Pride does not give how to deal with sins. The sin of pride and the fight against it. Parenting mistakes

Pride is an illusory and unreasonable overestimation of one's own merits, and a desire for everyone around to recognize it. A person is so carried away by his seeming superiority over other people that he does not notice their advantages and achievements, as well as the vices in himself. What is pride in the Orthodox understanding, what is this sin and can it be overcome.

In Orthodoxy, it is believed that this sin entered the world with the fall of Adam and Eve. But the appearance of this passion was recorded much earlier, even before the creation of the world. Its authorship belongs to Lucifer himself.

Dennitsa did not want to be subordinate to the Almighty, the most powerful angel, seized with pride, considered himself equal to God. As a result, the rebel was cast down to earth, and then to hell, where the light and grace of God does not reach.

So it is in earthly life. At the heart of every riot or revolution is human pride, the desire to gain power over other people or build your own “paradise”. The communists, like any revolutionaries, were the successors of the cause of Lucifer, they wanted to build a new happy world without God. What kind of humility could we talk about. Such a word did not even exist in the everyday life of Soviet citizens.

But with the fall of the Bolshevik regime, little has changed. There is no less pride in people. New values ​​began to be introduced into consciousness, no better than the previous ones. Building market relations focused people exclusively on success and career growth. The pursuit of material goods made me forget about the search for God.

Attention! You can find out what pride is from various Orthodox sources on the Internet, as well as on the Wikipedia website.

Signs

If you depict in the form of a tree all the sins and vices that can be found in a person, then pride will be his root system. According to the teachings of the holy fathers, pride is the source of all evil. Where is this passion manifested?

A person who carries the sin of pride in his heart:

1. Doesn't notice his mistakes.
2. Doesn't accept criticism.
3. Disheartened by defeat.
4. Jealous of others.
5. Suffering from someone else's success.
6. He does not find peace for himself when someone is better than himself.
7. Neglect people below.
8. A hypocrite and currying favor with those who are higher in rank.

All these are signs that pride in a person has grown unreasonably. Such manifestations of sin can be eradicated by introducing into the consciousness of humble thoughts, love for one's neighbor.

This can happen naturally, because life itself often humbles us. We get sick, grow old, experience the experience of separation from our dear people, we do not always succeed in what we want.

And all this happens because of the unwillingness to fight against sin.

Probably, it is God himself who wants a person who is sick with pride to meet thousands of small and large obstacles in his life so that he knows that he is not in command of the world and is not its master, but that there is a Tsar and Creator. If a person humbles himself and sees the Creator's providence in everything, it will be much easier for him to live.

Attention! A person must humble himself, work on himself internally, learn to see and recognize his sins.

If you don’t voluntarily break and destroy your pride, you don’t diligently fight it, then God will deal with the eradication of this sin, because he loves us and does not want people to become like demons. The Lord wants us to have mercy, compassion, prayer, faith, joy, simplicity in our hearts, therefore life itself will humble us through sorrows and problems. There are several manifestations of the sin of pride.

Condemnation

Pride is of different kinds. One can learn about her presence in a person, for example, by condemnatory speeches about neighbors.

Pride always considers itself more righteous than everyone else, as it loves to exalt itself above everyone, using any, even the slightest, opportunity for this.

How many merciless assessments have we given to our neighbors, each time forgetting that God is the true judge, since he knows everything about this person: thoughts, circumstances and actions, both in the past and in the present, as well as in the future.

Often the Lord, seeing how Christians condemn others, allows them to fall into the same sins. It humbles the soul and helps to see one's own vices as clearly as those of others. Only death can bring the outcome of human life. As a rule, we see only a part of the iceberg, its tip. Much in the life and soul of other people is hidden for us behind an impenetrable veil, so we need to leave judgment to God, the one who knows the heart and judge.

Shattering - Legacy of Fallen Angels

There are always people who are unhappy with what is happening in the church. They look for flaws in the work of the church hierarchy, sow confusion and suspicion among Orthodox believers, who, on the contrary, need to unite.

In the press, on the Internet, there is a lot of false information and false testimonies about clergy and monastics.

It is solely pride that drives the people who write such messages, which lays the foundation for any schism.

How many new churches have appeared now, what names they just call themselves. And each of them claims that it is she who is purer and holier than others. The same feeling formed the basis of the Old Believer movement, since it is guided not by love for God and the desire to preserve His will to organize church rituals, but by a high opinion of its exclusivity, righteousness and hatred of Patriarch Nikon.

The only correct way to fix anything in the church is to cultivate your own godliness. And let God be the judge for careless hierarchs. They have always been and at all times. Even John Chrysostom wrote about this: "... The wicked, burdened with a thousand crimes, invaded the church, the tax farmers became abbots ...". Despite this, the saint never called for schism and meekly obeyed the higher hierarchs. He knew that this was a sin of schism, and it could not be washed away even by a martyr's death.

Delight is a demonic temptation

One of the worst offshoots of pride is charm. For believers, it manifests itself in the form of unusual spiritual experiences, since with it they can feel something or even foresee.

This happens if a person performed his exploits and labors for show, and not for God. In the depths of my soul I expected praise and recognition from the people around me, and thus I opened myself to the influence of demonic suggestion.

In the lives of the holy ascetics there are numerous examples of demonic seduction. One of the hermits, succumbing to the action of hostile forces, believed that angels were coming to him. The ascetic never for a moment doubted whether he was worthy of such honor and praise? And he fell into delusion, completely trusted what the angels of "light" were telling him about. Once his father in the flesh went to visit the hermit. While he was still on the way, demons in angelic guise appeared to the monk and told that the devil himself was coming, assuming the appearance of his elderly father. And they advised to kill the stranger as soon as he crosses the threshold of the hut, which the unfortunate man did exactly. This is a prime example of what pride can lead to.

How to defeat the demons in yourself

How to cope with sin, the habit of being exalted over others, despising them, condemning them. How to overcome pride, in what ways to deal with it.

The most powerful of sins is conquered by the highest human virtue - love for God and neighbor. Love for the Creator lies in the fulfillment of his commandments.

