О смирении и гордости

He who enters into battle and desires to win, let him put on glorious armor like armor—humility. The weapon of the evil one is pride, with which he killed our father Adam; with it he kills all his children. And the weapon of our Lord is humility; He prepared this weapon for the evil one, with which He overthrew Satan from the heights of arbitrary rule. The apostles armed themselves with humility, with it the true believers prevailed; it brought victory to both ancient and new. Gird yourself with this weapon, disciples of Christ, because with it you will gain victory and become heirs of the Kingdom. Whoever loves victory, arm yourself with this weapon; whoever wants to enter the Kingdom, enter through these gates. Humility is the path to the Kingdom. This is the door of heaven, this is the ladder along which a person ascends to heaven. Through them God descended from the heights to the abode of the earthly, through them the descendants of Adam ascend from the depths to the abode of the heavenly. By him every good is acquired, by him every misfortune is overcome. By humility a person pleases God more than by sacrifices and offerings. Through him the righteous achieve perfection, those who repent are accepted by God, sinners are reconciled with Him, and the guilty are justified. Humility is the source from which all good things flow; on the contrary, pride is a well from which everything bad flows. He who is clothed with humility, all that is good dwells in him, and he who is clothed with pride, all that is bad dwells in him. Humility raises even sinners to perfection, but pride leads even the perfect to vice. Satan at the beginning was a perfect spirit, but he fell from pride and became the prince of Gehenna. The thief was a villain and filled with all kinds of evil, but he confessed his humility and became the heir of the Kingdom. A sinner, if he acquires humility, becomes a righteous man; on the contrary, a righteous man, if he gives in to pride, becomes a sinner. Our Lord places love at the top of all virtues, but who is rich in love if not the humble? Through humility one acquires both love, hope and faith. It makes fasting a true fast, it protects virgins, it gives value to alms, it makes sacrifice pleasing to God. Whoever fasts without humility angers God with his fasting, and fornicators are better than proud virgins; alms given without humility are not accepted in heaven, and sacrifices offered without humility are not pleasing to the Holy Spirit. He who does vigil and prayer without humility is no better than a sleepy man; and the prayer of the humble, although he is sleeping, is a fragrant censer before God. A humble person, even if he sins, can easily bring repentance, but a proud person, even if he is righteous, easily becomes a sinner. Anyone who is burdened with sins and wants to be freed from them needs only to acquire humility. It will bring him closer to God, from Whom he will receive remission of sins - a guarantee of new life. The proof of what I am asserting is the harlot who was burdened with sins and, putting on the robe of humility, with contrition begged for the forgiveness of her sins. Since our Lord saw how she humbled herself, he washed her from sinful impurity and deigned that her name should be inscribed in the Gospel and that her fame would spread throughout the whole world. And since her memory is so glorious on earth, her name is exalted in heaven. And she acquired all this through humility. “For everyone who exalts himself will humble himself,” says our Lord in His Gospel, “and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11), our Savior teaches us. And how vile pride is shown by Christ, saying: “Whatever is high among men is an abomination to God” (Luke 16:15). Would you like to stand tall? Diligently love humility, it makes a person righteous without effort. Do you love righteousness? Hate pride and abhor it; it even makes deeds of righteousness displeasing to God. Humble sinners are justified without good deeds, but the righteous, because of pride, ruin many of their works. Always have before the eyes of the disciples of Christ Christ Himself, Who humbled Himself, and try to acquire humility, because with them you will please God. Whoever has humility, Christ Himself is with him, and whoever is filled with pride, the evil one invisibly dwells in him. He who is devoted to arrogance makes himself a dwelling place for demons, but he who is clothed in humility abides in God. He who loves humility finds it easy to love God, but he who loves pride hates God. If you want to win victory over the evil one, arm yourself with humility, for the devil, as soon as he sees this weapon in your possession, will run away from you with trembling. And if you want to please your Lord, put on the robe of humility, for as soon as he sees you in it, he will rejoice over you and glorify you in His Kingdom. A great weapon is humility. And whoever goes into battle with him is never defeated. Humility is a high fence; blessed is he who finds refuge in it. Humility endows the blameless with blessings and makes them heirs of the bright palace in the Heavenly Kingdom. It offered Abel as an acceptable sacrifice to God. It put Enoch into heaven, and to this day he has not tasted death. It saved Noah from the flood, and he did not drown in the flood waters. It made Melchizedek a priest of God. Abraham's humility made him a friend of God and the first chief among those reclining at the heavenly supper. Isaac was saved by humility from the sacrificial slaughter, Jacob was made an heir of blessings, Joseph was given the Kingdom, Moses was crowned with radiance, Aaron was given the high priesthood, Jesus was given leadership of the people, David was given the kingdom. Gideon - victory, Naphtali - a gigantic fortress, Hezekiah - deliverance, Elijah was taken into heaven, Elisha was given the spirit, Samuel - the horn of anointing, Isaiah - lofty visions, Jonah was taken out of the sea, Daniel from the ditch; in a word, humility glorified the saints both in ancient and recent times. Keep this humility, this source of all blessings firmly in your soul, disciple; it exudes to you everything beautiful, brings you closer to God, brings you