I humbled myself, but exalted my soul

To a certain man the devil appeared as an angel of light and said: I am the angel Gabriel, God has sent me to thee. The elder answered: I am sinful and unworthy; they would have sent thee to someone else. As soon as the devil saw the elder's great humility, he vanished that very moment.

Once Abba Macarius was returning from the lake to his cell. He was carrying palm branches, and on the way the devil met him with a scythe in his hand. The devil wanted to strike Macarius but could not, and said to him:

— Thine is the strength, Macarius — I am powerless before thee. What thou doest, I do also. Thou fastest, and I do not eat at all; thou keepest vigil, and I do not sleep at all; in one thing only dost thou overcome me.

— In what? — asked Macarius.

— In humility, — answered the devil. That is why I am powerless before thee.

Our venerable father Arsenius the Great was so humble-minded and obedient, and relied so little on his own understanding, that he was always seeking to learn something, even from unlearned men.

Once this ascetic was speaking with a presbyter who had come from Egypt, asking his counsel and instruction on how better to drive out of the heart thoughts displeasing to God. Another ascetic overheard their conversation, marvelled, and asked Arsenius: “Dost thou, who knowest the Greek and Latin tongues, take counsel of an unlearned man?”

“I know the Greek and Latin tongues,” answered the venerable father, “but to this day I have not learned the alphabet which this simple man knows so firmly.”

By this Arsenius the Great showed forth humble-mindedness, which is the beginning of all the virtues, as the alphabet is the beginning of every book.

Anthony the Great said: once I saw all the snares of the devil spread out over the earth, and being terrified I asked: is there anyone who escapes them? And I heard a voice: only the humble and the meek.

Once the fathers came to Abba Anthony, and Abba Joseph was with him. The holy father wished to try them, and so he chose a saying out of the Holy Scriptures and asked each of them in turn what this saying meant. Everyone answered according to his own understanding; but to each the elder said: no, thou hast not understood! At last he asked Abba Joseph:

— And what sayest thou of this saying?

— I do not know, — answered Joseph.

And Abba Anthony added: Abba Joseph stands on the right road, when he says: I do not know.