СЛАВОЛЮБИЕ

If you desire glory and therefore plot intrigues against your neighbor, then you will fully acquire it when, despising this glory, you refrain from deceit. Just as for a money-loving person the acquisition of wealth is connected with loss, so for a glory-loving person the pursuit of fame is connected with disgrace. And if you want, we will consider both separately. Since we are not at all afraid of Gehenna and do not care at all about the Kingdom of Heaven, we will at least look at the consequences of both in real life. Tell me who is worthy of ridicule: is it not the one who seeks too much fame from people? Who is worthy of praise: is it not the one who completely disdains human praise? Consequently, if the love of empty glory is combined with reproach, and if the vain, pursuing glory, cannot hide, then he will certainly be subjected to reproach, and the pursuit of glory will become the cause of disgrace for him (7). It is in no way possible for someone who loves fame not to live a life of suffering; but on the contrary, he who suppresses the love of fame cannot help but suppress at the same time many other passions: he who conquers this passion will overcome envy, the love of money, and other serious illnesses. But how, they will say, can we overcome this passion? We will overcome if we have in mind another glory, the heavenly glory, which the earthly one is trying to deprive us of. That glory will also glorify us here, and will accompany us in the future life, and will free us from all slavery of the flesh, which we now so miserably serve, having completely devoted ourselves to the earth and its deeds. Whether we go to the marketplace, whether we enter some house, whether we are on the road, or on the pier, in an inn, or in a hospice, on a ship, on an island, in royal palaces, in courts of justice, or in civil councils - everywhere you will see worries about temporary and everyday affairs; everyone and everyone only cares about them: those who leave and those who come, those who set off on the journey and those who remain at home, those who swim and those who cultivate the land, those who are in the fields and in cities - everything in general. What hope of salvation will we have if, while living on God’s earth, we do not care about divine things? While we are commanded to be strangers here, we are rather strangers for heaven, and residents for these places. What could be worse than such insensitivity? Hearing every day about the Judgment and the Kingdom, we imitate the contemporaries of Noah and the inhabitants of Sodom and expect to be enlightened by the same experiences. But everything has been written about them so that whoever does not believe in the future will receive clear evidence from past events regarding the future (8). When something happens for glory, then everything is low: even if a person has everything, but does not own this [contempt of glory], he is completely alien to wisdom and is possessed by the strongest and most vile passion. Contempt for glory can teach everything good and drive out every destructive passion from the soul. Therefore, I urge you to show great zeal to uproot this passion; Otherwise, there is no way to please God and gain favor before this vigilant eye (10). It is disastrous and full of all dishonor to love glory in civil affairs, and when the same passion takes possession of you in spiritual matters, then what excuse will remain for you, who do not want to give God the same honor that you yourself demand from your family? After all, the slave looks into the eyes of the master, and the hireling pays attention to the owner of the work, who must pay the wages, and the student looks at the teacher, but for you everything is the opposite: you, leaving the God and Master who hired you, look at your brothers, although you yourself know that God will remember your merits in the future, and man remembers only in the present; a spectacle is prepared for you in heaven, and you gather spectators on earth. Where a fighter strives, he waits for approval for himself, but you, striving for what is above, are concerned to receive the reward below. What could be worse than such madness? Let us, if you wish, look at the crowns themselves: one consists of arrogance, another of envy of another, one of ridicule and flattery, another of money, another of slavish service. Just as children, while playing, lay wreaths of grass on each other and often, having crowned someone without him noticing, laugh at him from behind, so now those who praise you often laugh among themselves, placing grass on you. And even if it were only grass, their crown causes us great harm and destroys all our merits. So, having judged its insignificance, avoid harm. How many people do you think there should be praising you? A hundred people or twice, three times, four times more, even, if you want, ten times, a hundred times more; let there be, if you like, two, four, ten thousand applauding, but they are no different from cawing crows, and if you imagine the spectacle of Angels, then these applauding people will turn out to be more insignificant than worms, and their approval is weaker than cobwebs, smoke, dreams. Listen to how Paul, who accurately recognized human glory, not only does not covet it, but also turns away, saying: “I do not want to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14). So, you too should be jealous of this praise, so as not to anger the Lord. And by seeking human praise, you dishonor not only yourself, but also God. Being a painter and having a student, you yourself would not be indifferent if he did not show you works of his art, but put the picture on display for ordinary spectators. If this is offensive to brothers, then much more so to the Lord (11). You might be interested in: