January
14, 2001
"Directions
on the Spiritual Life - Part II"
Abba Dorotheus of Gaza
In this issue we will continue our study on the
teachings of Abba Dorotheus of Gaza, one of my own personal favorites
among the Desert Fathers. Abba Dorotheus lived at the end of the sixth
and beginning of the seventh centuries. As a wealthy young man, he was
an ardent student of the secular sciences and was quite well educated by
the standards of his day. After completing his secular education, Abba
Dorotheus lived for a while near his birthplace, not far from the
monastery of Abba Serid, located in either Ashkalon or Gaza. He soon
made contact with Abbas Barsanuphius and John and became a ardent
student of their teachings. He soon became convinced to renounce
everything and take monastic vows in Abaa Serid's monastery. Abba
Dorotheus soon completed his monastic education under Barsanuphius and
John and served in the monastery's hospice and infirmary. After Abba
Serid and Abba John died, and the great Barsanuphius shut himself up
completely in his cell, renouncing all contact with the outside world,
Abba Dorotheus left the monastery and became the abbot of another
monastery. It was at this point in his life that Abba Dorotheus began to
deliver homilies to his disciples -- 21 in all -- which were preserved
and passed on to us by his followers. The date of his death is not
known.
We will continue our multi-part study today of
these teachings, and will follow these with a multi-part series from St.
Isaac of Syria. Together, the teachings of these two great spiritual
fathers of the Early Church will provide us with the guidance we need to
start the new year with a commitment to growing spiritually in the weeks
and months ahead. Today's study focuses on humility.
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DIRECTIONS ON THE SPIRITUAL LIFE -- ST. ABBA DOROTHEUS
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BEGIN:
9. We have left the world, so let us leave also
our attachment to it. For attachments tie us again to the world and
unite us with it, even if they concern insignificant, ordinary and
worthless things. If we wish to be completely transformed and freed from
attachments, let us learn to cut off our own desires, even in the least
important things. For nothing brings more profit to men than renouncing
their own will, since in truth a man gains a greater benefit from this
than from any other virtue. Indeed, the cutting off of one's own will
and desires can be practiced at every moment. Suppose a man is walking;
his thought says to him, "Look at this and at that," but he
cuts off his desire and says nothing. He meets some people talking; his
thought says to him: "have a few words with them," but he cuts
off his desire and says nothing. He comes to the kitchen; his thought
says: "let us go and see what the cook is preparing," but he
cuts off his desire and does not go, and so on and so on. But cutting
off his desires in this way he acquires a habit of cutting them off and,
beginning with small things, ends by easily and calmly cutting them off
in big things as well. Thus, finally he begins to have no will of his
own at all and remains unperturbed, whatever may happen. Thus by cutting
off their own will men acquire non-attachment and from non-attachment,
with God's help, they rise to complete passionlessness.
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THE NEED FOR HUMILITY IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
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10. A certain staretz [NOTE: this is a Russian
term which literally means, "old man," but in religious
literature it refers to a spiritual father of great wisdom and insight]
said: "Above all we need humility." Why did he say this? Why
did he not say that above all we need self-mastery, since the Apostle
says, "Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all
things" (I Corinthians 9:25). Or why did he not say that above all
we need the fear of God, since the Scriptures say, "The fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 1:7). Or why did he not
say that above all we need mercy or faith, since it is said, "By
mercy and truth iniquity is purged" (Proverbs 16:6) and,
"Without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6).
Why then, laying aside all these which are so needful, does the staretz
stress only humility? He shows us by this that neither fear of God, nor
mercy, nor faith nor self- mastery, nor any other virtue can be achieved
without humility. Moreover, humility destroys all the arrows of the
enemy. All the saints followed the way of humility and labored at it.
"Look upon mine affliction and my trouble; and forgive all my
sins" (Psalms 24:18), and again, "I was brought low, and he
delivered me" (Psalms 114:6).
11. The same staretz said, "Humility is
neither angered nor angers anyone. Humility attracts God's grace to the
soul; and God's grace, when it comes, delivers the soul from these two
grievous passions. For what can be more grievous than to be angry with
one's neighbor or to anger him? But what am I saying, that humility
delivers from only two passions? It delivers the soul from every passion
and every temptation."
12. When St. Anthony saw all the nets of the
devil spread out, he sighed and asked God, "Who can escape
them?" God answered him, "Humility escapes them" and,
what is still more wonderful, added, "They will not even touch
it." Do you see the power of this virtue? Indeed there is nothing
stronger than humility, for nothing can conquer it. If some affliction
befalls a humble man, he immediately blames himself for deserving it and
will not reproach or blame another. Thus he endures everything that may
befall (him) untroubled, without grief, with perfect calm; and so he is
angered by no one and angers none.
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THE TWO KINDS OF HUMILITY
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13. There are two kinds of humility, as there are
two kinds of pride. The first kind of pride is when a man reproaches his
brother, condemns and reviles him as someone of no account, regarding
himself as his superior. If such a man does not speedily come to his
senses and try to mend his ways, he comes, little by little, to the
second kind of pride, which puffs itself up in the face of God Himself
and ascribes to itself its achievements and virtues, as though the man
has done it all himself, with his own intelligence and knowledge, and
not with the help of God. From this can be seen what constitutes the two
kinds of humility.
14. The first humility consists in considering
that one's brother has better judgment and is in all things superior to
oneself -- or in considering oneself below all men. The second humility
consists in ascribing one's achievements to God. This is the perfect
humility of the saints.
15. No one can describe in words what humility is
and how it is born in the soul, unless he learns this from experience.
From words alone no one can know it. One day Abba Zossima was speaking
of humility, when a sophist who was present asked him: "Do you not
know that you have virtues? After all, you see that you are obeying the
commandments: how then in that case do you regard yourself as a
sinner?" The staretz could not find how to answer him but said
simply, "I do not know what to say to you, but I consider myself a
sinner." And when the sophist went on bothering him with the
question "How?", the staretz continued to repeat the same
thing: "I know not how, but I truly regard myself such. Do not
confuse me." Or again, when Abba Agathon was nearing death the
brethren asked him, "Are you not afraid, father?" He answered,
"As far as I could I have made myself keep the commandments, but I
am a man, and how can I know whether what I have done is pleasing to
God. For God's judgment is one thing and man's another.
16. A staretz once said about what brings a man
to humility, "The ways to humility are bodily labors done
intelligently, considering oneself below all others, and ceaseless
prayer to God." Bodily labors bring the soul to humility, because
the soul suffers with the body and shares in all that happens to it; as
bodily labors humble the body, the soul is humbled with it. Considering
oneself lower than all is a distinctive feature of humility, and if a
man practices it and becomes accustomed to it, this by itself implants
humility and uproots what we have called the first pride. For how can a
man puff himself up before anyone, or blame or belittle anyone if he
regards himself as lower than all? In the same way the practice of
unceasing prayer obviously goes against the second kind of pride. For it
is clear that a man inclines himself towards humility if, knowing that
he can achieve no virtue without God's help, he never ceases to pray,
asking God to show him mercy. Thus a man who prays without ceasing, if
he achieves something, knows why he achieved it, and can take no pride
in it; for he cannot attribute it to his own powers, but attributes all
his achievements to God, always renders thanks to Him and constantly
calls upon Him, trembling lest he be deprived of help. Thus he prays
with humility and is made humble by prayer. The more he progresses in
virtue the greater becomes his humility, and as his humility grows he
receives help and again progresses in humility. END
from E. Kadloubovsky and G. E. H. Palmer, "Early
Fathers from the Philokalia," (London: Faber and Faber, 1981),
pp. 154 - 157
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