From what has been said above, you should already understand that today in the church there is nothing (no teachings, rituals, or sacraments…) that the “traditions of the elders” have not distorted, twisted, or filled with heretical content, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Therefore, this spiritual state – humility (only by being in which can a person (the catechumen) be baptized in the Holy Spirit, unite with God, pray in God, have communion with God in the Holy Spirit) is misunderstood by people more than anything else (heretically, blasphemously). Usually, humility is understood as humiliation, readiness for mockery, some “masochism,” “oppression,” suppression, personality complexes, convincing oneself of extreme sinfulness, and so on. But this is absolutely not a Christian, not a Gospel understanding.
Humility is, in the language of psychology, not a complex of guilt and personal inferiority, not convincing oneself of worthlessness. Humility is the state of knowing the truth about oneself and one’s relationship with God, the world, and other people. And this truth consists of the following. Indeed, by itself, a person is a sinful, weak, passionate, selfish, and fallen being. (This does not need to be proven – anyone who looks carefully at themselves, observes themselves for at least one day, with clear awareness, will be convinced of this). But this is not the whole truth. This is only 10% of the truth. If we stop only at this, it will be a lie, pseudo-humility, a substitution. The second part of the truth, 90% of it, is that God is Love, that I am divinely loved every moment, God constantly cares for me; God has not rejected me, a sinner, He incarnated for my sake, descended to the cross and even to the very depths of hell for my sake, to pave the way for all people to the resurrection from the dead, to divinization, generously poured out the Holy Spirit on me (and on all flesh), and those who want to be Christ’s, Christians, the Lord unites with Himself with the Marriage-Baptism bonds of the Holy Spirit, makes us partakers of the Divine nature, gods by Grace. And this is incomparably more important than my sinfulness as such. The main thing here is not human sins and weaknesses themselves, but that we are God’s (“bought at a high price”), divinely loved every moment, desired by God, and only then – sick, weak, sinful… anything. The essence of humility lies in finding Christ, surrendering to Christ, being with Him, and not at all in constantly stating that I am a sinner, the greatest sinner, and gnawing at oneself. Therefore, humility is the fruit of great penitential, catechumenal labors, it is the state into which the catechumen enters, having overcome a significant part of the path of repentance! As a person comprehends the Truth, the truth humbles them; the more they comprehend, the more they humble themselves. The catechumen continuously humbles themselves, moving from one state of humility to even greater humility. And the end of this process of catechumenation is the acquisition of God-receptive humility (the necessary condition for baptism in the Holy Spirit, which the Lord performs over the humble catechumen without delay), when a person is conceived by the Holy Spirit for life in Christ, in the Body of Christ, in the Church-Eucharist. After baptism in the Holy Spirit, the process of catechumenation (acquiring humility) does not end – the teacher of the Christian is no longer a person, but directly the Holy Spirit, who teaches a person the ineffable Divine Humility, the human essence acquires catholicity, divine knowledge of all that is created and Uncreated (acquires the mind of Christ, the fullness of God-knowledge of the Holy Trinity), and accordingly, Divine Humility by Grace. Therefore, the sign of spiritual growth is humility, the more a person (catechumen or Christian) knows (the truth about themselves and about God, and all reality), the more they humble themselves (that is, the more and more insatiably they desire truth, goodness, mercy, love… God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit; desire to serve their neighbor, repent, to destroy all evil, sin, malice, passion… everything that is contrary to God, separates me from God, stands in the way of becoming like God, union with God).
Humility is not slowness, sluggishness, passivity, oppression, complexes… Humility is zeal, fire… it is a whirlwind of good deeds with extreme secrecy of oneself. That is, the humble person, like a whirlwind, like a fervent burning fire (or like the Quiet Light) performs good deeds with extreme zeal, self-sacrifice, and self-denial (in the best, most excellent, most appropriate way; humility is wisdom (prudence), more precisely, the mother of wisdom and at the same time the daughter of wisdom, so in the Church we talk about humble wisdom), and so that no one knows about them (this fervent humble doer of good). The good deed of the catechumen, which became known, the fathers do not consider good, that is, it is not good (it is defiled, at least, by vanity, pride). A good deed is a deed done in secret, so that even the left hand (passions of selfishness, pride…) does not know what the right hand (good thought, virtue) is doing. A good deed is a deed done for the sake of Christ, for Christ, in the name of Jesus Christ to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, only the humble person who does not seek their own glory, but only the glory of God (and from God the mercy of God (the Holy Spirit), who rewards those who do good deeds in secret); who selflessly serves (= loves) God in everything and always (at least tries, and humbles themselves, knowing their weakness), and fears the glory or praise of this world, because it is a sign of unbelief in God (“How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?”). (The Lord healed the paralyzed man and hid in the crowd, so that no one knew who performed the miracle-good – here is an example of humility-eros! – see John 5).