which is dispersed while it is elevated upwards..... In its very elevation upwards, it is puffed up into a greater size, and as much great as its size is, so much its material will be disintegrated...... Thus we remark that what exterminates him, is his magnificence itself; because when he rises up and expands upwards, its volume increases and becomes lighter, it is lessened and lost, and then it disappears.
The enemies of God are likewise: when they start to be glorified and elevated, they rapidly disappear like smoke.....]
Saint Augustin
We mention here some persons who boast when grace supports them and they find that their life has been changed to better, and say: "My life has been changed and been renovated. I have become another person". They explain their experience to people, in the manner of saying: "I was.... and I have become......"!
While a person boasts about his elevation, grace goes far away from him, and then he falls. May he remember the words of the Bible about that:
"Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor. 10:12).
If you stand, do not think that your standing is a permanent position which does not change. Remember the saints who fell. Thus your heart will be humiliated, and you will take heed for yourself.
Humility keeps you; because the Lord is near to the mortified in their hearts.
The humble person takes heed and is meticulous while he confesses his weakness; and thus he keeps far away from scandals and does not fall. But the proud is self-satisfied with his strength and does take care, and thus sin strikes him in what he does not know.
Satan has an experience of thousands of years in fighting human beings.
He may find you taking heed from a certain sin, and so he does not fight you with it. But he attacks you in another way for a long period, until you think that you have been raised up over the level of wars, and you misapprehend warning. Then he returns to you, while you are not ready, while your heart has become exalted ....... and so when you fall like this, you become certain that you are not over the level of falling.
Do not then think that falling is only for the beginners! And that you are not a beginner! since you have advanced in spiritual life!
When you were humble and taking heed, you prayed heatfully, and you asked God to give you help lest you fall. But now, you do not pray for this help, but rather you ask it only for others who are the only ones liable to falling, and not you! Thus you remain without help, and then you fall......
Saint Isaac meditated upon the verse: "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." (Prov. 16:18). He said:
As much as magnificence appears in the soul, so much will be the fall, and the defeat which God permits. For God does not reject and abandon man, unless He finds his mind conversing with the thought of magnificence......
Those who come out of the way of humility, are denuded from the divine help and fall..... He who boasts about knowledge, is neglected and falls into blasphemy. He who is arrogant about asceticism is neglected and falls into adultery. He who is raised up because of his wisdom is neglected and falls into the dark snares of ignorance.
If he continues to be proud, then the angel who takes care of him goes far away from him. When the angel is near him, he moves him towards the preoccupation with righteousness. But when the angel is far away from him, the deceiver comes near him, and does not let him understand anything about the deed of righteousness.
Truthfully, is not Satan's raised up heart, the cause of his fall?....
It is said about him in the book of Ezechiel: "Because your heart is lifted up" (Ez. 28:1), "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor" (Ez. 28:17).
And it is said about him in the book of Isaiah: [For you have said in your heart: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High". Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the pit] (Isaiah 14: 13-15).
He was not satisfied with the glory which he possessed, but he desired a greater glory; and he lost what he had. The first man likewise desired the glory of divinity, and lost the glory of his humanity!
The astonishing matter is that the majority of proud people think that they are not proud.
That is undoubtfully due to their pride, because they constantly justify themselves. With that, they fall into another sin which is self-justification.
The proud justifies himself.
He constantly defends himself. He absolutely does not like to appear in the image of a sinner. He is always "righteous in his own eyes" and wants to be righteous in the eyes of people. If somebody draws his attention to an evident mistake, he will perhaps try to cover it with lies or excuses, far away from confession and repentance.
Our father Adam did not confess his sin, but he tried to justify himself; and that is what also our mother Eve did (Gen. 3); and we have inherited self-justification from them.
The sinner adds to his sin which he justifies, the sin of self-justication.
How many are the subterfuges to which the proud resorts for his justification! Among them, there are: casting the reponsibility upon others, or upon the environmental circumstances; denial, or the pretention of a sound intention, or that people did not understand him as he really is, or any other reasons which are all outside the spiritual limits.......!
How difficult is the word: "I have sinned", for the proud...... it hurts him.....
He would say it sometimes if that would draw praise to him! or if the image of false humility would satisfy his pride..... But inside himself, he absolutely does not feel that he has sinned. The word comes out of his mouth, and not out of his heart. He may say the word "I have sinned" or "I am wrong" by way of politics, and not with the spirit of humility.....
The proud do not confess, but they condemn others, in order to cover themselves.
Others must necessarily be wrong, because it is unreasonable for them to be wrong! As if they were infallible in all their doings!
Therefore the proud argues and discusses much, in order to justify himself.
It is not easy to deal with him. It is not easy to confer with him.
To him, conferring does not mean to understand another or to accept him. But his conferring with another means that this other accepts his opinion or is convinced of it.......
If the other is not convinced of his opinion, he may be irritated and angry, and treat the question with his nerves, so long as he could not treat it with opinion, thinking, and persuasion.
Therefore anger is the comrade of pride, the two follow each other.
In all this, the proud loses his meekness, contrarily to the humble who is a delicate, gentle, meek person, whose dealings with others are easy and therefore everybody loves him. He submits to them in the spirit of love, and thus he gains them. If he encounters a problem, he solves it with the meekness of wisdom. (James 3:13).
But the proud does not sin only from the spiritual point of view, but rather also from the social point of view, since he loses the love of many because of his pride.
The proud in his justification of himself, goes far away from the life of repentance.
How can a person repent, if he is constantly righteous in his own eyes?! Have those who are well, need of a physician?! (Matt. 9:12). Or how can that proud correct his mistakes, if he constantly justifies them?!
You do not abandon an error unless you first confess in yourself that it is wrong. But if you believe that you are right, you will remain where you are, you will change nothing in yourself.
The problem of self-reliance, dignity and personal pride, is what prevents man from confessing his faults, even before his father confessor!
Perhaps he confesses some sins whose mentioning does not shame him, and hides the rest, or simply passes by it, or he points to it from afar, or says it inclusively, or he says it while justifying it..... and he may not confess it all. And his confession is transformed into a complaint against another, as if he were confessing before the father confessor, the sins of others and not his own sins!
In his jusification of himself, one may call his sins by the name of virtues!
He may call the malice, the malevolence and the spitefulness in which he falls: a kind of wisdom! He may call his wrong adulation of his children: love and tenderness, while he may call his hardness: firmness and education. He may call his condemnation of others and his rebellion against situations: a sacred jealousy and a desire to correct....... and so on with the rest of his doings.
But what is the most dangerous matter in self-justification and in opposition, is for the mistaken proud, to begin philosophising his mistakes and justifying them in his ideas, in order to convince people about them!
Here comes to existence an atmosphere of intellectual perplexity, so that some people are embarrassed regarding where is truth! Self-justification in one's doings, is the justification of conduct that concerns the person himself alone. But the justification of ideas concerns values and principles. It takes a general direction..... Therefore the justification of wrong ideas is very dangerous, because truth is not its aim, but the self. A person is drawn to it when he is affected by psychological factors.
All that preoccupies the proud in his justification of himself, is the opinion of people about him, and he is not preoccupied by the destiny of this self in eternity, while he concentrates upon the veneration of people for himself!
He defends himself, he defends his thoughts and his actions. He explains, and perhaps he scandalises others with his explanation. He does not care for anything about that. But what is important to him, is that he himself appears to be innocent, sound, and far away from blame.
His justification of himself and his defence of himself, may lead him to accuse or hurt others; but he has no objection to that, so long as he comes to a satisfactory justification of himself.......
In their justification of themselves in intellectual errors, some have fallen into heresy or in doctrinal deviation. They persisted in that, or were prevented from confessing their error by their pride.
In self-justification, the conscience of the proud loses all power over him. He is lead by the spirit of pride and self-sufficiency.
What is astonishing is that those who justify themselves, pray asking for the forgiveness of their sins, while in their inside they do not see that they are sinners anyway!!
Verily self-justification does not benefit the soul, but it is repentance that benefits the soul.
Because repentance purifies the soul, while justification works towards covering the soul who remains in her wrong deeds..... Repentance means uncovering oneself and knowing his sins and blaming himself for those sins. But the proud, unfortunately, refuses to uncover himself and to confess his sins, and so he remains far away from repentance.
PART 10
LIFE OF HUMILITY
AND
MEEKNESS
10
BY HIS HOLINESS AMBA SHENOUDA III,
POPE AND PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA
AND
THE APOSTOLIC SEE OF ALL THE PREDICATION OF
SAINT MARK
Translated from "WATANY" newspaper, 10 September 2000
Pride and magnificence.
A composite sin
that
gives birth to numerous sins
The haughty is a lost person whose self has lost him. In his arrogance, he falls into many sins. Perhaps he does not feel that he is lost, and does not feel his sins, because of his pride. The Scripture says:
"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." (Prov. 16:18).
What then is this destruction, and what is that fall to which he is exposed? We mention:
The opposition of God to him.
The proud may be exposed to the opposition of many people who are repelled by his haughtiness; for pride is a repelling sin. But what is much more difficult, is the opposition of God to him. As the apostle saint James said:
"God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6).
Verily, how difficult is that, and how dangerous is that!! It is a terrifying matter that God resists any of His creatures....!! The reason is pride.
The first creature who resisted God, and whom God resisted, was Satan:
Satan wanted to be elevated above everybody, and to become like God (Isaiah 14:14). When he had fallen, he did not humble himself, he did not become mortified, but he persisted in his opposition, and he caused the fall of a group of angels from numerous ranks. They became his adepts who executed his plans with him in view of resistance to God.
Satan will still continues his opposition to God and to His kingdom, and his opposition to the sons of God...... until the time when he "will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth" (Rev. 20:7). He will attempt "to deceive, if possible, even the elect" (Matt. 24:24).
The most dangerous enemy in the last times, has been also called "the lawless one":
He is the Anti-Christ of whom the apostle said that he will be the cause of the general "falling away" that will precede the second coming of the Lord Christ, and he described him as "the man of sin ..... the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God" ....... whose coming "is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish" (2 Thess. 2: 1-10).
Because of his pride, he will pretend divinity, like Satan his master. Because of his pride, he will be exalted and resistant, also like Satan. He will be deceived by the wonders and the miracles and power, like his master also.
Therfore God will resist him, and "will consume" him "with the breath of His mouth", and He will destroy him "with the brightness of His coming" (2 Thess. 2:8).
The Lord Christ had mercy upon the mortified sinners, while He resisted the proud.
He took the defence of the humiliated woman sinner who had been caught in the same act. He said to her: "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more" (John 8:11)...... while he opposed the proud scribes and pharisees who had forgotten their sins and wanted to stone that woman, and he said to them: "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first" (John 8:7).
The Lord was also gracious toward the mortified woman who washed His feet with her tears, while He reprimanded the proud pharisee who despised and condemned her.
The arrogance of that pharisee reached such a point that he doubted about the Lord Christ himself, glory be to Him. The pharisee said in his heart: "This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner" (Luke 7:39). The Lord showed him then, that this woman was better than him, and that the two of them were debtors before God. But she repented, and that pharisee did not repent. Therefore she deserved forgiveness.
The Lord resisted the scribes and the pharisees because they were hypocrites and haughty.
He poured woes upon those who "love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces ........ and shut up the kingdom of heaven against men;" and neither go in themselves nor "allow those who are entering to go in" (Matt. 23: 6, 27, 13, 16, 19).
Beware then of being proud, lest God will resist you!!
Verily, how dangerous what has been said about this matter in the book of Isaiah:
"For the day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up, and it shall be brought low, upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan; upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up; upon every high tower, and upon every fortified wall; upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all the beautiful sloops. The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day" (Isaiah 2: 12:17).
If you fear that the Lord stands against you and opposes you, humble yourself, because He "gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6)....... What else is also there in pride?
The haughtiness of the spirit.
There is a certain pride in which man feels that he is great (=magnificence).
There is another pride which is comparative. One compares himself to another and feels that he is greater than him. This feeling would grow within himself, till he thinks that he is greater than everybody, and that he is better than them, and that he excels over them all!!
Pride is transferred to dealing, and then he looks at people from above!
