The Importance of The Passion Week

The Passion Week or the Holy Pascha (Passover) is the most important period in the year and the richest spiritually. It is a week full of Holy memories of the most crucial stage of salvation and the outstanding chapter in the story of redemption. The Church chose for this week certain readings from both the Old and the New Testaments, which reflect, the most passionate feelings that explain God's relation with Man. The Church also chose some deep hymns and spiritual contemplation to suit the occasion.

In the early Church, our Saintly Fathers used to receive this week with respect and reverence, and act in great humility.

While fasting, they abstained from eating any sweet food like honey or jam, as they considered it not appropriate to taste any sweet thing while commemorating the Lord's suffering for them. Some used not to cook anything during that week, as a matter of devotion, and lest cooking should distract them from worshiping. The majority of Christians used to eat nothing but bread and salt. Those who were physically capable abstained

from Friday night till Easter Sunday. As a sign of devotion during this week, women used not to put make up or wear jewellery. People devoted all their time for worshiping; they gathered in Churches for prayer and contemplation.

The Great Emperor Theodosius was one of the Christian Kings and Rulers who ordered all Government Houses and Business to cease work, to enable people to concentrate on worshiping. Prisoners were also allowed to go to Church and join in the ceremonies of this Great Week, hoping that it would help them to reform. Christian masters also used to relieve their slaves from work all the Pascha Week to enable them to worship the Lord like their masters, without any discrimination. So both masters and slaves were able to worship God and enjoy the effectiveness and depth of this week.

The Passion Week's Rite:

During this week, the Holy Church concentrates on one subject: The Lord Christ's suffering.

For this reason, the Psalm readings and the Canonical Hours which cover various subjects relating to the Lord Jesus Christ including His birth, His ministry, His Resurrection, Ascension and sitting on the Father's right hand and His Second Coming in His Glory, are replaced by a special hymn chosen by the Church especially for the Pascha Week in which we address the Lord suffering for us saying:

E "Thine is the Power, the Glory, the Blessing and the Honor,

 forever Amen, Emmanuel our God and King "

E"Thine is the Power, the Glory, the Blessing and the Honor,

forever Amen, Our Lord  Jesus Christ",

E"Thine is the Power, the Glory, the Blessing and the Honor,

forever Amen ..." adding to it .. "Our Good Savior" from Wednesday night, as the plot to betray the Lord Christ was the practical step towards salvation.

This prayer, is repeated ten times every day.; five during daytime and five at night, ie. during the following hours: First, Third, Sixth, Ninth and Eleventh.

In each of these prayers, we turn to our God and Savior in His passions and say, "we know who You are, for "Thine is the Power, Glory, Blessing and Honor, forever Amen."

With this prayer, we follow the Lord Christ step by step along the incidents of this week that preceded the crucifixion. What then are these incidents? And how does the Church act during this week?

How did The Suffering Start?

On Palm Sunday, the Lord Jesus Christ went to Jerusalem where He was gloriously received as a King: The people praised and cheered Him with palms, spreading their robes under His feet, and the whole city was in turmoil (Matt. 21:10). This annoyed the chief priests and the elders of the people: scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees.

They envied Him for the great love people felt for Him, so they started thinking of a way to get rid of Him! They were more upset when He entered the temple and expelled all who were buying and selling. They then asked Him, "By what authority are You doing these things?" (Matt.21:23). Since then they decided to kill Him, telling one another "Look, the world has gone after Him," (John. 12:19)

The chiefs' desire to kill the Lord Christ was due to their envy, but the puzzling thing is the change in the multitude's attitude; they received Him like a King, then shouted to Pilate, "Crucify Him, crucify Him! " (Luke. 23:21)

When the crowds cheered Jesus, they looked at Him as an earthly King, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David" (Mark 11:9-10). But the Lord Jesus refused a Kingdom on earth, as His is a Heavenly Spiritual one. The plot to get rid of the

Nazarene was then a natural reaction from the Chiefs who lost hope in the long awaited kingdom!!

The church considers the end of Palm Sunday Mass the beginning of the Passion Week, as the plot to kill the Lord Jesus Christ started to develop since then.

During this week the Church's Icons, Pillars and Lectern and sometimes even the walls are all covered with black cloth, creating an atmosphere of mourning. It makes everyone feel that he is sharing in the Lord's sufferings, as said by St. Paul, "that I may know Him and the power of His Resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings". (Phil. 3:10)

General Prayer For the Departed:

Through the Passion Week, the Church is preoccupied with the Lord's sufferings only, there is no raising of incense even for funerals, but replaced by the Pascha prayers and readings.

For this reason, a general prayer for the departed is held after Palm Sunday Mass, for the souls of those who pass away during the Holy Pascha. The priest prays on some water for this purpose, and not for blessing the palms as some may think.

During these prayers we have to confess our sins to the Lord in true repentance, as we never know when our life will end...

After this funeral mass and the dismissing of the congregation, prayers are carried forth outside the camp.

Outside the Camp:

Under the Law of the Old Testament, sin offering was to be burnt outside the camp (Lev. 4:12,21), so it would not. defile the camp with the congregation's sins.

Thus the Lord Christ who took away the sins of the whole world, suffered outside the Holy City. They considered Him a sinner, sent Him outside the Camp and crucified Him. St. Paul explained, and referred to this matter by saying:

"Let us go forth therefore to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach." (Heb. 13:13)

The Holy Church follows the Lord's steps during the Pascha Week and goes with Him outside the camp, closing the veil.

The Church also leaves the first Chancel, the Chancel of Saints, and moves the Lectern to the second Chancel to pray away from the Altar, outside the Sanctuary and the camp, bearing His reproach and saying:

"Thine is the Power, the Glory, the Blessing and the Honor, forever Amen... "

With this hymn, we follow the Lord Jesus Christ in His passion, step by step, contemplating on every word we say to Him in His Passion. 

H. H. Pope Shenouda III 

The Sending of the Holy Spirit

When the Lord told his disciples to go and teach all nations and baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, he conferred on them the power of giving men new life in God.

He had promised through the prophets that in these last days he would pour out his Spirit on his servants and handmaids, and that they would prophesy. So when the Son of God became the Son of Man, the Spirit also descended upon him, becoming accustomed in this way to dwelling with the human race, to living in men and to inhabiting God’s creation. The Spirit accomplished the Father’s will in men who had grown old in sin, and gave them new life in Christ.

Luke says that the Spirit came down on the disciples at Pentecost, after the Lord’s ascension, with power to open the gates of life to all nations and to make known to them the new covenant. So it was that men of every language joined in singing one song of praise to God, and scattered tribes, restored to unity by the Spirit, were offered to the Father as the first-fruits of all the nations.

This was why the Lord had promised to send the Advocate: he was to prepare us as an offering to God. Like dry flour, which cannot become one lump of dough, one loaf of broad, without moisture, we who are many could not become one in Christ Jesus without the water that comes down from heaven. And like parched ground, which yields no harvest unless it receives moisture, we who were once like a waterless tree could never have lived and borne fruit without this abundant rainfall from above. Through the baptism that liberates us from change and decay we have become one in body; through the Spirit we have become one in soul.

The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of God came down upon the Lord, and the Lord in turn gave this Spirit to his Church, sending the Advocate from heaven into all the world into which, according to his own words, the devil too had been cast down like lightning. If we are not to be scorched and made unfruitful, we need the dew of God. Since we have our accuser, we need an advocate as well. And so the Lord in his pity for man, who had fallen into the hands of brigands, having himself bound up his wounds and left for his care two coins bearing the royal image, entrusted him to the Holy Spirit. Now, through the Spirit, the image and inscription of the Father and the Son have been given to us, and it is our duty to use the coin committed to our charge and make it yield a rich profit for the Lord.

Irenaeus of Lyons

Today I Rise With Him

Yesterday I was crucified with Him; 

Today I am glorified with Him; 

Yesterday I died with Him; 

Today I am quickened with Him; 

Yesterday I was buried with Him; 

Today I rise with Him. 

But let us offer to Him Who suffered and rose again for us— you will think perhaps that I am going to say gold, or silver, or woven work or transparent and costly stones, the mere passing material of earth, that remains here below, and is for the most part always possessed by bad men, slaves of the world and of the Prince of the world. 

Let us offer ourselves, the possession most precious to God, and most fitting; let us give back to the Image what is made after the Image. Let us recognize our Dignity; let us honor our Archetype; let us know the power of the Mystery, and for what Christ died. 

St. Gregory the Theologian

The Apostles Feast - HH Pope Shenouda III

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; 

and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, 

and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. 
Acts 1:8

The Church celebrates the memory of the martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul on the 5th of Abib, which is the 12th of July. This feast is called in our Church by the name of "the Feast of the Apostles." Its date is unchanged in every year.

