Humility and Right Faith (Orthodoxy)

One of my favorite quotes from the saints of our Church is from the Ladder of Divine Ascent. It says, "Expecting to find humility in a heretic, is like expecting snow to burst into flame." It's very, very true. I think it does not speak of those heretics who are genuinely seeking truth, but of those who are confirmed in their erroneous belief and are not seeking the truth. I am not citing it in order to judge, criticize, or condemn, but to highlight a spiritual truth about the relationship between humility and theological truth.

Humility is not listed among the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) but much is said about it in the Ladder and in the Philokalia. Several things about it can be learned from the New Testament:

(a) Jesus highly values it, saying "whoever exalts himself [lifts himself up] will be humbled [brought low], and he who humbles himself will be exalted";

(b) Humility is the opposite of pride, which was the beginning of all evil - for it was what caused the devil to fall from heaven. when he sought to exalt himself (a perfect example of what Christ said, just quoted);

(c) The content of humility includes self-denial (the opposite of pride, which the exaltation of self) and choosing the will of God over one's own will - for Christ said, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself ... and follow Me. ..."

(d) Jesus Christ followed the most excellent way of humility when he washed the feet of the disciples, and when he accepted the Cross, rejecting his own will and obeying the Father's will - perfectly expressed in his prayer, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."

(e) The devil's pride was the beginning of evil, and led to his expulsion from heaven, and man's expulsion from Paradise. But Christ's humility on the Cross led to the destruction of evil, and restored man to Paradise.

(f) St. Paul refers to Christ's humility, saying "He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." This humility of Christ - of God - is awesome when one considers that being God himself, he accepted to be crucified.

(g) As St. John of the Ladder notes in the step on humility, this virtue is divine and resists definition.

(h) God is the best teacher of humility, but even God cannot humble someone who refuses to be humbled. For Christ's words quoted above in (c) - "let him deny himself" - can also be translated "he must deny himself." God can arrange things to help the process, but a person must humble himself.