Elder Porphyrios spoke about the difference between humble thinking and the inferiority complex. “The humble man, he said, is not a sick personality. He is aware of his condition, he does not lose the core of his personality. He knows his sinfulness, his meanness and accepts the comments of his spiritual confessor, of his brothers. He saddens, but he doesn’t get exhausted or angry.
The person who is possessed by an inferiority complex at the beginning, on the outside seems like the humble. But if you search him for a while or advice him, his sick ego will come out to the surface, he will get upset, will lose even that little peace he had.
The elder said that it happens the same with the melancholic as against the repentant. The melancholic becomes introverted and is concerned only by his own self. The sinner who repents and confesses himself comes out of himself. Our faith has this wonderful thing, the spiritual father. If you confessed to the spiritual father and received forgiveness, don’t turn back. He stressed out this thing very much.
Hieromonk Sava the Athonite – from “Soul healing according to the teachings of elder Porphyrios”, Egumenita Publishing House
Source: ganduridinierusalim.com
