The Toxic Stubbornness of Pride

Discerning the difference between solid faithfulness and stubborn pride is the difference between being a Normal Orthodox Christian and a Pharisee.

“That boy is so hardheaded he wouldn’t even notice a rock hitting him between the eyes.” My grandmother had a way with words, but I’ve known people like this: so set in their ways that not even plain evidence would move them to change them. They were frozen in their thinking.

But that kind of attitude can create some real problems for people, especially when they ignore clear communication from God Himself!

On the other hand, we often celebrate the determined focus of a person who fights to hold to solid principles and ambitions.

So, how do we discern between the good virtue of faithfulness and the destructive vice of pride?

Look at our lesson today from Acts 6:8-15; 7:1-5, 47-60. We’ll quote St. Stephen’s speech:

And Stephen said: “Brethren and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, ‘Depart from your land and from your kindred and go into the land which I will show you.’ Then he departed from the land of the Chaldeans, and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living; yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him in possession and to his posterity after him, though he had no child.

“But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands; as the prophet says, ‘Heaven is my throne, and earth my footstool. What house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?’

“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth against him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together upon him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Of course, this is early in the Church's existence, and St. Stephen is the first deacon and the Church’s first martyr for the Faith. But notice what he calls these religious leaders: stiff-necked!

We often say a prayer, even during the Divine Liturgy ‘ “Let us bow our heads to the Lord,” and the people respond, “To You, O Lord.” Someone who is stiff-necked can’t or won’t bow their heads.

First, because they think so highly of their own righteousness, they see no need to show humility and obedience.

Second, bowing their heads will communicate their own insufficiency to those around them.

And finally, because to bow the head would be to confess they don’t know everything. And for someone who is stiff-necked, they can’t allow for that impression even in their own hearts. Of course, this spiritual illness of being stiff-necked meant the death of Stephen, but that was only physical death. The real consequence was that those stiff-necked people were already spiritually dead and didn’t even know it!

St. Phocas was a simple gardener in a small village near the Black Sea. He had a small hut and garden, which he tended and cared for. His diligence allowed him to make a meager living from the garden, which he used to help the poor. His piety and kindness began to move the pagans to abandon their idols and become Christians. When the local governor heard of this, he sent a group of soldiers to kill this simple man. St. Phocas came upon the soldiers coming to kill him, and without telling them who he was, he brought them into his home to care for them, feed them, and help them. He went into his garden, dug his grave, and then told the soldiers who he was. They all agreed they didn’t want to carry out their orders and kill this kind man, but Phocas insisted, and the soldiers buried this hero in the grace he had dug himself!

Today, are you stiff-necked? Where in your life have you “got it all figured out” to the point that you are deaf to God’s gentle voice of correction? Where is there a deficit of humility that would not allow you to “bow” your head to the Lord? It’s time to keep those neck muscles limber and able to bow by living a Normal Orthodox life!

P.S. You appeared as a bright star announcing Christ with your radiance, which is repulsive to this world, O Martyr Phocas; extinguishing the allure of false gods, you enlighten the faithful, always interceding for us all.

Fr. Barnabas Powell is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, GA. He is also the founder of Faith Encouraged Ministries and produces the Faith Encouraged Daily Devotional on Substack.