” Indeed, I have been blessed with “ears to hear” - I am a Christian, plain and simple.”
I take it that’s a “yes” in answer to my question. Quite a power you have there, AG, to understand what The Church apparently has not for 2000 years.
Have you ever heard of +Cosmas Aitolos? The Albanian Mohammedans hanged him for preaching Christianity in NW Greece in 1779. Anyway, he came across all sorts of folks in his travels. Among the most troublesome were people who had become possessed and overwhelmed by spiritual pride. To one he said:
“The Christian needs two wings in order to soar upward and attain Paradise: humility and love. When the first order of angels fell from angelic glory and became demons, the other nine orders humbled themselves and worshipped the All-Holy Trinity, and remained in their place and rejoice forever. We, too, my brethren, must reflect what an evil thing pride is - that it cast down the devil from angelic glory and he will always burn in Hades - and that humility kept the angels in Heaven, and they rejoice perpetually in the glory of the Holy Trinity. Let us then, my brethren, avoid pride, because it is the first daughter of the devil, is a path that leads to Hades; and let us have humility, because it is angelic, is a path that leads to Paradise.”
I have learned more in 4 years here on FR about Western, non-Latin Christianity than in all the rest of my life. Much stands out, but I think the rejection of a sense of abiding humility is what strikes me the most. As Kosta has said time and again, The Almighty God came to us as a baby born poor in a cave to an unwed teenage mother. He died for us as a scorned criminal broken and tortured on a cross. He is indeed the example of Extreme Humility. If at the Final Judgment we are examined to see if we bear any resemblance to Christ, am I wrong to suggest that Humility is something we should cultivate?