BOOK XI.OF THE SPIRIT OF VAINGLORY.
CHAPTER I. How our
seventh combat is against the spirit of vainglory,
and what its nature is.
OUR seventh combat is against the spirit of kenodoxia, which we may
term vain or idle glory: a spirit that takes many shapes, and is changeable
and subtle, so that it can with difficulty, I will not say be guarded against,
but be seen through and discovered even by the keenest eyes.
CHAPTER II. How vainglory attacks
a monk not only on his carnal,
but also on his spiritual side.
FOR not only does this, like the rest of his faults, attack a monk on
his carnal side, but on his spiritual side as well, insinuating itself
by craft and guile into his mind: so that those who cannot be deceived
by carnal vices are more grievously wounded through their spiritual proficiency;
and it is so much the worse to fight against, as it is harder to guard
against. For the attack of all other vices is more open and straightforward,
and in the case of each of them, when he who stirs them up is met by a
determined refusal, he will go away the weaker for it, and the adversary
who has been beaten will on the next occasion attack his victim with less
vigour. But this malady when it has attacked the mind by means of
carnal pride, and has been repulsed by the shield of reply, again, like
some wickedness that takes many shapes, changes its former guise and character,
and under the appearance of the virtues tries to strike down and destroy
its conqueror.
CHAPTER III. How many forms and shapes vainglory
takes.
FOR our other faults and passions may be said to be simpler and of but
one form: but this takes many forms and shapes, and changes about and assails
the man who stands up against it from every quarter, and assaults its conqueror
on all sides. For it tries to injure the soldier of Christ in his
dress, in his manner, his walk, his voice, his work, his vigils, his fasts,
his prayers, when he withdraws, when he reads, in his knowledge, his silence,
his obedience, his humility, his patience; and like some most dangerous
rock hidden by surging waves, it causes an unforeseen and miserable shipwreck
to those who are sailing with a fair breeze, while they are not on the
lookout for it or guarding against it.
CHAPTER IV. How vainglory attacks a monk
on the right hand and on the left.
AND so one who wishes to go along the King's highway by means of the
"arms of righteousness which are on the right hand and on the left," ought
by the teaching of the Apostle to pass through "honour and dishonour, evil
report and good report,"[1] and with such care to direct his virtuous course
amid the swelling waves of temptation, with discretion at the helm, and
the Spirit of the Lord breathing on us, since we know that if we deviate
ever so little to the right hand or to the left, we shall presently be
dashed against most dangerous crags. And so we are warned by Solomon,
the wisest of men: "Turn not aside to the right hand or to the left;"[2]
i.e., do not flatter yourself on your virtues and be puffed up by your
spiritual achievements on the right hand; nor, swerving to the path of
vices on the left hand, seek from them for yourself (to use the words of
the Apostle) "glory in your shame."[3] For where the devil cannot
create vainglory in a man by means of his well-fitting and neat dress,
he tries to introduce it by means of a dirty, cheap, and uncared-for style.
If he cannot drag a man down by honour, he overthrows him by humility.
If he cannot make him puffed up by the grace of knowledge and eloquence,
he pulls him down by the weight of silence. If a man fasts openly,
he is attacked by the pride of vanity. If he conceals it for the
sake of despising the glory of it, he is assailed by the same sin of pride.
In order that he may not be defiled by the stains of vainglory he avoids
making long prayers in the sight of the brethren; and yet because he offers
them secretly and has no one who is conscious of it, he does not escape
the pride of vanity.
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Notes for Book 11, Chapter 4: 1. 2 Cor. 6:7,
8. 2. Prov. 4:27 [LXX]. 3. Phil. 3:19.
CHAPTER V. A comparison which
shows the nature of vainglory.
OUR elders admirably describe the nature of this malady as like that
of an onion, and of those bulbs which when stripped of one covering you
find to be sheathed in another; and as often as you strip them, you find
them still protected.
CHAPTER VI. That vainglory is not altogether
got rid of by the advantages of solitude.
IN solitude also it does not cease from pursuing him who has for the
sake of glory fled from intercourse with all men. And the more thoroughly
a man has shunned the whole world, so much the more keenly does it pursue
him. It tries to lift up with pride one man because of his great
endurance of work and labour, another because of his extreme readiness
to obey, another because he outstrips other men in humility. One
man is tempted through the extent of his knowledge, another through the
extent of his reading, another through the length of his vigils.
