These vices are defined in the words of the Saviour as follows: beware of the scribes, who love to walk in long robes (which indicates vanity) and to receive greetings in public assemblies (love of glory), to sit in front of the synagogues and recline in the first place at feasts (ambition), — these who devour the houses of widows (covetousness) and ostentatiously pray for a long time (hypocrisy) will receive the most grievous condemnation (vv. 38-40).

Thus, vanity, love of glory, ambition, greed, and hypocrisy are the main vices that hinder the Christian service to God.

It is not difficult to see that all these vices are essentially nothing but man's service to himself, to his "I," and therein lies the whole trouble. It is impossible to serve two masters at once, and the one who, along with God, places the idol of his "I" in his heart, will inevitably depart from God. We have already seen before and know that there must be a single center of human life and activity - God. These vices represent the substitution of this center for another, and this explains why they make the Christian life fruitless.

The first three vices, vanity, love of glory, and ambition, are vices of the same kind, the chief motive being the love of human glory. A person cares most of all about what people think of him, how they treat him, cares about their opinion, respect, and disposition towards him. For him it is more important to appear than to be in reality, and the opinion of the crowd is more precious than the sentence of God,

Such were the Pharisees, who loved the glory of men more than the glory of God (Jn. XII, 43). That was the biggest obstacle for them to recognize the Messiah in Jesus Christ. "How can you believe," the Saviour reproaches them, "when you receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that is from the One God? (Jn. V, 44). They did all their deeds with the expectation that people would glorify them. But when they achieve this, they already receive their reward (Matt. VI, 2). They could no longer expect a reward from God. As St. Nilus of Sinai says, "A vain Christian is a free worker: he bears labor, but does not receive rewards." This is quite natural: since a person serves not God, but himself and human glory, then, obviously, his service cannot be a merit before God. Moreover, it is an undoubted sin in the face of God as a direct violation of the second commandment. That is why the Lord severely punished for the sins of pride and ambition even people who pleased Him, as we see in the example of the unfortunate king of Judah, Uzziah.

Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and fifty-two years he reigned in Jerusalem... And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, just as Amaziah his father did; and he ran to God in the days of Zechariah, who taught the fear of God; and in those days when he ran to the Lord, God helped him. And he went out and fought with the Philistines, and broke down the walls of Gath, and the walls of Jabnesi, and the walls of Ashdod; and he built cities in the region of Ashdod, and among the Philistines... And the Ammonites gave tribute to Uzziah, and his name came to the borders of Egypt, because he was very strong. And Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem... and... towers in the wilderness, and cut out many cisterns, because he had many cattle, both in the lowlands and in the plains, and farmers and gardeners in the mountains and in Carmel... Uzziah also had an army... a military force of three hundred and seven thousand five hundred, who entered the battle with military courage, to help the tsar against the enemy... And he made in Jerusalem skillfully invented machines... for throwing arrows and large stones. And his name flew far away, for he miraculously guarded himself and became strong. But when he became strong, his heart became proud to his destruction, and he became a transgressor before the Lord his God, for he went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest went after him, and with him eighty priests of the Lord, men of distinction, and they resisted Uzziah the king, and said to him, It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord; this is the work of the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are ordained to incense; Come out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will not be for you to honor the Lord God. And Uzziah was angry, and in his hand was a censer for incense; and when he was angry with the sower of the sorcerers, the leprosy appeared on his forehead, in the presence of the priests, in the house of the Lord, at the altar of incense. And Azariah the high priest and all the priests looked at him; and behold, he has leprosy on his forehead. And they compelled him to come out of there, and he himself hastened to depart, because the Lord had struck him. And king Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death, and he dwelt in a separate house, and was excommunicated from the house of the Lord (2 Chron. XXVI, 3-6, 8-13, 15-21).

Such was the outward punishment sent by the Lord to Uzziah for the sin of vanity and ambition. The internal inevitable consequence of this sin is falling away from God and forgetting Him.

The spirit of vanity is "a spirit of variety, changeable, subtle" and therefore very dangerous.

"Vanity," says St. John of the Ladder, "rejoices in all virtues. For example, I am vain when I fast; but when I permit fasting in order to conceal my abstinence from people, I again become vain, considering myself wise. I am overcome by vanity, dressed in good clothes; but even dressing in bad clothes, I am also vain. When I speak, I am overcome by vanity; I will be silent, and again I was defeated by it. No matter how you throw this three-horn, all one horn will stand up."

"Any person who loves to show himself is vain. The fast of the vain remains without reward, and his prayer is fruitless, for he does both for the praise of men."

"Vanity is... the waste of labor, the loss of sweat, the thief of the treasure of the soul... an ant on the threshing floor, which, although small, nevertheless plunders all labor and fruit."

"A vain man is an idolater... He thinks that he worships God; but in fact it pleases not God, but men."

A true Christian must first of all please God. His judgment and His commandments must always be kept in mind, not caring about what the world will say about him, but each time asking himself the only question: Is this pleasing in the eyes of God?

Another, no less dangerous vice that distracts man from God is covetousness. The Apostle Paul even says that the root of all evil is the love of money, to which, having given themselves, some have deviated from the faith and subjected themselves to many sorrows (1 Tim. VI, 10).