"Can a person live with hate? It’s an unnatural thing, hate. We are created to love." WINNING THE CONTEST* - Talking to Elder Pavlos of Sinai on Humility.

"Can a person live with hate? It’s an unnatural thing, hate. We are created to love." WINNING THE CONTEST* - Talking to Elder Pavlos of Sinai on Humility

By Sr. Joanna

Q - Now the great mystery: How does one become humble? We want you to tell us what we should actually do, rather than just have good intentions. 

Elder Pavlos - We, the monastics, try to arrive at humility through obedience. But in the world, that isn’t easy when you have a family. There is another way that is much easier.

Q - Which?

A - To not judge. What did we say before, no person should judge. That is the road that leads to humility. It is a boulevard! 

Q - What exactly is judgment, condemnation of others?

A - When we say something bad about another. But who am I? “He didn’t do well, he should have done that…” Today, many of us judge all other people, the politicians, church leaders. ... “They are bad, the politicians are thieves and deceivers” – all those comments are condemnation. The person who wants to arrive at humility avoids such conversation. It’s a very easy road. All it requires is carefulness. 

Q - And when the others around him are speaking this way? 

A - OK, he can reply, “Look at it this way, if you had been in that person’s position, would you have done better? Or perhaps would you have done worse?” Thusly, we indicate in a positive way, that what he is doing is not right. 

Q - The opposite of humility is pride. How will I fight it?

A - When we have pride, we don’t have love. When a person doesn’t experience the state of love, he understands that something great is missing from his heart. Can a person live with hate? It’s an unnatural thing, hate. We are created to love. 

Q - With one’s will, can he love? 

A - Of course. 

Q - As you said last time, with the analogy of the airplane that needs to put forth all its power to lift off the ground. 

A - Yes, in the beginning, it requires force to break out of the passions. This is the struggle that the great ascetics made who went into the desert. They strove mightily against their bodies, making a great effort with toil and sacrifices, exactly in order to see the greatest miracle, which is for a person to see himself free of the passions – in the freedom of God. 

Q - Those of us who live in the city, what can we hope to do?

A - When a person wants to, with the grace of God, no matter where he is, he will accomplish it. On the other hand, he can be in the desert, inside the monastery, and be enslaved to some passion. He has lost his freedom. It’s not a matter of place. That’s why the ascetic Fathers of the Church say, “It’s not where you live, but how you live.” 

Sr. Joanna - “If therefore the Son sets you free, truly you will be free.”

Elder Pavlos - We said, regarding the spiritual contest we have been talking about, in our struggle to break out of the passions, we are not alone. With the Grace of God we struggle ... without the Grace, nothing is possible. May God make us worthy to put these things into practice. 

Sr. Joanna: With your blessing, Geronta, thank you very much.

* From "The Hellenic Voice", 2010