The Church venerates these two apostles very profoundly; and raises them and honors them exceedingly; especially in the prayer of the partition" or "the division" which pertains to the fast of the apostles and to the feast of the apostles, which we pray during the holy mass.

These two saints represent two distinguished kinds as regards the personality, the mission, and the style. Each one of them has distinct characteristics.

THE POINTS OF DIFFERENCE

Peter was among the first whom the Lord had chosen to work with Him.  (Matthew 10) 

And Paul was not among the twelve, and not even among the seventy apostles, but the Lord chose him lastly, after the resurrection and years after the choice of Matthias......

He did not follow Christ during His predication on earth. He rather said about that: "Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God."

(1 Cor. 15: 8 -9)

And although he was the last in his call, yet he "labored more abundantly than they all." (1 Cor. 15:10)  That shows that it is not a matter of precedence, but according to the amount of weariness from exertion for God.

A person may not be the most ancient among the workers in ministry, and nevertheless he may be the strongest of all the workers.

John the Baptist was not the first prophet in the Old Testament, but he was the last of them in their chronological order. Nevertheless it was said that "among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist." (Matt. 11:11) 

The apostle Peter was a married man. It was mentioned in the Gospel that Christ healed his step-mother from fever. (Matt. 8: 14-15)  In his journeys for the predication, he wandered accompanied by his wife as a sister. (1 Cor. 9:5) 

But the apostle Paul was a virgin. (1 Cor. 7:7). He called for the preference of virginity. "But each one has his own gift from God", "as the Lord has called each one...... Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called" (1 Cor. 7: 7,17,20). That proves that the Lord calls everybody to His service, whether they are married like Peter, or virgins like Paul.

Peter began his life with the Lord Christ with love, confidence, and faith. But on the contrary:

Paul began by enmity, as a persecutor of the Church and of everyone who followed Christ, so that the Lord, when He met him on the road to Damascus, began his conversation with him by reprimanding him saying: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" (Acts 9:4) Saint Peter was a simple man, a fisherman (Matt. 4:18). He was ignorant and was not instructed into culture or science. He is one of whom "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise" (1 Cor. 27). It was said of him, of him and saint John, "that they were uneducated and untrained men." (Acts 4:13) But saint Paul was one of the learned of his age, who was educated at the University of Tarsus, and brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. (Acts 22:3)  He was well-known for his culture and for reading many books. (Acts 26:24) 

That shows us that the Lord equally employs everybody for His kingdom, the learned and the simple. The important thing for them is to be useful utensils for the work of His grace

The Church Rite: The Lakan

Lakan is a Syrian word means basin, and it is the pot of marble or stone placed in the third Khurs of the church where the priests pray on the water to make it a force for healing and Beatification ...

The Mass of Lakan has been Instituted to remember the baptism of Jesus and to exercise of the virtue of humility as bending to wash the feet of His disciples in the holy Thursday as well as to practice the meaning of service.

The mass of the Lakan is prayed three times per year: Epiphany – The Holy Thursday – The Feast of Apostles

H.H. Pope Shenouda III 

Pentecost - St. Ephraim The Syrian

“Now the Prophets performed all other signs; but on no occasion supplied the deficiency of members. But the deficiency of the body was reserved, that it should be supplied through our Lord; that souls might perceive that it is through Him that every deficiency must be supplied. It is meet, then, that the prudent should perceive that He Who supplies the deficiencies of the creatures, is Master of the formative power of the Creator.

But when He was upon earth, our Lord gave to the deaf and dumb, the power of hearing and of speaking tongues which they had not learned; that after He had ascended, men might understand that He gave to His disciples the power of speaking in every tongue.”

St. Ephraim the Syrian

Judas Iscariot

Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve.
So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, 

how he might betray Him to them.
And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.
So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude.

Luke 22:3-6

What was this many-headed serpent's invention? it says, "He entered Judas Iscariot, who was one of the Twelve."

Why did he not rather enter blessed Peter, James, John, or some other of the rest of the apostles? Why Judas Iscariot? What did Satan find in him? Satan could not approach any of those we have mentioned here, because their heart was steadfast and their love to Christ immovable.

There was a place for satan in the traitor. The bitter disease of greed, which the blessed Paul says is the root of all evil, had overpowered him. Satan is crafty in working evil. Whenever he gains possession of anyone's soul, he does not attack him by means of general vice. He rather searches for that particular passion that has power over him and by its means makes him his prey.

