Christ Teaches Us How to Be Cleansed

The aim of Christ, our Master, is precisely to teach us how we come to commit all our sins; how we fall into all our evils. First he sets us free through Holy Baptism, as I have already said, giving us the forgiveness of our sins, and He has given us the power to do good if we desire to and no longer to be dragged down into sin, so to speak, by force. For one who has consented to sin is weighed down and dragged away by it. As it is written, “By his sins is everyone put in bondage” (Prov. 5:22). Then He teaches us by His holy precepts how to be cleansed from our own passions so that we do not fall again into those same sins. Finally He shows us how we come to despise and disobey the commandments of God and adds the medicine that all may be able to obey and be saved. What then is the medicine and what the cause of our contempt? Listen to what the Lord Himself tells us: “Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart and you shall find rest for your souls” (Matt. 11:29). There you have it in a nutshell: He has taught us the root and cause of all evils and also the remedy for it, leading to all good. He shows us that pretensions to superiority [pride] cast us down and that it is impossible to obtain mercy except by the contrary, that is to say, by humility. Self-elevation begets contempt and disobedience begets perdition, whereas humility begets obedience and the saving of souls. And I call that real humility which is not humble in word and outward appearance but is deeply planted in the very heart; for this is what he meant when he said that “I am meek and humble of heart.”

Let anyone desiring to find true humility and rest for his soul learn lowliness of mind and see that in it is all joy ad all glory and all tranquility, and in pretensions to superiority, just the contrary. From where do all those afflictions of the mind come to us? Is it not through our arrogance, our thinking too much of ourselves? Is it not through extolling ourselves and our evil preference? Is it not the bitterness of ourselves that will master us? But how did this come about? Was man not created in all comfort, in all joy, in perfect peace and in all glory? Was he not in paradise? He was sent away. Why? God said you shall not do this, and he did do it! Do you not see the pride in that, the obstinacy, the insubordination? And so God said, the man is mad; he does not know how to be happy, unless he experiences evil days he will go away and completely perish. Unless he knows what tribulation is he will never know what rest is. He then gave him what he deserved and expelled him from paradise. Then He delivered him to his own self-will and to his own desires, that he may grind down his own bones and learn that he cannot go straight on his own, but only by the command of God; so that learning the poverty of disobedience may teach him the tranquility that comes from obedience. As the prophet says, “Your rebellion shall teach you” (Jer. 2:19). Nevertheless, the goodness of God, as I have said many times, did not despise what He had formed, but again urged him to obey, again exhorted him. “Come to me,” He said, “all you who labor and are heavily burdened and I will refresh you” (Matt. 11:28)—as much as to say, “See how you have to work! See the misery you have brought on yourself! See how you are tried by evil and your own unruliness! But come change your ways, acknowledge your own powerlessness so that you can come to your rest and your own true glory. Live through lowliness of mind instead of going to your death through pretentious pride. Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart and you shall find rest for your souls.

See brethren, what arrogance does? See that lowliness is able to do! What need was there for all these contortions? If from the beginning man had humbled himself and listened to God and obeyed His command, there would have been no fall. Again, after Adam had done wrong, God gave him a chance to repent and be forgiven and yet he kept on being stiff-necked and unrepentant. For God came to him and said, “Adam, where are you?” (Gen. 3:9) instead of saying, “From what glory are you come to this? Are you not ashamed? Why did you sin? Why did you go astray?”—as if urging him sharply to say, “Forgive me!” But there was no sign of humility. There was no change of heart but rather the contrary. He replied, “The wife that You gave me”—mark you, not “my wife”—"deceived me”; “the wife that You gave me” (Gen. 3:12), as if to say, “this disaster You placed upon my head.” So it is, my brethren, when a man has not the guts to accuse himself, he does not scruple to accuse God Himself. Then God came to Eve and said to her, “Why did you not keep the command I gave you?” as if saying, “If you would only say, ‘Forgive me,’ to humble your soul and be forgiven.” And again, not a word! No “forgive me.” She only answered, “The Serpent deceived me!” (Gen. 3:13)—as if to say, if the serpent did wrong, what concern is that to me? What are you doing, you wretches? Kneel in repentance, acknowledge your fault, take pity on your nakedness. But neither the one nor the other stooped to self-accusation, not trace of humility was found in either of them.

And now look and consider how this was only an anticipation of our new state! See how many and great the evils it has brought on us—this self-justification, this holding fast to our own will, this obstinacy in being our own guide. All this was the product of that hateful arrogance towards God. Whereas the products of humility are self-accusation, distrust of our own sentiments, hated of our own will. By these one is made worthy of being redeemed, of having his human nature restored to its proper state, through the cleansing operation of Christ’s holy precepts. Without humility it is impossible to obey the Commandments or at any time to go towards anything good. As Abba Mark says: without a contrite heart it is impossible to be free from wickedness or to acquire virtue. Therefore, by compunction of heart you get a grip on the Commandments, are free from evil, gain virtue and, what is more, peace of mind returns to you. The holy men of old thoroughly understood this and through all their training and guidance in humility were zealous in uniting themselves to God, they were able, after Holy Baptism, not only to cut out sins arising from evil passions, but to conquer the passion themselves and to acquire complete control of their passions. Such were Saint Anthony of the Desert, Saint Pachomius and the rest of the God-bearing Fathers.

Their aim was to purify themselves, as the Apostle says, “from every blemish of the flesh and the spirit” (2 Cor. 7:1). They knew that by the keeping of the Commandments the soul is purified and the mind too is enlightened, and they perceived that it starts functioning as nature intended it to. “The command of the Lord gives light and enlightens the eyes” (Ps. 19:8). Being in this world they knew very well that it was not possible, without trouble, to make progress in virtue, and they worked out for themselves an unusual kind of life, a strange way of passing their time, I mean the solitary life. They began to flee the world and to live in the desert, in watching and fasting and sleeping on the bare earth and other forms of mortification. Having left their homeland and their relations, riches, and possessions, they simply crucified themselves to this world. And not only did they keep the commandments, but made a gift to God.

*From "On Renunciation" in Dorotheus of Gaza, Discourses & Sayings, tr. Eric P. Wheeler (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1977), pp. 80-84.