Nor does this malady endeavour to wound a man except through his virtues;
introducing hindrances which lead to death by means of those very things
through which the supplies of life are sought. For when men are anxious
to walk in the path of holiness and perfection, the enemies do not lay
their snares to deceive them anywhere except in the way along which they
walk, in accordance with that saying of the blessed David: "In the way
wherein I walked have they laid a snare for me;"[1] that in this very way
of virtue along which we are walking, when pressing on to "the prize of
our high calling,"[2] we may be elated by our successes, and so sink down,
and fall with the feet of our soul entangled and caught in the snares of
vainglory. And so it results that those of us who could not be vanquished
in the conflict with the foe are overcome by the very greatness of our
triumph, or else (which is another kind of deception) that, overstraining
the limits of that self-restraint which is possible to us, we fail of perseverance
in our course on account of bodily weakness.
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Notes for Book 11, Chapter 6
1. Ps. 141 [142]:4. 2. Phil. 3:14.
CHAPTER VII. How vainglory, when it has been
overcome, rises again
keener than ever for the fight.
ALL vices when overcome grow feeble, and when beaten are day by day
rendered weaker, and both in regard to place and time grow less and subside,
or at any rate, as they are unlike the opposite virtues, are more easily
shunned and avoided: but this one when it is beaten rises again keener
than ever for the struggle; and when we think that it is destroyed, it
revives again, the stronger for its death. The other kinds of vices
usually only attack those whom they have overcome in the conflict; but
this one pursues its victors only the more keenly; and the more thoroughly
it has been resisted, so much the more vigorously does it attack the man
who is elated by his victory over it. And herein lies the crafty
cunning of our adversary, namely, in the fact that, where he cannot overcome
the soldier of Christ by the weapons of the foe, he lays him low by his
own spear.
CHAPTER VIII. How vainglory is not allayed
either in the desert or
through advancing years.
OTHER vices, as we said, are sometimes allayed by the advantages of
position, and when the matter of the sin and the occasion and opportunity
for it are removed, grow slack, and are diminished: but this one penetrates
the deserts with the man who is flying from it, nor can it be shut out
from any place, nor when outward material for it is removed does it fail.
For it is simply encouraged by the achievements of the virtues of the man
whom it attacks. For all other vices, as we said above, are sometimes
diminished by the lapse of time, and disappear: to this one length of life,
unless it is supported by skilful diligence and prudent discretion, is
no hindrance, but actually supplies it with new fuel for vanity.
CHAPTER IX. That vainglory is the more dangerous through being
mixed up with virtues.
LASTLY, other passions which are entirely different from the virtues
which are their opposites, and which attack us openly and as it were in
broad daylight, are more easily overcome and guarded against: but this
being interwoven with our virtues and entangled in the battle, fighting
as it were under cover of the darkness of night, deceives the more dangerously
those who are off their guard and not on the lookout.
CHAPTER X. An instance showing how King Hezekiah
was overthrown
by the dart of vainglory.
FOR so we read that Hezekiah, King of Judah, a man of most perfect righteousness
in all things, and one approved by the witness of Holy Scripture, after
unnumbered commendations for his virtues, was overthrown by a single dart
of vainglory. And he who by a single prayer of his was able to procure
the death of a hundred and eighty-five thousand of the army of the Assyrians,
whom the angel destroyed in one night, is overcome by boasting and vanity.
Of whom--to pass over the long list of his virtues, which it would take
a long time to unfold--I will say but this one thing. He was a man
who, after the close of his life had been decreed and the day of his death
determined by the Lord's sentence, prevailed by a single prayer to extend
the limits set to his life by fifteen years, the sun returning by ten steps,
on which it had already shone in its course towards its setting, and by
its return dispersing those lines which the shadow that followed its course
had already marked, and by this giving two days in one to the whole world,
by a stupendous miracle contrary to the fixed laws of nature.[1]
Yet after signs so great and so incredible, after such immense proofs of
his goodness, hear the Scripture tell how he was destroyed by his very
successes. "In those days," we are told, "Hezekiah was sick unto
death: and he prayed to the Lord, and He heard him and gave him a sign,"
that, namely of which we read in the fourth book of the kingdoms, which
was given by Isaiah the prophet through the going back of the sun.
"But," it says, "he did not render again according to the benefits which
he had received, for his heart was lifted up; and wrath was kindled against
him and against Judah and Jerusalem: and he humbled himself afterwards
because his heart had been lifted up, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and therefore the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah."[2]
How dangerous, how terrible is the malady of vanity! So much goodness,
so many virtues, faith and devotion, great enough to prevail to change
nature itself and the laws of the whole world, perish by a single act of
pride! So that all his good deeds would have been forgotten as if
they had never been, and he would at once have been subject to the wrath
of the Lord unless he had appeased Him by recovering his humility: so that
he who, at the suggestion of pride, had fallen from so great a height of
excellence, could only mount again to the height he had lost by the same
steps of humility. Do you want to see another instance of a similar
downfall?
