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Vainglory brings forth love of praise and honoring
WATANI International
30 October 2011
Praise is different from love of praise, for one may be praised yet does not fall in sin, but sin lies where one loves such praise.
Our father apostles, and likewise the great saints and martyrs were often praised, but none of them fell in sin because of it, for hearing praise is not wrong, but what is wrong I loving it and feeling pleasure in hearing it.
Two types of people do not like praise.
The first type is those who flee from praise coming from people, from devils, or from within themselves.
The second type is those who flee from praise to the extent that they ascribe to themselves various weaknesses and defects that may degrade them. The biographies of monks and nuns include various stories in this concern.
Those who like praise also are of various types:
The first type is a person who receives praise without seeking it, and on hearing it, will be pleased and happy. Such a type in turn is of various levels:
a) A person who is pleased silently with praise, without anybody aware of this.
b) A person who on hearing praise seeks to receive more, by uttering certain words that urge the other party to utter more praise, either by turning from the subject that brought praise to another subject or another point that also may bring more praise, or any similar way.
c) A person who likes praise and rejoices at it, but showing the opposite as if feeling no pleasure with it, or even refusing it. Such a person may keep rejecting praise, and the other party praising more, or may even mention some weaknesses, not meaning to distort his own image but to hear more praise!
The second type is more serious, when a person receiving no praise, and desiring to hear some, may take one of two ways:
a) Waiting in silence for praise, making attempts to receive praise, as for instance starting a certain subject which involves something that deserves praise, and drawing the attention gradually to a point where people may admire and praise him for it.
b) Another way is to do good works before people, so that they may praise him, but as the Lord says, such people have received their reward on the earth (Mt 6).
The third type is still more dangerous, when a person likes and desires to receive praise but does not receive it in spite of the repeated attempts.
What will be the reaction for not receiving such expected praise?
A person may go far as to hate whoever does not praise him, and take him as an enemy. Discord may happen between them, because the other party does not notice the virtuous attributes in him that deserve praise, or the good works worth estimation.
It is true that the other party did not do him any harm that is worth taking him as an enemy, but suffice that he did not praise him with some nice words, or receive him in a nice way, or offer him excessive reverence or special honoring!
If such a person hates whoever does not praise him, what would he do towards those who criticize him! What would be his feelings towards his criticizers!
The fourth type is that of a person who desires and rejoices at praise, hates whoever does not praise him, and furthermore praises himself if nobody praises him. He keeps talking about his virtuous works, and concealing his personal sins.
The fifth type is harder than the preceding one, because self-praise is two kinds: the first is the person who keeps talking about his glorious works and good attributes, and the other is the person who praises himself for things not his own, and ascribes to himself false virtues which he imagines and claims that he has, or exaggerates in describing his good attributes. Sometimes also such a person focuses on himself when telling about something successful done by a group of people, as if he were the only cause of the success of that work, not a mere participant. He wants by this to receive all praise, ignoring the others who participated in and contributed to its success, as if they were not present or have done nothing!
The worse may even happen, when such a person ascribes to his colleagues big mistakes and default or weakness to conceal their right and their role in the success of the work. He may say that so and so was hesitating and could say nothing until he interfered with the right answer; meaning that he was the real hero while the others did wrong!
Such a person is not satisfied with praising himself, but he also criticizes and dispraises the others and defames them, building his own honor on the degradation of the others!
Humbleness is completely the opposite of self-praise.
I remember here the story of a virtuous monk who denied himself completely. When he was serving the monastery he did some good thing, and knowing that he would receive praise for it, he made another monk take part with him in a small part of this work while doing it or after finishing it, so that when he receive praise, he would say, ##May God bless father so and so, the work is completed by his hands.##
In this way he gave credit to the other father to avoid getting praise for himself. Another clear example is the football game, if each player in the team sought to be praised, all the team will fail, because each of them wants to win the goal! But when everybody plays with the team spirit, each of them will pass the ball to the other till the nearest to the goal puts it in the goal. The last one may be praised, but what avails is the victory of the whole team.
If this is the case in sports, how much rather in spiritual life! A person who seeks praise and ignores the others and the surrounding circumstances, and even ignores the work of God##s grace, will not deserve praise.
The sixth type is the worst of all types of self-praise, for one may go far as to desire praise only for himself, and gets annoyed if anybody else is praised or receives part of the praise. He may even envy that person and defame him.
Next week, God willing, we would like to speak about the evils resulting from love of praise and honoring.