{"id":20776,"date":"2019-03-14T08:07:05","date_gmt":"2019-03-14T08:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/?p=20776"},"modified":"2019-03-15T12:24:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-15T12:24:00","slug":"pride-why-it-is-the-1-among-the-deadly-sins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/2019\/03\/pride-why-it-is-the-1-among-the-deadly-sins","title":{"rendered":"Pride: Why It Is the #1 among the Deadly Sins"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cThere is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people except Christians ever imagine that they are guilty themselves.\u00a0I have heard people admit they are bad-tempered, or that they cannot keep their heads about girls or drink, or even that they are cowards. I do not think I have ever heard anyone who was not a Christian accuse himself of this vice. And at the same time I have very seldom met anyone who was not a Christian who showed the slightest mercy to it in others. There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves.\u00a0<\/span>And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was a quote from the beginning of C.S. Lewis\u2019 description of Pride in chapter 8 of his book\u00a0Mere Christianity.\u00a0<\/i>He says\u00a0this better than I ever could, so I\u2019m about to quote him at length here. For any not acquainted with Lewis: I think he was about as orthodox as one can be without actually being Orthodox. I\u2019ve been told that Father Thomas\u00a0Hopko (+ memory eternal), former dean of Saint Vladimir\u2019s Seminary, occasionally referred to him as \u201cour Holy Father C.S. Lewis\u201d! I think there are a few matters where we Orthodox would disagree with Lewis, but for the most part I still find he\u00a0kept hitting the nail on the head.<\/p>\n

He continues:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>The vice I am talking about is Pride or Self-Conceit; and the virtue opposite to it, in Christian morals, is called Humility\u2026\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride.\u00a0<\/span>Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil.\u00a0<\/span>Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind\u2026\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>if you want to find out how proud you are the easiest way is to ask yourself, \u2018How much do I dislike it when other people snub me, or refuse to take any notice of me, or shove their oar in, or patronize me, or show off?\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe point is that each person\u2019s pride is in competition with every one else\u2019s pride.\u00a0<\/span>It is because I wanted to be the big noise at the party that I am so annoyed at someone else being the big noise\u2026\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Pride is essentially competitive \u2013 is competitive by its very nature\u00a0<\/span>\u2013 whilst the other vices are competitive only, so to speak, by accident.\u00a0<\/span>Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man.\u00a0<\/span>We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good looking, but they are not. They\u00a0are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others.\u00a0<\/span>If everyone else became equally rich, or clever, or good looking there would be nothing to be proud about.\u00a0<\/span>It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest\u2026 Greed may drive men into competition if there is not enough to go round; but the proud man, even when he has got more than he can possibly want, will try to get still more just to assert his power\u2026\u00a0What is it that makes a man with \u00a310,000 a year anxious to get \u00a320,000 a year?\u00a0<\/span>It is not the greed for more pleasure.\u00a0\u00a3<\/span>10,000 will give all the luxuries that any man can really enjoy.\u00a0<\/span>It is Pride \u2013 the wish to be richer than some other rich man, and (still more) the wish for power.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A Misunderstanding about Pride<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, this is me talking:<\/p>\n

Sometimes the word \u201cpride\u201d is used to mean taking satisfaction in something, in the sense of being pleased with it, to \u201ctake pride\u201d in a job well done or in one\u2019s children or in one\u2019s heritage. That is not what is condemned here, so long as we remember that all these things are ultimately gifts of God, not just our own doing.\u00a0<\/span>In the Christian Tradition, the Scriptures and the Fathers, the word \u201cpride\u201d generally means haughtiness, arrogance, lack of humility, particularly in relation to God.\u00a0<\/span>Pride is putting oneself in the place of God, trying to make oneself the center of reality, being \u201cproud\u201d without relation to God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Where does Pride come from?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the 1967 movie \u201cBedazzled\u201d *\u00a0(<\/span>which still shows up on TV occasionally and you can also find it elsewhere), a British short order cook (geeky Dudley Moore) sells his soul to the devil (handsome, suave Peter Cook). The movie is very funny in many ways, and theologically very correct.\u00a0<\/span>As they walk through a London park, the cook says to the devil (this is the approximate dialog), \u201cIt seems to me you had it pretty good up in heaven. How did you get thrown out?\u201d\u00a0<\/span>The devil says,\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ll show you.\u00a0<\/span>I\u2019ll stand up here on this postbox and be God, and you praise me.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>So the cook stands below singing, \u201cHoly holy holy, Glory to you in the highest\u201d and so on for some time.\u00a0<\/span>Finally he says to the devil on the pedestal, \u201cI\u2019m getting tired of this.\u00a0<\/span>Can we trade places?\u201d\u00a0<\/span>The devil answers,\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s just how it happened.\u201d\u00a0Yes!\u00a0<\/span>Pride says: \u201cI\u2019m tired of being a creature. I don\u2019t want to be obedient.\u00a0<\/span>I want what I want.\u00a0<\/span>I want to be the center of things. I want it all to revolve around me.\u00a0<\/span>I want my own way.\u201d \u00a0\u201cI\u2026\u201d \u00a0\u201cI\u2026\u201d \u00a0\u201cI\u2026\u201d \u00a0\u201cI want to be\u2026my own god.\u201d (*I\u2019d advise you to ignore the 2000 remake of it.)<\/span><\/p>\n

