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St Paisios on Injustice, Obedience, and Why God Waits for Our Humility
10:03
What the video says
The speaker teaches that patient endurance of problems brings God's best solutions, quoting Christ's words that only the patient will inherit the kingdom of God. God allows relatives, coworkers, and corrupt supervisors to trouble us so we can exercise patience and humbleness, and we should accept these afflictions as means leading to perfection instead of reacting.
When treated unjustly, we should wait for God's justice rather than seek human justice, while being careful not to pursue unjust treatment ourselves. The speaker tells a story about obeying a kitten that meowed outside his cell, then answers a question about obedience, saying that after submitting to a good spiritual father we should obey without questioning, giving the example of a monk who argues with his abbot about walking through the mountains instead of taking the boat to Lavra Monastery.
Father Paisios said the spiritual work of a Christian should focus on acquiring humility, because the only difficulty God faces is that he cannot help us when our soul is not humble. God wants only our humility, so that the divine grace granted in baptism can be activated in us, and the only obstacle to that grace is our pride.
Key moments
- Christ assured us that only the patient will inherit the kingdom of God: those who hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience, and he who endures to the end will be saved.
- The good Christian must endure corrupt supervisors, who are amazed by his good behavior while being unfair to him. God gives temptations and hardships so we become perfect, and temptations cease when we reach perfection.
- When people treat us unjustly, we should be happy and wait for God's justice, which is superior to human justice, but we must not pursue unjust treatment, since that would be unfair and show lack of love toward others.
- When God sees we are proud and arrogant, he allows temptations and takes them away only when we humble ourselves. The speaker tells of obeying a kitten meowing outside his cell and letting it in from the rain.
- After voluntarily submitting to a good and humble spiritual father, we should obey him without questioning. In the example of the boat to Lavra Monastery, the monk who follows his own logic may suffer a mishap on the mountain, while the one who obeys is protected by God.
- The grace of God is attracted by simple-hearted people who humbly trust their spiritual fathers. The aim of complete obedience is the perfect purification of the monk's mind and the total submission of his will to divine grace.
- Father Paisios said the spiritual work of a Christian should focus on acquiring humility. The only difficulty God faces is that he cannot help us when our soul is not humble, because any help would harm a person who lacks a humble mindset.
- Pride is the cause of every passion, as St. John of the Ladder says. God will not give us love, prayer, obedience, or the virtues unless we humble ourselves, but if our only aim is humility, he gives everything for free. St. Peter's first epistle, chapter 5, says: Clothe yourselves with humility, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
A talk drawing on the counsels of Elder Paisios of Mount Athos (Spiritual Counsels #3, Spiritual Struggle, from Hieromonk Christodoulos, 1998) teaches how to respond when people treat us unjustly. The speaker says patient endurance brings God's best solutions, citing Christ's words that only the patient will inherit the kingdom of God: those who hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience.
God allows relatives, coworkers, and corrupt supervisors to trouble us so we can exercise patience and humbleness, and we should accept these afflictions as means leading to perfection. When treated unjustly, we should be happy and wait for God's justice, which is superior to human justice, while being careful not to pursue unjust treatment ourselves, since that would show lack of love toward others.
On obedience, the speaker says that after voluntarily submitting to a good and humble spiritual father we should obey without questioning. He gives the example of a monk who argues with his abbot about walking through the mountains instead of taking the boat to Lavra Monastery: the monk who follows his own logic may suffer a mishap, while the one who obeys is protected by God.
He also tells a story about obeying a kitten that meowed outside his cell in the rain. The talk closes with Father Paisios's teaching that the spiritual work of a Christian should focus on acquiring humility. The only difficulty God faces is that he cannot help us when our soul is not humble, because any help would harm a person who lacks a humble mindset.
Pride is the cause of every passion, as St. John of the Ladder says, and God will not give us love, prayer, obedience, or the virtues unless we humble ourselves. If our only aim is humility, he gives everything for free, as St. Peter's first epistle says: God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Main points
- Only the patient will inherit the kingdom of God: Christ's words on hearing the word, holding it fast, and bringing forth fruit with patience.
- When treated unjustly, wait for God's justice, which is superior to human justice, but do not pursue unjust treatment yourself.
- After submitting to a good spiritual father, obey without questioning; the example of the boat to Lavra Monastery shows the obedient monk is protected by God.
- The only difficulty God faces is that he cannot help us when our soul is not humble, since help would harm a person without a humble mindset.
- Pride is the cause of every passion, as St. John of the Ladder says; if our only aim is humility, God gives everything for free.