Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume XI/John Cassian/The Twelve Books/Book XII/Chapter 8

Chapter VIII.

How God has destroyed the pride of the devil by the virtue of humility, and various passages in proof of this.

so God, the Creator and Healer of all, knowing that pride is the cause and fountain head of evils, has been careful to heal opposites with opposites, that those things which were ruined by pride might be restored by humility. For the one says, &#8220;I will ascend into heaven;&#8221; the other, &#8220;My soul was brought low even to the ground.&#8221; The one says, &#8220;And I will be like the most High;&#8221; the other, &#8220;Though He was in the form of God, yet He emptied Himself and took the form of a servant, and humbled Himself and became obedient unto death.&#8221; The one says, &#8220;I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;&#8221; the other, &#8220;Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart.&#8221; The one says, &#8220;I know not the Lord and will not let Israel go;&#8221; the other, &#8220;If I say that I know Him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know Him, and keep His commandments.&#8221; The one says, &#8220;My rivers are mine and I made them:&#8221; the other: &#8220;I can do nothing of myself, but my Father who abideth in me, He doeth the works.&#8221; The one says, &#8220;All the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them are mine, and to whomsoever I will, I give them;&#8221; the other, &#8220;Though He were rich yet He became poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich.&#8221; The one says, &#8220;As eggs are gathered together which are left, so have I gathered all the earth: and there was none that moved the wing or opened the mouth, or made the least noise;&#8221; the other, &#8220;I am become like a solitary pelican; I watched and became as a sparrow alone upon the roof.&#8221; The one says, &#8220;I have dried up with the sole of my foot all the rivers shut up in banks;&#8221; the other, &#8220;Cannot I ask my Father, and He shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?&#8221; If we look at the reason of our original fall, and the foundations of our salvation, and consider by whom and in what way the latter were laid and the former originated, we may learn, either through the fall of the devil, or through the example of Christ, how to avoid so terrible a death from pride.