Homily Three on the Lenten Prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian
On the Virtue of Humility
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
(Delivered in 1961)
On the Virtue of Humility
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
(Delivered in 1961)
"Lord and Master of my life, bestow on Your servant the spirit of humility, for You are blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen."
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
Dear brothers and sisters, at the beginning of Great Lent, when we were just entering the first days of the Holy Fast, the Church offered us the instruction that while we fasted physically, we should also fast spiritually. The Church showed us that a true and pleasing fast to God "is to put away all evil, to control the tongue, to forbear from anger, to abstain from lust, slander, falsehood and perjury" (Stichera for Monday of the First Week of Great Lent). Thus, if we, abstaining from food and drink, do not at the same time abstain from malice, envy, hatred, ill-will, condemnation, then, without eating bread, we devour our neighbor, and with one hand we build up, while with the other we destroy. Therefore, the Holy Church from the very beginning offered us the deeply meaningful prayer of Venerable Ephraim the Syrian, which with its repentant humble spirit awakened in us the desire to acquire virtues and turn away from vices.
In the sixth petition of this prayer, Venerable Ephraim asks God to give him the spirit of humility: "Lord and Master of my life, bestow on Your servant the spirit of... humility." What does humility consist of?
Humility is such a state of the soul in which, having recognized all its weakness and impurity, it is far from any high opinion of itself, constantly striving to reveal the good within itself, to root out all evil, yet never considers itself to have achieved perfection and expects this from God's grace, not from its own efforts. The Holy Fathers and teachers of the Church find no fitting words to praise this virtue. "The Lord dwells in humble souls" - thus they say. Neither asceticism, nor vigil, nor any other labor will save us if true humility is not present alongside it.
But, despite the high dignity and significance of this virtue, there is very little Christian humility in us. The spirit of obvious or secret pride and vanity possesses us, so that almost each of us thinks much and highly of himself and little and lowly of others.
Even those who, by their very position, should be inclined to humility do not wish to submit to their seniors; rather, each elevates and exalts themselves, refusing to degrade or humble themselves. "Am I worse than others?" is a common refrain. By placing themselves high and seeking precedence, almost no one contemplates the necessity of humbly serving everyone. If we exalt and praise ourselves while belittling and despising our neighbors, will we serve them with humility? Hence, in families and society, instead of love, agreement, and mutual services, there reign mutual obstinacy, mutual malevolence, envy, and hatred towards one another, quarrels, disputes, and strife. And the virtue of humility is all but forgotten. Meanwhile, this virtue is the most dear to God. The Lord Himself testifies to this: "On whom will I look, but on him who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at My word" (Isaiah 66:2).
“Humility,” says Saint Symeon the New Theologian, “includes obedience, patience, recognition of human weakness, gratitude to God for everything: for glory and dishonor, health and illness, wealth and poverty.”
Even more signs of true humility are indicated by the Venerable Ephraim the Syrian. These include: not judging anyone, not humiliating or slandering, speaking quietly, calmly, and rarely, not elevating oneself above measure, not arguing with anyone about faith or anything else (but if someone speaks well, to say, "Yes," and if poorly, to respond, "You know yourself"), being obedient and despising one's own will, never engaging in idle talk, frivolity, lying, contradicting those in authority, joyfully enduring offenses and humiliations, loving work, not grieving anyone, and not injuring anyone's conscience.
The basis of humility and lowliness of mind is in self-abasement for the sake of Christ, in denying oneself, one’s pride and self-exaltation. “Be submissive to one another,” says the Holy Apostle Peter, “clothe yourselves with humility, for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God” (1 Pet. 5:5–6). But how difficult it is to submit to one another and to honor others above ourselves! We all, openly or secretly, place ourselves above our neighbors, and it seems that nothing is more impossible for us than to sincerely, from the depths of our souls, admit that we are worse, more sinful, weaker, more insignificant, more guilty than all other people. If we are sometimes ready to admit this in words, then insincerely, cunningly, proudly, for in our souls we remain of the same opinion that if we are not better, then, in any case, we are not worse than others.
