Those who simulate virtue and who, because of the sheepskin of the monastic habit, appear to be one thing outwardly but are something else inwardly - steeped perhaps in iniquity, jealousy, ambition, and foul pleasures - are revered by most people as saintly and dispassionate; for in most people, the soul's eye is unpurified, and so they cannot recognize these impostors by their fruits (cf. Matt. 7:15-16).
Those, on the other hand, who are full of devoutness, virtue and simplicity of heart, and who are truly saints, are judged by most people to be like other men; and they pass them by with disdain, counting them as nothing.
St Symeon the New Theologian