St. Cyril of Alexandria

Salvation Through the Death of Christ

For Christ suffered all this on our account, that we might be saved. 

And he really suffered, as he really raised himself.

St. Ignatius

Human and Divine

I perceived that you are settled in unshakable faith, nailed, as it were, to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in flesh and spirit.  With firm foundations in love in the blood of Christ, with full conviction, with respect to our Lord that he is genuinely of David's line according to the flesh, son of God according to the divine will and power. 

Really born of a virgin and baptized by John that ‘all righteousness might be fulfilled’ by him. Really nailed up in the flesh for us in the time of Pontius Pilate and the tetrarchy of Herod — from this fruit of the tree, that is from his God-blessed passion, we are derived — that he might ‘raise up a standard’ for all ages through his resurrection, for his saints and faithful people, whether among Jews or Gentiles, in one body of his Church.  

For he suffered all this on our account, that we might be saved. And he really suffered, as he really raised himself. 

Some unbelievers say that he suffered in appearance only. Not so — they themselves are mere apparitions. Their fate will be like their opinions, for they are unsubstantial and phantom-like.

St. Ignatius 

The Early Church Fathers



13 - BE RELEASED FROM THE INFLUENCE OF THE SENSES - By H.H. Pope Shenouda III

13 -  BE RELEASED FROM THE INFLUENCE OF THE SENSES    
By H.H. Pope Shenouda III

The following is a collection of articles entitled, "The Release of the Spirit" written by HH Pope Shenouda III for the Sunday School Magazine from the year 1951 before starting his monastic life. 

These articles were published in the form of a book in the year 1957 including some of his poems which were published in the magazine as well..

It was his first published book and it gained the approval of many and was reprinted many times.

13 - BE RELEASED FROM THE INFLUENCE
        OF THE SENSES    

You trust your five senses to a far extent and if your spirit opposes these senses, you reject your spirit.. When will you be freed from the influence of your senses and attain the release of the spirit..

You only believe the thing which you see with your eyes, hear with your ears, or touch with your hands.. You suspect anything else.. What is the reason for this!! The reason is simply that you still live in the flesh and believe in the flesh and its senses.

You look here and there and when you find no one to see or witness you, you commit the fault which you avoid to commit in the sight of others.. But do you think that really no one sees you! There are certain eyes which look on you in compassion and censure.. You do not see those eyes because you still live in the body... It is God who observes you and you do not see Him.. If you are in the Spirit, released from those deficient senses, you will be able to say along with Elijah the Prophet, "As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand... "  (1 Kings 18:15)

Whenever you are encompassed with dangers, you look to the right and to the left and seeing yourself alone, you become afraid and terrified... In fact God is at your right hand that you may not be shaken (Acts 2: 25). You do not see Him because your eyes cannot see everything, for they are material and cannot attain the spiritual matters.. I wish, dear brother, that you would release your spirit from the influence of such bodily senses.. This spirit of yours, to "..searches all things yes, the deep things of God" (1 Cor. 2:10). Let is soar freely to see God at your right hand and whisper joyfully, "... though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me." (Ps. 23:4)

The poor Gehazi, the servant of Elisha was very afraid seeing the great army of the enemy nearby and there was no hope whatever.. But Elisha who lived in the spirit was confident.. He saw with the spirit things which no eye could see and heard what no ears could hear.. He felt pity towards the young man and prayed to the Lord to open his eyes... "Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha" (2 Kings 6:17).. So he was comforted..

Do not trust your senses for they are weak and cannot comprehend the matters of the spirit. The widow of Zarephath of Sidon, saw with her human eye only a handful of flour in the bin and a little oil in the jar.. She thought that was only sufficient to make a cake for her and her son that they might eat it and die... But Elijah, the man of God saw something else with his spirit.. he saw that neither the bin of flour nor the jar of oil would dry whatever she took from them.. This actually happened as we see in 1 Kings 17:14-16

Elisha was standing at the River Jordan. His bodily eyes saw a river were one would drown if one walked through .. But his spiritual eye was not confined to this vision.. He saw the Jordan as a ground fit for walking through. So, Elisha took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him while he went up in the chariot of fire and struck the water. The water was divided and Elisha crossed the river(2 Kin 2:14). The bodily eye would see the mantle of Elijah just as a mantle but Elisha saw it with the spirit as a great power given by God and not a mere garment.

My dear friend, your eyes are deficient even regarding material things.., for there are some substances which you cannot see.. Though they exist, they defy your weak eyes.. You may only see them through a microscope..

