“Take up the sword of humility and meekness, hold it
always in your hand, and mercilessly cut off the head of our chief foe.” This incredible man of God, St. Theophan the Recluse
(+1891), passed on many wonderful writings for us. Here are just a few on Humility
and Love. Each section is worth pausing and thinking more fully about.
Where Humility and Love Are Absent, Everything
Spiritual Is Absent
You say that you
have no humility or love. So long as these are absent, everything spiritual is
absent. What is spiritual is born when they are born and grows as they grow.
They are the same for the soul as mastery of the flesh is for the body.
Humility is acquired by acts of humility, love by acts of love.
The Measure of Humility
Keep both eyes
open. This is the measure of humility: if a man is humble he never thinks that
he has been treated worse than he deserves. He stands so low in his estimation
that no one, however hard they try, can think more poorly of him than he thinks
himself. This is the whole secret of the matter.
Defects of Character
The Lord sometimes
leaves in us some defects of character in order that we should learn humility.
For without them we would immediately soar above the clouds in our own
estimation and would place our throne there. And therein lies perdition.
The Path to Humility — Obedience
There is no need
for me to repeat to you that the invincible weapon against all our enemies is
humility. It is not easily acquired. We can think ourselves humble without
having a trace of true humility. And we cannot make ourselves humble merely by
thinking about it. The best, or rather, the only sure way to humility is by
obedience and the surrender of our own will. Without this it is possible to
develop a satanic pride in ourselves, while being humble in words and in bodily
postures. I beg you to pay attention to this point and, in all fear, examine
the order of your life. Does it include obedience and surrender of your will?
Out of all the things you do, how many are done contrary to your own will, your
own ideas and reflections? Do you do anything unwillingly, simply because you
are ordered, through sheer obedience? Please examine it all thoroughly and tell
me. If there is nothing of this type of obedience, the kind of life you lead
will not bring you to humility. No matter how much you may humble yourself in
thought, without deeds leading to self-abasement humility will not come. So you
must think carefully how to arrange for this.
Conceit and Censoriousness
Humbling oneself is
not yet humility, but only the desire and search for humility. May the Lord
help you acquire this virtue. There is a spirit of illusion which in some
unknown way deceives the soul by its guile. It so confuses our thoughts that
the soul thinks itself humble, whereas inwardly it conceals an arrogant and
conceited opinion of its own worth. So we have to go on looking carefully into
our heart. External relationships which lead us to humility are the best means
here.
You have been
somewhat negligent. The fear of God left you, and soon after that attention
left you too, and you fell into the habit of censuring people. You say that you
have sinned inwardly, and this is true. Repent quickly and beg God’s
forgiveness. Such a fault as that brings its own retribution: the fault is
inward, and so is the punishment. We can condemn others not only in words but
also with an inner movement of the heart. If the soul, when thinking of
someone, criticizes them adversely, then it has already condemned them.
Taking Offence, and Turning the Other Cheek
You say that you
are offended. To be offended at lack of attention is to consider oneself worthy
of attention, and consequently to set a high value upon oneself in the heart;
in other words, to have a heart swollen with pride. Is this good? Is it not our
duty to endure wrongful accusation? Certainly it is. How then shall we start
practicing this duty? After all, when we are commanded to endure, we have to
endure every unpleasantness without exception, and endure gladly, without
losing our inward peace. The Lord told us, when smitten on one cheek, to turn
the other also, but we are so sensitive that if a fly so much as brushes us
with its wing in passing we are immediately up in arms. Tell me, are you
prepared to obey this commandment of the Lord about being smitten on the cheek?
You will probably say, Yes, you are prepared. Yet the instance you describe in
your letter is precisely an occasion where this commandment applies. Being
smitten on the cheek should not be taken literally. We should understand by it
any action of our neighbor in which, it seems to us, we did not receive due
attention and respect — any action by which we feel degraded, and our honor, as
people call it, wounded. Every deed of this kind, however trivial — a look, an
expression — is a blow on the cheek. Not only should we endure it, but we
should also be ready for some greater degradation which would correspond to
turning the other cheek. What happened in your case was a very light slap on
one cheek. And what did you do? Did you turn the other? No; so far from turning
it, you retaliated. For you have already retaliated; you have made the other
person feel that you are somebody, as though saying, “Keep your hands off me!”
But what are we good for, you and I, if we do this? And how can we be regarded
as disciples of Christ if we do not obey His commandments? What you should have
done is to consider: do I deserve any attention? If you had had this feeling of
unworthiness in your heart you would not have taken offense.
Take up the Sword of Humility
Spiritual unrest
and passions harm the blood and effectively damage our health. Fasting and a
general abstinence in our daily life are the best way to preserve our health
sound and vigorous.
Prayer introduces
the human spirit into God’s realm where the rock of life dwells; and the body
also, led by the spirit, partakes of that life. A contrite spirit, feelings of
repentance, and tears — these do not diminish our physical strength but add to
it, for they bring the soul to a state of comfort.
You wish that contrition
and tears would never leave you, but you had better wish that the spirit of
deep humility should always reign in you. This brings tears and contrition, and
it also prevents us from being puffed up with pride at having them. For the
enemy manages to introduce poison even through such things as these.
There is also
spiritual hypocrisy which may accompany contrition. True contrition does not
interfere with pure spiritual joy, but can exist in harmony with it, concealed
behind it.
And what of self-appreciation?
Take up the sword of humility and meekness, hold it always in your hand, and
mercilessly cut off the head of our chief foe.
By Fr. Stephen Powley
Source: https://upwordglance.com/2016/09/28/humility-and-love-by-st-theophan/
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