Екклезиастик (Книга Премудрости Иисуса, сына Сирахова), Глава 3, стих 18. Толкования стиха

JOHN THE BAPTIST AS AN EXAMPLE OF HUMILITY. AUGUSTINE: You should listen to John, you heretic. You should listen to the one who runs forward as you run backwards. You should listen to the humble, you who are proud. You should listen to the burning oil lamp, you unlit lamp. Listen to what John said when people came to him. “I baptize you with water.” You too, if you would only acknowledge what you really are, are a minister of water. “I,” he says, “baptize you with water; but he who shall come is far greater than I.” How much greater than you is he? “I am not worthy to undo the lace of his sandal.” How much would he have humiliated himself had he said he was worthy of this? In reality, he said he was not even worthy to do this—to undo the lace of his sandal. “It is he who baptizes you with the Holy Spirit.” . . . Repeat what the friend of the Bridegroom says instead of drawing attention to yourself and away from the Bridegroom. “Neither is he that plants anything, nor he that waters, but God who lets it grow.”

Listen again to the one we are talking about, the friend of the Bridegroom. It is true that he had, it seems, his own disciples and that he himself was not a disciple of Christ. Listen to him though as he recognizes himself as a disciple of Christ. See him there among the disciples of Christ, both more true and more humble. The humbler he was, the greater he was. Notice how he behaves himself according to what is written: “The greater you are, the more you must humble yourself; so you will find favor in the sight of the Lord.” He rightly says, “I am not worthy to loosen the lace of his sandals,” but this was not how he showed himself to be a disciple. “He who comes from above,” he says, “is above everyone,” “but we all have received from his fullness.” Therefore, he too was among the disciples who had disciples around him, just as Christ did. Listen to him admitting with utmost clarity to being a disciple: “The one who possesses the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom stands there and listens.” SERMON 292.8.

Чем более получил ты преимуществ от Господа, тем более обязан почитать оныя за незаслуженный дар Его благости, и сознавать свое ничтожество. Чем возвышеннее место, занимаемое тобою, тем ты должен быть услужливее и снисходительнее, если не хочешь произвесть в других неудовольствия и возбудить зависти.

MARY’S HUMILITY. BEDE: After the Virgin was found worthy to be exalted by seeing and hearing the angel, and after she had learned that she was to be honored by a divine birth, she did not become proud because of these heavenly gifts as though she deserved them. In order that she might become more and more worthy of these gifts, however, she kept her mind focused on the custody of humility and thus responded to the angel who had brought her the annunciation: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word.” As we have learned subsequently from the reading of today, she also demonstrated this same humility that she had shown the angel to humankind, and—which is even more significant—even to those who were inferior to her.

Who does not know that a virgin consecrated to God has greater dignity than a married woman? Who doubts that the mother of the eternal King is to be placed before the mother of one of his soldiers? She, however, is mindful of the Scriptures that prescribe “The greater you are, the more humbly you should act in all things.” And as soon as the angel that had talked to her returned to heaven, she got up and headed for the hill country, and, carrying God in her womb, she turned to the dwelling places of the servants of God and asked to talk to them. After the visit of the angel she rightly headed towards the hill country, she who, having tasted the sweetness of humble heavenly life, headed towards the apex of virtue with the steps of humility. She entered the house of Zachariah and Elizabeth and saluted her who had learned that she would give birth to the servant and precursor of the Lord, not as if she was in doubt about the prophecy that she had received but in order to congratulate her on the gift that, as she had found out, she had received—she who was a servant of the Lord like her. She did this not to confirm the words of the angel through the testimony of a woman but for her, a young virgin, to commit herself to serve an elderly woman. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 1.4.

Смирение похвально, превозношение же своим разумом, излишняя пытливость, как и отвага, бывают посрамлены: это легко поймет всякий разсудительный.

MINISTERS OF THE CHURCH SHOULD BE HUMBLE. ORIGEN: Very often the priestly order and the Levitical office are a cause of pride to one who forgets that he holds such dignity in the bosom of the church. How many priests, placed at the head, have forgotten to be humble! As if their ordination has given them a dispensation from humility! On the contrary, they should observe humility precisely because they have been invested with such great dignity, according to the words of Scripture: “The greater you are, the humbler.” The assembly chooses you: bow your head even more humbly. They have elected you as a leader of others: do not feel as though you are exalted. Be among them as one of them. You must be humble and modest. Flee from pride, the source of all evil. HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL 9.2.