The Holy Fathers say that the most effective weapon against pride is love. How to learn to love your neighbor and overcome pride in your heart.

Love is one of the main commandments left to us by God on the tablets of Moses. But it is also the most difficult to do. All other commandments are only a natural consequence of love for God and man, or the steps leading to it. This is a feeling that brings us closer to the Heavenly Father himself, for "God is love."

Unfortunately, not everyone understands correctly what it is. Often those pleasant moments and feelings that communication with another person gives us are mistaken for love. I feel good with him, so I love him - this is a misunderstanding of the essence of this feeling. This consumer attitude cannot be called love. It ends very quickly as soon as the other person begins to displease us with something.

True love gives and requires nothing in return. It contains the main source of spiritual eternal joy. And this is not at all the consumer feeling that arises in us when we receive any material benefits.

Love is service. Christ gave us an example of such a relationship when he washed the feet of his disciples. This is how He loves us, even though we are sinful, lazy and disobedient.

The feeling of love must be cultivated in oneself every day. It cannot exist without our help and effort. Otherwise, it will very quickly go out from random circumstances, mood, behavior of neighbors. Love is commanded to us by Christ. And the reward for this work is the Kingdom of Heaven.

But in the beginning you have to literally force yourself. A bad mood overcame - do not infect others with it, they are not to blame for the fact that something does not work out for you in life. If someone has offended you - go and be reconciled first. Pride will recede from your heart, and it will become more receptive to love. Thus, conquering himself day after day, soon a person will no longer be able to live differently. He will never stop giving love to everyone.

In love, it is very important to learn to see the value of another person. There is something good in any of us that can be loved. Only by learning to find positive qualities in those around you, you can change your attitude towards them and stop condemning, being exalted. Love drives away pride from the soul, as it does not get along with it within one heart.

"Sin of Lucifer"

We, people brought up in Soviet times, were taught from childhood that pride is almost the main virtue of a Soviet person. Remember: "Man - it sounds proudly"; "The Soviets have their own pride: they look down on the bourgeoisie." Indeed, pride is at the heart of any rebellion. Pride is Satan's sin, the first passion that appeared in the world even before the creation of humans. And the first revolutionary was Satan.

When the angelic world was created, the heavenly host, one of the highest and most powerful angel, Dennitsa, did not want to be in obedience and love for God. He was proud of his power and strength and desired to become like God himself. Dennitsa carried many angels along with him, and a war broke out in heaven. Archangel Michael and his angels fought with Satan and defeated the evil army. Satan-Lucifer fell like lightning from heaven to hell. And since then, the underworld, hell is a place where dark spirits dwell, a place devoid of the light and grace of God.

The rebel-revolutionary cannot but be proud, he is the successor of the cause of Lucifer on earth.

Communism is a quasi-religion, and, like any creed, it has its own "symbol of faith" and its commandments. Their "relics", "icons", banners - banners and religious processions - demonstrations. Only the Bolsheviks intended to build a paradise on earth, without God, and, of course, any idea of ​​humility was considered ridiculous and absurd. What kind of humility, when "we are ours, we will build a new world, whoever was nothing, he will become everything."

However, God cannot be mocked, and history itself passed its own judgment on the Bolsheviks. It was not possible to build a paradise without God, proud plans were put to shame. But although communism fell, pride did not diminish, it just took different forms. Talking to a modern person about humility is also very difficult. After all, a capitalist market society aimed at success and career growth is also based on pride.

Although one often hears at confession, when you ask a question about the sin of pride, and such an answer: "Something, but I have no pride." One woman writes to Saint Theophan the Recluse: “I spoke with her spiritual father and told him different things about herself. He told me bluntly that I was proud and vain. I answered him that I was not at all proud, but I hate humiliation and servility. " And this is what the saint replied to her: “The suns are splendid. Do not let yourself be offended by them, so that they know that you cannot be grabbed with your bare hand. See, you thought of calling it, and even in your eyes? Now I will also condemn you: what is the best proof that you are proud, how is your rebuke? She is not the fruit of humility. And why should you cross such a sentence? .. It is better for you, not to cross, to get into yourself thoroughly, whether, in fact, this potion is extremely unkind in you. "

So what is pride and how does this sin manifest itself? Let us turn again to Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov): pride is “the contempt of one's neighbor. Preferring yourself to everyone. Impudence. Clouding, weakness of mind and heart. Pinning them to the earthly. Hula. Disbelief. False Mind. Disobedience to the law of God and the Church. Following your fleshly will. Reading heretical, depraved, vain books. Disobedience to authorities. Poignant mockery. Abandonment of Christ-imitative humility and silence. Loss of simplicity. Loss of love for God and neighbor. False philosophy. Heresy. Godlessness. Ignorance. Death of the Soul ".

Judgment and conviction

Saint Cassian the Roman says of pride that although it is the last in the list of eight passions, “but in the beginning and in time there is the first. This is the most ferocious and most indomitable beast. "

Pride in a series of passions stands after vanity, and therefore stems from this vice, has a beginning in it. "The flashing of lightning foreshadows a thunderous strike, and foreshadows the emergence of vanity about pride," exhorts the Monk Nilus of Sinai. The search for vain, vain glory, praise, overestimated self-esteem gives rise to exaltation over people: “I am higher than them, more worthy; they are below me. " This is pride. Condemnation is associated with this feeling. How, if I am above everyone, then it means that I am more righteous, everyone else is more sinful than me. High self-esteem does not allow one to objectively judge oneself, but it helps to be a judge of others.

