69. The beginning of pride is the devil, who has departed from his Creator and has turned from a bright angel into the prince of darkness. With this deadly poison he himself was infected, and he infected our hearts so much that we cannot mourn our entire life for that wretchedness.

70. There is nothing more dangerous, hidden, and difficult than pride. Pride is dangerous, for for the proud there is heaven, and instead of heaven hell is determined. "God resists the proud," says the Scriptures. Pride is hidden, because it is so deep in our hearts that we cannot even see it without the help of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is meek in heart; and we know it better in our neighbors than in ourselves. We see other vices, such as drunkenness, fornication, theft, theft, and so on. For often because of them we feel sorry for ourselves and are ashamed. But we do not see pride. Who has ever recognized himself as proud from the heart? I had never seen it before. Many call themselves sinners, but do not tolerate being called so by others, and although many of them do not respond with their tongues, they accept it not without indignation and sorrow of heart. And so it is shown that the tongue only calls themselves sinners, and not the heart; they show humility on their lips, but they do not have them in their hearts. For the truly humble cannot be grieved and angry at reproaches, since he considers himself worthy of all humiliation. There is nothing more difficult than pride, for it is with great inconvenience and also not without God's help that we overcome it. We carry this evil within ourselves. Are we in well-being? With magnificence and pomp, contempt and humiliation of our neighbors, it will sit down for us. Do we get into misfortune? Through indignation, murmuring, and blasphemy, it shows itself. Do we try to learn patience, meekness, and other virtues? With the arrogance of the Pharisees rises up against us. And so nowhere and in no way can we get rid of it: it always walks with us, always wants to dominate and possess us.

71. As "God resists the proud" (James 4:6), they show the terrible destinies of God, which the holy word of God presents to us, so that we, looking at them, may guard with all our might from this vile and soul-destroying vice.

Our forefathers ascended in paradise and desired divine honor - but they lost the honor that they had, and "they were likened to senseless beasts" (Psalm 48:13), and fell to every calamity. The descendants of Noah ascended and by creating a pillar they wanted to create for themselves a glorious name - and the Lord "confused" "their tongue, so that one did not understand the speech of the other" (Gen. 11:3-9). Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, ascended, he wanted to embitter and destroy Him against God and people, and he himself perished with all his army in the Red Sea, and sank like tin in deep water (Exodus 14:15,10). And Korah, Dethan, and Abiram, were lifted up, and they resisted Moses, the prophet of God and their leader, and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the people of Korah, and all their goods. and they went down with all that belonged to them, alive into hell, and the earth covered them, and they perished from among the congregation" (Num. 16:32-33). Sennacherib king of Assyria lifted up a blasphemous voice against the high God and against His holy city, "and an angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of Assyria a hundred and eighty-five thousand men"; but he himself was slain by the sword of his sons (Isaiah 37:36-38). Holofernes, the leader of the Assyrian army, was exalted, and a woman's hand cut off his proud head (Judith 13:8). Haman, the first adviser of the Persian king Artaxerxes, was exalted and "hanged on a tree" which he had prepared for the innocent Israelite Mordecai (Est. 7). And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon was lifted up, and he heard a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, the kingdom is gone from thee. And they shall separate thee from men, and thou shalt dwell with the beasts of the field; with grass they shall feed thee like an ox," and so on (Dan. 4). The city of Capernaum ascended to heaven - and heard from Christ: "And thou, Capernaum, who hast ascended unto heaven, shalt thou descend unto hell" (Matt. 11:23). The Pharisee ascended - and went condemned to his house (Luke 18:14). So God opposes the proud! Thus does the Lord humble the exalted! There is nothing more hateful to God in people than pride. "What is high among men is an abomination to God" (Luke 16:15).

72. The signs of pride are as follows: 1) it does not submit to the higher; 2) is not inferior to equals and inferiors; 3) pride is grandiose, high-pitched and verbose; 4) he seeks glory, honor and praise in every way; 5) exalts himself and his deeds highly; 6) despises and despises others; 7) he is looking for a way to show himself; 8) shamelessly praises himself; 9) whatever good he has, he ascribes to himself, and not to God; 10) He also boasts of the good that he does not have; 11) tries very hard to hide his shortcomings and vices; 12) does not tolerate being despised and humiliated; 13) does not accept admonition, rebuke, advice; 14) arbitrarily interferes in other people's affairs; 15) having lost his rank or honor, and in other misfortunes, he murmurs, is indignant, and often swears; (16) therefore, pride is wrathful, (17) pride is envious: it does not want anyone to be equal to it and be higher than it, to have equal or greater honor, but that it should be superior to everyone else in everything. 18) pride is not inclined to love, hateful. Self-love is the root of all evil. And so pride is the beginning and root of all sin.

73. Pride is not only a grave and abominable sin in itself, but it is also the cause of other sins. For God, Who resists the proud, by righteous judgment takes away His grace from the proud; but Satan, as a proud spirit and murderer, approaches such a house as swept and tidy (Matt. 12:44). That is why a person who is left without the grace of God, as weak and susceptible to all evil, conveniently falls into every sin. Many of both the Holy Scriptures and church histories bear witness to this.

