Man and Church
Humility as an Antidote to Sin
The Medicine for a Root Cause of Spiritual Illness
In the Orthodox Church, sin is viewed as an illness. God is our doctor and he dispenses medicine.
Humility is seen by many saints of the Church as such a medicine, a prophylaxis even, against many sins. St. Anthony the Great, for instance, observed:
“I saw all the traps that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, ‘What can get through from such snares?’ Then I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Humility.’”.
We can see examples of humility set against the sin of pride throughout the Bible. However, in one part of Genesis (3:4-5) this is presented with catastrophic consequences.
“You will not die by death. You will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
I want to share a view on this scene with you which I have heard my father preach many times in Romania, where is he a priest of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Let’s pay attention to the wording.
Eve had just told the serpent that God had commanded her and Adam not to eat of the forbidden fruit, because if they did, they would “die by death.”