What our Scriptures and Tradition say about Pride<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Biblical teaching about Pride is, so I read, unparalleled in other religions and ethical systems.\u00a0Pride was the sin of Adam and Eve: The serpent said, \u201cEat of this [fruit], and you will be like God\u201d\u00a0Genesis 3:12. A<\/em>nd so for our selfish purposes we tried to grasp that which was to have been a gift of God \u2013 deification. Most of t<\/span>he Fathers say that Pride is the ultimate sin, the essence of sin,\u00a0<\/span>that all other sins, even the other six deadly sins, flow out of Pride.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Boasting and trusting in oneself or in anything human apart from God is condemned again and again.\u00a0Religious, n<\/span>ational and ethnic pride is condemned: John the Baptist told the pharisees,\u201dDo not say to yourselves \u2018we have Abraham as our father\u2019.\u00a0<\/span>God is able to raise up sons of Abraham from these stones.\u201d\u00a0Luke 2:8<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0Likewise if we Orthodox or Americans get proud, think we are indispensable, God will put us down and raise up new ones.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the New Testament we see that even God himself is not proud.\u00a0<\/span>God does not stand on his own dignity.\u00a0<\/span>He becomes incarnate: as a Baby in the womb, an Infant, a Boy, a Man\u2026 and a human Corpse.\u00a0<\/span>Like the father of the prodigal son God, abandoning his dignity, humbly rushes out to forgive us.\u00a0<\/span>Saint Paul says that Christ \u201cdid not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but rather emptied himself\u2026 even to death on a Cross.\u201d\u00a0Philippians 2:5\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/em>Paul warns often against pride. He says that no one has grounds for bragging, \u201cfor by grace you have been saved;\u2026 it is the gift of God,\u2026 lest anyone should boast.\u201d\u00a0Ephesians\u00a02:8-9<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>So far as I can see the only people Jesus condemned were the proud scribes and pharisees who were so sure that they were right, that they were good, that they were so much better than others.<\/p>\n

There are so many Biblical and patristic quotations condemning pride that we could go on here almost forever.\u00a0<\/span>The Song of Mary, which we Orthodox sing at Orthros (Matins) and which Western Christinas sing at Vespers, sums up the Christian attitude: [God] \u201chas shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.\u00a0<\/span>He has put down the mighty from their seat and has exalted the humble and meek.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>Luke 1:51-52<\/em>\u00a0 God does not tolerate human Pride.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cA man\u2019s pride brings him humiliation\u2026 pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.\u201d\u00a0Proverbs 16:18<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Examples of Pride<\/strong><\/p>\n

Look\u00a0first\u00a0within yourself! This won\u2019t easy, but try. Hard.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, as Lewis said, it is often hard to see Pride in ourselves, so it may be helpful to compare ourselves to some almost guaranteed illustrations of Pride, so we can then look back and say, \u201cOh, no. I\u2019m just like that, too.\u201d As you do this,\u00a0do not<\/em>\u00a0judge persons. God alone can do that. But we can judge actions\u00a0which are evidences of Pride.<\/span><\/p>\n

So\u2026 I<\/span>\u00a0can think of no better place to observe Pride than in politics, year after year, in all parties and every political persuasion.\u00a0A\u00a0humble politician is a\u00a0rarity.\u00a0<\/span>Our current American political system seems to require most politicians to be (or at least pretend to be) proud. \u201cI have all the answers. All my opponents are stupid fools. I alone can save you.\u201d\u00a0And then if they are elected, watch out: \u201cWe are totally in the right. We make no mistakes. We admit no errors. For we are winners.\u201d\u00a0M<\/span>ere mortals cannot keep that up without destroying themselves.\u00a0You have observed many times what happens next.\u00a0<\/span>God intervenes.To repeat Proverbs 16:18,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cPride goes before\u2026a fall\u201d \u2013 and sometimes the nation goes down with them.<\/p>\n

Certainly there are proud Church leaders too, but at least the Church\u2019s system doesn\u2019t encourage it.\u00a0<\/span>Before Holy Communion at every Divine Liturgy we pray: \u201cI believe, O Lord, and I confess that thou art truly the Christ the Son of the Living God who came into the world to save sinners\u00a0of whom I am chief<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>As he receives Holy Communion the priest says, \u201cThe precious and all-holy Body [Blood] of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ is imparted unto me, the\u00a0unworthy<\/em>\u00a0priest.\u00a0N.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>In the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the priest prays (I wish clergy would read this aloud for all to hear), \u201cBe mindful also, O Lord, of my unworthiness according to the multitude of thy compassions; pardon my every transgression both voluntary and involuntary and withhold not, because of my sins, the grace of thy Holy Spirit from these gifts here spread forth.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>If I could find politicians with this attitude, I\u2019d vote for them in a minute.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[61],"tags":[73],"class_list":["post-20776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-orthodox-wisdom","tag-sin"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/106104d9e379aa87786785e33e80cf81.jpg","views":{"total":195,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1768001862},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paPyw9-5p6","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20776"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20782,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20776\/revisions\/20782"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}