into fellowship with the Angels, reveals to you the deepest secrets, fills you with all wisdom, reveals the depths to you, shows you the unknown (incomprehensible). It bows before your glory and subdues the arrogance of the proud; sows peace within you, glory around you, pure thoughts in your heart, and makes your face bright. Humility gives no place for irritability in your heart and eradicates anger in your soul, drives hatred, envy and malice far away from you, and, on the contrary, fills you with love, peace, joy and joy - not the joy of people who think about earthly things, not the joy of the mighty of the earth, but the joy of the spirit, the joy of wisdom. It gains you the favor of every person and makes you God-loving. The angels rejoice when they see you, but the demons are confused. Even the envious who hate you are inwardly amazed at you, because they are intoxicated with rage, and your heart is calm and peaceful. No one in the lower world lives such a high life as the humble one, and only the perfect among people reach the heights of humility. The yoke of humility is pleasant and sweet; whoever carries it on himself undergoes a high and great service. So, bow your neck under this yoke, O disciple, who desires to please God; work under the yoke of humility, and your work will please God. If you need to receive forgiveness of sins, you will receive it for humility. If you want to overcome a vice in yourself, you will overcome it with humility. If you desire to inherit eternal life, you will inherit it. If you want to become high, it will exalt you, as it is written (Matthew 23:12). If you love purity, you will acquire a pure heart with it; If you desire holiness, it will make you holy; If you want to become perfect, this is the way of the perfect: and you will ascend to every height through humility. Humility is the path to the Kingdom, the door of heaven, the Garden of Eden, the table of sweets, the beginning of blessings, the source of blessings, a hope that does not shame anyone who flows to it. Through it the sinners are cleansed, the guilty are justified, the lost are returned to the true path, the lost are saved, those who fight triumph, and the victors are crowned. Humility is truly very high and majestic. Blessed is the one who loves him ardently, strives to follow him and succeeds in him. All treasures are contained in humility, all blessings, all spiritual riches can be found in it. Count and list them if you can, because humility contains everything. List the ascetics in ancient, middle and modern times and, if you are able, count all those who through humility acquired a victorious crown. Consider all this, disciple of Christ, and put aside all pride, and choose humility for yourself. And since you asked me to write to you with what weapon in your battle you can defeat the evil one, who hates you because you are fighting with him, then I opened the doors of hearing with your request, and I greatly rejoice in your valor, for I notice that your spirit zealously strived for victory. I examined the armory of the victorious, delving into what kind of weapon would bring victory to those who put it on. Many weapons appeared there before my eyes, and with each of them you can win a brilliant victory. First of all, I saw pure fasting, this sword that never becomes dull. Then I saw virginity, purity and holiness, this bow from which sharp arrows pierce the heart of the evil one. I also saw poverty, which disdainfully rejects silver and all property, this armor that does not allow the sophisticated arrows of the devil to reach the heart; I noticed there love, this shield, and peace, this solid spear, from which Satan trembles and takes flight. I saw the vigil, this armor, the prayer, this armor; and truthfulness, this light war chariot. But, looking at all these weapons and pondering which of them is the strongest, I saw the stronghold of humility and found that nothing is stronger than it, because no weapon can break through it, and the evil one is not able to take it by storm. That is why, leaving behind the other weapons I have counted, I wrote to you about one humility. If you want to win the battle that you are waging, then seek refuge behind the stronghold of humility, hide there and do not leave this fence, so that the predator does not take you captive, do not rely on your own weapons, so that the evil one does not strike you. These are the weapons that I am sending you from the armory of the victorious, because with this they also won. Blessed is he who, armed with this, enters into battle. Our Lord Himself clothed Himself in humility and taught us humility in order to give us the means through His humility to defeat the evil one and all his power. Our Lord I offer you humility; listen and memorize this, student, so that you do not make a mistake and consider yourself humble when you are not humble. Refrain your lips from unnecessary speech. Do not say anything bad about someone who is disgusting and hateful to you. Listen humbly to your elders; follow not your own will, but the will of your brethren. Eat little by little, do not indulge in long sleep, be tireless in work, in serving others. Zealously practice all these virtues, but mainly humility, because with them you will pay off all your debts and correct yourself from all your mistakes. It will bring you closer to God, and God will rejoice over you and make you glad, and you will become a vessel to the honor and glory of your Lord. Glory to the Lord, Who humbled Himself, taught us humility and gave us His Spirit to speak about the riches of humility. Blessed be the Father who sent Him to us! Glory to the Only Begotten, who saved us! Thanks to the Holy Spirit, who speaks through us about humility! May the mouth that spoke this be worthy of pardon, and may the hand that wrote it be worthy of forgiveness, and may those who read and listen be granted mercy and remission of sins at the Judgment. May our Lord give victory and a crown of righteousness to the disciple who gave rise to this word! And whoever prays for the poor man who wrote this, may his prayers enter heaven and find access to the Kingdom of God! Glory to You, God, Who so loves those who love You! You might be interested in: