Humility does not Consider itself to be Humble

St Ignatius (Brianchaninov). "On prelest". On true and false humble-mindedness.

St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) (1807-1867)

'Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility' (Col 2:18).

True humility is found in obedience and following Christ (Phil. 2: 5-8). True humble-mindedness is spiritual wisdom. It is a gift of God; it is the work of divine grace in the mind and heart of a person.

But there can also be a voluntary humble-mindedness - it is created for itself by the vain soul, the soul deceived and flattered by false teaching, the soul that flatters itself, the soul that seeks flattery from the world, the soul that totally strives for earthly success and earthly pleasures, the soul that has forgotten eternity and God.

Voluntary, self-invented humble-mindedness consists of a countless variety of tricks through which a person's pride tries to snatch the honour due to true humble-mindedness, seeking it from the blind world, from the world that loves its own, from the world that praises sins masqueraded as virtue, from the world that hates virtue when virtue appears in its holy simplicity, in the holy and firm obedience to the Gospels.

Nothing is as antagonistic to Christian humility as willful humble-mindedness that rejects the yoke of obedience to Christ, and under the hypocritical mask of service to God instead blasphemously serves Satan.

If we will constantly look at our own sins, if we will try to study them in detail, then we will find in ourselves not a single virtue, certainly not humble-mindedness.

Recompense is Given, not for Labour, but for Humility

Letters of schema-hegumen John (Alexeev)

Letter 100

Schema-hegumen John (Alexeev)

7.6.1954

The most God-loving handmaid of God T.

I wrote you about the way to accomplish your prayer rule in your family life, but now I am writing you about spiritual life.

St. Agathon said: ‘Spiritual life is like a tree: bodily labours, (podvig) are leaves, and spiritual deeds are fruits’. The Holy Scripture says: every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire (Matt.3,10). Generally speaking, asceticism is not a virtue by itself but a tool to reach the virtue. If there are not the fruits: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (Gal 5, 22), the physical ascetic deeds are in vain. St. Barsonuphius the Great said: ‘if the inner work does not come to our assistance after God, then one is laboring in vain on the outward self.’ Not many at all are familiar with spiritual life and got stuck at the letter that kills the spirit such as: ‘touch not; taste not; handle not’ (Col 2, 21)

St Maximus the Confessor said: ‘Do not exercise much on the outer work but bring all your strengths to do the inner work’. St John of the Ladder says: ‘The present generation is seriously corrupt and all full of pride and hypocrisy. In bodily labours it perhaps reaches the level of our ancient Fathers, but it is not graced with their gifts, though I think nature never had such need of spiritual gifts as now. And we have got what we deserve. For God is manifested not in labours but in simplicity and humility’. St Isaac the Syrian says: ‘If you practice an excellent virtue without perceiving the taste of its aid, do not marvel; for until a man becomes humble, he will not receive a reward for his labour. Recompense is given, not for labour, but for humility’.

Peter of Damaskos on Humility

St. Peter of Damaskos. "Book II. Twenty-Four Discourses". X. Humility.

The truly humble man never ceases to reproach himself, even when the whole world attacks and insults him. He acts in this way, not simply in order to attain salvation as it were passively by enduring with patience whatever befalls him, but in order to press forward actively and deliberately to embrace the sufferings of Christ. From these sufferings he learns the greatest of all the virtues, humility: the dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit, the gateway to the kingdom of heaven, that is to say, to dispassion. He who passes through this gateway comes to God; but without humility his road is full of pain and his effort useless. Humility bestows complete repose upon whoever possesses it in his heart, because he has Christ dwelling within him. Through it grace remains with him and God’s gifts are preserved. It is the offspring of many different virtues: of obedience, patient endurance, shedding of possessions, poverty, fear of God, spiritual knowledge and others as well. But above all it is the offspring of discrimination, the virtue that illumines the farthest reaches of the intellect. Yet let no one think that it is a simple, casual matter to become humble. It is something beyond our natural powers; and it is almost true to say that the more a person is gifted, the harder it is for him to attain humility. It presupposes great judgment and endurance in the face of the trials and evil spirits that oppose us. For humility slips through all their snares.

Discernment Is Born of Humility

Saint Peter of Damaskos. Book 1. A Treasury of Divine Knowledge. From Philokalia, Vol. 3.

If by the grace of God you have received the gift of discrimination, you should in great humility do everything you can to guard it, so that you do nothing without it. Otherwise you will bring on yourself greater chastisement by sinning knowingly because of your negligence. If you have not received this gift you should not think, say or do anything without consulting others about it, and without a basis of firm faith and pure prayer. Without such faith and such prayer you will never truly achieve discrimination.

Discrimination is born of humility. On its possessor it confers spiritual insight, as both Moses and St John Klimakos say: such a man foresees the hidden designs of the enemy and foils them before they are put into operation. It is as David states: ‘And my eyes looked down upon my enemies’ (Ps. 14:7. LXX). Discrimination is characterized by an unerring recognition of what is good and what is not, and the knowledge of the will of God in all that one does. Spiritual insight is characterized, first, by awareness of one’s own failings before they issue in outward actions, as well as of the stealthy tricks of the demons; and, second, by the knowledge of the mysteries hidden in the divine Scriptures and in sensible creation.

As has been already explained, humility, the mother of discrimination and spiritual insight, likewise has its own characteristic by which it is known. The humble person must possess every virtue and yet truly think himself the greatest of debtors and inferior to everything else in creation. If, however, a person does not think in this way, then he can be assured that he is in fact inferior to everything else in creation, even though he seems to lead a life like that of the angels. For even a true angel possessing so many virtues and so much wisdom cannot conform to the Creator’s will unless he also possesses humility. What, then, can a person who thinks that he is an angel say for himself if he lacks humility, source of all present and future blessings, begetter of that discrimination which illumines the ends of the earth and without which all things are obscure?

Discrimination is not only called light; it truly is light. We need this light before we say or do anything. When it is present we are able to view everything else with wonder. We can marvel at how God, on the first and greatest of days, began by creating light, so that what was subsequently created might not he invisible and as if it did not exist, as St John of Damaskos says.’ Let it be said again: discrimination is light; and the spiritual insight it generates is more necessary than all other gifts. For what is more necessary than to perceive the wiles of the demons and with the help of God’s grace to protect one’s soul? Other things most necessary to us include, according to St Isaac, purity of conscience and, according to the apostle, the sanctification of the body (cf. Rom. 12:1; 1 Cor. 6:19-20) without which ‘no one will see the Lord’ (Heb. 12:14).

http://oprelesti.ru/index.php/what-is-spiritual-delusion/478-discernment-is-born-of-humility