Concerning the Panagia – Most Holy Theotokos
Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite says that because our Panagia had no high opinion of Herself, She never sinned! This is magnificent! Why? Because She had perfect self-knowledge.
You see, when the Archangel Gabriel visited Her and told Her, "you will give birth to the Savior of the world," She did not become conceited. She did not say, "well, I am important, there is no one else like me." She wondered! "How is this possible for me?"...
And when he explained to Her that the Holy Spirit would come and it would happen that way, She glorified God who looked upon, She says, "the humility of His maidservant";
"He looked upon me, who am nothing, a zero."
She had this perfect knowledge of Herself, that She is nothing, a zero! And precisely because She held this view that She is a zero, a piece of nothing, that is why She never sinned.
The more a person holds a high opinion of themselves, the more they sin. The higher their opinion, the more they sin and the more they suffer; they are crushed by sin. The lesser opinion they hold, the less they sin, the less they suffer, the less they are crushed, and thus, the smaller their falls are.
And when one reaches the point of having a zero opinion of oneself, then they experience no crushing and no fall. This is what the Fathers mean when they say that "pride precedes a fall." Pride always comes before every fall.
*Hieromonk Savvas Agioritis (Homily, June 23, 2021)*