If there is not a microscope available, and you cannot see such tiny bodies with your naked eye, would you then deny their existence, merely because you do not see them? If this is the case regarding material things.. what would you say concerning spiritual matters?
With respect to spiritual matters, let your spirit guide you, and do not force it to submit to the body.. Let it soar freely and swim in a world of divine matters as it is said: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29)

Certainly, my beloved brother, you have heard before of the visions in which the spirit swims in the world of the angels and saints and see things which no mortal can see.. In such cases, the spirit is released from the influence of the body and uses the members of the body merely for its spiritual purposes.. Hence, the senses yield to the spirit and not the spirit to the senses..

One day, someone told me that he had heard that St. George appeared in a certain church but he did not believe. He went to see by himself and to prove that it was only a false superstition and he went and saw nothing..

I do not want to make any comment concerning this story but I only present a point of view ie. such a person and others like him cannot see any visions because of their weak faith. They want to subjugate the spiritual matters to the senses of the body, while God reveals to the simple only the mysteries of His Kingdom.

 The Release of The Spirit
 By H.H. Pope Shenouda III

GOD - The Unity of God

The Father of all is far removed from the emotions and passions which are common to men. He is simple, uncompounded, without diversity of parts; wholly identical and consistent; since he is all understanding, all spirit, all thought, all hearing, all seeing, all light, and the whole source of all that is good. 

It is best for us to begin with the first and greatest principle, that is with God the Creator … and to show that there is nothing above him or beyond him. It was of his own decision and free act that he made all things, not moved by anything; since he is the only God, the only Lord, the Only Creator, the only Father, the only Sovereign, and it is he who bestows existence on all things.

How could there be any other Totality beyond him: or another Principle or Power or another God? For God who is the totality of all these must needs include all things in his infinite being, while he himself cannot be included by any other thing. If there is anything outside him he is then not the totality of all things, nor does he contain all things.  

 ~ St. Irenaeus of Lyons  

1 - HUMILITY: THE GLORY OF THE CREATURE

1 - HUMILITY:
THE GLORY OF THE CREATURE  

"They shall cast their crowns before the throne, so saying: Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory, and the honour and the power: for You did create all things, and because of Your will they are, and were created."  Rev. 4:11

When God created the universe, it was with the one object of making the creature partaker of His perfection and blessedness, and so showing forth in it the glory of His love and wisdom and power. God wished to reveal Himself in and through created beings by communicating to them as much of His own goodness and glory as they were capable of receiving. But this communication was not a giving to the creature something which it could possess in itself, a certain life or goodness, of which it had the charge and disposal. By no means. But as God is the ever-living, ever-present, ever-acting One, who upholds all things by the word of His power, and in whom all things exist, the relation of the creature to God could only be one of unceasing, absolute, universal dependence. As truly as God by His power once created, so truly by that same power must God every moment maintain. The creature has not only to look back to the origin and first beginning of existence, and acknowledge that it there owes everything to God; its chief care, its highest virtue, its only happiness, now and through all eternity, is to present itself an empty vessel, in which God can dwell and manifest His power and goodness.

The life God bestows is imparted not once for all, but each moment continuously, by the unceasing operation of His mighty power. Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is, from the very nature of things, the first duty and the highest virtue of the creature, and the root of every virtue.

And so pride, or the loss of this humility, is the root of every sin and evil. It was when the now fallen angels began to look upon themselves with self-complacency that they were led to disobedience, and were cast down from the light of heaven into outer darkness. Even so it was, when the serpent breathed the poison of his pride, the desire to be as God, into the hearts of our first parents, that they too fell from their high estate into all the wretchedness in which man is now sunk. In heaven and earth, pride, self-exaltation, is the gate and the birth, and the curse, of hell. (See Note "A" at end of chapter.)

Hence it follows that nothing can be our redemption, but the restoration of the lost humility, the original and only true relation of the creature to its God. And so Jesus came to bring humility back to earth, to make us partakers of it, and by it to save us. In heaven He humbled Himself to become man. The humility we see in Him possessed Him in heaven; it brought Him, He brought it, from there. Here on earth "He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death"; His humility gave His death its value, and so became our redemption. And now the salvation He imparts is nothing less and nothing else than a communication of His own life and death, His own disposition and spirit, His own humility, as the ground and root of His relation to God and His redeeming work. Jesus Christ took the place and fulfilled the destiny of man, as a creature, by His life of perfect humility. His humility is our salvation. His salvation is our humility.