Pride, starting with vanity, can reach the depths of hell, because this is the sin of Satan himself. None of the passions can grow to such limits as pride, this is precisely its main danger. But back to condemnation. To condemn means to judge, anticipate the judgment of God, usurp His rights (this is also a terrible pride!), For only the Lord, who knows the past, present and future of a person, can judge him. The Monk John of Savvaite relates the following: “Once a monk came to me from a neighboring monastery, and I asked him how the fathers lived. He answered: "Well, according to your prayers." Then I asked about the monk, who did not enjoy good fame, and the guest said to me: "He has not changed at all, father!" Hearing this, I exclaimed: “It's bad!”. And as soon as I said this, I immediately felt as if delighted and saw Jesus Christ crucified between two robbers. I was rushing to worship the Savior, when suddenly He turned to the forthcoming angels and said to them: "Take him out, this is the Antichrist, for he condemned his brother before My judgment." And when, according to the word of the Lord, I was expelled, my mantle remained in the doorway, and then I woke up. “Woe to me,” I said to my brother who had come, “I am angry this day!” "Why is that?" He asked. Then I told him about the vision and noticed that the mantle I left behind meant that I was deprived of the protection and help of God. And since that time, I spent seven years wandering through the deserts, eating no bread, not going under a roof, not talking to people, until I saw my Lord, who returned the mantle to me, ”the Prologue says.

That's how scary it is to make a judgment about a person. Grace departed from the ascetic only because he said about his brother's behavior: "It's bad!" How many times a day, in thoughts or words, we give our merciless assessment to our neighbor! Each time forgetting the words of Christ: “Do not judge, lest you be judged” (Matt. 7: 1)! At the same time, in our souls, of course, we say to ourselves: "Oh, I would never have done anything like this!" And very often the Lord humbles us for our correction, in order to shame our pride and desire to condemn others.

There was a virgin in Jerusalem who spent six years in her cell, leading an ascetic life. She wore a hair shirt and renounced all earthly pleasures. But then the demon of vanity and pride aroused in her a desire to condemn other people. And the grace of God left her for her excessive pride, and she fell into fornication. This happened because she struggled not out of love for God, but for show, for the sake of vain glory. When she became drunk with the demon of pride, the holy angel, the guardian of chastity, left her.

Very often the Lord allows us to fall into precisely those sins for which we condemn our neighbors.

Our assessments of our neighbor are very incomplete and subjective, we not only cannot look into his soul, but also often do not know anything about him at all. Christ did not condemn obvious sinners, neither harlots, nor adulterers, because he knew that the earthly path of these people was not yet finished, and they could take the path of correction and virtue. Only the judgment after death brings the last line to everything that a person has done in life. We see how a person sins, but we do not know how he repents.

Once I returned from the cemetery, where I was invited to serve a requiem, and the woman who called me asked to bless her car. A friend of mine was present at the consecration. When the woman drove away in an already consecrated brand new foreign car, he threw the phrase: "Yes, it is not visible that she really bothers earning money for this car." Then I told him that this woman was in great grief, her son was killed not so long ago ... You can never judge the well-being of human life by looks.

Pride and schism

In our time, there have appeared many "scolders" (as the Apostle Jude calls them), who constantly find reasons for indignation with the church hierarchy. The Patriarch, you see, communicates too much with the secular authorities, the bishops are all completely infected with money-grubbing and simony, the priests also think only about income and drive around in Mercedes. Special newspapers and websites have appeared that specialize in denouncing the episcopate. Apparently, it seems to them that now the very times have come when "the hierarchs will not believe in the resurrection of Christ either." A complete decline of piety and church life, as it were.

What drives these people? Pride. Who gave them such a right to denounce bishops and priests, and what do these denunciations give? They only sow enmity, confusion and division in the hearts of Orthodox people, who, on the contrary, need to unite now.

There have been unworthy people among priests and bishops at all times, and not only in the 20th or 21st century. Let us turn to the "golden age" of Orthodoxy, the age of holiness and the flourishing of theology. The IV century gave such pillars of the Church as St. Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory the Theologian, Athanasius of Alexandria, John Chrysostom and many, many others. And this is what St. John Chrysostom writes about this “golden age”: “What can be more lawless when people who are worthless and filled with many vices receive honor for what they should not allow them to cross the church threshold? .. Nowadays the leaders of the Church suffer from sins. ... The wicked, burdened with a thousand crimes, invaded the Church, the tax-farmers became abbots. " Many of the holy bishops of the 4th century, including St. John himself, were sent into exile by "robber councils" of hierarchs, and some died in it. But none of them ever called for split and division. I am sure that many thousands of people would follow the deposed saints if they wanted to create their own "alternative church". But the holy men knew that the sin of schism and division is not washed away even by martyr's blood.

This is not what modern accusers do, they prefer schism to subordination to the hierarchy, this immediately shows that they are driven by the same pride. It is at the heart of any schism. How many schismatic, catacomb churches appear now, calling themselves Orthodox! "The true Orthodox Church", "the most true Orthodox Church", "the most, the most true", etc. And each of these pseudo-churches considers itself to be better, cleaner, holier than all the others by pride. The same passion of pride moved and moves the Old Believers. They split into a huge number of Old Believer "churches", interpretations, agreements that have no communication with each other. As St. Theophan the Recluse wrote: "Hundreds of stupid talk and thousands of dissenting agreements." This is the path of all schismatics and heretics. By the way, all the Old Believers are based not at all on love for the old rite, but on pride and a high opinion of their exclusivity and correctness and hatred of Patriarch Nikon and his followers - the Nikonians.

But let's say a little more about the "scolders", they should remember the words of St. Cyprian of Carthage: "To whom the Church is not a mother, to him God is not a Father." The Church was, is and will be, despite the unworthiness of some hierarchs, who have been, as I have already said, in all ages and times. They will be judged by God, not by us. The Lord says, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay” (Rom. 12:19). And we can correct the Church with only one thing - our personal piety. After all, we are also the Church. “Save yourself - and thousands around you will be saved,” said the Monk Seraphim of Sarov. And he knew it from his own spiritual experience. These are the people who are the little leaven that leavens the whole dough. A small amount of yeast can raise a whole sourdough. But, by the way, according to my own observations, the “scolders” with personal piety and morality, as a rule, have a hard time. But pride is rife.

Seduction

One of the worst and most difficult to treat types of pride is charm.

Delight means seduction. The devil seduces a person, taking the form of an angel of Light, saints, the Mother of God and even Christ Himself. The deceived person is given the greatest spiritual experiences from Satan, he can perform feats, even miracles, but all this is captivity by demonic powers. And at the heart of this is pride. A person became proud of his spiritual labors, doing, he did them out of vanity, pride, often for show, without humility, and thereby opened his soul to the action of hostile forces.

Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) in his "Fatherland" gives an example of what terrible consequences charm can lead to: “They said about a certain brother that he lived as a hermit in the wilderness and for many years was deceived by demons, thinking that they were angels. From time to time his father in the flesh came to him. Once the father, going to his son, took an ax with him with the intention of chopping wood for himself on the way back. One of the demons, warning the coming of his father, appeared to his son and said to him: “Behold, the devil is coming to you in the likeness of your father with the aim of killing you, he has an ax with him. You warn him, rip out the ax and kill ”. The father came, according to custom, and the son, grabbing an ax, stabbed him and killed him. " It is very difficult to bring a person who has fallen into delusion from this state, but there have been such cases. As, for example, with the Monk Nikita of Kiev-Pechersk. Falling into delusion, he was able to predict some events, he memorized the entire Old Testament. But after the intense prayer of the monks of the Kiev Caves elders, the devil departed from him. After that, he forgot everything he knew from the books, and the fathers barely taught him to read and write.

Cases of demonic deception are found in our days. A young man studied with me at the seminary, who prayed and fasted very hard, but, apparently, with a wrong, intransigent disposition of his soul. Students began to notice that he was sitting for books all day. Everyone thought that he was reading the holy fathers. It turned out that he studied books on Islam and the occult. He stopped confessing and receiving communion. Unfortunately, it was not possible to bring him out of this state, and soon he was expelled.

The sin of pride, sometimes starting with petty vanity and pride, can grow to a terrible spiritual illness. That is why the holy fathers called this passion the most dangerous and greatest of the passions.

Swearing with pride

How do they fight with pride, contempt of neighbors, self-exaltation? What can you oppose to this passion?

The Holy Fathers teach that the opposite virtue to pride is love. The most b O the greatest of passions fights with the highest virtue.

How to acquire love for your neighbor?

As they say, it is easy to love all of humanity, but it is very difficult to love a particular person with all his shortcomings and weaknesses. When the Lord was asked: “What is the greatest commandment in the law?” He answered: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind: this is the first and greatest commandment; the second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself ”(Matthew 22: 37–39).

Love is a great feeling that brings us together with God, for "God is love." Love is the only happiness, it can help us overcome all difficulties and defeat pride and selfishness. But not everyone understands correctly what love is. Love is often mistaken for the pleasant feelings we get when we are treated well, but that is not love. “If you love those who love you, what good is it to you? Do not the tax collectors do the same? " (Matthew 5:46). It is very easy and pleasant to love a person, to be near him when he only makes us happy. But when communication with our neighbor does not suit us for something, we immediately change our attitude towards him, often to the diametrically opposite: "from love to hate, one step." But this means that we did not love real love, our love for our neighbor was consumer love. We liked those pleasant sensations that were associated with him, and when they disappeared, love disappeared. It turns out that we loved a person as a thing that we need. Not even as a thing, but as a product, delicious food, because we still take care of our favorite thing, for example, we polish the body of our favorite car, regularly service it, buy all kinds of jewelry, etc. That is, even in a thing, if we love it, we put our care and attention. And we love only food for its taste, no more; when it is eaten, we no longer need it. So true love gives rather than requiring. And this is the real joy of love. The joy of receiving something is material, consumer joy, and in giving to someone it is true, eternal.

Love is service. In this, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself gives us a great example, when He washed the feet of the apostles at the Last Supper, saying: “So, if I, the Lord and Teacher, washed your feet, then you must also wash each other's feet. For I have given you an example so that you also do the same that I have done to you ”(John 13: 14-15). And Christ loves us for nothing (because there is nothing to love us especially for), but simply because we are His children. Let the sinful, disobedient, spiritually sick, but it is the sick, weak child that parents love most of all.

The feeling of love cannot exist without our efforts. He needs to be educated in his heart, warmed up day after day. Love is a conscious decision: "I want to love." And we need to do everything so that this feeling does not go out, otherwise our feeling will not last long, it will depend on many random reasons: emotions, our mood, life circumstances, behavior of a neighbor, etc. It is impossible to fulfill the words of Christ in another way, because we are commanded to love not only our loved ones - parents, spouses, children, but also to all people. Love is acquired by daily work, but the reward for this work is great, for nothing on earth can be higher than this feeling. But in the beginning, we have to literally force ourselves to love. For example, you come home tired, do not wait for something pleasant to you, help yourself, wash, say, the dishes. A bad mood overcame - poke yourself, smile, say an affectionate word, do not take off your irritation on others. If you are offended by a person, you consider him wrong, yourself innocent - force yourself, show love and be the first to go to reconcile. And pride is defeated. But here it is very important not to become proud of your “humility”. So, educating himself day after day, a person will someday come to the point that he can no longer live differently: he will have an inner need to give his love, to share it.

A very important point in love is to see the value of each person, because everyone has something good, you just need to change your often prejudiced attitude. Only by cultivating in our hearts love for our neighbor, changing our attitude towards him, learning to see the good sides in him, will we, step by step, conquer pride and exaltation in ourselves. Love conquers pride, for pride is a lack of love for God and people.

How can you learn to love God? Having fallen in love with His creation - a man. Man is the image of God, and it is impossible to love the Archetype even without love, to disrespectfully treat the icon, the image of God. It is not for nothing that the Apostle John the Theologian writes to us: “Whoever says,“ I love God, ”but hates his brother is a liar: for he who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God, whom he does not see? And we have from Him such a commandment that he who loves God should love his brother also ”(1 John 4:20).

Instead of the conclusion: "The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force"

The path of struggle with passions is not easy and thorny, we often fatigue, fall, suffer defeat, sometimes it seems that there is no more strength, but we get up again and begin to fight. Because this path is the only one for an Orthodox Christian. “No one can serve two masters: for either he will hate one, and love the other; or he will be zealous for one, but neglect of the other ”(Matthew 6: 24). It is impossible to serve God and remain a slave to passions.

