_|_ | C O P | N E T Humility -------- Introduction ------------ Humility is the first virtue in spiritual life. As love should be interwoven with every virtue to give it depth, meaning and spiritual fervor, so should humility intertwine in every virtue to keep it from conceit and vain glory. It is the vanguard that protects all God-given virtues and talents. Every virtue that is not shielded by humility is vulnerable to the attacks of the devil and to destruction by boastfulness, self-righteousness and pride. What is Humility? ----------------- Humility is being aware of our weakness and knowing our failings and our sins and treating ourselves and others accordingly. We should beware that trying to hide one's feeling of greatness from others is not true humility; since the mere interior feeling of greatness includes some pride. Therefore, true humility causes the most righteous to feel that this strength is only a heavenly gift originating from God since our nature is nothing but weak and sinful. Humility would come to us naturally if we remembered our origin. We are from the dust of the earth. Even this dust existed before God created Adam. This very dust did not disobey God nor angered Him as we are doing through our sins. What glory or dignity do we have to ask from other people if we are that undeserving. If God, through the abundance of His mercies, has concealed our sins from other people, we should not forget about them lest we should be proud in vain. We ought to confess our sins before ourselves, before God, and if possible before people as well; if we cannot, at least let us not praise ourselves before other people, nor accept their praise of us. If we hear praise with our ears, let our hearts and minds refuse it. With genuine humility comes a life full of gratitude and of thankfulness to God for everything and under all circumstances since we would be always conscious that God is always giving us more than we deserve or understand. On the contrary, a proud person would, on many occasions, grumble and murmur against God feeling that he deserves much more than what he has. The true source of any success or gift is the Creator of the Universe, God the Lover of mankind. Therefore, if we were to give credit where it is due, we would never think of boasting about any material gift, personal talent or spiritual virtue since these are all from God to His undeserving servants. This should compel us to appreciate the love of God towards us the unworthy and thus a sense of modesty would prevail in all our dealings. The Power of Humility --------------------- God calls upon us all to be humble. Humility and meekness were among the prominent qualities of the Lord Jesus Christ; He ordered us saying: "Learn from me; for I am meek and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29). God gives His gifts to those who are humble because He knows that those gifts will not be harmful to them. He reveals His secrets to humble people who become more humble in as much as He gives them glory: "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes" (Matthew 11:25). The saints perfected humility in all aspects: they were not humble only before God and man but they were humble even before the devils whom they defeated through mere humility and strong prayers. When the devils fought against Saint Anthony the Great, he answered them humbly saying: "You are mighty, what do you want of me, the weak person, while I am incapable of fighting against the weakest one among you?" He prayed to God saying: "Save me, O God, from those who think that I am something of value, while I am dust and ashes." When the devils heard this prayer full of humility, they vanished like smoke. Escaping from Praise -------------------- The saints in all ages used to escape from praise and all its sources. Some of those humble people even used to attribute certain defects to themselves and did not defend themselves in case a mistake was ascribed to them wrongly. Those who love praise can do any of the following: (1) become delighted in their inner soul when they hear praise, (2) encourage people to praise them more, (3) do benevolent deeds in public to be praised by others, (4) volunteer to praise themselves feeling that people's praise is not enough for them, (5) get angry at people who do not satisfy their greed for grandeur and self-conceit, or (6) seek to monopolize praise for themselves and deny it for others who might be more worthy of it. Learn From the Desert Fathers ----------------------------- + A brother asked an old man, saying, `What is humility?' He replied, `It is when your brother sins against you and you forgive him before he comes to ask for forgiveness.' + The old men used to say, `When we do not experience warfare, we ought so much the more to humiliate ourselves. For God, seeing our weakness, protects us; when we glorify ourselves, He withdraws his protection and we are lost.' + The devil appeared to a brother disguised as an angel of light and said to him, `I am Gabriel and I have been sent to you.' The brother said to him, `See if it is not for someone else to whom you have been sent; as for me, I am not worthy for it' - and immediately the devil vanished. + An old man said, `If you have acquired the virtue of silence, do not consider yourself as having gained a virtue, but say, ``I am unworthy to speak''.' + An old man said, `You must not say in your heart against your brother that you are more vigilant or more ascetic than he is, but by the grace of Christ submit yourself in a spirit of poverty and sincere charity so that you may not lose your labor through the spirit of vain glory. Indeed, it is written, "Let him who is standing take heed lest he fall" (I Corinthians 10:12)' "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." (Matthew 5:5) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _|_ This article is one of many more articles about the Coptic Orthodox | Church, the Christian Apostolic Church of Egypt. These articles can be | obtained electronically from Copt-Net Repository, using anonymous FTP COP|NET from pharos.bu.edu:CN. Please mail inquiries to CN-request@cs.bu.edu. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------