He becomes arrogant towards them, and he speaks to them without respect, in an unsuitable haughty manner. He loses the good manners of address and the good manners of dealing with others. Perhaps they would be greater than himself in age, or in higher positions, but in his pride and his haughtiness, he does not respect anybody, and he does not manage the feelings of anybody! Did not the Scriptures say about the "man of sin" that "he opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God", what then would be his dealings with a human being?
But the humble respects everybody, even if they are smaller or less important than he is.
The humble deals respecfully, politely, and conveniently with everybody, even his subordinates and his disciples, and rather also with his servants.... He absolutely never attempts to hurt the feelings of any person, whatever mistaken or wrong in his actions he is.
In such a manner the Lord Christ, glory be to Him, spoke with the samaritan woman sinner, without hurting her feelings. He did not speak to her about repentance, purity and self-restraint, but he spoke to her about the living water and the worship of God in spirit and truth. (John 4).
As for the proud, his haughtiness leads him to another sin, that is:
Condemnation and slander.
While the proud has no respect, he speaks in an inconvenient manner, which includes slander and insults, hurting and hard expressions, as if others were without feelings or sense, in his eyes! In all this he forgets the words of the Scriptures:
"...... nor revilers......will inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 6:10).
The apostle has placed those revilers among a list of the authors of horrible sins like extortioners, covetous, thieves, adulterers and idolaters.......! Perhaps the proud when he insults another, will not count that he has committed an horrible iniquity...... and would think that he has the right to insult or to condemn! Perhaps he would place his insults in the list of sacred jealousy and the desire to correct and teach!
His pride leads him to another thing that is self-justification.
Self-justification.
The proud is just in his own eyes. Perhaps he would be also wise in his own eyes, whereas the Bible says: "Do not be wise in your own eyes" (Prov. 3:7). The Bible has reprimanded that sort of people saying: "Answer a fool, lest he be wise in his own eyes" (Prov. 26:5). It is difficult for that kind of people to confess that they are wrong.
It is difficult, and perhaps impossible, for some people to confess that they have been wrong!!
even if the mistake is apparent, whether it is an opinion or an action....!
But the pride of the heart refuses to scratch the infallibility which the proud pretends to possess! Therefore he must defend his errors, resist, and attack him that ever shows him an error or a defect. He must by every means justify himself; and thus his pride leads him to contention.
Contention.
It is known as opposition. He wants to be triumphant in his discussion by any means! His desire of victory takes him far away from the truth, and centers him around the self.
The cause of contention in the proud is his insistance upon his opinion whatever it is!
People may be repelled by the style of the proud in his discussion and by his insistance upon his opinion, the thing that leads to no result other than the loss of time and the exertion of nerves. Therefore they run away from discussing with him, in order to safeguard their cordial peace and not to enter into a discussion with him...... and it may be that he talks to them or write to them, but they do not reply.
Therefore, contention and insistance upon his opinion, lead people to keep away from him.
Or that could lead him to keep proudly away from people. Solitude fatigues him and exhausts his nerves, and so he becomes more violent if he enters into a discussion.
If the discussion and the contention touches a theological or a doctrinal subject, the proud could fall into heresy or doctrinal divergence.
Heresy and doctrinal divergence.
All the heretics and the dissidents were without exception, proud and violent.
It is rare that one of them would have fallen into an heresy by ignorance; because the ignorant, if he is humble, accepts correction and accepts to change his opinion.
But the proud cannot. It is impossible for him to say that he has been wrong. Therfore he continues in his deviated thought, and he defends his thoughts, and attempts to find proofs for them, or to explain some verses of the Bible in favour of his opinions. By this, he is confirmed in his doctrinal errors which are transformed from errors into heresy because of his pride.
Pride may convince a person to bring something new which nobody has done before, or that the fathers have not written about it, even if it is not customary or not acceptable.
And so he falls into dissidence, for he brings something new. He admires himself because he has brought something new. Perhaps he would see in the new thing, a desirable matter, and attempts to publish it, expecting for himself renown and praise as an author of thoughts!!
His dissidence leads him "to think of himself more highly than he ought to think" (Rom. 12:3), and he speaks about things of which the Bible did not say anything frankly, or which the sayings of the fathers did not treat, or things that transcend our understanding....... and in his pride he is ashamed to say: "I do not know" ..... He declares his opinion, and tries to justify it. Perhaps he would lean on irreligious sources and does not say that this is only an opinion, or that it is simply his personal opinion.
In his pride, he attempts to present his personal opinion as being a doctrine!!
Or he considers that his opinion is the opinion and the doctrine of the Church! He would be astonished if somebody asked him: "What is the source upon which you have leaned?" thinking that he himself is the source upon whom others lean!
Verily, speaking about theological matters requires humility of heart and humility of thought.
The proud thinks that he understands more than others. He therefore does not accept correction from another, because who is it that knows more than him, in order to correct him?!
Thus an heretic like Arius, did not change his opinion according to the directions of the Pope Peter, the last of the martyrs, and did not accept the counsel of Pope Alexander, and did not submit to the great œcumenical council which was assembled by Pope Alexander and was attended by 318 bishops and archibishops who represented all the Churches of the world. He remained insisting upon his erring thoughts, not considering any bishop, or patriarch, or council!! That shows another sin which is stubbornness.
Stubbornness.
The proud is stubborn. The heretic also is stubborn. The dissident is stubborn.
If you meet a stubborn person, know that behind his stubbornness, there is pride; and if you find a heretic, know that among the causes of his heresy, there is pride and stubbornness.
Stubbornness enters into matters which are other than theology and doctrine. Anyway, it is a repelling temperament, like pride, its mother; and it leads to solitude and retreat.
Other results.
Pride has other results and many signs. I do not find that this article can include them. Among which there are vain glory, the love of praise and dignity, haughtiness, centering around the self, precedence over others........ and many other matters which need numerous articles. Let this be enough for the time being.
AND
MEEKNESS
10
BY HIS HOLINESS AMBA SHENOUDA III,
POPE AND PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA
AND
THE APOSTOLIC SEE OF ALL THE PREDICATION OF
SAINT MARK
Translated from "WATANY" newspaper, 10 September 2000
Pride and magnificence.
A composite sin
that
gives birth to numerous sins
The haughty is a lost person whose self has lost him. In his arrogance, he falls into many sins. Perhaps he does not feel that he is lost, and does not feel his sins, because of his pride. The Scripture says:
"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." (Prov. 16:18).
What then is this destruction, and what is that fall to which he is exposed? We mention:
The opposition of God to him.
The proud may be exposed to the opposition of many people who are repelled by his haughtiness; for pride is a repelling sin. But what is much more difficult, is the opposition of God to him. As the apostle saint James said:
"God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6).
Verily, how difficult is that, and how dangerous is that!! It is a terrifying matter that God resists any of His creatures....!! The reason is pride.
The first creature who resisted God, and whom God resisted, was Satan:
Satan wanted to be elevated above everybody, and to become like God (Isaiah 14:14). When he had fallen, he did not humble himself, he did not become mortified, but he persisted in his opposition, and he caused the fall of a group of angels from numerous ranks. They became his adepts who executed his plans with him in view of resistance to God.
Satan will still continues his opposition to God and to His kingdom, and his opposition to the sons of God...... until the time when he "will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth" (Rev. 20:7). He will attempt "to deceive, if possible, even the elect" (Matt. 24:24).
The most dangerous enemy in the last times, has been also called "the lawless one":
He is the Anti-Christ of whom the apostle said that he will be the cause of the general "falling away" that will precede the second coming of the Lord Christ, and he described him as "the man of sin ..... the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God" ....... whose coming "is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish" (2 Thess. 2: 1-10).
Because of his pride, he will pretend divinity, like Satan his master. Because of his pride, he will be exalted and resistant, also like Satan. He will be deceived by the wonders and the miracles and power, like his master also.
Therfore God will resist him, and "will consume" him "with the breath of His mouth", and He will destroy him "with the brightness of His coming" (2 Thess. 2:8).
The Lord Christ had mercy upon the mortified sinners, while He resisted the proud.
He took the defence of the humiliated woman sinner who had been caught in the same act. He said to her: "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more" (John 8:11)...... while he opposed the proud scribes and pharisees who had forgotten their sins and wanted to stone that woman, and he said to them: "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first" (John 8:7).
The Lord was also gracious toward the mortified woman who washed His feet with her tears, while He reprimanded the proud pharisee who despised and condemned her.
The arrogance of that pharisee reached such a point that he doubted about the Lord Christ himself, glory be to Him. The pharisee said in his heart: "This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner" (Luke 7:39). The Lord showed him then, that this woman was better than him, and that the two of them were debtors before God. But she repented, and that pharisee did not repent. Therefore she deserved forgiveness.
The Lord resisted the scribes and the pharisees because they were hypocrites and haughty.
He poured woes upon those who "love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces ........ and shut up the kingdom of heaven against men;" and neither go in themselves nor "allow those who are entering to go in" (Matt. 23: 6, 27, 13, 16, 19).
Beware then of being proud, lest God will resist you!!
Verily, how dangerous what has been said about this matter in the book of Isaiah:
"For the day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up, and it shall be brought low, upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan; upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up; upon every high tower, and upon every fortified wall; upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all the beautiful sloops. The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day" (Isaiah 2: 12:17).
If you fear that the Lord stands against you and opposes you, humble yourself, because He "gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6)....... What else is also there in pride?
The haughtiness of the spirit.
There is a certain pride in which man feels that he is great (=magnificence).
There is another pride which is comparative. One compares himself to another and feels that he is greater than him. This feeling would grow within himself, till he thinks that he is greater than everybody, and that he is better than them, and that he excels over them all!!
Pride is transferred to dealing, and then he looks at people from above!
He becomes arrogant towards them, and he speaks to them without respect, in an unsuitable haughty manner. He loses the good manners of address and the good manners of dealing with others. Perhaps they would be greater than himself in age, or in higher positions, but in his pride and his haughtiness, he does not respect anybody, and he does not manage the feelings of anybody! Did not the Scriptures say about the "man of sin" that "he opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God", what then would be his dealings with a human being?
But the humble respects everybody, even if they are smaller or less important than he is.
The humble deals respecfully, politely, and conveniently with everybody, even his subordinates and his disciples, and rather also with his servants.... He absolutely never attempts to hurt the feelings of any person, whatever mistaken or wrong in his actions he is.
In such a manner the Lord Christ, glory be to Him, spoke with the samaritan woman sinner, without hurting her feelings. He did not speak to her about repentance, purity and self-restraint, but he spoke to her about the living water and the worship of God in spirit and truth. (John 4).
As for the proud, his haughtiness leads him to another sin, that is:
Condemnation and slander.
While the proud has no respect, he speaks in an inconvenient manner, which includes slander and insults, hurting and hard expressions, as if others were without feelings or sense, in his eyes! In all this he forgets the words of the Scriptures:
"...... nor revilers......will inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 6:10).
The apostle has placed those revilers among a list of the authors of horrible sins like extortioners, covetous, thieves, adulterers and idolaters.......! Perhaps the proud when he insults another, will not count that he has committed an horrible iniquity...... and would think that he has the right to insult or to condemn! Perhaps he would place his insults in the list of sacred jealousy and the desire to correct and teach!
His pride leads him to another thing that is self-justification.
Self-justification.
The proud is just in his own eyes. Perhaps he would be also wise in his own eyes, whereas the Bible says: "Do not be wise in your own eyes" (Prov. 3:7). The Bible has reprimanded that sort of people saying: "Answer a fool, lest he be wise in his own eyes" (Prov. 26:5). It is difficult for that kind of people to confess that they are wrong.
It is difficult, and perhaps impossible, for some people to confess that they have been wrong!!
even if the mistake is apparent, whether it is an opinion or an action....!
But the pride of the heart refuses to scratch the infallibility which the proud pretends to possess! Therefore he must defend his errors, resist, and attack him that ever shows him an error or a defect. He must by every means justify himself; and thus his pride leads him to contention.
Contention.
It is known as opposition. He wants to be triumphant in his discussion by any means! His desire of victory takes him far away from the truth, and centers him around the self.
The cause of contention in the proud is his insistance upon his opinion whatever it is!
People may be repelled by the style of the proud in his discussion and by his insistance upon his opinion, the thing that leads to no result other than the loss of time and the exertion of nerves. Therefore they run away from discussing with him, in order to safeguard their cordial peace and not to enter into a discussion with him...... and it may be that he talks to them or write to them, but they do not reply.
