The Institutes, Book XI

Book XI

• The Institutes XI.1 — How our seventh combat is against the spirit of vainglory, and what its nature. Our seventh combat is against the spirit of κενοδοξία, which we may term vain or idle glory: a spirit that takes many shapes, and is…vatican.va
• The Institutes XI.2 — How vainglory attacks a monk not only on his carnal, but also on his spiritual side. For not only does this, like the rest of his faults, attack a monk on his carnal side, but on his spiritual side as well,…vatican.va
• The Institutes XI.3 — How many forms and shapes vainglory takes. For our other faults and passions may be said to be simpler and of but one form: but this takes many forms and shapes, and changes about and assails the man who stands up…vatican.va
• The Institutes XI.4 — How vainglory attacks a monk on the right had and on the left. And so one who wishes to go along the King’s highway by means of the “arms of righteousness which are on the right hand and on the left,” ought by the…vatican.va
• The Institutes XI.5 — A comparison which shows the nature of vainglory. Our elders admirably describe the nature of this malady as like that of an onion, and of those bulbs which when stripped of one covering you find to be sheathed in…vatican.va
• The Institutes XI.6 — That vainglory is not altogether got rid of by the advantages of solitude. In solitude also it does not cease from pursuing him who has for the sake of glory fled from intercourse with all men. And the more…vatican.va
• The Institutes XI.7 — How vainglory, when it has been overcome, rises again keener than ever for the fight. All vices when overcome grow feeble, and when beaten are day by day rendered weaker, and both in regard to place and time grow…vatican.va
• The Institutes XI.8 — How vainglory is not allayed either in the desert or through advancing years. Other vices, as we said, are sometimes allayed by the advantages of position, and when the matter of the sin and the occasion and…vatican.va
• The Institutes XI.9 — That vainglory is the more dangerous through being mixed up with virtues. Lastly, other passions which are entirely different from the virtues which are their opposites, and which attack us openly and as it were in…vatican.va
• The Institutes XI.10 — An instance showing how King Hezekiah was overthrown by the dart of vainglory. For so we read that Hezekiah, King of Judah, a man of most perfect righteousness in all things, and one approved by the witness of Holy…vatican.va
• The Institutes XI.11 — The instance of King Uzziah who was overcome by the taint of the same malady. Of Uzziah, the ancestor of this king of whom we have been speaking, himself also praised in all things by the witness of the Scripture,…vatican.va
• The Institutes XI.12 — Several testimonies against vainglory. And so the Apostle warns us: “Be not desirous of vainglory.” And the Lord, rebuking the Pharisees, says, “How can ye believe, who receive glory from one another, and seek not…vatican.va
• The Institutes XI.13 — Of the ways in which vainglory attacks a monk. In the case also of beginners and of those who have as yet made but little progress either in powers of mind or in knowledge it usually puffs up their minds, either…vatican.va
• The Institutes XI.14 — How it suggests that a man may seek to take holy orders. But sometimes it creates a wish to take holy orders, and a desire for the priesthood or diaconate. And it represents that if a man has even against his will…vatican.va
• The Institutes XI.15 — How vainglory intoxicates the mind. And so the miserable soul is affected by such vanity—as if it were deluded by a profound slumber—that it is often led away by the pleasure of such thoughts, and filled with such…vatican.va
• The Institutes XI.16 — Of him whom the superior came upon and found in his cell, deluded by idle vainglory. I remember an elder, when I was staying in the desert of Scete, who went to the cell of a certain brother to pay him a visit, and…vatican.va
• The Institutes XI.17 — How faults cannot be cured unless their roots and causes have been discovered. I thought it well to insert these things in this little work of mine, that we might learn, not only by reason, but also by examples,…vatican.va
• The Institutes XI.18 — How a monk ought to avoid women and bishops. Wherefore this is an old maxim of the Fathers that is still current,—though I cannot produce it without shame on my own part, since I could not avoid my own sister, nor…vatican.va
• The Institutes XI.19 — Remedies by which we can overcome vainglory. And so the athlete of Christ who desires to strive lawfully in this true and spiritual combat, should strive by all means to overcome this changeable monster of many…vatican.va