Saint John Climacus on humility

The quote below is from Saint John Climacus:

A man who takes pride in natural abilities — I mean cleverness, the ability to learn, skill in reading, good diction, quick grasp, and all such skills as we possess without having to work for them — this man, I say, will never receive the blessings of heaven, since the man who is unfaithful in little is unfaithful and vainglorious in much. And there are men who wear our their bodies to no purpose in the pursuit of total dispassion, heavenly treasures, miracle working, and prophetic ability, and the poor fools do not realize that humility, not hard work, is the mother of such things. The man who seeks a quid pro quo from God builds on uncertainty, whereas the man who considers himself a debtor will receive sudden and unexpected riches.

I had mentioned in an earlier post that a Peruvian pastor had once preached a sermon on the three greatest dangers for a pastor, “fama, faldas, y finanzas,” by which he meant fame, females, and finances. It has always interested me that he listed fame as being the most serious problem. However, it was not until I became Orthodox and read more of the Early Church Fathers that I realized how badly pride is considered by them. St. Gregory the Dialoguist considered pride to be the worst of the Deadly Sins, for instance. Thus, the woman caught in adultery had actually committed a lesser sin than the Pharisee. Because pride is the worst of sins, it was no surprise to those Early Fathers that prostitutes, adulterers, and thieves repented long before Pharisees and proud men and women.

Pride sears the conscience, in that it often begins with what is a good thing, and even a godly thing. It can take that good thing and as we meditate upon it, pride can quickly turn our minds away from thankfulness to the God who gave us every gift that we have to an excessive appreciation of what we have wrought. This is what Saint John Climacus is addressing in the quote above. It is easy for people who have the outer skills to garner praise for those things which come naturally to them. And it is all too easy for that outer praise to begin to quickly attack what humility we might have learned, causing it to rot, like a cancer growing within our souls. This is the reason why Our Lord counseled so much secrecy in doing good.

And when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Truly I say to you, They have their reward.

We are to pray in secret. We are to give in secret. We are to be extremely cautious about any public act that we do, lest it become an occasion for the cancer of pride to begin attacking our souls. Notice that Saint John even says that severe ascetic practices will be of “no purpose in the pursuit of total dispassion” if people believe that by them they will achieve any heavenly gift. Let me say carefully that Saint John is very much in favor of ascetic practices. But, he insists, these serve other purposes. They are medicine. It is humility which is the “mother of . . . sudden and unexpected riches.” Thus, it is all too possible that the humble person will achieve more personal holiness than the greatest ascetic, if that ascetic lacks the necessary humility.

But, here is the problem for bishop, priest, deacon, or pastor. A significant part of our ministry is done in public. (And a significant part is not.) And, because a significant part of our ministry is done in public, it exposes us to lips that praise and tempts us to look for those praises. The more “successful” we are by the world’s standards (church growth, exemplary preaching, etc.), the more we are likely to hear the praises of people, and the more we are tempted towards pride. It does not help that most of the people that praise us will be sincere and simply want to express their gratitude for the work that God has done in them through us. That sincere thankfulness can all too quickly be turned by our sinful hearts into self-serving pride.

Thus, that Peruvian pastor was right. The first and greatest temptation for bishop, priest, deacon, or pastor is the temptation of fame, for it is fame which most easily breeds pride. And pride quickly leads our hearts down the same road that Lucifer took when he fell as a star of the morning. Proverbs 16:18 says that Pride goeth . . . before the fall.”