Therefore, contention and insistance upon his opinion, lead people to keep away from him.
Or that could lead him to keep proudly away from people. Solitude fatigues him and exhausts his nerves, and so he becomes more violent if he enters into a discussion.
If the discussion and the contention touches a theological or a doctrinal subject, the proud could fall into heresy or doctrinal divergence.
Heresy and doctrinal divergence.
All the heretics and the dissidents were without exception, proud and violent.
It is rare that one of them would have fallen into an heresy by ignorance; because the ignorant, if he is humble, accepts correction and accepts to change his opinion.
But the proud cannot. It is impossible for him to say that he has been wrong. Therfore he continues in his deviated thought, and he defends his thoughts, and attempts to find proofs for them, or to explain some verses of the Bible in favour of his opinions. By this, he is confirmed in his doctrinal errors which are transformed from errors into heresy because of his pride.
Pride may convince a person to bring something new which nobody has done before, or that the fathers have not written about it, even if it is not customary or not acceptable.
And so he falls into dissidence, for he brings something new. He admires himself because he has brought something new. Perhaps he would see in the new thing, a desirable matter, and attempts to publish it, expecting for himself renown and praise as an author of thoughts!!
His dissidence leads him "to think of himself more highly than he ought to think" (Rom. 12:3), and he speaks about things of which the Bible did not say anything frankly, or which the sayings of the fathers did not treat, or things that transcend our understanding....... and in his pride he is ashamed to say: "I do not know" ..... He declares his opinion, and tries to justify it. Perhaps he would lean on irreligious sources and does not say that this is only an opinion, or that it is simply his personal opinion.
In his pride, he attempts to present his personal opinion as being a doctrine!!
Or he considers that his opinion is the opinion and the doctrine of the Church! He would be astonished if somebody asked him: "What is the source upon which you have leaned?" thinking that he himself is the source upon whom others lean!
Verily, speaking about theological matters requires humility of heart and humility of thought.
The proud thinks that he understands more than others. He therefore does not accept correction from another, because who is it that knows more than him, in order to correct him?!
Thus an heretic like Arius, did not change his opinion according to the directions of the Pope Peter, the last of the martyrs, and did not accept the counsel of Pope Alexander, and did not submit to the great œcumenical council which was assembled by Pope Alexander and was attended by 318 bishops and archibishops who represented all the Churches of the world. He remained insisting upon his erring thoughts, not considering any bishop, or patriarch, or council!! That shows another sin which is stubbornness.
Stubbornness.
The proud is stubborn. The heretic also is stubborn. The dissident is stubborn.
If you meet a stubborn person, know that behind his stubbornness, there is pride; and if you find a heretic, know that among the causes of his heresy, there is pride and stubbornness.
Stubbornness enters into matters which are other than theology and doctrine. Anyway, it is a repelling temperament, like pride, its mother; and it leads to solitude and retreat.
Other results.
Pride has other results and many signs. I do not find that this article can include them. Among which there are vain glory, the love of praise and dignity, haughtiness, centering around the self, precedence over others........ and many other matters which need numerous articles. Let this be enough for the time being.
Sunday, 8 August 2010
PART 9
This is the English translation of the NINETH from twelve parts of a series of articles of
H.H.Pope Shenouda III that appeared in Watany weekly newspaper during the period
from July 9, 2000 to September 24, 2000
LIFE OF HUMILITY
AND
MEEKNESS
9
BY HIS HOLINESS AMBA SHENOUDA III,
POPE AND PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA
AND
THE APOSTOLIC SEE OF ALL THE PREDICATION OF
SAINT MARK
Translated from "WATANY" newspaper 3 September 2000
MEANS AND SIGNS
OF
HUMILITY
(C)
33. The spiritual humility of the humble person appears in the humility of his body too:
His humility appears in his face's features, in his voice's resonance, in his eyes' glances. He looks at people with meekness. He has no haughty glances and he does not look at people from above. His voice is calm. He speaks gently; not with power. He is not violent against anybody. He does not speak violently, not with proud resonance, not with a high voice, not despising anybody, not belittling anybody by not responding to him. He rather gently addresses everybody.
His humility appears also in the way he walks. He does not walk proudly or self-sufficiently. When sitting also, he sits politely. He is not puffed in his appearance.
He keeps away from magnificence at the level of his clothes, his instruments, his furniture, and luxurious life. People do not feel from his appearance and his looks, that he is of a high level.
His language shows him. He does not tell about the deeds which he has done. He does not boast. He does not draw comparisons between himself and others, that would prove his excellence, and how much he is higher than them, and that he understands the things which they do not understand.
34. The humility of the humble appears also in the style of his adoration and his prayers:
He enters the church with veneration, according to what the prophet David said: "But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; in fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple" (Ps. 5:7). He stands in fear, as it becomes to prayer and to the standing in the presence of God; as is has been said that the Cherubims and the Seraphims stand before Him, "each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew" (Isaiah 6:2).
He keeps well his senses. He is not preoccupied during his prayers by anything. He does not crowd others during the time of communion from the Holy Sacrament, but rather he presents himself as being unworthy.
He does not sit during the time when standing is necessary. Thus when blessing food on his table at home, he does not pray while sitting down...... but on every occasion he keeps the veneration of prayer.
Thus the humble person keeps his veneration during the times of fasting, because they are periods of mortification before God; and humility is becoming to mortification. Let us mention on this occasion what was said of the people of Nineveh: "So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes" (Jonah 3: 5-6).
35. If a humble man goes astray, and his sin is discovered to him, he will confess his error:
How difficult is it to confess an error, for a proud person who feels that this would belittle his value and his dignity in front of others. As for the humble, he does not attempt to flee from the responsibility of his errors, or to cover them, or to justify himself with excuses. He has no objection to saying: "I was wrong in that matter".
He says "I was wrong" before God, and before men. In the depths of his soul, with full conviction, his soul is not unerring in his eyes.
The humble is not "righteous in his own eyes" (Job 32:1). He is very far away from self-righteousness. He knows about his blunders more than people know about him.
36. Among the means which help towards humility, there is the life of true repentance, and the virtues which accompany it:
The repentant person is a person who feels the heaviness of his sins, and his sin is always before him (Ps. 51). He remembers it at all times and is mortified before himself and before God, feeling that he does not deserve anything. He constantly blames himself, and reproaches himself for his blunders, his weaknesses and his defects. In all that, he asks for the prayers of everybody....... thus he walks in humility, and is not proud as regards anybody, because the remembrance of his weaknesses makes him internally ashamed, and impedes pride from him externally...
As much as a man keeps away from the feelings, the heat, and the tears of repentance, so much he will be in danger of losing his humility.... Therefore, happy is he who continually lives in repentance. He does not consider it to be a stage that has passed in his life, but he sins every day of the days of his life. And as the apostle saint John said: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8).
37. Among the means of humility, there is also: silence and not avowing knowledge:
He knows that "In the multitude of words sin is not lacking" (Prov. 10:19). He says to himself: "My previous transgressions are enough". He repeats the expression of saint Arsenius: "I have many times spoken and regretted it". Therefore he prefers silence, and he sees that listening is better than speaking. In listening, he gains knowledge, and in speaking he exposes himself to blunder. He repeats the expression of the prophet Moses: "I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant, but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue" (Ex. 4:10).
He remembers the story of saint Antony who asked some of his disciples about a certain verse. So each of them began to mention an explanation, except Abba Youssef who said: "I do no know". Saint Abba Antonius said to him: "Happy are you, O Abba Youssef, because you have known the way to the word "I do not know".
While the humble venerably sits silent, and people respect him, we see the proud person forcing himself into every subject, whatever it may be outside his speciality! He replies to every question, whether he knows or does not know. But the humble, if he is compelled to speak, he will reply calmly about things of which he is certain. He has no objection to saying sometimes: "I do not know", or "I shall try to study this question".
38. The humble person feels that he is in need of the saints' aid:
Therefore in many things, he does not lean only upon his private prayers, but he asks the Holy Virgin Mary, the saint angels, the souls of the martyrs and the saints, to support him in his efforts, and to intercede for him and for all his people before God. He says to the Lord in the prayer of "al agbia" (the prayers of the hours): "Surround us, O Lord, with your saint angels, so that we shall be guarded and conducted, in their assembly.....
His heart is not raised up saying: "I am not in need of intercession from any of those! I have a direct relationship with God! why should I ask from the Holy Virgin, or from saint Georges, or from the archangel Michael?!" He remembers that the apostle saint Peter asked, on the night of The Last Supper, from his companion saint John the beloved, who is smaller than he as regards age, to ask the Lord about who will betray Him. And it happened. (John 13: 22-25).
The humble rather asks for the prayers of everybody. Here is the apostle saint Paul asking from his people in Ephesus to pray for him "always with all prayer and supplication" "that utterance may be given" to him, that he may open his mouth to teach the Gospel (Eph. 6: 18-19).
39. The humble person does not ask to be one of those who have visions, or one from the doers of miracles and wonders:
He does not covet this desire and does not ask for it, because he knows the measure of his weakness, and the lowliness of his spiritual level. Great saints used to fear this matter, lest pride and vanity would combat them. They remembered the words of the Lord to his disciples about a similar matter: "Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this......." (Luke 10:20). The humble remembers that many of those who have done miracles and wonders, will not enter the kingdom of heaven, and that the Lord will say to them: "I never knew you; depart from me" (Matt. 7:23).
Therefore the humble seeks for the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), and not for the gifts of the Spirit "(1 Cor. 12)...... The arrogants like visions and eyesights. How easy is it for them to fall in the deception of the devils.
It is easy for Satan to act "with all power, signs and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish" (2 Thess. 2: 9-10); as he will do in the last days supporting the Antichrist "who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God" (2 Thess. 2:4). Satan can also appear in the resemblance of an angel of light. "And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light" (2 Cor. 11:14). In that manner he can satisfy and deceive the lover of visions, and cause him to perish.
I mention here the story of that monk to whom the devil appeared in the form of an angel and said to him; "I am the angel Gabriel, and God has sent me to you". The monk humbly replied: "perhaps you have been sent to another than me, and you have lost your way. As for me, I am a sinner, and I do not deserve to have the vision of an angel." When the devil heard this humble expression, he vanished like vapor and disappeared.
40. If the humble person is active in service, he will not insist that God gives him the gift of speaking tongues, and he will not declare to people that this is the sign of fullness!
He will not look at him who speaks tongues, in a manner that belittles him as one who has not yet arrived! He will not call another person saying: "Come, let me handle to you the training of God, standing before people as one who grants gifts.
H.H.Pope Shenouda III that appeared in Watany weekly newspaper during the period
from July 9, 2000 to September 24, 2000
LIFE OF HUMILITY
AND
MEEKNESS
9
BY HIS HOLINESS AMBA SHENOUDA III,
POPE AND PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA
AND
THE APOSTOLIC SEE OF ALL THE PREDICATION OF
SAINT MARK
Translated from "WATANY" newspaper 3 September 2000
MEANS AND SIGNS
OF
HUMILITY
(C)
33. The spiritual humility of the humble person appears in the humility of his body too:
His humility appears in his face's features, in his voice's resonance, in his eyes' glances. He looks at people with meekness. He has no haughty glances and he does not look at people from above. His voice is calm. He speaks gently; not with power. He is not violent against anybody. He does not speak violently, not with proud resonance, not with a high voice, not despising anybody, not belittling anybody by not responding to him. He rather gently addresses everybody.
His humility appears also in the way he walks. He does not walk proudly or self-sufficiently. When sitting also, he sits politely. He is not puffed in his appearance.
He keeps away from magnificence at the level of his clothes, his instruments, his furniture, and luxurious life. People do not feel from his appearance and his looks, that he is of a high level.
His language shows him. He does not tell about the deeds which he has done. He does not boast. He does not draw comparisons between himself and others, that would prove his excellence, and how much he is higher than them, and that he understands the things which they do not understand.
34. The humility of the humble appears also in the style of his adoration and his prayers:
He enters the church with veneration, according to what the prophet David said: "But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; in fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple" (Ps. 5:7). He stands in fear, as it becomes to prayer and to the standing in the presence of God; as is has been said that the Cherubims and the Seraphims stand before Him, "each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew" (Isaiah 6:2).
He keeps well his senses. He is not preoccupied during his prayers by anything. He does not crowd others during the time of communion from the Holy Sacrament, but rather he presents himself as being unworthy.
He does not sit during the time when standing is necessary. Thus when blessing food on his table at home, he does not pray while sitting down...... but on every occasion he keeps the veneration of prayer.
Thus the humble person keeps his veneration during the times of fasting, because they are periods of mortification before God; and humility is becoming to mortification. Let us mention on this occasion what was said of the people of Nineveh: "So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes" (Jonah 3: 5-6).
35. If a humble man goes astray, and his sin is discovered to him, he will confess his error:
How difficult is it to confess an error, for a proud person who feels that this would belittle his value and his dignity in front of others. As for the humble, he does not attempt to flee from the responsibility of his errors, or to cover them, or to justify himself with excuses. He has no objection to saying: "I was wrong in that matter".
He says "I was wrong" before God, and before men. In the depths of his soul, with full conviction, his soul is not unerring in his eyes.
The humble is not "righteous in his own eyes" (Job 32:1). He is very far away from self-righteousness. He knows about his blunders more than people know about him.
36. Among the means which help towards humility, there is the life of true repentance, and the virtues which accompany it:
The repentant person is a person who feels the heaviness of his sins, and his sin is always before him (Ps. 51). He remembers it at all times and is mortified before himself and before God, feeling that he does not deserve anything. He constantly blames himself, and reproaches himself for his blunders, his weaknesses and his defects. In all that, he asks for the prayers of everybody....... thus he walks in humility, and is not proud as regards anybody, because the remembrance of his weaknesses makes him internally ashamed, and impedes pride from him externally...
As much as a man keeps away from the feelings, the heat, and the tears of repentance, so much he will be in danger of losing his humility.... Therefore, happy is he who continually lives in repentance. He does not consider it to be a stage that has passed in his life, but he sins every day of the days of his life. And as the apostle saint John said: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8).
37. Among the means of humility, there is also: silence and not avowing knowledge:
He knows that "In the multitude of words sin is not lacking" (Prov. 10:19). He says to himself: "My previous transgressions are enough". He repeats the expression of saint Arsenius: "I have many times spoken and regretted it". Therefore he prefers silence, and he sees that listening is better than speaking. In listening, he gains knowledge, and in speaking he exposes himself to blunder. He repeats the expression of the prophet Moses: "I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant, but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue" (Ex. 4:10).
He remembers the story of saint Antony who asked some of his disciples about a certain verse. So each of them began to mention an explanation, except Abba Youssef who said: "I do no know". Saint Abba Antonius said to him: "Happy are you, O Abba Youssef, because you have known the way to the word "I do not know".
While the humble venerably sits silent, and people respect him, we see the proud person forcing himself into every subject, whatever it may be outside his speciality! He replies to every question, whether he knows or does not know. But the humble, if he is compelled to speak, he will reply calmly about things of which he is certain. He has no objection to saying sometimes: "I do not know", or "I shall try to study this question".
38. The humble person feels that he is in need of the saints' aid:
Therefore in many things, he does not lean only upon his private prayers, but he asks the Holy Virgin Mary, the saint angels, the souls of the martyrs and the saints, to support him in his efforts, and to intercede for him and for all his people before God. He says to the Lord in the prayer of "al agbia" (the prayers of the hours): "Surround us, O Lord, with your saint angels, so that we shall be guarded and conducted, in their assembly.....
His heart is not raised up saying: "I am not in need of intercession from any of those! I have a direct relationship with God! why should I ask from the Holy Virgin, or from saint Georges, or from the archangel Michael?!" He remembers that the apostle saint Peter asked, on the night of The Last Supper, from his companion saint John the beloved, who is smaller than he as regards age, to ask the Lord about who will betray Him. And it happened. (John 13: 22-25).
The humble rather asks for the prayers of everybody. Here is the apostle saint Paul asking from his people in Ephesus to pray for him "always with all prayer and supplication" "that utterance may be given" to him, that he may open his mouth to teach the Gospel (Eph. 6: 18-19).
39. The humble person does not ask to be one of those who have visions, or one from the doers of miracles and wonders:
He does not covet this desire and does not ask for it, because he knows the measure of his weakness, and the lowliness of his spiritual level. Great saints used to fear this matter, lest pride and vanity would combat them. They remembered the words of the Lord to his disciples about a similar matter: "Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this......." (Luke 10:20). The humble remembers that many of those who have done miracles and wonders, will not enter the kingdom of heaven, and that the Lord will say to them: "I never knew you; depart from me" (Matt. 7:23).
Therefore the humble seeks for the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), and not for the gifts of the Spirit "(1 Cor. 12)...... The arrogants like visions and eyesights. How easy is it for them to fall in the deception of the devils.
It is easy for Satan to act "with all power, signs and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish" (2 Thess. 2: 9-10); as he will do in the last days supporting the Antichrist "who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God" (2 Thess. 2:4). Satan can also appear in the resemblance of an angel of light. "And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light" (2 Cor. 11:14). In that manner he can satisfy and deceive the lover of visions, and cause him to perish.
I mention here the story of that monk to whom the devil appeared in the form of an angel and said to him; "I am the angel Gabriel, and God has sent me to you". The monk humbly replied: "perhaps you have been sent to another than me, and you have lost your way. As for me, I am a sinner, and I do not deserve to have the vision of an angel." When the devil heard this humble expression, he vanished like vapor and disappeared.
40. If the humble person is active in service, he will not insist that God gives him the gift of speaking tongues, and he will not declare to people that this is the sign of fullness!
He will not look at him who speaks tongues, in a manner that belittles him as one who has not yet arrived! He will not call another person saying: "Come, let me handle to you the training of God, standing before people as one who grants gifts.
PART 8
This is the English translation of the EIGHTTH from twelve parts of a series of articles of
H.H.Pope Shenouda III that appeared in Watany weekly newspaper during the period
from July 9, 2000 to September 24, 2000
LIFE OF HUMILITY
AND
MEEKNESS
8
BY HIS HOLINESS AMBA SHENOUDA III,
POPE AND PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA
AND
THE APOSTOLIC SEE OF ALL THE PREDICATION OF
SAINT MARK
Translated from "WATANY" newspaper 27 August 2000
MEANS AND SIGNS
OF
HUMILITY
(B)
We spoke in the last edition about seventeen means and signs of humility; and we want to-day to complete our meditations about this subject.
18. The humble must run away from magnificence and all its manifestations and all its sources:
He must run away from the love of principality and leadership, from the love of domination and power, from the love of greatness and superiority over the others, and from the love of advancement over the others, because all these lead to perdition. Our Lord has forbidden them for us when He said to his saint apostles:
"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Matt. 20: 25-28).
19. If somebody is placed in a great position, let him act in it in simplicity and humility, and not be haughty over others.
How beautiful is it for thim to forget his position, and to deal with people with charity, in such a way that his heart does not become upraised, and that he does not proudly deal with others, as if they were inferior to him or less than him, and that he does not despise anybody, and that he does not use his power to subdue others.
He does not treat them in the same manner as Haman who requested a certain respect from Mordecai (Esther 3: 5-6); but rather he treats people like David, who mixed with people in love, although he was the leader of king Saul's army, "But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them" (1 Sam. 18:16).
The humble man treats his subordinates as a comrade and a friend, and he makes them feel his love.
Our Lord Jesus Christ called his disciples brothers. He said to them: "No longer do I call you servants........ but I have called you friends" (John 15:15). And it was said of Him that "in all things He had to be made like His brethern" (Heb. 2:17).
20. The humble tolerates dignity, and his heart is not raised because of it:
Whatever dignity he obtains, he does not forget that he is a man, and that he is dust and ashes; but on the contrary, he humiliates himself more, in order to establish an equilibrium between his interior and his exterior. If he attains an excellent position, or if he obtains fame or riches or power, let him remember the words of the great saint Antonius: "Supporting dignity is more difficult than supporting affront". As for him whose heart is raised up, he makes us remember the words of the poet:
"When my friend became one of the rich people,
I became certain that I had lost my friend".
21. The humble constantly tries to take the lowest place according to the Lord's command in (Luke 14: 7-10).
How beautiful is the saying of the "spiritual oldman" (St. Saba) about that subject: "Wherever you go, be the smaller of your brothers and their servant". Not only that you do not exalt yourself over them, but that you become the smallest of them and their servant.
The humble gives to everybody the preference to himself according to the saying of the apostle: "in honor giving preference to one another" (Rom. 12:10). Such as the Lord inclined himself and washed his disciples' feet, in like manner he will be ready to incline himself and serve everybody, whatever smaller than he they are.
Likewise we see that the priests and the teachers in our Church call themselves servants:
We mention here the prayer which saint Augustin prayed for his people saying: "I ask you, Lord, for my masters your servants". He said about them that they are his masters, although they were his sons and his pastorate.
We want to use the expression "servants" not simply as an expression or as a surname, but that its author uses it in the fullness of its significance and meaning.
22. The humble places in front of himself the virtue of the saints and its elevation, and so all his good deeds become small in his eyes.
If he is tempted about a virtue in which he has excelled, he remembers the level which the saints attained specially in that virtue, and he compares himself to them. Then he will see that he is nothing, and his soul becomes small in his eyes in all the good deeds which he had done. But the danger lies in comparing himself to the beginners or to those who have fallen down or to the sinners, and then he would see that he is better than them, such as that pharisee did when he stood in the temple and prayed saying: "God, I thank You that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector" (Luke 18:11).
23. The humble places in front of himself the perfection that is required of him, and then he sees that he has not yet attained anything:
He remembers the word of the Lord: "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). He sees the distance between himself and this required perfection, and then his heart becomes humble and he feels that he is still wanting in the balances: "Surely men of low degree are a vapor, men of high degree are a lie; if they are weighed on the scales, they are altogether lighter than vapor" (Ps. 62:9), and he repeates the same expressions by which Belteshazzar was described: "you have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting" (Dan. 5:27). In that manner his heart will be humiliated if he remembers what is required of him.
If charity is the first fruit amongst the numerous fruits of the Spirit (Gal.5: 22-23), and charity has a long program which the apostle Paul mentioned in (1 Cor. 13), and till now he has not comprehended the depths of this charity, and has not completed its requirements, what then would he say about the rest of the fruits of the Spirit of which he possesses nothing?!
He rather remembers the word of the Lord: [when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, "we are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do"] (Luke 17:10). He says: "Truly I have not yet attained the degree of these unprofitable servants".
24. The humble is also humble as regards knowledge and understanding:
He places in front of himself the saying of the Bible: "Do not be wise in your own eyes", "And lean not on your own understanding" (Prov. 3: 7,5). He keeps away from the knowledge that puffs (1 Cor. 8:1). Let him remember the saying of saint Isaac: "he who glorifies in knowledge, falls into doctrinal divergence and heresy". Arius, Nestorius, and Eutache have fallen into it, and they all were self-conceited in their knowledge and their positions, and self-confident in the depth of their knowledge.
25. The humble is not obstinate, holding on his opinion:
Some people have an intellectual haughtiness, a magnificence in holding on oneself's opinion and persisting in it, whatever dislocated or false it is, not accepting contradiction or even discussion! Such a person would become angry if any fault was attributed to his ideas, he would become violent and speak harshly, and may be insulting, as if his thoughts possessed such a plausibility that would raise him over discussion or analysis.
But it is rather easy to come to an understanding with the humble. He accepts the other opinion whatever opposing it is to him. He accepts conversation and discussion with goodness of heart.
26. The humble person likes discipleship, and he accepts instruction and reproach:
He absolutely does not see that he has attained a degree of knowledge that does not accept augmentation. But he constantly wants to know and to learn more. He lives all his life as a pupil learning from books, from people, from nature, and from events....... He does not think that he has attained a degree of knowledge which makes him constantly give and not take.
In his humility, he accepts every opinion with humility, if it is sound. He thanks for it, and confesses that he has profited. If the opinion is false, he does not hurt its author, but he rather calmly and humbly discusses with him.
27. The humble person is always far away from anger and irritated nerves:
As saint Dorotheus said about that: "The humble person does not get angry at anybody, and does not anger anybody."
Nobody makes him angry, because he constantly brings the blames upon himself in everything. And he does not anger anybody, because he asks for the benediction of everybody, and because he believes in his depths, that everybody is better than himself.
Thus we see that humility is always connected with calmness and meekness.
Truly, not every calm person is humble, but every humble person must necessarily be calm, and be meek and good-hearted.
28. The humble is naturally easy in his dealing with others, and he is simple in his treatment.
He does not continually suppose that he is right, and that whoever opposes him is wrong. He has no objection to give up his opinion, if it is proved that to be wrong. He rather thanks with true love, the person who has drawn his attention that this is wrong.
He does not interrupt the other person who discusses with him. He does not let him be silent in order to speak himself. He does ridicule the opinions that are opposed to his opinions. He does not attempt to break another. But rather he would gently prove to him the falseness of his thought without hurting his feelings or harming him. Thus did saint Didymus the blind manager of the ecclesiastical college in the time of saint Abba Athanasius, and he was able in his debates with the idolater philosophers to gain many of them to Christianity, and they all loved him.
29. Also the humble's heart is not exalted whatever he grows in spirit and in virtue:
and whatever spiritual gifts he obtains. But rather he continually believes that all the spiritual life which he has, is the fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit in him, the fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit with him, and that he does not deserve it; and that without God he can do nothing (John 15:5); he must then thank and not glorify.
The humble knows that if he boasts of anything, grace will leave him, so that he may feel his weekness, and humble himself before God, and remember always the word of the Bible:
"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov. 16:18).
He thus remembers that he is like others: "a man with a nature like ours" (James 5:17); and that he is not above falling, that he is not unerring, "For she cast down many wounded, and all who were slain by her were strong men" (Prov. 7:26).
30. That is why he does not lose his watchfulness as regards all sins:
He does not say about any sin that it is from the kind that combats the beginners, and not those who are grown up in spirit! and that he is greater than the level of such wars, or that he has trodden Satan under his feet!
But rather, in all satanic warfare, he asks for the help of God, praying forcefully, whatever simple the war seems to be, because he does not lean at all upon his own power, nor upon his previous victories.
31. The humble person has no objection to taking counsel:
He who takes counsel, feels that others have the knowledge that he lacks; he absolutely does not think that he does not need an opinion or a solution from others, as the proud do. But rather he asks for counsel and acts according to the good counsel, being confident that whatever knowledge and experience he has, there are those who know more than himself in certain things.
And even if he does not ask for counsel, and somebody who has an opinion voluntarily comes to him without having been asked, he takes what is profitable in that opinion, whatever smaller than himself or less than himself is the author of the opinion.
32. Among the qualities of the humble, there are obedience and respect of those that are greater than himself:
whether that great person is older than himself, or is greater in his position, or greater than himself in his spiritual stature or in his social relations.
Generally the humble does not count anybody small. He treats everybody gently, even the small ones and the servants, and with that he lifts up their morale, and makes them feel that their souls are dignified in his eyes.
This article remains insufficient to treat all the means of humility. To another coming edition, if the grace of the Lord wills and we are alive.
H.H.Pope Shenouda III that appeared in Watany weekly newspaper during the period
from July 9, 2000 to September 24, 2000
LIFE OF HUMILITY
AND
MEEKNESS
8
BY HIS HOLINESS AMBA SHENOUDA III,
POPE AND PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA
AND
THE APOSTOLIC SEE OF ALL THE PREDICATION OF
SAINT MARK
Translated from "WATANY" newspaper 27 August 2000
MEANS AND SIGNS
OF
HUMILITY
(B)
We spoke in the last edition about seventeen means and signs of humility; and we want to-day to complete our meditations about this subject.
18. The humble must run away from magnificence and all its manifestations and all its sources:
He must run away from the love of principality and leadership, from the love of domination and power, from the love of greatness and superiority over the others, and from the love of advancement over the others, because all these lead to perdition. Our Lord has forbidden them for us when He said to his saint apostles:
"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Matt. 20: 25-28).
19. If somebody is placed in a great position, let him act in it in simplicity and humility, and not be haughty over others.
How beautiful is it for thim to forget his position, and to deal with people with charity, in such a way that his heart does not become upraised, and that he does not proudly deal with others, as if they were inferior to him or less than him, and that he does not despise anybody, and that he does not use his power to subdue others.
He does not treat them in the same manner as Haman who requested a certain respect from Mordecai (Esther 3: 5-6); but rather he treats people like David, who mixed with people in love, although he was the leader of king Saul's army, "But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them" (1 Sam. 18:16).
The humble man treats his subordinates as a comrade and a friend, and he makes them feel his love.
Our Lord Jesus Christ called his disciples brothers. He said to them: "No longer do I call you servants........ but I have called you friends" (John 15:15). And it was said of Him that "in all things He had to be made like His brethern" (Heb. 2:17).
20. The humble tolerates dignity, and his heart is not raised because of it:
Whatever dignity he obtains, he does not forget that he is a man, and that he is dust and ashes; but on the contrary, he humiliates himself more, in order to establish an equilibrium between his interior and his exterior. If he attains an excellent position, or if he obtains fame or riches or power, let him remember the words of the great saint Antonius: "Supporting dignity is more difficult than supporting affront". As for him whose heart is raised up, he makes us remember the words of the poet:
"When my friend became one of the rich people,
I became certain that I had lost my friend".
21. The humble constantly tries to take the lowest place according to the Lord's command in (Luke 14: 7-10).
How beautiful is the saying of the "spiritual oldman" (St. Saba) about that subject: "Wherever you go, be the smaller of your brothers and their servant". Not only that you do not exalt yourself over them, but that you become the smallest of them and their servant.
The humble gives to everybody the preference to himself according to the saying of the apostle: "in honor giving preference to one another" (Rom. 12:10). Such as the Lord inclined himself and washed his disciples' feet, in like manner he will be ready to incline himself and serve everybody, whatever smaller than he they are.
Likewise we see that the priests and the teachers in our Church call themselves servants:
We mention here the prayer which saint Augustin prayed for his people saying: "I ask you, Lord, for my masters your servants". He said about them that they are his masters, although they were his sons and his pastorate.
We want to use the expression "servants" not simply as an expression or as a surname, but that its author uses it in the fullness of its significance and meaning.
22. The humble places in front of himself the virtue of the saints and its elevation, and so all his good deeds become small in his eyes.
If he is tempted about a virtue in which he has excelled, he remembers the level which the saints attained specially in that virtue, and he compares himself to them. Then he will see that he is nothing, and his soul becomes small in his eyes in all the good deeds which he had done. But the danger lies in comparing himself to the beginners or to those who have fallen down or to the sinners, and then he would see that he is better than them, such as that pharisee did when he stood in the temple and prayed saying: "God, I thank You that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector" (Luke 18:11).
23. The humble places in front of himself the perfection that is required of him, and then he sees that he has not yet attained anything:
He remembers the word of the Lord: "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). He sees the distance between himself and this required perfection, and then his heart becomes humble and he feels that he is still wanting in the balances: "Surely men of low degree are a vapor, men of high degree are a lie; if they are weighed on the scales, they are altogether lighter than vapor" (Ps. 62:9), and he repeates the same expressions by which Belteshazzar was described: "you have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting" (Dan. 5:27). In that manner his heart will be humiliated if he remembers what is required of him.
If charity is the first fruit amongst the numerous fruits of the Spirit (Gal.5: 22-23), and charity has a long program which the apostle Paul mentioned in (1 Cor. 13), and till now he has not comprehended the depths of this charity, and has not completed its requirements, what then would he say about the rest of the fruits of the Spirit of which he possesses nothing?!
He rather remembers the word of the Lord: [when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, "we are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do"] (Luke 17:10). He says: "Truly I have not yet attained the degree of these unprofitable servants".
24. The humble is also humble as regards knowledge and understanding:
He places in front of himself the saying of the Bible: "Do not be wise in your own eyes", "And lean not on your own understanding" (Prov. 3: 7,5). He keeps away from the knowledge that puffs (1 Cor. 8:1). Let him remember the saying of saint Isaac: "he who glorifies in knowledge, falls into doctrinal divergence and heresy". Arius, Nestorius, and Eutache have fallen into it, and they all were self-conceited in their knowledge and their positions, and self-confident in the depth of their knowledge.
25. The humble is not obstinate, holding on his opinion:
Some people have an intellectual haughtiness, a magnificence in holding on oneself's opinion and persisting in it, whatever dislocated or false it is, not accepting contradiction or even discussion! Such a person would become angry if any fault was attributed to his ideas, he would become violent and speak harshly, and may be insulting, as if his thoughts possessed such a plausibility that would raise him over discussion or analysis.
But it is rather easy to come to an understanding with the humble. He accepts the other opinion whatever opposing it is to him. He accepts conversation and discussion with goodness of heart.
26. The humble person likes discipleship, and he accepts instruction and reproach:
He absolutely does not see that he has attained a degree of knowledge that does not accept augmentation. But he constantly wants to know and to learn more. He lives all his life as a pupil learning from books, from people, from nature, and from events....... He does not think that he has attained a degree of knowledge which makes him constantly give and not take.
In his humility, he accepts every opinion with humility, if it is sound. He thanks for it, and confesses that he has profited. If the opinion is false, he does not hurt its author, but he rather calmly and humbly discusses with him.
27. The humble person is always far away from anger and irritated nerves:
As saint Dorotheus said about that: "The humble person does not get angry at anybody, and does not anger anybody."
Nobody makes him angry, because he constantly brings the blames upon himself in everything. And he does not anger anybody, because he asks for the benediction of everybody, and because he believes in his depths, that everybody is better than himself.
Thus we see that humility is always connected with calmness and meekness.
Truly, not every calm person is humble, but every humble person must necessarily be calm, and be meek and good-hearted.
28. The humble is naturally easy in his dealing with others, and he is simple in his treatment.
He does not continually suppose that he is right, and that whoever opposes him is wrong. He has no objection to give up his opinion, if it is proved that to be wrong. He rather thanks with true love, the person who has drawn his attention that this is wrong.
He does not interrupt the other person who discusses with him. He does not let him be silent in order to speak himself. He does ridicule the opinions that are opposed to his opinions. He does not attempt to break another. But rather he would gently prove to him the falseness of his thought without hurting his feelings or harming him. Thus did saint Didymus the blind manager of the ecclesiastical college in the time of saint Abba Athanasius, and he was able in his debates with the idolater philosophers to gain many of them to Christianity, and they all loved him.
29. Also the humble's heart is not exalted whatever he grows in spirit and in virtue:
and whatever spiritual gifts he obtains. But rather he continually believes that all the spiritual life which he has, is the fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit in him, the fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit with him, and that he does not deserve it; and that without God he can do nothing (John 15:5); he must then thank and not glorify.
The humble knows that if he boasts of anything, grace will leave him, so that he may feel his weekness, and humble himself before God, and remember always the word of the Bible:
"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov. 16:18).
He thus remembers that he is like others: "a man with a nature like ours" (James 5:17); and that he is not above falling, that he is not unerring, "For she cast down many wounded, and all who were slain by her were strong men" (Prov. 7:26).
30. That is why he does not lose his watchfulness as regards all sins:
He does not say about any sin that it is from the kind that combats the beginners, and not those who are grown up in spirit! and that he is greater than the level of such wars, or that he has trodden Satan under his feet!
But rather, in all satanic warfare, he asks for the help of God, praying forcefully, whatever simple the war seems to be, because he does not lean at all upon his own power, nor upon his previous victories.
31. The humble person has no objection to taking counsel:
He who takes counsel, feels that others have the knowledge that he lacks; he absolutely does not think that he does not need an opinion or a solution from others, as the proud do. But rather he asks for counsel and acts according to the good counsel, being confident that whatever knowledge and experience he has, there are those who know more than himself in certain things.
And even if he does not ask for counsel, and somebody who has an opinion voluntarily comes to him without having been asked, he takes what is profitable in that opinion, whatever smaller than himself or less than himself is the author of the opinion.
32. Among the qualities of the humble, there are obedience and respect of those that are greater than himself:
whether that great person is older than himself, or is greater in his position, or greater than himself in his spiritual stature or in his social relations.
Generally the humble does not count anybody small. He treats everybody gently, even the small ones and the servants, and with that he lifts up their morale, and makes them feel that their souls are dignified in his eyes.
This article remains insufficient to treat all the means of humility. To another coming edition, if the grace of the Lord wills and we are alive.