Of course, no serious business is done quickly and easily. Whether we are rebuilding a temple, building a house, raising a child, or treating a seriously ill person - very great efforts are always required. “The kingdom of heaven is taken by force, and those who use force will take it away” (Matthew 11:12). And the acquisition of the Kingdom of Heaven is impossible without cleansing oneself from sins and passions. In the Slavic translation of the Gospel (always more accurate, figurative), instead of the verb "taken" is used the word "bothers". Indeed, spiritual work requires not just the application of effort, but coercion, compulsion, overcoming oneself.

A person who fights against the passions and conquers them is married for this from the Lord. Once the Monk Seraphim of Sarov was asked: "Who in our monastery stands above all before God?" And the monk replied that he was a cook from the monastery kitchen, by descent from former soldiers. The elder also said: “The character of this cook is by nature fiery. He is ready to kill a person in passion, but his incessant struggle within the soul attracts to him the great favor of God. For the struggle he is given from above the grace-filled power of the Holy Spirit, for God's word is immutable, which says: "To him who overcomes (myself) I will give a place to sit with myself and clothe him in white clothes." And, on the contrary, if a person does not struggle with himself, then he comes to a terrible bitterness, which leads to certain death and despair. "

A person is a highly sensitive person, has an enormous supply of energy potential and individually expresses his own attitude to the world around him. Today's ideals of secular society have taught ordinary people to be proud of their achievements and to remove the merits of nature and the Lord himself. A person boasts a pedigree, a well-paid job, intelligence and appearance.

The sin of pride in Orthodoxy is an inadequate consideration of one's own personality, leading to mistakes and causing many problems.

The origin and essence of pride

The chronicles state: after the creation of the heavenly army by God, the most powerful angel named Dennitsa (Lucifer) did not want to bow his knee before the Creator. He became proud of his strength, gathered an opposition army and decided to take the throne of the Almighty Lord under his control. A colossal battle took place in heaven, but Dennitsa lost to the army of the Archangel Michael and fell into the underworld, where from now on he and dark spirits dwell, deprived of the radiance and grace of God.

Lucifer did not want to bow before the Creator

Despite the fact that this vice is the eighth in the list of passions, but in time it is the first, the most indomitable and ferocious, like a wild beast. Pride stems from vanity, which is accompanied by a search for false honor and praise, and grossly inflated self-esteem. A person subject to this pernicious passion is affirmed in the opinion that he is superior and worthy of others in all respects.

About other sins:

Soon, pride gives rise to condemnation and a false statement of self-righteousness. Inflated self-esteem makes such people unfair judges.

Important! People who are overcome by the passions of pride tend to boast of achievements, considering them their own. They forget to consider the help of the environment and higher forces.

Pride provokes a person to elevate himself and belittle those who are in competition or are just around. Often, deluded minds do not even realize that they have been influenced by the most ferocious sin. Over time, this passion absorbs the soul and does not allow one to stop in injustice.

Pride has characteristics that must be distinguished.

• A person is not able to stop: to stop uplifting the ego and offending, belittling others. Proud people show excessive selfishness, vanity, arrogance, and often boast of accomplishments.
• Such people are susceptible to resentment that is constantly accumulating and expanding. Unhappy people experience great irritation when events do not happen according to their script.
• The proud give their souls to the power of dark anger and hatred, they love sarcasm and contempt, enjoying the humiliation and mistakes of others.

A person prone to pride believes that he is superior and worthy of others.

These signs are often mistaken for virtuous qualities when they triumph in the soul, taking the forefront of consciousness. Passions act in such a way that the person loses self-control and gets an impulse to harm.

On a note! It often happens that God brings on people exactly the same vices that they see in others. Our assessment of the environment is incomplete and always a mistake, since there is no ability in our minds to be imbued with the activities and thoughts of our neighbor or even an enemy. We see only passion, not repentance. e

The Son of God Jesus did not blame unfortunate people who fell into terrible sin. He mentioned that until the path of life is over, there is an opportunity to fix everything and follow the true path. The last line under life is drawn by the afterlife judgment.

Disunity and seduction

An example of humility is given by the true servants of the Church: they were sent into exile by "robber councils," and some died in difficult conditions. However, none of the pious saints called for the division of Christianity into parts, since they knew that it was not in their right to judge human vices.

• The sinfulness of schism is close to pride and is not washed away even by the blood of martyrdom. Holy people never allowed themselves to use individual authority and lead their adherents, they are always devoted to the orthodox idea of ​​Christianity and the Supreme Creator.
• Today's whistleblowers seek to create a separate group with opposing views. This position is caused by the same pride that fogs up the consciousness and does not allow to see the truth in unity. The secessionist churches consider their doctrine to be the most holy and correct - this path is chosen by schismatics and heretics, whose mind is supported by a belief in their own superiority.
• But a rational believer must understand that the Church is one, despite the existence of separate groups that consider themselves independent. To correct such routines, it is necessary to observe personal piety, without falling into stupid condemnation.

Deception - the activity of the devil, who took the form of an angel or Christ himself... A person captivated by demonic forces is capable of performing feats, miracles, and experiencing the greatest emotions. However, such "delights" are based on the sin of pride, because a person who has sold his soul does something extraordinary just for the sake of glory, for show, forgetting about humility.

Getting rid of pride should begin with an awareness of responsibility for your life.

The devil tempts weak-willed people to make illegal actions, to break one or more commandments. Demonic forces lead to madness, promising material wealth or a false sense of security. A deceived people or individual kills, plunders, receives temporary and worthless gifts, but remains deceived, lost peace in the soul.

Pride is considered the most dangerous passion, because it often develops into a terrible spiritual illness, which is extremely difficult to cleanse from.

Important! This vice arises as a source of harsh thoughts and negative emotions. People infected with pride become irritable and aggressive. A point of view different from their own generates outbursts of anger, envy, resentment and pity. Soon, the psychological health of the victim of vanity is destroyed.

Methods for dealing with a dangerous passion

Love is the highest virtue that completely destroys pride. First, the Orthodox believer must love the Lord in his heart, and afterwards he must manifest the same deed towards his neighbor, despite his depravity.

About spiritual doing:

Pride in Orthodoxy is the strongest vice, diverting consciousness to the side of alienation and bringing a lot of troubles.

