My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
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REGARDING THE LOWLINESS (HUMILITY) OF MIND
Source: "Our Holy Father Dorotheos of Gaza: Various Soul-Profiting Instructions to his Disciples."
The Forms of Pride and Humility
Now, there are two forms of humility, just as there are two kinds of pride. The first kind of pride is when one disdains his brother, when he demeans him as being nothing, and considers himself to be above him. If such a one does not speedily come to his senses and diligently work to correct himself, bit by bit, he will arrive at the second kind of pride and degenerate to the point of showing arrogance before God Himself, ascribing whatever he achieves to himself and not to God.
Indeed, my brothers, I once knew a man who ended up in this deplorable condition. At first, if some brother would say something to him, he would spit and say: "Who is he? No one is worth anything except Zosimas and his disciples." Later, he began to run down them, too, and say: "No one but Makarios is worthy anything." And not long after, he again began to say: "Who is Makarios? He is a nothing. Only Basil and Gregory are of worth." And after a time, he also demeaned them, saying: "Who are Basil and Gregory? Only Peter and Paul are worth anything." I told him, "And shortly you will reject them." Believe me, after a short time he started saying, "Who are Peter and Paul? Nobodies. Only the Holy Trinity is worthwhile." Thereafter, he showed arrogance towards God Himself, and thereby lost his mind. For this reason, my brethren, we must struggle against the first form of pride, so that we do not shortly fall to total pride...
"...The first kind of humility is when someone considers his brother wiser and in all ways better than himself and, in a word, as that holy one said, to consider oneself "worse than all others." The second kind of humility is for one to attribute his every success and every accomplishment to the grace of God. This is the perfect humility that the Saints had. This humility is created in the soul as a natural result of faith and the subservient keeping of the commandments of God. Just as the branches of trees producing much fruit are bent by this fruit downward, while barren branches that produce no fruit grow high and stand upright--indeed, some trees, since their branches grow straight up, produce no fruit, though in one takes rocks and affixes them to the branches, pulling them downward, then they will bear fruit--thus it is with the soul. When it is made humble, it produces fruit; and the more fruit that it produces, so much more is it humbled. Hence, the Saints, the closer they draw to God, the more they see themselves as sinners.
The Humility of the Saints
I remember once a certain nobleman from Gaza who, hearing us speaking of humility and saying that the closer one is to God, the more sinful he considers himself, was surprised and asked: "How does that come to be?" And not knowing, he wished to learn. I said to him, "Sir, tell me how you view yourself when you are in your city?" He said to me: "I consider myself one of the principals and an influential citizen of the city." I said to him: "If you were to leave and go to Caesarea, how would you view yourself there?" He said: "I would see myself as a most lowly and insignificant man among the local noblemen." I said: "If you leave and go to Antioch, how will you think of yourself?" He told me: I would think of myself as an uncouth villager." I said to him: "If you go to Constantinople, in the presence of the Emperor, how would you see yourself there?" He said to me: "I would feel like a pauper." And I then said: "Now you see precisely what the saints are like. The nearer they are to God, so much the more they see themselves as sinners."
The Path to Humility
Abba (Father) Zosimas was once speaking about humility and a sophist who was there, listening to what was being said, wanted to know precisely what he was talking about. [A sophist was, in ancient Greek and Roman society, and intellectual or teacher who used the methods of philosophy to teach the precepts of virtuous living.] He asked Abba (Father): "Tell me how it is that you call yourself a sinner? Do you not know that you are a holy man? Do you not know that you have virtues? Do you not see that you keep the Commandments? How, doing all of this, can you be a sinner?" The Geronda (Elder), however, could not find a way to reply. He told him only: "I do not know how to explain it, but this is how I feel: sinful." But the sophist persisted, wanting to know how such a thing could be. And the Geronda (Elder), with his holy simplicity, said: "Do not misconstrue me, I truly am a sinner."
As soon as I saw that the Geronda (Elder) did not know how to respond, I said to him: "I wonder if, perhaps, this is similar to the knowledge of philosophy or medicine; that is, slowly, as the physician or philosopher comes to learn well his art and how to apply it, the practice of philosophy or medicine becomes for him an entrenched and automatic ability incorporated into his person, though he cannot say or explain how he came to acquire that ability. Slowly, as I said, the soul acquires this ability through active application. So it is, after this fashion, with humility; somehow, "by the keeping of the Commandments, this entrenched quality comes about, without one being able to explain it." The moment that Abba (Father) Zosimas heard this, he immediately embraced me with joy and said: "You grasped it; it is just as you say." This also satisfied the sophist, and he accepted the explanation.
While, on the one hand, the ancient Gerondes (Elders) have told us some things about what humility is, on the other hand, no one can portray in words that quality which is created within the soul by humility.
Bodily Labors and Lowliness of Mind
Why, however, does he say that bodily labors lead the soul to humility? For what reason are bodily labors a virtue of the soul? Because it is by considering oneself below every created thing that one wars against the first kind of pride. For how can one consider himself more important than his brother, or become prideful over something or denigrate someone, when he thinks himself lower than all creation?
"...Moreover, one who prays unceasingly, even if he is capable of achieving something, knows with Whose strength he achieves it. Therefore, he cannot be prideful or attribute it to his own strength, but attributes to God every achievement, always thanking and beseeching Him, fearing that he might lose God's aid and that his own ailing and weak character might show forth. So, too, with the help of lowliness (humility) of mind, he prays, and with prayer he is made humble. And the more that he excels at something, so much more he becomes humble; and to the extent that he is made humble, he is aided and flourishes under the power of lowliness (humility) of mind...
"...Labor, therefore, humbles the soul. And when the body is humbled, the soul is humbled with it. Thus did the aforementioned Geronda (Elder) rightly say that bodily labor leads to humility. And thus it is that, when Evagrius was assailed by blasphemy, (in that he was aware that blasphemy comes for from pride and that when the body is humbled the soul is humbled with it), for forty whole days he remained outside, without shelter, until, like a wild animal, as his biographer says, he was covered by ticks. He did not undertake this effort to cure his blasphemy, but to evoke humility. So the Geronda (Elder) was correct in saying that bodily labor leads to humility.
May God, Who is Good, grant us humility, for it delivers a man from great evils and protects him from great temptations. (Source: Orthodox Heritage)
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostom
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry)
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George