PART 7
LIFE OF HUMILITY
AND
MEEKNESS
7
BY HIS HOLINESS AMBA SHENOUDA III,
POPE AND PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA
AND
THE APOSTOLIC SEE OF ALL THE PREDICATION OF
SAINT MARK
Translated from "WATANY" newspaper August 20, 2000
MEANS AND SIGNS
OF
HUMILITY
(A)
We would like now to mention a vast and summarised program of training for humility, and we shall return later to the details of these points which we shall mention.
1. Since haughtiness resides in relying upon oneself and glorifying oneself, humility resides in self-denial.
The exercises for self-denial are very numerous, but it is not now the time to speak about them. Our Lord has placed self-denial at the forefront of the conditions of discipleship to Him. He said: "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Matt. 16:24). There is no doubt that it is through self-denial that man arrives at humility, because he who denies himself, can never seek glory or greatness for himself.
2. Also: A humble man who denies himself, does not defend himself.
He does not justify himself in anything as regards the things which concern him alone. He silently accepts what is said of him, like what did our Lord the Christ, glory be to Him, when He did not defend himself in front of Pilate or Herod. Likewise the just Joseph did not defend himself (Gen.39). There are numerous stories which we leave to be a special subject. The humble does not make any exceptions from this rule of not defending oneself, except when it is for the sake of others.
3. The humble constantly and truly, and with conviction reproaches himself , whether in himself or in front of people.
Once the Pope Theophilus visited the mountain of Nitria which was inhabited by a number of solitary hermits. He asked the father of the mountain about the virtues which they had brought to perfection. The latter then replied: "Believe me, my father, there is nothing better than that a man should return the reproach to himself in everything". Verily reproaching oneself is the virtue of the humble.
4. Reprimanding oneself leads to contrition:
It leads to a contrite heart in the interior, a contrite spirit because of his profound awareness of his wrongdoings which are hidden to people, but are not hidden to himself. This internal contrition keeps him afar from all the manifestations of outside greatness, and at the same time it brings him near to God, as the psalm says: "The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit" (Ps. 34:18); and also: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, these, O God, You will not despise" (Ps. 51:17).
5. One of the symptoms of contrition is the feeling of being unworthy:
as the lost son said when he was going to his father: "I have sinned .... and am no longer worthy to be called your son" (Luke 15:21); and as the centurion said to the Lord: "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof" (Matt. 8:8); and as John the Baptist said about the Lord Christ: "whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose" (John 1:27).
Thus the humble feels that he is unworthy of all the boons of God to him, and that he is unworthy of the honor which he gets from people, because he knows himself!!
6. In his feeling of unworthiness, he lives the life of perpetual thankfulness:
He thanks for everything, because he is convinced in his interior that he deserves nothing......and for this reason all that he obtains from God, is a blessing, whatever little it is; because he knows that he is also unworthy even of that little.
He thanks also for every kind of treatment from people. If they treat him with honor, he will thank them because they have treated him in a way of which he is unworthy. If they are unjust toward him, or if they offend him, he thanks because he receives on earth the retribution for his sins!
7. The true humble man who is aware of his sins, accepts all that arrives to him
and he says to himself: "If God treated me according to my sins, I would not be deserving to live. He sees that all the insults and the griefs which he meets, are much less than he deserves, and he accepts them with thankfulness.....
An example of this is the prophet and king David. When Schimei, son of Guerah insulted him in a painful manner, he refused that his followers would punish him, and said: "the Lord has said to him, Curse David" (2 Sam. 16:10). He considered what happened to be a natural consequence of his previous sins.
8. The humble in his contrition, constantly places his sin in front of him.
It mortifies him inwardly, and fills his eyes with tears, and adds to his contrition, and reminds him of his weekness. He never forgets his sins, although they have been forgiven and God has forgotten them for him! as David wept for his sins after they were forgiven, and said in the psalm 51: "my sin is always before me" (Ps. 51:3); and as the apostle Paul mentionned his sins and said: "For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God" (1 Cor. 15:9).
9. The humble, whatever his position has become high, constantly feels that he is lacking and negligent, and that he has not yet arrived to what he should do!
The apostle saint Paul who ascended to the third heaven (1 Cor. 12:2), who laboured more than all the apostles (1 Cor. 15:10), said: "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected, but I press on, that I may lay hold of ......... " (Philippians 3:12), that one for whom God feared lest he become exalted above measure because of the abundance of the revelations (2 Cor. 12:7).
The great saint Arsenius who spent all the night in prayer, and who was more than everybody, a man of solitude and silence, and whose eyelashes were falling down because of his much weeping, and whose benediction was asked by the saints, and to whom the Pope Theophilus came to ask for a useful word, ... that Arsenius did not feel that he had already begun the monachial road, but prayed saying: "Give me, O Lord, to begin"!
10. The humble person does not speak about himself in a way that brings praise to him.
It would be unreasonable to speak about situations which bring praise to himself whom he constantly reproaches and whose lackings he knows! The pharisee did not justify himself before God when he stood in the temple speaking about his virtues in his prayer to God! (Luke 18:12).
That is why I wonder when some people invite a person who has recently repented, to stand on the ambon of a church or a society, in order to tell the people about his experiences, so that they may spiritually profit from them.......! and so he stands up and speaks things about which he is praised!
11. If the conversation leads to an opportunity for being an example, the humble person will not make himself an example for others.
He says to himself: "Who am I to become an example for others?! I who fell in such and such failures!" If it is an example for repentance and return to God, ... I have not yet repented, and still I "have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting" (Dan. 5:27), and I fall every day.
12. The humble person is aware of the futility and danger of pride, and of the futility of vain glory.
What is the value of praise that comes from people?! What is its vanity and its profit! Rather how much is its harm which ruins the soul!.... All the glories of the world are vain and futile! "all is vanity and grasping for the wind" (Eccl. 1:14). Nothing from the glories is neither stable, nor perpetual, nor profitable. Nothing from it accompanies him in his eternity, or intercedes for him before God........
It is the small soul who rejoices about the admiration and praise of people.
As much as the soul becomes greater and returns to her divine image, she is absolutely not bewildered by anything from the glories of the world and from the praise of people.....especially when the words of people are the contrary of what the person knows about himself, and the contrary of what he feels inside.
13. For this reason, the humble person avoids the love of praise and dignity.
He does not desire them, and he does search for them. If praise comes to him, he does not let it descend from his ears to his heart. Inside himself he does not rejoice for it, rather he is completely aware that he is unworthy of it........ and that is why he does not believe it, or at least, he is not affected by it, whatever true it is.......
Perhaps he would make this praise, an opportunity to reproach himself, and he says in himself: "It may be that I have become an hypocrite to the point where I appear to people in a different form than my reality!
14. One of the qualities of the humble person is that he attributes all his good deeds to the grace of God.
He attributes any good thing that he does, to the favour of God. He says with the apostle saint Paul: "yet not I, but the grace of God which was in me" (1 Cor. 15:10). He remembers the word of the Lord: "without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Thus he transfers the conversation about praise, to God and to His grace and His work. If he is battled inside that he has done something, he would say to himself: "by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10).
15. As much as possible he hides his justice from people:
He trains himself to the practice of virtue, in secret as much as he can. He cares for the inner virtues more than for the apparent ones. He places before him the word of the Lord about those who want to show their good deeds to people: "Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward" (Matt. 6:5).
16. He rather tries to hide his justice from himself:
according to the word of the Lord: "do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing" (Matt. 6:3).
For example he gives without counting what he gives.......and he tries to forget all the good that he has done, so that it would not be apparent before him, and so that it would not be in his thought or his memory, and so that he would not be tempting himself. He does not consider that good as being from his own power, but rather that God has done this good by means of him, and He could have done it by means of any other than him, and in a better manner.......and he remembers his lackings in doing that good deed, and reproaches himself about them.
17. The humble person praises others and not himself:
In every successful action which he has undertaken, he mentions the part of those who have co-operated with him for the success of the work, and the importance of what the others have done, praising what they did, and forgetting himself.
Above all, he mentions the hand of God in the success of the work. Thus he hides himself so that God appears, and so that others than himself show Him.
In all his actions, he loves good for itself, not for its reward, or for the people's appreciation of him.
So, this article in no more enough to cite all the means for humility. Till another meeting in the next issue, if the grace of God wills, and we live.
AND
MEEKNESS
7
BY HIS HOLINESS AMBA SHENOUDA III,
POPE AND PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA
AND
THE APOSTOLIC SEE OF ALL THE PREDICATION OF
SAINT MARK
Translated from "WATANY" newspaper August 20, 2000
MEANS AND SIGNS
OF
HUMILITY
(A)
We would like now to mention a vast and summarised program of training for humility, and we shall return later to the details of these points which we shall mention.
1. Since haughtiness resides in relying upon oneself and glorifying oneself, humility resides in self-denial.
The exercises for self-denial are very numerous, but it is not now the time to speak about them. Our Lord has placed self-denial at the forefront of the conditions of discipleship to Him. He said: "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Matt. 16:24). There is no doubt that it is through self-denial that man arrives at humility, because he who denies himself, can never seek glory or greatness for himself.
2. Also: A humble man who denies himself, does not defend himself.
He does not justify himself in anything as regards the things which concern him alone. He silently accepts what is said of him, like what did our Lord the Christ, glory be to Him, when He did not defend himself in front of Pilate or Herod. Likewise the just Joseph did not defend himself (Gen.39). There are numerous stories which we leave to be a special subject. The humble does not make any exceptions from this rule of not defending oneself, except when it is for the sake of others.
3. The humble constantly and truly, and with conviction reproaches himself , whether in himself or in front of people.
Once the Pope Theophilus visited the mountain of Nitria which was inhabited by a number of solitary hermits. He asked the father of the mountain about the virtues which they had brought to perfection. The latter then replied: "Believe me, my father, there is nothing better than that a man should return the reproach to himself in everything". Verily reproaching oneself is the virtue of the humble.
4. Reprimanding oneself leads to contrition:
It leads to a contrite heart in the interior, a contrite spirit because of his profound awareness of his wrongdoings which are hidden to people, but are not hidden to himself. This internal contrition keeps him afar from all the manifestations of outside greatness, and at the same time it brings him near to God, as the psalm says: "The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit" (Ps. 34:18); and also: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, these, O God, You will not despise" (Ps. 51:17).
5. One of the symptoms of contrition is the feeling of being unworthy:
as the lost son said when he was going to his father: "I have sinned .... and am no longer worthy to be called your son" (Luke 15:21); and as the centurion said to the Lord: "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof" (Matt. 8:8); and as John the Baptist said about the Lord Christ: "whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose" (John 1:27).
Thus the humble feels that he is unworthy of all the boons of God to him, and that he is unworthy of the honor which he gets from people, because he knows himself!!
6. In his feeling of unworthiness, he lives the life of perpetual thankfulness:
He thanks for everything, because he is convinced in his interior that he deserves nothing......and for this reason all that he obtains from God, is a blessing, whatever little it is; because he knows that he is also unworthy even of that little.
He thanks also for every kind of treatment from people. If they treat him with honor, he will thank them because they have treated him in a way of which he is unworthy. If they are unjust toward him, or if they offend him, he thanks because he receives on earth the retribution for his sins!
7. The true humble man who is aware of his sins, accepts all that arrives to him
and he says to himself: "If God treated me according to my sins, I would not be deserving to live. He sees that all the insults and the griefs which he meets, are much less than he deserves, and he accepts them with thankfulness.....
An example of this is the prophet and king David. When Schimei, son of Guerah insulted him in a painful manner, he refused that his followers would punish him, and said: "the Lord has said to him, Curse David" (2 Sam. 16:10). He considered what happened to be a natural consequence of his previous sins.
8. The humble in his contrition, constantly places his sin in front of him.
It mortifies him inwardly, and fills his eyes with tears, and adds to his contrition, and reminds him of his weekness. He never forgets his sins, although they have been forgiven and God has forgotten them for him! as David wept for his sins after they were forgiven, and said in the psalm 51: "my sin is always before me" (Ps. 51:3); and as the apostle Paul mentionned his sins and said: "For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God" (1 Cor. 15:9).
9. The humble, whatever his position has become high, constantly feels that he is lacking and negligent, and that he has not yet arrived to what he should do!
