{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/211/2110515.htm","path":"chr/ecf/211/2110515.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/211/2110515.htm","text":"How vainglory attacks a monk on the right had and on the left.\nAnd so one who wishes to go along the King\u2019s highway by means of the \u201carms of righteousness which are on the right hand and on the left,\u201d ought by the teaching of the Apostle to pass through \u201chonour and dishonour, evil report and good report,\u201d 1004 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: \u201cTurn not aside to the right hand or to the left;\u201d 1005 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) \u201cglory in your shame.\u201d 1006 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.\n2 Cor. 6:7, 8.\n276:1005\nProv. iv. 27 (LXX.).\n276:1006","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. XI: The Wor...","type":"page"}