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Notes for Book 11, Chapter 10: 1. Cf. 2 Kings
20. 2. 2 Chron. 32:24-26.
CHAPTER XI. The instance of King
Uzziah who was overcome by the taint
of the same malady.
OF Uzziah, the ancestor of this king of whom we have been speaking,
himself also praised in all things by the witness of the Scripture, after
great commendation for his virtue, after countless triumphs which he achieved
by the merit of his devotion and faith, learn how he was cast down by the
pride of vainglory. "And," we are told, "the name of Uzziah went
forth, for the Lord helped him and had strengthened him. But when
he was made strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction, and he
neglected the Lord his God."[1] You behold another instance of a
most terrible downfall, and see how two men so upright and excellent were
undone by their very triumphs and victories. Whence you see how dangerous
the successes of prosperity generally are, so that those who could not
be injured by adversity are ruined, unless they are careful, by prosperity;
and those who in the conflict of battle have escaped the danger of death
fall before their own trophies and triumphs.
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Note for Book 11, Chapter 11: 1. 2
Chron. 26:15, 16.
CHAPTER XII. Several testimonies
against vainglory.
AND so the Apostle warns us: "Be not desirous of vainglory."[1]
And the Lord, rebuking the Pharisees, says, "How can ye believe, who receive
glory from one another, and seek not the glory which comes from God alone?"[2]
Of these too the blessed David speaks with a threat: "For God hath scattered
the bones of them that please men."[3]
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Notes for Book 11, Chapter 12: 1. Gal. 5:26.
2. S. John 5:44. 3. Ps. 52 [53]:6.
CHAPTER XIII. Of the ways in which vainglory
attacks a monk.
IN the case also of beginners and of those who have as yet made but
little progress either in powers of mind or in knowledge it usually puffs
up their minds, either because of the quality of their voice because they
can sing well, or because their bodies are emaciated,[1] or because they
are of a good figure, or because they have rich and noble kinsfolk, or
because they have despised a military life and honours. Sometimes
too it persuades a man that if he had remained in the world he would easily
have obtained honours and riches, which perhaps could not possibly have
been secured, and inflates him with a vain hope of uncertain things; and
in the case of those things which he never possessed, puffs him up with
pride and vanity, as if he were one who had despised them.
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Note for Book 11, Chapter 13 1. viz.,
by fasting.
CHAPTER XIV. How it suggests that a
man may seek to take holy orders.
BUT sometimes it creates a wish to take holy orders, and a desire for
the priesthood or diaconate. And it represents that if a man has
even against his will received this office, he will fulfil it with such
sanctity and strictness that he will be able to set an example of saintliness
even to other priests; and that he will win over many people, not only
by his manner of life, but also by his teaching and preaching. It
makes a man, even when alone and sitting in his cell, to go round in mind
and imagination to the dwellings and monasteries of others, and to make
many conversions under the inducements of imaginary exultation.
CHAPTER XV. How vainglory intoxicates
the mind.
AND so the miserable soul is affected by such vanity--as if it were
deluded by a profound slumber--that it is often led away by the pleasure
of such thoughts, and filled with such imaginations, so that it cannot
even look at things present, or the brethren, while it enjoys dwelling
upon these things, of which with its wandering thoughts it has waking dreams,
as if they were true.
CHAPTER XVI. Of him whom the superior came
upon and found in his cell,
deluded by idle vainglory.
I REMEMBER an elder, when I was staying in the desert of Scete, who
went to the cell of a certain brother to pay him a visit, and when he had
reached the door heard him muttering inside, and stood still for a little
while, wanting to know what it was that he was reading from the Bible or
repeating by heart (as is customary) while he was at work. And when
this most excellent eavesdropper diligently applied his ear and listened
with some curiosity, he found that the man was induced by an attack of
this spirit to fancy that he was delivering a stirring sermon to the people.
And when the elder, as he stood still, heard him finish his discourse and
return again to his office, and give out the dismissal of the catechumens,
as the deacon does,[1] then at last he knocked at the door, and the man
came out, and met the elder with the customary reverence, and brought him
in and (for his knowledge of what had been his thoughts made him uneasy)
asked him when he had arrived, for fear lest he might have taken some harm
from standing too long at the door: and the old man joking pleasantly replied,
"I only got here while you were giving out the dismissal of the catechumens."
