He went to his house justified more than he: for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled: but if he humbles himself, he will be lifted up." The Pharisee goes mad in prayer, standing before God in the temple: "to bear as other men" (Luke 18:11) – In these brief words his soul was poured out, exposed in all its fullness and in all its unsightliness: here is self-satisfaction and self-admiration, humiliation and reproach of others, superiority over all.

At these moments, standing before the sanctuary, he forgot God, Who loves the righteous and has mercy on sinners, Who knows our secrets, and therefore the only one who has the power to judge. I forgot that the judgment of man is different, the judgment of God. Would it not have been more worthy for him, looking into his heart, to whisper aloud to the Lord: "Cleanse me from my secrets, and spare Thy servant from strangers." The narcissistic, self-satisfied Pharisee does not utter these salutary words.

For he is not like other men, not like that publican, not a predator, not an adulterer. Yes, what's there; for righteousness - "I fast twice a week, I give a tenth of all that I acquire" - God still owes him merit and must repay. God owes him. And from the doors of the temple, from a man who does not dare to raise his eyes from the ground, God hears the silent words: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner."

So briefly, but with what contrition of heart. And "God will not despise a broken and humble heart." Prayer is accepted, the sinner is justified. On the eve of Great Lent, the Church reminds us of the path of Christ, of the path of salvation: of humility and repentance. "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." And we are with you, my dear, in the temple of God. Thank God!

But let us look into the depths of our souls in the light of today's Gospel. Let's answer the question, who are we? What does the Lord say about each of us? Today's Gospel story is brief but succinct, and it is no accident that this word of God sounds to us today. The danger of falling into a Pharisaic state of self-satisfaction, self-exaltation and condemnation and reproach of others lies in wait for everyone.

Only the true righteous are strangers to such temptations, but they also strictly stand guard over their souls, so that the enemy of the human race does not find a loophole in it. In us, in the rumor of worldly cares, these feelings and views that lead away from the path of salvation can imperceptibly appear. We certainly have good, truly Christian qualities.

We love the church of God, we try to honor each feast with prayer during the service, but when we see those who have forgotten about the church, does not sometimes stir in the soul a self-satisfied thought: "Glory to God! Bear it, like other people." We are comforted by prayer, but we are touchy, irritable, idle, lovers of glory, but we are intemperate in food, careless in words, We are industrious, but stingy and indifferent to the needs of our neighbor, and even if we do good, we do not preserve the purity of our hearts.

And we must see our moral state, and be afraid of what we see, then our heart will certainly throw out the cry of the publicans: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." We are more often satisfied with the manifestation of our outward piety. And the Pharisee: "Glory to God! Bear it, like other men," if it is not our prayer, it nevertheless latently takes root in the depths of the soul with self-satisfaction, delighting life.

But let us be afraid of even the shadow of a thought: "Glory to God! Bear it, like other people." Terrible for the soul is self-esteem, it is death for the soul to evaluate others by comparing them with oneself. Immediately everything good in us loses all value and dignity before God, and becomes the property of the enemy's pride. But how do these two prayers coexist in our hearts at the same time? The publican and the Pharisee are fighting in our souls, they are fighting with varying success.

And how attentive we must be, so that prayer does not prevail in us, which has not received justification from the Lord. And the words of the Lord: "... everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" – will not let us forget that the true Christian work is all sealed and imbued with humility and love. In order to protect oneself from Pharisaic arrogance before others, one must impartially peer into one's soul.

By the self-love inherent in man, we see good qualities in ourselves, but we are blind and indulgent to our shortcomings. Not knowing ourselves truly, we imagine that we are better than others. But as soon as we begin to peer into our conscience, into our hearts in the light of the truths of the Gospel, we will make an important discovery for ourselves that we are not only no better, but in many respects worse than many.

The righteous men of God, having fulfilled all that was commanded to them, called themselves inseparable slaves, afraid even to think about their own merits. The Apostle Paul said of himself: "I am the first of sinners." The Apostle Peter mourned his fall to the end of his days. The saints watched every movement of the heart, every thought, judged themselves even for thoughts, imputing them to sin, as for a done deed.

Should we not be strict with ourselves, when our thoughts are occupied only with earthly things, our hearts are burdened with worldly attachments? In order to free oneself from sin, self-esteem and self-conceit, one should compare one's life not with one's own kind, but with those who have attained perfection. Many people who are obsequious to us have conquered sin in themselves, eradicated all sinful passions, and prepared themselves as a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit.

But they also carried the prayer in their mouths and in their hearts until the end of their lives: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner."  And we, sinners, rightly bow down before them. So let us try to compare their pure virtuous life with our own. For example, someone in his soul is pleased with his peaceful, compliant character, but what is our compliance with the humility of St. Sergius? Being the abbot of the monastery, he did not disdain to earn his daily bread, hiring himself to cut down the cell of one of the brethren.