Against Arrogance and Conceit
January 7
(From the Narrative of Saint Theodore, Bishop of Edessa, about the Wondrous Stylite who Lived in Edessa)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
January 7
(From the Narrative of Saint Theodore, Bishop of Edessa, about the Wondrous Stylite who Lived in Edessa)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
Spiritual pride destroys many. Because of it, people not only often lose the reward for their good deeds, but also bring upon themselves the wrath of God. There are many forms of this pride, and it is difficult to enumerate them all. As an example, let us take the following case.
“Ah,” say some, “how heartless the rich live nowadays: they do not wipe away the tears of the poor, they have no love for their neighbors! If only I were rich — how many widows and orphans I would care for! How much good I would do!” And what then? Sometimes it happens that such a person truly does come into wealth, and indeed he does much good with it. But how? Inevitably with the thought: “See what I am like! I am not as other men are!” And because of this Pharisaical boasting, his good deeds cease to be good in the eyes of God.
An elder, a Stylite who labored for his salvation near Edessa, when asked by Saint Theodore, Bishop of Edessa, what had compelled him to ascend the pillar and how many years he had lived upon it, replied:
“Together with my elder brother I renounced the world while still young. At first we spent three years in a monastery, and then we withdrew into the desert. Finding there two caves, we settled — I in one, my brother in the other. We spent our time in silence, fasting, and prayer, and met with one another only on Sundays. This desert life, however, did not last long for me.
Once, when both of us had come out of our caves to gather grasses and roots for food and were at some distance from each other, I suddenly noticed that my brother abruptly stopped in one place, as though frightened by something, then ran headlong and hid himself in his cave. Wondering what this might mean, I went to the place where he had suddenly stopped, to see what was there — and what did I find? I saw an enormous quantity of gold scattered about.
Without much thought, I took off my mantle, gathered the unexpectedly found treasure into it, and with great difficulty carried it to my cell. After this, without saying a word to my brother, I went to the city, bought a large house, arranged in it a guesthouse and a hospital, and alongside them founded a monastery, placing forty monks in it. Having entrusted all this to an experienced abbot and given him a thousand gold pieces for its needs, and having distributed another thousand to the poor, I again left the world and returned to my brother.
On the way, I began to exalt myself and to judge my brother for not wishing to do good with the gold he had found; and when I approached my brother’s cave, thoughts of pride and self-conceit had completely taken possession of me. At that very moment, an Angel of God appeared to me with a stern countenance and said: ‘Know that all you have done is not worth even the step your brother made over the gold, and that he is incomparably higher and more worthy than you before God. You are not even worthy to see him, and this will remain so until you cleanse yourself of your sin through repentance and tears.’
After this the Angel became invisible, and I went to my brother’s cave; and to my horror, I truly could not see him. There I shed many tears — so many that I was brought to complete exhaustion. At last the Lord had mercy on me, and a voice from above directed me to go to this place where you now see me, where I have lived for forty-nine years. Only in this final, fiftieth year has full forgiveness been announced to me by an Angel, along with the promise that I shall see my brother in the heavenly dwellings.”
Therefore, brethren, when the thought comes to you to perform some good deed, first of all pay attention to whether the motives that prompt you to undertake it are pure. If they are pure, then proceed with God; but if not — if you notice in yourself a desire to satisfy ambition or self-conceit, or a tendency to judge your neighbor, or anything else evil — then first cleanse your heart of these wicked dispositions, and only then carry out the good you have planned. Otherwise, that good will be like good seed sown among bad weeds, which do not allow it to grow properly and bear fruit. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