And so the life of the saved ones, of the saints, must needs bear this stamp of deliverance from sin, and full restoration to their original state; their whole relation to God and man marked by an all pervading humility. Without this there can be no true abiding in God's presence, or experience of His favor and the power of His Spirit; without this no abiding faith, or love or joy or strength. Humility is the only soil in which the graces root; the lack of humility is the sufficient explanation of every defect and failure. Humility is not so much a grace or virtue along with others; it is the root of all, because it alone takes the right attitude
before God, and allows Him as God to do all.

God has so constituted us as reasonable beings, that the truer the insight into the real nature or the absolute need of a command, the readier and fuller will be our obedience to it. The call to humility has been too little regarded in the Church because its true nature and importance has been too little apprehended. It is not a something which we bring to God, or He bestows; it is simply the sense of entire nothingness, which comes when we see how truly God is all, and in which we make way for God to be all. When the creature realizes that this is the true nobility, and consents to be with his will, his mind, and his affections, the form, the vessel in which the life and glory of God are to work and manifest themselves, he sees that humility is simply acknowledging the truth of his position as creature, and yielding to God His place.

In the life of earnest Christians, of those who pursue and profess holiness, humility ought to be the chief mark of their uprightness. It is often said that it is not so. May not one reason be that in the teaching and example of the Church, it has never had that place of supreme importance which belongs to it? And that this, again, is owing to the neglect of this truth, that strong as sin is as a motive to humility, there is one of still wider and mightier influence, that which makes the angels, that which made Jesus, that which makes the holiest of saints in heaven, so humble; that the first and chief mark of the relation of the creature, the secret of his blessedness, is the humility and nothingness which leaves God free to be all?

I am sure there are many Christians who will confess that their experience has been very much like my own in this, that we had long known the Lord without realizing that meekness and lowliness of heart are to be the distinguishing feature of the disciple as they were of the Master. And further, that this humility is not a thing that will come of itself, but that it must be made the object of special desire and prayer and faith and practice. As we study the word, we shall see what very distinct and often repeated instructions Jesus gave His disciples on this point, and how slow they were in understanding Him. Let us, at the very commencement of our meditations, admit that there is nothing so natural to man, nothing so insidious and hidden from our sight, nothing so difficult and dangerous, as pride. Let us feel that nothing but a very determined and persevering waiting on God and Christ will discover how lacking we are in the grace of humility, and how impotent to obtain what we seek. Let us study the character of Christ until our souls are filled with the love and admiration of His lowliness. And let us believe that, when we are broken down under a sense of our pride, and our impotence to cast it out, Jesus Christ Himself will come in to impart this grace too, as a part of His wondrous life
within us.

NOTE A--

"All this is to make it known the region of eternity that pride can degrade the highest angels into devils, and humility raise fallen flesh and blood to the thrones of angels. Thus, this is the great end of God raising a new creation out of a fallen kingdom of angels: for this end it stands in its state of war betwixt the fire and pride of fallen angels, and the humility of the Lamb of God, that the last trumpet may sound the great truth through the depths of eternity, that evil can have no beginning but from pride, and no end but from humility. The truth is this: Pride may die in you, or nothing of heaven can live in you. Under the banner of the truth, give yourself up to the meek and humble spirit of the holy Jesus. Humility must sow seed, or there can be no reaping in Heaven. Look not at pride only as an unbecoming temper, nor at humility only as a decent virtue: for the one is death, and the other is life; the one is all hell, the other is all heaven. So much as you have of pride within you, you have of the fallen angels alive in you; so much as you have of true humility, so much you have of the Lamb of God within you. Could you see what every stirring of pride does to your soul, you would beg of everything you meet to tear the viper from you, though with the loss of a hand or an eye. Could you see what a sweet, divine, transforming power there is in humility, how it expels the poison of your nature, and makes room for the Spirit of God to live in you, you would rather wish to be the footstool of all the world than want the smallest degree of it." --Spirit of Prayer, Pt.II, p.73, Edition of Moreton, Canterbury, 1893.
Humility - Andrew Murray 

Verses and Fathers Sayings

But as for me, I would seek God,
and to God I would commit my cause.
Job 5: 8


St. John Chrysostom Saying

Let us apply ourselves to Prayer. It is a
mighty weapon.... It has turned back wars
.… It is itself a saving medicine, and has
power to prevent sins, and to heal misdeeds.

St. John Chrysostom