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).

78. "Envy is sorrow for the well-being of one's neighbor," says Basil the Great in his Sermon on Envy. Cain was grieved, and his face drooped. And why? For he saw that his brother Abel was commended by the Lord of all for offering gifts, but he was rejected because of his laziness. The elder brother of the prodigal son, as he was coming from the field, heard rejoicing and singing in his father's house, and learned that the joy was because of his brother, whom the gracious father had regained his health, and was angry and would not enter into his father's house, and be a partaker of that rejoicing (Luke 15:25-30). Righteous is the reason for rejoicing: his brother "was dead and is alive again, he was lost and was found." But he does not look at this, then he does not like that for the sake of his brother the fat calf is slaughtered, and for the sake of his well-being his father rejoices with the whole house. Thus envy grieves for the good of its neighbor and considers the well-being of its brother to be its own misfortune! St. Chrysostom also ascribes this useless sorrow to envy, saying: "Envy considers the well-being of its neighbor to be its own misfortune" (Discourse 52 on the Book of Genesis).

79. Envy is the root and beginning of pride. The proud, because he wants to be exalted above others, cannot tolerate that anyone is equal to him, much less higher in well-being, and therefore he is indignant at his exaltation. But the humble cannot envy, because he sees and acknowledges his own unworthiness, but considers himself more worthy than others; therefore he has no indignation about their gifts. This passion is present only in those who think of themselves as something in the world, and dreaming so highly of themselves, they impute others to nothing. So indignant is the proud Saul with the meek and humble David, that the exultant wives ascribed more praise to him, as Saul himself admitted and said: "To David they gave tens of thousands, and to me thousands" (1 Samuel 18:8). That's why he began to drive the innocent.

80. The purpose of envy is to see the one whom it envies in misfortune. It is born when the other's well-being begins; then he ceases when his well-being ceases and misfortune begins. Thus, through envy, our forefathers were cast from high bliss into a state of misery. Cain's envy taught him to rise up against his brother Abel and kill him. Envy is the fact that Joseph was sold into Egypt. It is to envy that the Jews lifted up Christ, their Lord and Benefactor, to the Cross. Thus envy begins from pride, hatred from envy, malice from hatred; malice leads to the most unfortunate end. That is why St. Chrysostom also says: "The root of murder is envy" (Discourse 54 on Genesis).

81. Envy is a tormenting passion, and laughter, or rather weeping, is worthy of laughter, for the human heart is infected with such devilish poison. Other passions have a certain pleasure, although imaginary, but the envious one sins, and at the same time suffers. Haman, the enemy of Judah, as he himself admits, is displeased neither with the glory with which the king magnified him, nor with the riches with which he abounded, nor with the honor that he was invited to the queen and the king to a feast; this, he says, "Everything is not enough for me." What is the reason for this? Has anyone offended you, Haman? Has someone stolen your belongings? Or has not anyone slandered you before the king? Are you healthy yourself, or your household? Or are you not troubled by the fear of the enemy? No! There is nothing like that. What then? Why is your heart troubled? Why do you grieve in the midst of such glory and wealth? Why do you bow your head? Why are you decrepit and dull? Why is your face darkening? What do you, the king's first counselor, lack? You do not have only a scepter and a royal orb. "No," says Haman, "all this is not enough for me, for I see Mordecai in prosperity. All this is not enough for me, when I see Mordecai the Judean in the king's court. Nothing, neither glory, nor honor, nor riches, rejoiceth me, for I see Mordecai in favor with the king" (Est. 5). Thus the envious sins and at the same time accepts punishment, iniquities and torments! And from this one can see how vile the vice of envy is and worthy of ridicule! To grieve that one's neighbor is rejoicing; To complain and eat that a brother is blossoming in prosperity - isn't laughter a worthy deed? Everyone can admit this, only the devil is characterized by such a thing: the devil is sad and intolerable that Christians are saved and receive eternal glory, from which he is cast down into eternal perdition and dishonor.

82. From what has been said above, everyone can see how pernicious this passion is. For: 1) His own sin is the devil, who with this plague of our forefathers, and with them also killed us. For the devil's work is to rejoice over the destruction of mankind and to grieve over salvation, which is characteristic of envy. 2) The demon does not envy such a demon, but a person; but man to man, brother to brother, kindred to kindred, like like, envies, who should "rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep," as the Apostle teaches (Romans 12:15); which cannot but be surprised, or, moreover, what is worthily impossible to mourn. Thus Satan infected our heart with his poison! 3) Envy, as it is said in 78, leads to every unfortunate end of those against whom it arms. 4) Envy also envies those from whom it receives a good deed; even the well-wisher does not like her, she persecutes the benefactor. Who was a greater benefactor to the Jews than Christ, the Savior of the world? He raised them from the dead, enlightened the blind, cleansed the lepers, and performed other wonderful blessings. But envy does not look at this. She advises: "What should we do? This Man works many miracles. If we leave Him thus, then all shall believe in Him" (John 11:47-48). She does not reason, does not revere the high good, but learns to kill her benefactor. Nourish, clothe, protect, enrich, console the envious as you wish, it is unpleasant for him. Because you are well-off, everyone loves, praises, and honors you. This wounds his heart, which your love and beneficence cannot heal. And he will wound you until he sees you in distress. 3) Envy of those which he possesses leads to a calamitous end. For besides making them guilty of eternal torment, and subjecting them to temporal calamity. Thus Cain groans and trembles; Haman, who was lifted up on the tree which he prepared for Mordecai the Israelite, perishes. That is why St. Chrysostom says: "He who is envious, desiring to destroy another, destroys himself also" (Discourse 55 on the Evangelist John). But even if there is no other external calamity for the envious, the internal one is enough for him, it is enough for him to be eaten, tormented, and tormented by his own tormentor.

83. The remedy for this evil and pernicious disease is as follows: 1) Pride, from which envy, as it is said, is born, must be laid aside with the help of God, and so, without an evil root, there will be no evil fruit. "Envy," says Augustine, "is the daughter of pride: kill the mother, and her daughter will perish." 2) To learn in the love of one's neighbor - so envy will fall. For "love does not envy," says the Apostle (1 Corinthians 13:4). And although this pernicious arrow will strike the heart, it will resist its action with the spirit of love and urge itself, and the unwilling, to thank God that the neighbor is in well-being. In this way, every inner evil is healed and, as they say, wedge by wedge is knocked out. We must compel ourselves to do every good and do not what the evil heart wants, but what the Christian faith and conscience require: "Those who use force take away the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 11:12). Thus we resist malice and vengeance, murmuring and blasphemy, and other passions, and we force ourselves to patience and other piety. That at first not without difficulty, but later, with God's help, it will be convenient. 3) To think and believe without doubt that in this world there is nothing great and wonderful, and there is no true bliss except eternal and heavenly. And when we are in this opinion, then envy will weaken and will be invalid. For envy is born of the well-being of one's neighbor; but when we do not consider temporary well-being, that is, honor, wealth, etc., to be true well-being, then we will not envy it. If, despising earthly things, you seek heavenly things, then you will envy neither honor, nor glory, nor praise, nor riches, nor nobility, for you desire incomparably better. A prince and a nobleman does not envy the praise of a shoemaker, tailor, carpenter, and other craftsmen, because he has a much better one. In the same way, the temporary, the miserable, and, so to speak, the imaginary is not envied by the one who seeks permanent and true eternal bliss. Do you want not to be eaten and damaged by this painful ulcer? Consider temporary everything as nothing, and so it will have no place in you.

Chapter 3: On Anger and Malice