Humility and Pride

By iUniverse

Humility and Pride is a comprehensive book on Christian humility, from its true meaning and significance in a Christian life to an everyday guide to cultivating humility in our own hearts. Jesus often referred to humility as a necessary condition for acquiring the heavenly kingdom and eternal life. He also left us the most profound and perfect example of humility. The fundamental role of humility is also explained in the writings of the Early Church Fathers and further illustrated by their own lives. This book offers a diligent summary of these sermons, writings and personal examples. Humility can only be acquired through grace, but we first need to understand what humility means and why it is important, have a desire to acquire it and be willing to practice it in our everyday lives. A former abbot and a prominent bishop, the author offers a detailed, down to-earth guidance on how to prepare our hearts for Gods grace.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Mar 10, 2014
• ISBN: 9781491726747

Book preview

Copyright © 2010, 2014 by Stefan Mihaylov.

Copyright © 1944 Ivona Karachorova.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

iUniverse LLC

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.iuniverse.com

1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4917-2673-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-2674-7 (e)

iUniverse rev. date: 02/21/2014

CONTENTS

The Place of Humility among Christian Virtues

Definition and Levels of Christian Humility

Humility—A New Testament Virtue

Jesus Christ: The Perfect Example of Humility

Examples of Humility in the Scriptures

Examples of Humility in the Lives of the Church Fathers

Humility as a Sign of Spiritual Life

Humility and Nature

Arguments against Humility

The Importance of Humility

How Do We Learn Humility?

Pride as the Beginning of Sin

Recognizing Pride

Comparison of Humility and Pride

The Outward Image of the Proud and the Humble

The Vanity of Pride

The Destructiveness of Pride

Cures against Pride

Final Remarks

Bibliography

28069.png

Humility is often underestimated as a virtue. Some consider it a softness or weakness of character, while they find pride praiseworthy. Our times are such, they say, that there is no room for humility in our lives. As if the ‘times’ are some absolute rulers whose caprice we are bound to follow. The times are the same today as they were yesterday. The times do not change—people do—and it is people who give a different direction to the opinions and attitudes in their society. A virtue is always a virtue and never loses its value. A diamond thrown in the mud remains a diamond. Humility is a virtue and should not be underestimated just because pride may help us temporarily by concealing our imperfections.

This small work is intended for those who seek God, so they may learn to appreciate the beauty and importance of humility. This book is indeed simply crumbs from the bountiful table spreads of wise and spiritually enlightened people.

The Author

THE PLACE OF HUMILITY AMONG CHRISTIAN VIRTUES

Jesus Christ began His Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes, the first of which is about humility:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."¹

‘Poor in spirit’ means to be humble and conscious of our spiritual poverty. Our Lord began His sermon with a call to humility because it is the first step on the ladder to perfection. Humility is rewarded with nothing less but the heavenly kingdom.

On another occasion, when His disciples asked Him who amongst them was the greatest in heaven, Jesus called a little child and said:

"Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."²

Jesus preaches humility as a prerequisite for entering the kingdom of heaven. This is because humility is the foundation on which we can re-build our spiritual being. Humility is the mother of all virtues. Without it, our love is superficial, our hope is impatient, and our faith is incomplete. Humility is the salt of a righteous life. Just as food goes bad without preservatives, righteousness loses its value without humility.

Saint Cyprian of Carthage considered humility the foundation of sainthood. Saint Jerome referred to it as the first Christian virtue. Saint Gregory the Great called it a mentor and a mother and the root and the source of all virtues.³ Every virtue torn from its root—humility—fades away and loses its value.

Some may object, however, claiming that faith is the foundation of spiritual growth—faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, which is also confirmed by St. Paul: "For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ."⁴ When building a house, we first need to remove the soft and sandy dirt and only after reaching solid ground that can withstand the weight of the building, can we lay the foundation and start the construction. This solid ground is humility. First, we need to admit our weaknesses and imperfections and acknowledge that we need God’s help. Only then, can we place the foundation stone—faith. We need to first admit our spiritual poverty, humble ourselves, before we can begin our spiritual growth through faith. Another important construction rule is that if we want the building to be tall and magnificent, we should lay its foundations much deeper.

Love is called the queen of all virtues, but even love becomes selfish and hypocritical if it is not grounded in humility. Love is the cement of the spiritual building. Without it, the building runs the risk of falling apart, no matter how skillfully the individual stones are assembled. Love helps us