Often, people burdened with this passion do not see themselves from the outside, pay excessive attention to their personality and consider victories only their own merit. Such behavior provokes fragmentation, which carries great destruction, resentment, anger and anger.

Important! Sincere believers and lovers of God are able to suppress this passion by identifying with the whole and doing everything possible for the sake of others.

Archpriest Andrei Tkachev. Pride is the root of all sins

Before we start thinking about how to get rid of pride, let's first understand the concept itself. This word usually means excessive pride, arrogance, selfishness, arrogance, etc. Everyone knows about what pride is, but rarely does anyone recognize it in themselves, and if they notice it, they do not see any danger in it and, moreover, are not going to fight it. But sooner or later it will make itself felt and bear its terrible fruits.

How to get rid of pride: Orthodoxy, Catholicism

Pride in Orthodoxy is included in the eight sinful passions along with gluttony, fornication, greed, anger, sadness, despondency and vanity.

In Catholicism, pride is included in the seven main sinful passions along with gluttony, fornication, greed, anger, despondency and envy.

Before giving an answer to the question of how to get rid of the sin of pride, it should be noted that it is not at all the same thing. Pride is, in general, the most common property of any sinner. We all fall into the same from time to time - this is the great degree when this sinful passion turns into the dominant characteristic of the personality and fills it. These people usually do not hear anyone, they say about such people: "There is a lot of pride, but little intelligence."

Islam about pride

Pride is when a person boasts to the Creator about his achievements, forgetting that it was from Him that he received them. This disgusting quality makes a person too arrogant, he begins to believe that he can achieve everything without the help of God, and therefore he never thanks God for everything that he has.

How to get rid of pride? Islam, by the way, is also of the opinion that pride is a great sin, which causes a number of other sins.

According to the Qur'an, a genie named Iblis refused to obey Allah's order and bow down to Adam. The genie said that he is better than man because he is made of fire, not clay. After that, he was cast down from heaven and vowed to lead believers astray.

How to recognize the sin of pride? How to get rid of it?

Pride grows on the basis of well-being, not when everything is bad. In euphoria, it is almost impossible to notice it. But when it already grows, it will be very difficult to stop it. She plunges a person into the illusion of her greatness and then unexpectedly throws him into the abyss. Therefore, it is better to notice it earlier, recognize it and, accordingly, start an irreconcilable struggle with it. Let's pay attention to the signs of its manifestation.

An indication of pride

• Frequent resentment and intolerance to other people, or rather to their imperfection.
• Constant blaming others for their life problems.
• Uncontrolled irritability and disrespect for other people.
• Constant thoughts about your own greatness and uniqueness, and therefore superiority over others.
• The need for someone to constantly admire and praise you.
• Absolute intolerance to criticism and unwillingness to correct their shortcomings.
• Inability to ask for forgiveness.
• Full confidence in your infallibility; the desire to argue and prove their merits.
• Lack of humility and stubbornness, which consists in the fact that a person cannot accept the lessons of fate with dignity and calmly.

When pathos grows, the joy in the heart fades away, and dissatisfaction and discontent comes to replace it. Only now, some people, noticing all these negative signs of manifestation of pride in themselves, begin to resist, while others become its victims.

You can cope with pride until it has grown to gigantic proportions, figuratively speaking, has not taken power over the soul and mind. And we urgently need to get down to business, but how to deal with pride?

Control methods

1. No matter how high your achievements are, you should try to be interested in people who have achieved more, whom you should respect and learn from them.
2. Learn humility, realize the greatness and infinite potential of every human soul. Accept your insignificance before God - the creator of all life on earth and in heaven.
3. Don't take all the merit and achievement for yourself. Always thank the Lord for all the good and bad things that happen to you, for different trials and lessons. The feeling of gratitude is always more pleasant to experience than the feeling of contempt for others.
4. Find a person who is adequate, honest and good, so that he constructively expresses his opinion about you, all noticed shortcomings need to be worked out and eradicated. And this is the best medicine for pride.
5. You must pass on your best experience to people, try to help them disinterestedly with love. The manifestation of true love will surely cleanse the heart of pride. Anyone who does not start sharing his positive experience with others in time will only increase the growth of pride and pseudo-grandeur.
6. Try to be sincere and in front of yourself first. Look for kindness in yourself, so that there is an opportunity not to accumulate resentment in yourself, but to find strength and courage in yourself, in order to ask for forgiveness from those whom we have offended, and learn to admit our mistakes.

Self-deprecation

Many are interested in another interesting question - how to get rid of pride and two extreme points, one concept implies high self-esteem, the other - low self-esteem. Let's talk about her a little.

If we already know about pride, then we will dwell a little on such a property as self-deprecation, which is based on wrong self-esteem and negative introspection. A person begins to belittle himself and his dignity in comparison with other people. He may not like his appearance and qualities, he constantly criticizes himself, they say, "I am not handsome", "I am fat", "I am a slob", "I am a complete fool", etc.

Cannon

Self-deprecation, like pride, can be used as a tool to influence how others evaluate and perceive you, so as not to receive a painful blow to your self-esteem.

In a situation of belittling himself, a person himself is the first to begin to criticize himself, to scold and reproach himself, thereby he anticipates possible negative reactions to him from others. Such people really believe that they are worse than those around them. Shyness also shows a developed inferiority complex in a person.

Causes of self-deprecation

Where does it come from? Usually this can be some kind of negative experience from early childhood associated with an inability to evaluate oneself and others.

Self-deprecation becomes an inadequate way to defend against potential emotional threats. It can be used as a mask that a person puts on himself in adulthood to hide behind it.

Self-deprecation, as a rule, really appears from early childhood, often this is due to the child's inability to meet all the high standards and expectations of the parents, especially if the parents are some outstanding people. They expect that their child must certainly correspond to their ideals, have talents and ambitious aspirations.

Mask of powerlessness

But the child does not reach the bar set by the parents, then he blames himself, considers himself mediocre, the wrong self-esteem comes to his mind, because the parents are unhappy with him.

