Humility

Phil 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. NIV

Page 10, Section 6 One day Abba Arsenius consulted an old Egyptian monk about his own thoughts.  Someone noticed this and said to him, ‘Abba Arsenius, how is it that you with such a good Latin and Greek education, ask this peasant about your thoughts?’  He replied, ‘I have indeed been taught Latin and Greek, but I do not know even the alphabet of this peasant.’

John 1:21-23 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”
John 1:27 He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” NIV

Page 123, Section 3 A woman had an illness they call cancer of the breast; she had heard of Abba Longinus and wanted to meet him.  Now he lived at the ninth milestone from Alexandria.  As the woman was looking for him, the blessed man happened to be collecting wood beside the sea.  When she met him, she said to him, ‘Abba, where does Abba Longinus, the servant of God live?’ not knowing that it was he.  He said, ‘Why are you looking for that old imposter?  Do not go to see him, for he is a deceiver.  What is the matter with you?’  The woman showed him where she was suffering.  He made the sign of the cross over the sore and sent her away saying, ‘Go, and God will heal you, for Longinus cannot help you at all.’  The woman went away confident in this saying, and she was healed on the spot.  Later, telling others what had happened and mentioning the distinctive marks of the old man, she learned that it was Abba Longinus himself.

James 4:6-7 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. NIV

Page 129, Section 11 When Abba Macarius was returning from the marsh to his cell one day carrying some palm-leaves, he met the devil on the road with a scythe.  The latter struck at him as much as he pleased, but in vain, and he said to him, ‘What is your power, Macarius, that makes me powerless against you?  All that you do, I do, too; you fast, so do I; you keep vigil, and I do not sleep at all; in one thing only do you beat me.’  Abba Macarius asked what that was.  He said, ‘Your humility.  Because of that I can do nothing against you.’

EXCERPTS  FROM  The Sayings of the Desert Fathers translated by Benedicta Ward, SLG