Once again, reading the fathers on humility is humbling. Gradually our eyes are opened to the nature and reality of virtue; not as human reason or understanding grasp, but as it has been revealed to us in Christ and through the gift of His Spirit.
This stands forth most of all in thinking about humility among the virtues. It is not self hatred. It is not self contempt. It is living in He who is Truth. For this reason, both the Evergetinos and St. John Climacus describe humility as the “door to the kingdom” and to participation in the very glory of God. It is also for this reason that we discover that just as the proud feel satisfaction with honors so those who are humble of mind are especially thankful for the attacks and scorn which befall them in this world.
Such things free us from illusion; not only the illusions we have about ourselves but also the illusions that others often form about us. To be thought of as virtuous and holy, when in reality one understands that all is Grace, can be the bitterest of things to swallow. To know oneself as loved with an everlasting love and having been shown the mercy of God makes the thought of evaluating oneself in any measure seem absurd.
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Text of chat during the group:
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXVI: On Discernment, Part III
The Evergetinos: Book Two - Hypothesis II, Part IV
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXVI: On Discernment, Part II
The Evergetinos: Book Two - Hypothesis II, Part III
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXVI: On Discernment, Part I
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXV: On Humility, Part V
The Evergetinos: Book Two - Hypothesis II, Part II
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXV: On Humility, Part IV
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXV: On Humility, Part III
The Evergetinos: Book Two - Hypothesis I, Part II
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXV: On Humility, Part II
The Evergetinos: Book Two - Hypothesis I, Part I
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXIV: On Meekness, Part IV and XXV: On Humility, Part I
The Evergetinos - Conclusion of Volume One
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXIV: On Meekness, Part III
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XLVI, Part I
The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXIV: On Meekness, Part II
The Evergetinos - Hypothesis XLV, Part VIII
Searching the Depths of the Unconscious: The Desert Fathers and Psychoanalysis
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