1. There are two most important deeds in this life: one is the greatest good, and the other the greatest evil; the first, as the supreme good, elevates a man to heaven, and the other, as the utmost evil, descends him to the pit of hell; that is, the truth, and the other is a lie; that is, great peace, and the other is immeasurable sorrow; the first is the height of reason, the second is the height of madness; the first is akin to and proper to man, the second is hostile and alien; the first is all uprightness, the second is all crookedness; the first is joy and gladness, the second is sorrow and languor. What then are these deeds? Humility and pride: one is all sin—pride—and the other is all truth—humility. Consider the sin that Adam committed when he was in paradise, in glory and every pleasure, and you will see that he sinned not out of any necessity or weakness, or for any blessed pretext, but out of sheer contempt for God's commandment, and this from pride and ingratitude to his Creator and God, which led him to apostasy (from God), into which the devil was the first to fall by his own free will.
2. It must be understood that pride is born in the human soul from ignorance of oneself, which gives rise to conceit, which makes one think one has something when one has nothing, and it grows with age. Therefore, every person must be taught, from childhood, before he knows anything else, to know himself—what he is, what he is, and how he will end his life; that is, that he is seeded with corruptible and insignificant things, formed amidst impurities, growing like the grass of the field; that he is composed of many easily disintegrated mixtures, that his whole life is a struggle with death, and that even before death he carries within himself that which is stench and foul. For he who does not know himself, what he is, little by little falls into pride and becomes foolish and senseless. And what could be more foolish than a man who, covered in leprosy, is proud simply because he wears bright and gilded garments, although he himself is shameful and full of ugliness? And when he loses his mind because of his pride, he becomes an instrument of the devil in all his words and deeds and becomes an enemy of God. But what could be more disastrous than making oneself an enemy of God? For when someone is physically ill, he senses his illness and goes to the doctors, but someone who is sick in spirit does not sense his illness; on the contrary, the more ill he becomes, the more insensitive he becomes, and therefore does not want to go to spiritual doctors. Therefore, when you see someone proud, know that in proportion to his pride, he also suffers from spiritual insensitivity, and pity him, for he who is sick and does not feel that he is ill is close to death. Such is this sin, plunging the soul into death, for the proud are sick and insensitive, that is, they are unaware and unaware of their illness, and this is the death of the soul. Should one of these still be accustomed to teaching and admonishing others, they are already a complete corpse, no longer requiring a physician.
3. Therefore, it is necessary to teach and train a person in self-knowledge, so that he will know himself and thus be humble. Humility is primarily rationality. Just as the proud are foolish and senseless, so, conversely, the humble are rational and sensible. Since the folly and blindness of pride are thus so close to people and so strong in them, the All-Good God has ordained that sorrows should befall us along with joy, so that through this we might learn humility and not pride. You can verify this from the scoundrel of the flesh, the accomplice of Satan, who tormented the Apostle Paul, who performed miracles and was adorned with such abundant (abundant – Ed. ) glory of God. Therefore, we should thank God more for sorrows than for consolation, and rejoice in sorrows as we rejoice in those who bring joy. So, every person must know themselves, that they are nothing. Almighty God Himself, despite all that He desires, cannot save someone who does not know themselves, that they are nothing. And even if someone offered the entire world to God (which is of course impossible) and did not consider themselves to be nothing, they could not be saved in any way.