The apostle saint Paul who ascended to the third heaven (1 Cor. 12:2), who laboured more than all the apostles (1 Cor. 15:10), said: "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected, but I press on, that I may lay hold of ......... " (Philippians 3:12), that one for whom God feared lest he become exalted above measure because of the abundance of the revelations (2 Cor. 12:7).
The great saint Arsenius who spent all the night in prayer, and who was more than everybody, a man of solitude and silence, and whose eyelashes were falling down because of his much weeping, and whose benediction was asked by the saints, and to whom the Pope Theophilus came to ask for a useful word, ... that Arsenius did not feel that he had already begun the monachial road, but prayed saying: "Give me, O Lord, to begin"!
10. The humble person does not speak about himself in a way that brings praise to him.
It would be unreasonable to speak about situations which bring praise to himself whom he constantly reproaches and whose lackings he knows! The pharisee did not justify himself before God when he stood in the temple speaking about his virtues in his prayer to God! (Luke 18:12).
That is why I wonder when some people invite a person who has recently repented, to stand on the ambon of a church or a society, in order to tell the people about his experiences, so that they may spiritually profit from them.......! and so he stands up and speaks things about which he is praised!
11. If the conversation leads to an opportunity for being an example, the humble person will not make himself an example for others.
He says to himself: "Who am I to become an example for others?! I who fell in such and such failures!" If it is an example for repentance and return to God, ... I have not yet repented, and still I "have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting" (Dan. 5:27), and I fall every day.
12. The humble person is aware of the futility and danger of pride, and of the futility of vain glory.
What is the value of praise that comes from people?! What is its vanity and its profit! Rather how much is its harm which ruins the soul!.... All the glories of the world are vain and futile! "all is vanity and grasping for the wind" (Eccl. 1:14). Nothing from the glories is neither stable, nor perpetual, nor profitable. Nothing from it accompanies him in his eternity, or intercedes for him before God........
It is the small soul who rejoices about the admiration and praise of people.
As much as the soul becomes greater and returns to her divine image, she is absolutely not bewildered by anything from the glories of the world and from the praise of people.....especially when the words of people are the contrary of what the person knows about himself, and the contrary of what he feels inside.
13. For this reason, the humble person avoids the love of praise and dignity.
He does not desire them, and he does search for them. If praise comes to him, he does not let it descend from his ears to his heart. Inside himself he does not rejoice for it, rather he is completely aware that he is unworthy of it........ and that is why he does not believe it, or at least, he is not affected by it, whatever true it is.......
Perhaps he would make this praise, an opportunity to reproach himself, and he says in himself: "It may be that I have become an hypocrite to the point where I appear to people in a different form than my reality!
14. One of the qualities of the humble person is that he attributes all his good deeds to the grace of God.
He attributes any good thing that he does, to the favour of God. He says with the apostle saint Paul: "yet not I, but the grace of God which was in me" (1 Cor. 15:10). He remembers the word of the Lord: "without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Thus he transfers the conversation about praise, to God and to His grace and His work. If he is battled inside that he has done something, he would say to himself: "by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10).
15. As much as possible he hides his justice from people:
He trains himself to the practice of virtue, in secret as much as he can. He cares for the inner virtues more than for the apparent ones. He places before him the word of the Lord about those who want to show their good deeds to people: "Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward" (Matt. 6:5).
16. He rather tries to hide his justice from himself:
according to the word of the Lord: "do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing" (Matt. 6:3).
For example he gives without counting what he gives.......and he tries to forget all the good that he has done, so that it would not be apparent before him, and so that it would not be in his thought or his memory, and so that he would not be tempting himself. He does not consider that good as being from his own power, but rather that God has done this good by means of him, and He could have done it by means of any other than him, and in a better manner.......and he remembers his lackings in doing that good deed, and reproaches himself about them.
17. The humble person praises others and not himself:
In every successful action which he has undertaken, he mentions the part of those who have co-operated with him for the success of the work, and the importance of what the others have done, praising what they did, and forgetting himself.
Above all, he mentions the hand of God in the success of the work. Thus he hides himself so that God appears, and so that others than himself show Him.
In all his actions, he loves good for itself, not for its reward, or for the people's appreciation of him.
So, this article in no more enough to cite all the means for humility. Till another meeting in the next issue, if the grace of God wills, and we live.
Saturday, 7 August 2010
PART 6
LIFE OF HUMILITY
AND
MEEKNESS
6
BY HIS HOLINESS AMBA SHENOUDA III,
POPE AND PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA
AND
THE APOSTOLIC SEE OF ALL THE PREDICATION OF
SAINT MARK
Translated from "WATANY" newspaper August 13, 2000
GOD'S HUMILITY
(B)
THE SON'S HUMILITY
&
THE HOLY SPIRIT'S
HUMILITY
In the last issue, we spoke in a general way, about the humility of God, and of the humility of Fod the Father. To-day we want to talk to you about the humility of the Son and the humility of the Holy Spirit.
THE HUMILITY
OF THE SON
(1) The first thing which we mention in his humility, is his Incarnation:
In this, the apostle saint Paul says about the Christ our Lord: "who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself ...... " (Philippians 2: 6-8). That is He made himself of no reputation from all the manifestations of majesty and honor that are suitable to his divinity, taking the image of the bondservant. What humility more than that could possibly exist?!
The divine Providence resides in this humility. So long as the first sin which entered the world was pride, whether as regards Satan or man, thus it was fitting the Saviour to conquer it by humulity.
The Incarnation was, in this manner, the greatest action of humility, with which the Lord shamed that pride by which Satan deceived our first parents, that they would become like God (Ex. 3:5). In response to man becoming like God, God became in appearance like a man through his humility.
(2) It is also because of the humility of God, that he was born in a manger of cows
in a despicable place, from a poor mother who was betrothed to a poor carpentar, and from a village that was : "the least among the rulers of Judah", Bethlehem (Matt. 2: 5-6). He was not ashamed to be called Nazarethan, while it was said in wonder: "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46).
(3) He lived in his humility, far away from manifestations and surnames.
He accepted to run away toEgypt from the sword of Herod , while it was possible for him to annihilate Herod. He lived thirty years far away from lights.
Although he is the Person of wisdom and knowledge, "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2:3), He accepted that it was said of him: "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men" (Luke 2:52).
During all the period of his predication, he lived and had "nowhere to lay His head" (Luke 9:58), without any official post in society, followed by simple disciples, the majority of which were fishermen and ignorant. When he went to Jerusalem, he went "sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey" (Matt. 21:5).
(4) He also lived submitting himself to the Law, and he incited to its keeping.
Is he not the One who said: "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled" (Matt. 5: 17-18).
In his submission to the Law, He was circumcised in the eightth day (Luke 2:21).
In the fortieth day from his birthday, [they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord"), and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, "A pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons"] (Luke 2: 22-23).
And according to the law, he did not begin his pastoral service, until he was in the thirtieth year of his life, in conformity to the mature age which is supposed to be in any man, although when he was twelve years of age, he was found in the temple "sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers" (Luke 2:46-47).
(5) Because of his humility, he presented himself to be baptised by John the Baptist.
This was the baptism of repentance. He was not in need of it because he is the Holy One (Luke 1:35), who in his Incarnation, resembled us in everything except sin. He accepted baptism from one of his servants, I mean John the Baptist who tried to excuse himself from that, saying to him: "I need to be baptised by You, and are You coming to me? But Jesus answered and said (humbly) to Him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness" (Matt. 3: 14-15), meaning the righteousness of the law, to which he submitted himself out of humility.
(6) Out of his humility, he permitted Satan to tempt him!
It was not only one temptation, but three times on the mountain. The profoundness of his humility and his making himself of no reputation, reached such a point that Satan "took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me" (Matt. 4: 8-9). Oh the audaciousness and the insolence of the malignant in his exploitation of the humility of the Lord! It is for that reason that the Lord, after having replied to Satan by the Scriptures, rebuked him saying: "Away with you, Satan ............. Then the devil left Him" (Matt. 4:10-11). But saint Luke says about that: "Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time" (Luke 4:13), meaning that Satan returned after that!
(7) The Only Son, the Logos, lived the life of obedience, in His humility:
The apostle saint Paul said "He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8). He said to his disciples about Himself: "I have food to eat of which you do not know ......... My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to finish His work" (John 4: 22,24). And He said to the Jews: "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner" (John 5:19). And He said to the Father: "nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done" (Luke 22:42); "nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will" (Matt 26:39). And He said: "I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me" (John 5:30).
His obedience was not only to the heavenly Father, but also to His mother Mary.
It was said regarding his relation to the Virgin and to Joseph the carpentar, during his childhood: "Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them" (Luke 2:51). That is a lesson for us from Him that "the angels ministered to Him" (Mark 1:13), (1 Peter 3:22).
(8) He used to sit with publicans and sinners, out of humulilty:
The scribes and the pharisees despised these publicans, and scorned to mingle with them. But the Lord chose one of them (Matthew) to become his disciple. On this occasion, he sat at table in a feast which the publicans prepared; and when the pharisees criticised Him (Matt. 9: 911), the Lord in his humility replied to them: "I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance (Matt. 9:13).
He also called Zacchaeus in the same manner, and entered his house.
It is out of his humility that he sat down in the houses of the pharisees, his enemies, such as his visit to the house of Simeon the pharisee; and His permission to the woman who was a sinner, to touch Him and wipe his feet with the hair of her head, the thing which upset that pharisee (Luke 7).
(9) Out of the humility of the Lord, he marched in simplicity with everybody.
He marched in simplicity with the children, with the women, and with ordinary people, speaking plainly to them, without haughtiness or contemptuousness, as a human being.
On many occasions He called himself the Son of Man. It was said about him in his humility: "He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyhone hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench"(Matt. 12: 19-20).
(10) It is out of his humility that He did not do the miracles for pomp or in order that the people would look astonishingly,
such as his rejection of transforming stones into bread, and his refusal to throw himself down the pinnacle of the temple so that the angels would carry him on their wings (Matt. 4).
When the Jews asked Him for a miracle as a subject for ostentation, He said to them: "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matt. 12:39), thus directing their sights to his death, not to his miracles.
(11) Out of His humility, He glorified his disciples.
He said to the Father about them: "And the glory which You gave me I have given them" (John 17:22). He said rather more than that: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do he will do also, and greater works than these he will do" (John 14:12).
The apostle saint Paul said about them: "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined.............these He also glorified" (Rom 8: 29-30).
He also gave them that his churches and his sanctuaries would be built on their names; that their icons would be portrayed and that candles would be burnt in front of their icons; that hymns and doxologies would be sung for them.
(12) His grace secretly works in people, also out of his humility.
It is their work that shows that the grace of the Lord works in them. Nobody sees the grace. The apostle saint Paul manifested this when he said:
"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (1Cor. 15:10).
(13) He suffered the injustice of the wicked, and silently accepted the offences, also out of his humility.
He was insulted, struck with the palms of the hands, offended, scourged, and injustly accused. He accepted all that, without defending himself, and without returning their iniquity upon them. It was said of Him: "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent" (Is. 53:7). He was crucified between two thieves. "and He was numbered with the transgressors" (Is. 53:12).
(14) In His humility He bore the sins of the world.
"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us" (2 Cor. 5:21). He bore the sins of all the world. "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted" (Is. 53:4); "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Is. 53:6). Thus He was crucified as a doer of iniquity, yet He is the Just, and He accepted to be a sacrifice of sin in front of the Father.
(15) And out of His humility, He has made His crucifixion perceptible in front of all the people, while He did not show His glorious resurrection, but to a few individuals!
This resurrection could have possibly been apparent to all in a dazzling manner that would restore his consideration in front of the Jews. But in his humility He did not do that; and He left to his apostles to announce his resurrection among the doubts which the Jews had raised.
(16) Because of all this, He has invited us to learn humility from him and said:
"learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart" (Matt. 11:29), and thus He made the most important thing that we learn from him is humility. And in his sermon on the mountain, he gave the first blessing to the poor in spirit, then he gave the blessing to the humble.
THE HUMILITY
OF
THE HOLY SPIRIT
Out of the humility of the Holy Spirit, He secretly and hiddenly works everything in the building of the Church, so that His works are called the mysteries of the Church.
The new human being is born of Him in the Baptism. He grants him forgiveness and filiality without manifestation. Likewise in the mystery of Confirmation, He makes his dwelling inside the faithful without manifestation. Likewise He forgives the sins by the mouth of the priest without manifestation. And likewise in the rest of the mysteries.
