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GREAT LENT - The Thirty Second Day
"Pride begins where vainglory leaves off. Its midpoint comes with the humiliation of our neighbor, the shameless parading of our achievements, complacency, and unwillingness to be found out. It ends with the spurning of God's help, the exalting of one's own efforts and a devilish disposition."
"The proud person wants to be in charge of things. He would feel lost otherwise."
"To reject criticism is to show pride, while to accept it is to show oneself free of this fetter."
"An old man, very experienced in these matters, once spiritually admonished a proud brother who said in his blindness: 'Forgive me, father, but I am not proud.' 'My son,' said the wise old man, 'what better proof of your pride could you have given than to claim that you were not proud?'"
"The proud man is a pomegranate, gone bad within, radiant outside."
"Darkness is alien to light. Pride is alien to every virtue."
"A thief hates the sun. A proud man despises the meek."
" ... For you see, Vainglory is pride's saddle-horse on which it is mounted. But holy Humility and Self-deprecation will laugh at the horse and its rider and will joyfully sing the song of triumph: 'Let us sing to the Lord, for He has been truly glorified. Horse and rider He has thrown into the sea' (Exod. 15:1), into the sea of humility."
"Such is the twenty-third step. Whoever climbs it, if indeed anyone can, will certainly be strong."
- St. John Klimakos