4. Therefore, a person is not required to give anything in exchange for his soul other than the knowledge that he is nothing. Only then will he be able to offer God a broken and humbled heart—the only sacrifice that every pious person is fit to offer Him. God will not despise this one sacrifice, knowing that man has nothing of his own to offer Him, as Saint David says: " If you desired sacrifice, I would give it; you are not pleased with whole burnt offerings." A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; a broken and humbled heart God will not despise ( Psalm 51:18–19 ). By this sacrifice, all kings, nobles, the noble, the lowly, the wise, the uneducated, the rich, the poor, the beggars, thieves, offenders, extortionists, debauchees, murderers, and every kind of sinner have been, are, and will be saved. The depth of humility—this saving sacrifice—must be measured by the measure of one's sins; that is, according to the measure of a person's sins, so be their humility and contrition. But even the most righteous, the holy, the pure in heart, and all the saved are saved by no other means than this sacrifice. Almsgiving, faith, withdrawal from the world, the greatest feat of martyrdom, and all other sacrifices are kindled by the fire of this sacrifice, that is, by contrition of heart. This is a sacrifice for which no sin can vanquish God's love for mankind. For this one sacrifice (that it may be preserved) there are illnesses, sorrows, hardships, even the very fall, passions of the soul and the accompanying bodily passions—all so that this sacrifice may be offered to God by all who fear God. He who acquires this sacrifice of contrition with humility has nowhere to fall, for he is beneath all others. And God descended to earth and humbled Himself even to death for no other reason than to create a contrite and humble heart in those who believe in Him.
5. There are two sacrifices which the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ accepts and for which He has mercy on each individual and the whole world collectively: one is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of God and God incarnate, and the other is the contrite and humble heart of each believer in Him. Therefore, let anyone take all his possessions and distribute them to the poor, let him fast, keep vigil, sleep on the bare ground, pray day and night, but not seek from God to acquire a contrite and humble heart (for every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights — James 1:17 ), no one will receive such benefit from his labors. Therefore, we must seek that one path by which a contrite and humble heart is acquired, for whoever acquires such a heart will walk on earth as if walking on high—in the kingdom of heaven. And in the final hour of death, those who are contrite and humbled in heart receive assurance that they have been pardoned by the merciful God and depart rejoicing and glad. So great is this incomparable gift of God. It is the foundation of the ascent up the ladder of virtues and the descent of the gift of miracles and signs. It is the resurrection of souls, which occurs even in this present life, before the general resurrection of bodies. It is the deliverance for which God the Father gave His Son, that every believer might not perish but have eternal life, and, having this eternal life, know the one true God, and Him He sent, Jesus Christ ( John 17:3 ).
6. True knowledge of God and fear of God give birth to a humble character, and humility gives birth to a meek character; meekness and humility, when transformed into character, bring one closer to God. These two virtues are fused with one another and reveal a God-fearing person. The degree of humility and meekness in which a God-fearing person possesses them reveals how close he is to God, while, conversely, pride and anger reveal how far a person is from God. Therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Almighty God, humbled Himself even to the point of death on the cross, so that all who believe in Him, those who are baptized, those who partake of His Body, and those who drink His Blood, through which sacraments immortality and eternal life are granted to them, might acquire humility from Him. For mystical communion with our Lord Jesus Christ, God Most High, yields three efficacious fruits: life, immortality, and humility. Life and immortality are wrought through humility, and again, humility is wrought as a consequence of life and immortality. Humility is required both before and after life and immortality, and is thus both first and third: the first, because it is the cause of the other two—life and immortality; the third, because it encompasses and sustains them. Therefore, any Christian who has not acquired Christ's humility, so that it becomes, as it were, his natural quality, will receive nothing from Christ, and Christ is of no avail to him. Such a person knows neither God nor himself, for if he knew that without Christ nothing truly good and saving could be accomplished, he would certainly humble himself and, as in a royal robe, clothe himself in the humility of Christ, through which Christians become kings, reign, and rule over passions and demons by His power. According to the measure of true and perfect humility is the measure of salvation. The parent and father of humility is the mind enlightened by the grace of Christ and, with the help of this divine light, clearly discerning its own weakness. Conversely, the father of arrogance and pride is the mind shrouded in the darkness of ignorance. Oh, if only we could all be delivered from this darkness and, enlightened by divine light, attain humility, through the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory and dominion, with His eternal Father and the Life-giving Spirit, throughout endless ages. Amen.
Source: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Simeon_Novyj_Bogoslov/slovo/31