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Note for Book 11, Chapter 16: 1. Celebrare
velut diaconum catechumenis missam. Missa is here used for the dismissal
of the catechumens, which it was the deacon's office to proclaim.
The whole service was divided into two parts, (1) the mass of the catechumens,
containing the Scripture lessons, sermon, and prayers for the catechumens;
and (2) the mass of the faithful, or the Eucharist proper. At the
end of the first part the deacon warned the catechumens to depart, in words
varying slightly in different churches, but substantially the same in all,
both east and west: e.g. in the Liturgy of S. Chrysostom the form is "Let
all the catechumens depart: let not any of the catechumens --- Let all
the faithful ---"; in that of S. Mark it is still briefer: "Look lest any
of the catechumens." The Roman missal does not now contain this feature,
but it was certainly originally found in it, for it is alluded to by Gregory
the Great (Dial. Book II. c. xxiii.), who gives the form as follows: "Si
quis non communicat det locum." It was also customary in Spain and
Gaul, as well as in Africa, being alluded to by Augustine in Sermon xlix.:
"Ecce post sermonem fit missa catechumenis: manebunt fideles, venietur
ad locum orationis."
CHAPTER XVII. How faults cannot be cured
unless their roots and causes
have been discovered.
I THOUGHT it well to insert these things in this little work of mine,
that we might learn, not only by reason, but also by examples, about the
force of temptations and the order of the sins which hurt an unfortunate
soul, and so might be more careful in avoiding the snares and manifold
deceits of the enemy. For these things are indiscriminately brought
forward by the Egyptian fathers, that by telling them, as those who are
still enduring them, they may disclose and lay bare the combats with all
the vices, which they actually do suffer, and those which the younger ones
are sure to suffer; so that, when they explain the illusions arising from
all the passions, those who are but beginners and fervent in spirit may
know the secret of their struggles, and seeing them as in a glass, may
learn both the causes of the sins by which they are troubled, and the remedies
for them, and instructed beforehand concerning the approach of future struggles,
may be taught how they ought to guard against them, or to meet them and
to fight with them. As clever physicians are accustomed not only
to heal already existing diseases, but also by a wise skill to seek to
obviate future ones, and to prevent them by their prescriptions and healing
draughts, so these true physicians of the soul, by means of spiritual conferences,
like some celestial antidote, destroy beforehand those maladies of the
soul which would arise, and do not allow them to gain a footing in the
minds of the juniors, as they unfold to them the causes of the passions
which threaten them, and the remedies which will heal them.
CHAPTER XVIII. How a monk ought to avoid
women and bishops.
WHEREFORE this is an old maxim of the Fathers that is still current,--though
I cannot produce it without shame on my own part, since I could not avoid
my own sister, nor escape the hands of the bishop,--viz., that a monk ought
by all means to fly from women and bishops. For neither of them will
allow him who has once been joined in close intercourse any longer to care
for the quiet of his cell, or to continue with pure eyes in divine contemplation
through his insight into holy things.
CHAPTER XIX. Remedies by
which we can overcome vainglory.
AND so the athlete of Christ who desires to strive lawfully in this
true and spiritual combat, should strive by all means to overcome this
changeable monster of many shapes, which, as it attacks us on every side
like some manifold wickedness, we can escape by such a remedy as this;
viz., thinking on that saying of David: "The Lord hath scattered the bones
of those who please men."[1] To begin with we should not allow ourselves
to do anything at the suggestion of vanity, and for the sake of obtaining
vainglory. Next, when we have begun a thing well, we should endeavour
to maintain it with just the same care, for fear lest afterwards the malady
of vainglory should creep in and make void all the fruits of our labours.
And anything which is of very little use or value in the common life of
the brethren, we should avoid as leading to boasting; and whatever would
render us remarkable amongst the others, and for which credit would be
gained among men, as if we were the only people who could do it, this should
be shunned by us. For by these signs the deadly taint of vainglory
will be shown to cling to us: which we shall most easily escape if we consider
that we shall not merely lose the fruits of those labours of ours which
we have performed at the suggestion of vainglory, but that we shall also
be guilty of a great sin, and as impious persons undergo eternal punishments,
inasmuch as we have wronged God by doing for the favour of men what we
ought to have done for His sake, and are convicted by Him who knows all
secrets of having preferred men to God, and the praise of the world to
the praise of the Lord.
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Note for Book 11, Chapter 19:
1. Ps. 52 [53]:6.