When a child grows up, then there is a fear that he can never be as good as many people around him, that they cannot like him, therefore success, happiness and love will never come to him. He begins to openly declare that he is a failure. A deep inner conflict is brewing and a chain of complexes is formed that hide under a mask that means “don't pay any attention to me” and “don't expect anything special from me”. He is not used to praise and does not accept it, because he does not believe in himself.

Vanity

In parallel, another question arises - how to get rid of pride and vanity. And this is all - links of one chain. Where there is pride, there is vanity. The meaning of this concept is that a person constantly wants to look better than he really is, he feels a constant need to confirm his superiority, which means that he surrounds himself with flattere friends.

Related concepts of vanity also include pride, pride, arrogance, arrogance and "star fever." A conceited person is only interested in his person.

Vanity is like a drug, without which, addicted to it, can no longer live. Yes, and envy is immediately attached to it, and they go hand in hand. Since a vain person does not tolerate any competition, if someone is ahead of him, black envy begins to gnaw him.

Perishable glory

As mentioned above, vanity, along with pride, is included in the eight sinful passions in Orthodoxy.

I would also like to add to everything that vanity is when a person constantly strives for vain, that is, vain and empty glory. The word "vain", in turn, means "passing and perishable."

Position, high office, fame - things on earth are short-lived and unreliable. Any earthly glory is ash and dust, just nothing compared to the glory that the Lord has prepared for His loving children.

Arrogance

Now we need to talk about how to get rid of pride and arrogance. You need to find out right away, then it will be easier to understand and cope with this passion. Arrogance is self-exaltation, arrogance and contempt for another person.

Summing up the discussion of how to get rid of pride, arrogance and the like, it should be noted that the fight against them is possible only after a person takes strict control of his behavior and words, begins to do good deeds, cares as much as possible about people around and do not expect gratitude and payment for this.

We must try to get rid of the thought of our own significance, peculiarity and greatness. Look at yourself from the outside, listen to what you say, what you think, how you lead, put yourself in the shoes of others.

Pride, arrogance and vanity will prevent an individual from living an independent and fulfilling life. And before they destroy you, start fighting them. Only then can you rejoice and live in peace with yourself and with the world around you. And you will no longer want to blame anyone for your sins, and you will want to thank the Lord for everything.

The world will shine in other colors, only then can a person comprehend the main thing: the meaning of life is LOVE. And only to her he should strive.

Is pride a manifestation of weakness or, on the contrary, is it strength? Is pride a trait that a person needs or most likely interferes with him? It is important to solve these questions for yourself, because it is this trait that can change a lot in a person's life.
Often in the modern world, people are guided by proud people. Often these are not at all worthy role models, but such people often achieve so-called success. And gentleness and humility is considered a weakness of character, which is no longer applicable in the modern world. However, world history and the personal experience of those who came across with pride show that everything is exactly the opposite!
However, it is worthwhile to figure it out what is real pride and real humility.

After all, any dignity can become a minus,

and some flaw can be turned into a virtue!

What is pride?

Pride is a feeling of respect for oneself, as well as satisfaction from something.
As mentioned above, pride can be both appropriate and inappropriate.

Appropriate pride.

Appropriate pride has a connotation joy for some achievement, for the successes of your children and so on. It warms the heart and gives confidence in their abilities and encourages to do good further.
For example, a situation arose in front of an honest person that prompts him to compromise with his conscience and his beliefs, but he does not give in to it. For example, he does not steal or cheat at work, although he has the opportunity to be not punished for this. After the temptation is overcome, he feels pride in his core and that he has not shown weakness.
Also, if such a person teaches children to act honestly and not succumb to the bad influence of others, he will feel proud if his child does this, especially if the parents are not around. For example, the child did not support some improper class behavior during the lesson and at the parent meeting the teacher praised, personally or in front of everyone, the parent for the good upbringing of the child. Also, the parent will be proud of his child and in turn will praise him and this encourages both to continue to do in the same spirit.

Misplaced pride.

Such pride often is not justified or has only external motives for pride.

For example, it is not appropriate to be proud of the achievement of some of your goals, for example, studying or working at a prestigious place that you managed to get only thanks to connections or money. Also, talents and abilities can often inspire pride, although talent and skills can be acquired.
So, if a parent praises a child only for his ability, then this fosters in the child inappropriate pride. When such children are faced with reality, they do not understand why they are not admired by everyone and everywhere. It is also difficult for such people to start making efforts. To master a new field of work and succeed in something else.
Talents and abilities are good. It's nice when something turns out without much effort. But those areas where a person has achieved success through effort and hard work are worthy of real, appropriate pride and adequate self-esteem.

The price of pride.

Everything has to be paid for, and pride has a price too.

If a person does not work on himself in order to overcome pride, then there will be consequences. Unfortunately, many people realize this late and have to pay a high price for their carelessness. What is the price of pride?
In family.
There is no place for pride in a loving family. Family pride manifests itself in the unwillingness to give in and take into account the opinion of the other. Also, a proud spouse can generally make decisions without even informing his companion. One spouse's pride encourages them to think only about their needs, such as physical, emotional, or sexual.
Children who have adopted the proud behavior of their parents then behave in the same way in their families and are often not grateful to their parents.
Thus, the price of pride is quite high for those who wanted to have a strong family in the full sense of the word. Such families are not really happy and this can be seen with the naked eye.
In society.
Pride is often the cause of even world clashes and conflicts. Unwillingness to help, yield and value natural resources sparks wars that only exacerbate the situation.
However, on the mini scale there is another pride price list. For example, a proud person may not have real friends. Pride can prevent a person from communicating with others calmly in general.
At work, it is difficult for a proud man to listen to the boss's guidance and therefore interpersonal conflicts are inevitable.
Health.
Pride makes a person irritable, constantly dissatisfied with something, and this negatively affects his physical health. The nervous system becomes shaky and very sensitive to the slightest stimulus.
The digestive system can malfunction under stress.
The endocrine glands (thyroid, pancreas, adrenal glands) suffer from stress and this exacerbates their already difficult work.
The cardiovascular system also suffers from stress and frequent conflicts. Often such people become hypertensive.
Agree how high the price of pride is! So it is worth considering whether there is misplaced pride in your character and how to overcome pride? And it is possible to overcome pride !!!

