The sixth and final week of Great Lent is called the Week of the Palms, the flower-bearing week, from the branches with which the Church commemorates the royal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, met by the Jewish people with palms and branches.
As it begins this week, the Church offers the Lord hymns of the forefeast of Palm Sunday, praying for those who fast that they, together with Lazarus the Four-Days, after the forty-day fast, may rise from the death of sin; it prepares and calls all of us to the spiritual meeting of the Lord’s royal entry into Jerusalem. By this time the venerable desert-dwellers are also returning to their monasteries from the deserts, whither, according to ancient custom, imitating the Lord Who was in the desert in fasting and prayer for forty days, they had withdrawn for the time of Great Lent.
On Humility
Above all we need humility.
The labors of one who fasts much and undertakes heavy ascetic feats without humility are in vain.
—Venerable Abba Isaiah
Humility is an indispensable virtue of creatures; greatness befits God alone.
—Innocent, Archbishop of Kherson
Repentance restores the fallen; weeping for sins knocks at the gates of heaven, while humility opens them.
One of the elders said: “Above all we need humility.” Why did he not speak of some other virtue? By this the elder shows us that neither the fear of God, nor almsgiving, nor faith, nor abstinence, nor any other virtue can be perfect without humility of mind. By humility of mind all the arrows of the enemy and adversary are shattered. All the saints walked this path and labor—as David cries out: Look upon mine affliction and my trouble; and forgive all my sins (Ps. 24:18), and again: The Lord preserves the simple: I was brought low, and He delivered me (Ps. 114:6).
Do not measure yourself against the weaker among men, but rather stretch yourself to the measure of the commandments of love. If you measure yourself against men, you will fall into the abyss of pride; but if you stretch yourself to the measure of love, you will attain the height of humility of mind. Humility of mind is born of pure prayer, with tears and compunction. For prayer, always calling God to help, does not allow one senselessly to rely on one’s own strength and wisdom or to exalt oneself above others—two fierce diseases of the passion of pride.
—Venerable Maximus the Confessor
Be humble in everything: in posture, in clothing, in sitting, in standing, in walking, in your cell and in all its furnishings. If people praise you for your deeds, do not rejoice in it and do not take pleasure in it; hide them as much as you can, do not allow anyone to speak of them, and in every way strive to ensure that people do not praise you. Fear becoming known for any of your deeds.
Humility is the salt of the virtues. As salt gives taste to food, so humility imparts perfection to the virtues. Without salt food easily spoils; without humility virtue easily becomes corrupted by pride, vainglory, impatience, and perishes.
The humble man does not remember evil done to him by others and does not condemn the one who sins. Thus he receives remission of sins for himself in three ways: as one who does not judge—he is not judged; as one who is humble of mind—he is justified; as one who forgives—he receives forgiveness.
—St. Athanasius the Great of Alexandria
Whoever remembers his own sins easily attains humility.
—Venerable Abba Isaiah
Our Battle Takes Place Every Day and Every Hour
If you have reproached, condemned, or grieved your brother, you have lost your peace. If you have become vainglorious or exalted yourself over your brother, you have lost grace. If a lustful thought has come and you have not immediately driven it away, your soul will lose the love of God and boldness in prayer. If you love power and money, you will never know the love of God. If you have fulfilled your own will, you have been defeated by the enemy and despondency will enter your soul. If you have hated your brother, then you have fallen away from God and an evil spirit has taken possession of you.
We suffer because we do not have humility. In a humble soul the Holy Spirit dwells. And He gives the soul freedom, peace, love, and blessedness.
We must compel ourselves to good every day and with all our strength strive to learn the humility of Christ.
People do not learn humility and because of their pride cannot receive the grace of the Holy Spirit; therefore the whole world suffers. But if people knew the Lord—how merciful, humble, and meek He is—then in a single hour the face of the whole world would be changed, and everyone would have great joy and love.
The merciful Lord has given us repentance, and by repentance everything is set right. By repentance we receive forgiveness of sins; after repentance comes the grace of the Holy Spirit, and thus we come to know God.
With all your strength ask the Lord for humility and brotherly love, for the Lord gives His grace for love of one’s brother. Test this on yourself: one day ask God for love for your brother, and the next live without love—and then you will see the difference. The spiritual fruits of love are clear: peace and joy in the soul, and everyone will be dear and close to you, and you will shed abundant tears for your neighbor, for every breath and every creature.
Often from a single greeting the soul feels a good change within itself; and, on the contrary, from a single sidelong glance grace and the love of God are lost. Then quickly repent, so that the peace of God may return to your soul.
Blessed is the soul that has loved the Lord and from Him has learned humility. The Lord loves the humble soul that firmly hopes in God. Every second it feels His mercy, so that even when speaking with people, it is occupied with the beloved Lord. And from the long struggle with the enemies the soul has come to love humility more than anything and does not allow the enemies to rob it of brotherly love.
With grace it is easy to love God and to pray day and night; but the wise soul endures dryness as well, firmly hoping in the Lord and knowing that He will not put its hope to shame and will give in due time. The grace of God sometimes comes quickly, and sometimes is long withheld; but the wise soul humbles itself, loves its neighbor, and meekly bears its cross, thereby conquering the enemies who try to tear it away from God.
When sins, like clouds, hide from the soul the light of God’s mercy, then the soul, though it thirsts for the Lord, remains weak and powerless. So a bird shut in a cage, though it longs for the green grove, cannot fly away to sing a song of praise to God in freedom.
For a long time I suffered, not knowing the way of the Lord, but now, through many years and many sorrows and by the Holy Spirit, I have come to know the will of God.
All things whatsoever the Lord has commanded (Mt. 28:20), we must fulfill exactly, for this is the path to the Kingdom of Heaven, where we shall see God. But do not think that you will see God; rather humble yourself and consider that after death you will be cast into prison and there you will languish and yearn for the Lord. When we weep and humble the soul, the grace of God preserves us; but if we abandon weeping and humility, we may be carried away by thoughts or visions. The humble soul has no visions and does not desire them, but with a pure mind prays to God; while the vainglorious mind is never free from thoughts and imagination and may even reach the point of seeing demons and speaking with them.
For humility the soul receives peace in God, but in order to keep this peace the soul must learn for a long time. We lose this peace because we have not become firmly established in humility.
The soul’s war with the enemy lasts until the grave. And if in an ordinary war only the body is killed, our war is harder and more dangerous, because the soul too can perish.
From: Readings For Every Day of Great Lent, Ed. N. Shaposhnikova (Moscow: Danilov Monastery, 2025).