74. The end to which pride leads, Christ Himself, means: "Whosoever exalteth himself shall be humbled" (Luke 14:11). It rises high, but it falls very low. See 71.

75. There are many reasons that bring down our pride, some of which are given here. 1) People are most proud of either honor and glory, or wealth, or intelligence, or strength, or nobility. But since all this is subject to change, and as it comes to us, so it departs from us, because it is not ours, it makes no sense to exalt that which is not ours. Everything we have is not ours, but God's; we are only vessels of God's gifts. To God who gives all praise, and honor, and thanksgiving, and to man to humble himself, so that what he has may not be taken away because of pride. 2) Our birth and upbringing bring down our pride. What animal is born with more difficulty and pain than a human? Mothers know about this even in such cases. What animal in education requires more care, care, nourishment, and protection than man? Many animals immediately after birth get food for themselves; and how much a person is carried by other people's hands, dressed, eaten, warmed, preserved by other people's labors! 3) Our nakedness destroys our pride. Other animals do not require clothing, but man is so poor and wretched that he does not have his own clothing, but receives it from animals and other creatures. Sheep, fox, wolf, hare, lynx and others clothe and warm us. 4) They bring down our pride and our misfortunes. Who is subject to greater passions, corruption, illnesses, and infirmities than man? Who is more prone to fear, sorrow, sorrow than man? Everywhere he is surrounded by misfortunes: behind - sins, in front - death, above - the judgment of God, below - hell, on the sides - the temptations of the world and the snares of demons, inside - flesh with passions and lusts. Is it in such a disastrous state to be proud? 5) The end of our life destroys our pride, for we are all dust on the earth, and into the earth we will go (Gen. 3:19). Mentally examine the tombs and distinguish there a king from a warrior, a glorious from a dishonorable, rich from a beggar, strong from weak, noble from thin, wise from foolish. Here, dwelling in thought, boast

by your nobility, here exalt yourself with reason, here exalt yourself with wealth, here exalt yourself with honor, here count ranks, here count titles. O poor creature, poor in the beginning, poor in the middle, poor in the end! Like a rotten and rotten vessel, like the dust of the earth, such is man, and he will go to the earth. 6) The more we come to know and remember Christ, the more we recognize our meanness and wretchedness, and thus humble ourselves. Christ, the Son of God, your Lord, humbled Himself for your sake - should you, a servant, be proud? Thy Lord hath taken the form of a servant for thy sake, and art thou, a servant, to seek dominion? Your Lord has accepted disgrace for your sake, and is it for you, a servant, to exalt yourself with honor? Thy Lord had no place to lay His head, for thou, a servant, to enlarge magnificent buildings? The Lord has washed your feet with His disciples - are you ashamed to serve your brethren? Thy Lord hath endured backbiting, reproach, mockery, ridicule, spitting, and hast thou, a servant, not endured an annoying word? He endured innocently and for your sake - should you, the guilty one, not endure it for yourself? Have not your sins deserved it? Your Lord prayed for His crucifiers: "Father, forgive them! Forgive them" (Luke 23:34), - are you, a servant, angry at those who have offended you, to be angry, to seek vengeance? But who are you that your ears do not tolerate insults? A creature poor, weak, naked, passionate, lost, subject to all kinds of misfortunes, surrounded by all kinds of troubles, grass, hay, vapor, appearing in small ways and disappearing. But take heed and beware that Christ your Lord will not be ashamed of you, if you are ashamed of His humility and meekness. He says: "For whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words like this adulterous and sinful man, of him shall the Son of Man also be ashamed, when He shall come in the glory of His Father with the holy angels" (Mark 8:38). He is ashamed of Christ and His words who does not follow His humility, meekness, and patience, but wants to reign in peace in pride. 7) "Be afraid," says Basil the Great to the proud, "of a fall like the devil, who has risen against man, has fallen below man, and whom he has trampled underfoot, to him he has been given over to be trampled underfoot" (In the Discourse on Humility).

76. It is bad and disgusting before God for everyone to be proud for the reasons mentioned above; but worse is the one whom the state of misfortune should bring to humility. It is bad to be proud of a dignified, noble gentleman, a rich man; but worse than that - to a simple, thin, slave, beggar. So it is with other understandings, as everyone can admit.

77. Since, as stated above, the deadly poison of pride is so deeply rooted in our hearts, we must often look at the deepest humility of the Son of God and learn from Him, as He Himself says: "Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart" (Matt. 11:29). At the same time, we must ask Him fervently, so that, having expelled that pernicious poison by healing His grace, He would give the spirit of humility, which would be followed by His other gifts. For "God giveth grace to the humble" (James 4:6).

Chapter 2: On Envy

"But if in your heart you have bitter envy and quarrelsomeness, do not boast or lie against the truth. This is not wisdom descending from above, but earthly, spiritual, demonic, for where there is envy and quarrelsomeness, there is disorder and all evil" (James 3:14-16).