СЛАВА ИСТИННАЯ

Just as earthly wealth is wretchedness in comparison with heavenly wealth, and this life without that is death (“let,” says Christ, “let the dead bury their dead” (Matthew 8:22)), so the glory here in comparison with that is shame and laughter. Let's not chase after her. If those who give it to others are more insignificant than shadows and dreams, then even more so is the glory itself. “The glory of men is like the flower of the grass” (1 Pet. 1:24). And what could be more insignificant than the color of grass? But if earthly glory were long-lasting, what benefit could it bring to the soul? No. It even causes the greatest harm, making people slaves worse than slaves - slaves who obey not one master, but two, three and countless, giving different orders. How much better is it to be free than to be a slave—free from slavery to people, but a slave to the sovereignty of God! Finally, if you want to love glory, love it, but love immortal glory, because it is both more brilliant and more beneficial from it. People tell you to please them at the expense of yourself; but Christ, on the contrary, rewards you a hundredfold for every gift you give, and also adds eternal life to it. What is better, whether to be glorified on earth or in heaven, whether from people or from God, whether to harm oneself or to benefit oneself, whether to be crowned for one day or for endless ages? (8) Paul says: “if only we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him” (Rom. 8:17). Those who, despite such glory ahead of them, harm themselves through laziness and drowsiness, are worthy of countless tears. If there were no Gehenna, then the most unfortunate of all would be those who, having the opportunity to reign and be glorified together with the Son of God, deprive themselves of such great benefits. Truly, if it were necessary to be torn to pieces, and to die a thousand deaths, and to give up a thousand souls and the same number of bodies every day, should not all this be endured for such great glory (9)? If you absolutely desire glory, then seek true glory. What is glory if it brings dishonor? What kind of glory is this if it forces you to seek honor from those below you and has a need for it? Honor consists in enjoying glory from those above. If you absolutely desire glory, then seek rather glory from God. Having loved this one, you will neglect her, you will see how dishonest she is; and until you recognize this one, you will not see how shameful she is, how funny she is. Just as those who are captivated by some evil, ugly and shameless woman, while they have love for her, cannot see her ugliness, because passion darkens reason, so here, while this passion possesses us, we cannot see what this evil is. But how, you say, can we free ourselves from it? Remember those who squandered a lot of property and received no benefit from it; remember the dead, what glory they enjoyed - and it turned out to be fragile, disappeared and dissipated; understand that it is only a name and has nothing substantial in itself. Really, tell me, what is fame? Make some definition. To be, you say, a subject of surprise for everyone? By right or wrong? If not rightfully, then it will not be surprise, but censure, flattery, slander. If by right, then this is impossible, because the people do not have correct judgments, but are surprised by those who please their desires. If you like, look at those who give their property to harlots, horsemen and dancers. But, you say, we are not talking about them, but about honest, just people who can do a lot of good. Indeed, if they wanted to, they would soon do a lot of good; but now they don’t do anything like that. Who now, tell me, praises the honest and just? The opposite of this [is being done]. And what is more disgusting than such a righteous man, if, after doing some good deed, he expects glory from the crowd? He does the same thing as if some excellent painter, painting a portrait of a king, expected praise from inexperienced people. On the other hand, whoever seeks glory from people will soon abandon virtuous deeds. He who expects praise does what others desire, and not what he himself desires. What would I advise you to do? Listen to God, be content with praise from Him, do everything pleasing to Him and do good deeds, and do not cling to anything human. This [addiction to earthly glory] harms fasting, prayer, and almsgiving and makes all our good deeds in vain. Therefore, in order not to tolerate this, we will run away from this passion; Let us keep in mind only one thing - praise from God, approval from Him, glorification from our common Master (10). If you want to know what motives there are to despise human glory, then be filled with high thoughts, laugh at what is visible, grow in the love of true glory, be filled with spiritual thoughts, say to your soul, as Paul said: “Do you not know that we will judge the angels” (1 Cor. 6:3)? And, having aroused her by this, reason with her and say: do you, who judge the Angels, really want to be judged by the unclean and praised, as they praise dancers, actors, hunters and riders who strive for such praise? And you try to be above these cliques, imitate the desert dweller John, find out how he despised the crowd of people and, seeing flatterers, did not pay attention to them. When all the inhabitants of Palestine gathered around him, marveled at him and were amazed, he did not boast of such an honor, but rebelled against them and, addressing the numerous people as if they were a child, struck them with such reproaches: “serpents, brood of vipers” (Matthew 3:7). Although they converged and left cities for him to see this sacred head, nothing softened John - he was so far from glory and free from all pride. And Stefan, seeing that again the same people do not honor him, but are furious and gnashing their teeth, putting themselves above their anger, says: “Stiff-necked ones! people with uncircumcised hearts” (Acts 7:51). And Elijah, in the presence of the army, the king and all the people, said: “How long will you limp on both knees?” (1 Kings 18:21). But we flatter and please everyone, buying themselves their respect with this servile service. As a result of this, everything has changed, we have lost the grace of the first centuries, the works of Christianity have fallen into decay, and everything has been neglected for human glory. So, let us eradicate passion - and then we will fully recognize freedom, we will find a haven and silence. After all, the vain are like those overwhelmed by waves, always trembling, afraid and serving so many masters. And whoever is outside this painful power is like those who have reached the pier and enjoy complete freedom. But this is not the case with the vain man, who, no matter how many people he may know, has just as many masters and is forced to serve everyone. How can we free ourselves from this painful slavery? If we love another glory, the true glory. Just as those who are in love with a beautiful face are usually distracted from this love by another face that is more beautiful than the previous one, so those who are addicted to human glory can be distracted from it by the glory that shines from heaven. Therefore, let us turn our gaze to this last one, recognize it exactly, so that, marveling at its beauty, we may avoid the shame of worldly glory and enjoy many pleasures, constantly being comforted by the glory of heaven (11). You might be interested in: