The More Humble a Person Is, the More He Receives Grace-filled Gifts From God
May 4
(A word about Saint Sisoes, how by a word he raised the dead.
A word from the Paterikon about Bessarion, how by a word he cast out demons.)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
May 4
(A word about Saint Sisoes, how by a word he raised the dead.
A word from the Paterikon about Bessarion, how by a word he cast out demons.)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
The virtue of humility brings one so close to God, so unites him with Him, that it makes the whole being of the humble person a vessel of divine grace; and this grace pours forth through the humble one also upon others and works great deeds, sometimes even apart from the will of the humble lover of humility himself. To be convinced of this, listen to the account of two incidents from the life of our Venerable Fathers Sisoes the Great and Bessarion of Egypt.
A certain common man set out with his sick son to the Venerable Sisoes, in the land of Egypt. On the way, the sick boy died. The father was not troubled by this; he took the dead body and brought it to the Venerable one. Knowing the latter’s humility, the common man did not openly ask him for help, but, entering with the dead child in his arms, he made a bow before the Saint and, while bowing, placed the dead son at the feet of the elder. Not knowing that a dead man lay before him, and thinking that the one who had bowed did not wish to rise, Sisoes said to the dead man: “Rise and go out.” And the dead man came to life, stood up, and went out to meet his astonished father. Then the father went in to Sisoes and told him what had happened to his son on the way and how he had brought him dead to the Venerable one. And the holy elder was grieved when he heard this, and he forbade the common man and his disciples to speak of what had happened until after his death.
Another incident: into the Skete where the Venerable Bessarion lived, there came a man possessed by a demon. The brethren prayed over him in the church, but the demon did not depart. Then the monks began to reason: “What shall we do? No one will cast out this demon except Father Bessarion; but how shall we ask him? If we ask him, he will not go to the church. Let us do this instead: tomorrow we will bring the possessed man earlier than everyone into the church and seat him in the place of the Venerable one. And when the abba enters, we will say to him: ‘Wake the brother, father!’” So they did. And when Bessarion, having entered the church, stood for prayer, the monks said to him: “Wake the brother, father.” And the Venerable one said to the possessed man: “Rise and go away from here.” And immediately the demon left the man.
Thus, behold the dignity of humility. The more one practices it, the closer he becomes to God, and the more he receives from Him grace-filled gifts. And in these gifts of grace, the Lord on earth grants him a foretaste of the ineffable blessings of eternal blessedness. Yes, humility is the first step to heaven toward God, the sure path to glory, the reliable weapon for receiving grace. And it not only, as we have just seen, works miracles through the saints, but also brings great sinners to God and makes them wonderworkers. Of this, the lives of the saints convince us with countless examples.
Let us therefore always remember that on the path to heaven this virtue is above all necessary for us — consisting in a deep awareness of our unworthiness before God and a reverent submission to His will. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.