For our pride to admit that we are worse, more insignificant than others means to commit suicide. Therefore, it does not allow us to tell the truth about ourselves. It always keeps us in self-delusion, forcing us to give an increased assessment of our qualities. Who among us can say these words about himself from the bottom of his heart: “I am nothing, I am the worst, the last of all”? Few, even if they were the most criminal person. And this means that humility, meekness, is as far from us as heaven is from the earth.
If we wish to be true Christians, we must try with all our might to awaken in ourselves the spirit of Christian humility and the desire to serve our neighbors. So that we love humility and do not think that it can humiliate us, but on the contrary, understand that it serves to exalt us, we must always remember that pride is hateful both to the Lord and to our neighbors, while humility attracts the favor of both God and people, and is directly promised a reward from the Lord.
He who thinks highly of himself, values himself highly, is proud, takes care of himself, and treats others with disdain, is small, low, and vile before God. What is highly esteemed among men, the word of God tells us, is vile before God... "everyone who exalts himself will be humbled" (cf. Luke 16:15, 14:11) – again, both before God and before men.
On the contrary, those who possess humility and serve others with humility will be exalted by God and honored by people. "Blessed," says Venerable Isaac the Syrian, "is he who humbles himself in all things, for he will be exalted. Therefore, humble yourself in all things before all men, precede everyone with your greetings and bows, and you will be honored. Humble yourself for the sake of God, and you will not realize how much your glory will increase. Throughout your life, recognize yourself as a sinner, in order to be justified in all your life. Be ignorant in your wisdom, and do not appear wise while being ignorant. Be, according to the teachings of the Savior, a servant and a slave for the good of all your neighbors, and you will attain perfection and excellence."
In order to motivate ourselves to humility, we must always keep in mind that without humility all our virtues and all our exploits cannot have true value before God. “Without humility,” writes Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk, “ prayer is useless. Without humility, true repentance cannot exist, but there is a feigned and false one, which is only on the lips, but not in the heart.” “Without humility,” asserts Venerable Isaac, “all our deeds, all virtues and all work are in vain.”
And this is truly so. It is said about the Venerable Arsenios the Great that once the Angel of the Lord showed him such a vision: there was an open church and two men were carrying a log to that church and wanted to go through the church doors, but they could not, since they were carrying the log not along its length, as they should have, but along its width.
Not wanting to give in to one another, they wanted to go through the church doors both at once, and so they remained outside the doors, unable to enter the open temple. The Venerable Arsenios asked the Angel: "What does this vision mean?" And the Angel explained to him. "These people who carried the log," he said, "represent virtuous but proud men who do not want to humble themselves before one another and therefore do not enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but remain outside because of their pride."
Also, to awaken in ourselves the spirit of humility and the desire to serve others, we must often look at the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. “The Son of God humbled himself for your sake, should you be proud?” exclaims Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk. “The Son of God washed the feet of His disciples, should you be ashamed to serve your brethren?” "The Son of God did not come to earth to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many" (Matt. 20:28).
Should we think highly of ourselves and belittle others? Should we not endure labors and make sacrifices for the good of our neighbors? All good Christians found in the high example of their Lord the strongest incentive to humble themselves before God and people, and always showed each other mutual concessions and helpfulness. Thus, for example, the great holy man, the Venerable Makarios of Egypt, was not ashamed and did not hesitate to go from the desert to Alexandria once only to bring consolation to a sick hermit living in the desert, to buy and bring him some food that the sick man wanted. All truly great and truly holy people tried to provide similar services to their neighbors.
Let us try to learn this virtue, dear brothers and sisters, remembering that humility exalts a person, but pride casts him into the abyss and deprives him of God's grace. And above all, let us pray fervently and ask the Lord: "Lord and Master of my life, bestow on Your servant the spirit of humility, for You are blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen."
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
