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To: shortstop

Orthodox Christians know that self-esteem is a vice. Indeed it is one of the eight grevious vices catalogued by St. John Cassian (the other seven are familar to Western Christians as 'the seven deadly sins'). Some Greek Fathers, like the Latin, don't separate it out from pride, as the following apothegem from the Desert Father shows:

One of the Fathers said, "only perfect humility or perfect pride will allow one to ignore the opinions of men."

The 'self-esteem' movement tries (alas it still continues) to prevent children from yielding to peer pressure by inculcating perfect pride, rather than perfect humility. Not the demonic pride of setting oneself against God, but self-esteem, regarding oneself as better than others, not subject to criticism or correction.

In connection with that saying, the Father told of a monk who bore insults with complete equanimity, but when asked how, replied, "it is the barking of dogs."

Self-esteem creates disobedient monks, uneducable students, and bad citizens.


12 posted on 03/01/2007 7:18:30 AM PST by The_Reader_David (And when they behead your own people in the wars which are to come, then you will know. . .)
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To: The_Reader_David
Orthodox Christians know that self-esteem is a vice.

As do Catholic, although as you note we see it as a species of Pride.

I find it interesting that much evil in modernity is associated with this vice: The self-esteem thing, "Gay Pride", various forms of "Racial" Pride, etc.

30 posted on 03/01/2007 7:36:39 AM PST by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilisation is aborting, buggering, and contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: The_Reader_David

I prefer the word vanity to pride. Maybe pride was a translation error and it should have been vanity. Being proud of doing a job well done is not a sin. Being vain is. Envy is closely coupled with vanity. Envy is the origin of most of the evil in the world. But with pride there is no envy.


34 posted on 03/01/2007 7:40:15 AM PST by Reeses
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