(18) Out of the humility of the Holy Spirit, He speaks with the mouth of the apostles, and He speaks in the prophets also without manifestation.
As the Lord Christ said to his disciples: "for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you" (Matt. 10:20). Of course what is apparent before people is that the apostles speak. But the work of the Holy Spirit is hidden.
Thus it has been said about the prophecy: "for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21). Nobody sees the work of the Holy Spirit, but they hear the prophecy from a human being.
(19) Likewise the power which the Holy Spirit grants to the servants.
As the Lord Christ said to his saint apostles: "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me" (Acts 1:8). People saw the power of the witness of the apostles. They praised them and they were impressed by them. But the work of the Holy Spirit in them, was hidden and people did not see it.
(20) In humility, The Holy Spirit granted the gifts.
People see the gifts and marvel at them and praise them, while the Holy Bible says about all these gifts: "But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills" (1 Cor. 12:11). The gifted are apparent, but the work of the Spirit is hidden.
(21) Thus the Holy Spirit worked in the Church. The work of the Church was apparent. But all the work of the Holy Spirit was secret and hidden.
Read all History, all the glory of the champions of faith, of the evangelists, of the fathers of monasticism, of the teachers of the church, and rather also of the saints of repentance that it contains, ...... you will see that History glorifies and elevates them, while all the work is due to the Holy Spirit who secretly acted in them, out of his humility.
(22) The Holy Spirit accepts to dwell in our human bodies, because of his humility.
As the apostle says: "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you (1Cor 6:19); and also: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Cor. 3:16). Who are we, the dust and ashes?! What are our bodies, so that the Spirit of God dwells in us, is it not out of his humility?!
(23) It is out of the humility of the Holy Spirit, that he tolerates us
He tolerates us while we "grieve the Holy Spirit of God" (Eph. 4:30), and we "quench the Spirit" (1 Thess. 5:19), and we "resist the Holy Spirit" (Acts 7:51), and rather, by our sins, we refuse the participation with the Holy Spirit!
May God have mercy upon us, and may He regenerate His Spirit in us.
AND
MEEKNESS
6
BY HIS HOLINESS AMBA SHENOUDA III,
POPE AND PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA
AND
THE APOSTOLIC SEE OF ALL THE PREDICATION OF
SAINT MARK
Translated from "WATANY" newspaper August 13, 2000
GOD'S HUMILITY
(B)
THE SON'S HUMILITY
&
THE HOLY SPIRIT'S
HUMILITY
In the last issue, we spoke in a general way, about the humility of God, and of the humility of Fod the Father. To-day we want to talk to you about the humility of the Son and the humility of the Holy Spirit.
THE HUMILITY
OF THE SON
(1) The first thing which we mention in his humility, is his Incarnation:
In this, the apostle saint Paul says about the Christ our Lord: "who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself ...... " (Philippians 2: 6-8). That is He made himself of no reputation from all the manifestations of majesty and honor that are suitable to his divinity, taking the image of the bondservant. What humility more than that could possibly exist?!
The divine Providence resides in this humility. So long as the first sin which entered the world was pride, whether as regards Satan or man, thus it was fitting the Saviour to conquer it by humulity.
The Incarnation was, in this manner, the greatest action of humility, with which the Lord shamed that pride by which Satan deceived our first parents, that they would become like God (Ex. 3:5). In response to man becoming like God, God became in appearance like a man through his humility.
(2) It is also because of the humility of God, that he was born in a manger of cows
in a despicable place, from a poor mother who was betrothed to a poor carpentar, and from a village that was : "the least among the rulers of Judah", Bethlehem (Matt. 2: 5-6). He was not ashamed to be called Nazarethan, while it was said in wonder: "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46).
(3) He lived in his humility, far away from manifestations and surnames.
He accepted to run away toEgypt from the sword of Herod , while it was possible for him to annihilate Herod. He lived thirty years far away from lights.
Although he is the Person of wisdom and knowledge, "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2:3), He accepted that it was said of him: "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men" (Luke 2:52).
During all the period of his predication, he lived and had "nowhere to lay His head" (Luke 9:58), without any official post in society, followed by simple disciples, the majority of which were fishermen and ignorant. When he went to Jerusalem, he went "sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey" (Matt. 21:5).
(4) He also lived submitting himself to the Law, and he incited to its keeping.
Is he not the One who said: "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled" (Matt. 5: 17-18).
In his submission to the Law, He was circumcised in the eightth day (Luke 2:21).
In the fortieth day from his birthday, [they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord"), and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, "A pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons"] (Luke 2: 22-23).
And according to the law, he did not begin his pastoral service, until he was in the thirtieth year of his life, in conformity to the mature age which is supposed to be in any man, although when he was twelve years of age, he was found in the temple "sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers" (Luke 2:46-47).
(5) Because of his humility, he presented himself to be baptised by John the Baptist.
This was the baptism of repentance. He was not in need of it because he is the Holy One (Luke 1:35), who in his Incarnation, resembled us in everything except sin. He accepted baptism from one of his servants, I mean John the Baptist who tried to excuse himself from that, saying to him: "I need to be baptised by You, and are You coming to me? But Jesus answered and said (humbly) to Him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness" (Matt. 3: 14-15), meaning the righteousness of the law, to which he submitted himself out of humility.
(6) Out of his humility, he permitted Satan to tempt him!
It was not only one temptation, but three times on the mountain. The profoundness of his humility and his making himself of no reputation, reached such a point that Satan "took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me" (Matt. 4: 8-9). Oh the audaciousness and the insolence of the malignant in his exploitation of the humility of the Lord! It is for that reason that the Lord, after having replied to Satan by the Scriptures, rebuked him saying: "Away with you, Satan ............. Then the devil left Him" (Matt. 4:10-11). But saint Luke says about that: "Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time" (Luke 4:13), meaning that Satan returned after that!
(7) The Only Son, the Logos, lived the life of obedience, in His humility:
The apostle saint Paul said "He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8). He said to his disciples about Himself: "I have food to eat of which you do not know ......... My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to finish His work" (John 4: 22,24). And He said to the Jews: "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner" (John 5:19). And He said to the Father: "nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done" (Luke 22:42); "nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will" (Matt 26:39). And He said: "I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me" (John 5:30).
His obedience was not only to the heavenly Father, but also to His mother Mary.
It was said regarding his relation to the Virgin and to Joseph the carpentar, during his childhood: "Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them" (Luke 2:51). That is a lesson for us from Him that "the angels ministered to Him" (Mark 1:13), (1 Peter 3:22).
(8) He used to sit with publicans and sinners, out of humulilty:
The scribes and the pharisees despised these publicans, and scorned to mingle with them. But the Lord chose one of them (Matthew) to become his disciple. On this occasion, he sat at table in a feast which the publicans prepared; and when the pharisees criticised Him (Matt. 9: 911), the Lord in his humility replied to them: "I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance (Matt. 9:13).
He also called Zacchaeus in the same manner, and entered his house.
It is out of his humility that he sat down in the houses of the pharisees, his enemies, such as his visit to the house of Simeon the pharisee; and His permission to the woman who was a sinner, to touch Him and wipe his feet with the hair of her head, the thing which upset that pharisee (Luke 7).
(9) Out of the humility of the Lord, he marched in simplicity with everybody.
He marched in simplicity with the children, with the women, and with ordinary people, speaking plainly to them, without haughtiness or contemptuousness, as a human being.
On many occasions He called himself the Son of Man. It was said about him in his humility: "He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyhone hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench"(Matt. 12: 19-20).
(10) It is out of his humility that He did not do the miracles for pomp or in order that the people would look astonishingly,
such as his rejection of transforming stones into bread, and his refusal to throw himself down the pinnacle of the temple so that the angels would carry him on their wings (Matt. 4).
When the Jews asked Him for a miracle as a subject for ostentation, He said to them: "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matt. 12:39), thus directing their sights to his death, not to his miracles.
(11) Out of His humility, He glorified his disciples.
He said to the Father about them: "And the glory which You gave me I have given them" (John 17:22). He said rather more than that: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do he will do also, and greater works than these he will do" (John 14:12).
The apostle saint Paul said about them: "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined.............these He also glorified" (Rom 8: 29-30).
He also gave them that his churches and his sanctuaries would be built on their names; that their icons would be portrayed and that candles would be burnt in front of their icons; that hymns and doxologies would be sung for them.
(12) His grace secretly works in people, also out of his humility.
It is their work that shows that the grace of the Lord works in them. Nobody sees the grace. The apostle saint Paul manifested this when he said:
"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (1Cor. 15:10).
(13) He suffered the injustice of the wicked, and silently accepted the offences, also out of his humility.
He was insulted, struck with the palms of the hands, offended, scourged, and injustly accused. He accepted all that, without defending himself, and without returning their iniquity upon them. It was said of Him: "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent" (Is. 53:7). He was crucified between two thieves. "and He was numbered with the transgressors" (Is. 53:12).
(14) In His humility He bore the sins of the world.
"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us" (2 Cor. 5:21). He bore the sins of all the world. "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted" (Is. 53:4); "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Is. 53:6). Thus He was crucified as a doer of iniquity, yet He is the Just, and He accepted to be a sacrifice of sin in front of the Father.
(15) And out of His humility, He has made His crucifixion perceptible in front of all the people, while He did not show His glorious resurrection, but to a few individuals!
This resurrection could have possibly been apparent to all in a dazzling manner that would restore his consideration in front of the Jews. But in his humility He did not do that; and He left to his apostles to announce his resurrection among the doubts which the Jews had raised.
(16) Because of all this, He has invited us to learn humility from him and said:
"learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart" (Matt. 11:29), and thus He made the most important thing that we learn from him is humility. And in his sermon on the mountain, he gave the first blessing to the poor in spirit, then he gave the blessing to the humble.
THE HUMILITY
OF
THE HOLY SPIRIT
Out of the humility of the Holy Spirit, He secretly and hiddenly works everything in the building of the Church, so that His works are called the mysteries of the Church.
The new human being is born of Him in the Baptism. He grants him forgiveness and filiality without manifestation. Likewise in the mystery of Confirmation, He makes his dwelling inside the faithful without manifestation. Likewise He forgives the sins by the mouth of the priest without manifestation. And likewise in the rest of the mysteries.
(18) Out of the humility of the Holy Spirit, He speaks with the mouth of the apostles, and He speaks in the prophets also without manifestation.
As the Lord Christ said to his disciples: "for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you" (Matt. 10:20). Of course what is apparent before people is that the apostles speak. But the work of the Holy Spirit is hidden.
Thus it has been said about the prophecy: "for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21). Nobody sees the work of the Holy Spirit, but they hear the prophecy from a human being.
(19) Likewise the power which the Holy Spirit grants to the servants.
As the Lord Christ said to his saint apostles: "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me" (Acts 1:8). People saw the power of the witness of the apostles. They praised them and they were impressed by them. But the work of the Holy Spirit in them, was hidden and people did not see it.
(20) In humility, The Holy Spirit granted the gifts.
People see the gifts and marvel at them and praise them, while the Holy Bible says about all these gifts: "But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills" (1 Cor. 12:11). The gifted are apparent, but the work of the Spirit is hidden.
(21) Thus the Holy Spirit worked in the Church. The work of the Church was apparent. But all the work of the Holy Spirit was secret and hidden.
Read all History, all the glory of the champions of faith, of the evangelists, of the fathers of monasticism, of the teachers of the church, and rather also of the saints of repentance that it contains, ...... you will see that History glorifies and elevates them, while all the work is due to the Holy Spirit who secretly acted in them, out of his humility.
(22) The Holy Spirit accepts to dwell in our human bodies, because of his humility.
As the apostle says: "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you (1Cor 6:19); and also: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Cor. 3:16). Who are we, the dust and ashes?! What are our bodies, so that the Spirit of God dwells in us, is it not out of his humility?!
(23) It is out of the humility of the Holy Spirit, that he tolerates us
He tolerates us while we "grieve the Holy Spirit of God" (Eph. 4:30), and we "quench the Spirit" (1 Thess. 5:19), and we "resist the Holy Spirit" (Acts 7:51), and rather, by our sins, we refuse the participation with the Holy Spirit!
May God have mercy upon us, and may He regenerate His Spirit in us.
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