«The Person Who Knows his Sins Is Greater Than He Who Can Raise the Dead». (An Orth. Ascetic Saint)

Humility: The Diseased Humility and the Psychiatrist

(Απόσπασμα από Γέρων Παΐσιος ο Αγιορείτης: Με Πόνο και Αγάπη για το σύγχρονο άνθρωπο:

Ομιλίες Vol. I)

The Elder was telling me one day: “The Christian must avoid diseased religiosity: both the sense of superiority as well as the sense of inferiority with respect to his virtue. A complex is one thing and humility is another: melancholy is one thing and repentance is another. Once a certain worldly psychologist visited me and criticized Christianity, because, as he said, it creates melancholy and guilt feelings. I responded: I accept the fact that certain Christians, because of their faults and the faults of others, are entrapped in the sickness of guilt feelings, but you also must accept the fact that worldly people are entrapped in a worse sickness – pride.  And the religious guilt feelings, close to Christ, leave with repentance and confession. The pride, however, of the worldly people who live far from Christ remains.

With these reflections of the Elder, certain questions of mine regarding the psychological problems of the Christian life were cleared up. I perceived that the Elder wanted us to avoid pride, disguised in the self-justification of the “Christian” Pharisaism of virtue or in the self-condemnation of the terror-stricken “Christian” conscientious awareness of sin. I saw that the impudence of those feeling “pure” and the cowardliness of those feeling “guilty” do not differ substantially, that they are two sides of the same coin, of pride. For the true faithful Christian is set free from guilt with confession and the remission of sins and rejoices in that freedom which Christ granted him; and knowing that is a gift of God he is grateful and does not become prideful. He is clean through the blood of Christ and not through his own achievement. Thus he rejoices and gives thanks and does not become prideful and, moreover, he sees all others as potentially good through the blood of Christ.

The Elder showed us the path that by-passed evil (sin) and what is worse (the pride of virtue), and which led to what is better, to the humility of virtue. That is why he tried to protect the authenticity of humility from the dangers of its adulteration. He would tell me: “We must be humble and not engage in humble-talk. Humble-talk is a trap of the devil, which brings despair and inertia, while true humility brings hope and the doing of the commandments of Christ.”

With his teaching but more with his conduct, the Elder pastured his sheep and led them to pastures of love and humility. He himself practiced humility, believing that, he is the “nothing,” because as he would say, God is Everything, and that whatever we saw that we had, was not his own, but a gift of God.

Worldly Education and Knowledge: The Intelligent Person Is the Sanctified Person

When a person’s mind is not set in accord with the Divine, but is set according to evil, it surrenders itself to the devil. It would have been better for one to lose one’s mind in order to have a lighter burden on the Day of Judgment.

– Elder, does simplicity differ from cunningness?

– Yes, as much as a fox from a jackal. The jackal, if it sees something and it wants it, it will go get it with bravery; while the fox will use cunning machinations and then it will go get it.

– Elder, can one take cunningness for intelligence?

Yes, one can. However, if one examines oneself, one will understand what is cunningness and what is intelligence. One has the “blackboard” of recognition. What are the charismata (gifts) of the Spirit? Love, joy, peace etc.. Does it have a relation to these? If it does not relate with these things, one has something satanic, one will have the signs of the devil. Intelligent is the purified human being, the person purified from the passions. The one who has sanctified one’s mind, too – he is the truly intelligent one. If the mind is not sanctified, intelligence is of no benefit. Why, here: journalists, politicians – they are intelligent, but many of them, because they don’t have their mind sanctified, there, where they say intelligent things, they also say foolish things. From their great intelligence they say incredibly foolish things! If a person doesn’t use his mind for the good, the devil takes advantage it. If one doesn’t utilize intelligence for the good, the devil will use it for evil.

– Is that to say that if one doesn’t make good use of intelligence, one thus gives the right to the devil?

– If one doesn’t make good use, the rights are already given of themselves. When a person doesn’t work spiritually, he dissolves the good and he himself does evil; it’s not that the devil does it. For example, one is intelligent, but his mind doesn’t work and he becomes lazy. If one doesn’t use his mind, what benefit to him is intelligence?

– Can a person who is intelligent, but has passions, have sound judgment?

– To begin with, one must be cautious not to believe in one’s own mind, because, if he is a spiritual person, he will become deceived, and if he is a worldly person he will go insane. He must not believe in his thought. He should ask, take advice, and sanctify his intelligence. And in general one should sanctify all that one possesses; he should sanctify everything. When intelligence is sanctified, this is helpful for one to acquire discernment. An intelligent person, if he has not become holy, does not have spiritual discernment. On the other hand, a person who is by nature simple can take a deceived person for a saint and an effeminate for a pious person. But, when the intelligent person is sanctified, he becomes very discerning.

– Elder, how is intelligence purified?

– For it to become purified, a person must not accept telegrams from the evil one, nor think evil, but to act wholly with goodness and simplicity. Thus comes spiritual clarity, divine enlightenment, and then a person sees the hearts of people and doesn’t draw human conclusions.

– Elder, is discernment related to knowledge?

– Discernment comes with divine enlightenment. One can read the Fathers, know certain things correctly, struggle and pray: discernment, however, comes with divine enlightenment, which is quite another thing.

– In times past, were people better?

– Not that they were better. It’s just that people in earlier times had simplicity and good thoughts. Today people view everything in an evil way, because they measure everything only with their mind. The European mind has done much evil. That is what has really crippled people. People would have been in a very good spiritual state, because most are educated more or less, and you would have been able to communicate. In earlier times you couldn’t communicate with someone, unless he had piety, because he didn’t also have an education. I remember a monk who once, when he heard during a pre-sanctified liturgy the commemoration of “Gregory, Pope of Rome” (who lived before the Great Schism of 1054), thought they were commemorating the Pope of Rome and was scandalized. “I never expected it, he said. You’ve become Papists!” and he got up and walked out of the Church. Here, you see what ignorance can do! Ignorance is a terrible thing. Those who have piety and idiocy together do the greatest damage. Without examining things, they create problems.

Knowledge Without Divine Enlightenment Is Destruction

It would be a good thing if people slowed their minds down a bit, and their mind would be rested, but, also, Divine Grace would draw near to them easily. Knowledge without enlightenment is destructive. When one works on oneself spiritually, when one struggles, then one is enlightened by God. He has divine enlightenment, divine experiences, and not his own thoughts, and that is why he sees far. He who is near-sighted, sees things clearly nearby, but doesn’t see far. And one who is far-sighted, well, at the most he will see farther, but not significantly. The physical eyes are two; the spiritual eyes are many.

Those who distance themselves from Christ, are devoid of divine enlightenment, because they leave the sunlight and like the fools they go to the sunless area. Thus it is a natural consequence for them to have a “cold” and be sick spiritually. If a person is not purified, if divine enlightenment does not come, as correct his other knowledge might be – this is what I see – this is a (form of so-called) rationalism and nothing more. And if divine enlightenment is absent, both with what they will say and write, they will not help. Do you see the Book of Psalms that is written with divine enlightenment? What deep thoughts it contains! Gather together, if you wish, all the theologians, all the literatuers, and you will see that they can not create a single psalm with such depth. Though David was illiterate, yet you clearly see how the spirit of God led him.

(Extracted from Elder Paisios the Hagiorite: With Pain and Love for Contemporary Man:

Discourses Vol. I)