How to overcome pride?

Defeat selfishness.

Selfishness and pride often go hand in hand. A person who does not respect the opinions of others is too self-centered. Respect and love yourself, of course, is necessary, but in moderation.
Motivator against selfishness.
Is the egoist emotionally mature or not? want to be more mature? Fight with pride !!!
Consider your emotional development. Often times, people who are emotionally mature are less self-centered and willing to give more to others.

Therefore, set yourself the goal of giving more than expecting and receiving from others.

Egoistic - a welcome friend and guest or not?
Think how an egoist looks from the outside, how egoists are usually reluctant to deal with and how difficult it is for them to give something even to those closest to them.
Think of examples of how an egoist got burned when he lost good friends because of his character.

Respect others.

Pride is the opposite of respecting others. A proud man wants to be respected, but he himself does not show much attention and respect.
Think:
can other people have a different point of view from yours?
Can other people dislike what you love and love what you dislike?
Can others make decisions solely with their own heads, or should they be led by you?
Of course, parents and educators have power over children, but here we mean something else.
For example, in a family, husband and wife may have different preferences., let's say on vacation. The husband just wants to sit at the newspaper or TV, and the wife wants to take a walk and even talk to someone and visit. Does this mean that some of them are more right? Of course not! It's just that these are different points of view and different needs that have the right to be. Therefore, there is no place for pride. Both husband and wife can give in on certain occasions and compromise in order to please their life partner. A husband may at some point give in and go to visit with his wife, and a wife may one day just sit at home and give her husband an emotional rest from communicating with others. In any case, if each of the spouses sees that the other is trying and does not want only to dominate, then it will be easier to give in.
Also with friends. If your friend does not share your musical, emotional needs 100%, then this does not mean that he is wrong, and you are right. It's just that you are different, but this is not a hindrance to friendship, but rather diversifies it.
Of course, it is worth remembering about bad campaigns, for which you do not need to adjust and close your eyes to the obvious bad consequences of communicating with them. There is no need to give in to a bad deed. Here you just need to show respect for yourself and refuse to do something immoral, immoral.

Ask for forgiveness.

Pride gets in the way of saying, "I'm sorry, I was wrong."

Therefore, you need to purposefully work on this expression in your speech. If you have been reprimanded and pointed out your mistake, then do not be afraid to say words of apology and regret. It is worth mentioning your motives, the unintentional nature of your actions, which will contribute to the early forgiveness of you.

Try at the end of the day to analyze your behavior, speech and identify manifestations of pride and understand who and how you offended.

Gather all your willpower and ask for forgiveness, at least very briefly. For example, you can write an SMS and even a note on the table for your wife.

This will be a real victory! This simple exercise will surely help you overcome your pride over time!
Another way is to ask for forgiveness right away. This will help the offended person quickly forgive you and not worry. If you get it. that you have offended someone with your pride, then immediately say that you regret your words or deeds and sincerely ask to forgive you. Most likely, the person will appreciate these words and you will be friends again.

Praise people.

A person's pride interferes with thinking. that others also have commendable successes. Therefore, the praise of others is the antidote to pride.
For example, you see that your subordinate is doing the work very diligently, then just come up and say that he is - “Well done!”. If you see that your friend has received a promotion or has some kind of joy in life, then praise him for his dedication and victory!
If the wife has prepared a delicious lunch or dinner, the husband can praise her for her culinary efforts. And if the husband is well versed in something and he succeeds in something, then the wife will not forget to praise him.

Learn to wait.

Patience and the ability to wait can help fight pride. Pride prompts him to consider his plans more important than everyone and everything and does not like to wait for anyone. Of course, it is unpleasant to wait, but anything can happen to a person and the reasons for the delay can be very valid.
Therefore, if you see that someone is late, then occupy yourself at this time with some useful activity. Do not leave immediately as soon as the hands are exactly at your agreed time (perhaps the other is just behind the clock itself).

Chat with different people.

Pride limits the social circle and such a person communicates only with people who are convenient to him, that is, who are never late, never confused with thoughts and have a certain education.
Therefore, if you see a person in front of you not with such brilliant abilities as yours, then do not ignore the communication with him. It is this person who will help you develop patience, humility, and self-control. He will be your trainer for these qualities.
Let the other finish the thought.
Don't interrupt.
Don't take the initiative in the conversation.
Praise him for any knowledge of anything.
Don't use tired expressions and tone of voice.
Say that you will continue the conversation next time and that you enjoyed the conversation.

Listen for real

Ask for help.

Pride gets in the way of asking someone for help. Proud people, even if they cannot cope with the problem, try to simply keep silent about their failure, but do not ask anyone or anything. Therefore, tune in that if you really need someone's help, then you will ask for it. You may not need something specific, but just a word of support and understanding.
For example, a husband may tell his wife that he is worried about the family budget or about raising adolescent children who are becoming more and more difficult to bring up correctly. The wife will definitely assure her husband of her support and this will strengthen the family.
The wife can tell her husband about her needs directly and tactfully, and not wait until he figured out. A husband cannot read his wife's mind, no matter how well he knows her and how long they have been in the tank. Therefore, the wife can say specifically in what she needs her husband's help and, as verified by many examples, the husband willingly responds when the request is formulated simply and tactfully.

Find real friends.

Social circle greatly influences character, even if your character is not weak.
It's important to remember the cucumber example. Whichever side the cucumber is in the jar, it will still turn salty. Also with communication - it still affects, it's just a matter of time.
Therefore, if there are people around you for whom pride is acceptable, then this will affect you and it will be very difficult to overcome pride. Therefore, making real friends is a worthwhile goal. Such friends will help you to be softer and more approachable and happier. Such friends will love and value you not for your money, but for your qualities. Such friends will not leave you when you are in trouble, as many proud people will.
So, you've already become less proud if you read this article. At least you have already thought about this very quality and decided to think about it and start acting. Therefore, you are definitely great and you will be able to overcome your pride !!! Good luck !!!

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