Christ told us not to judge our fellows so as not to be judged by Him. Subsequently, He pointed out the root from which the vice of condemning others grows, saying: Why do you see the speck that is in someone else’s eye but do not consider the beam that is in your own eye? How can you tell someone, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye;’ and behold, there is a beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! First, remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you will be able to see clearly [so as] to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye (Matt. 7: 3-5). The Lord “… compares our neighbor’s sin with the speck and our judgment with the plank. It is so grave a sin that it surpasses almost any other.” (11) Christ used the word hypocrite to show that the reason we are driven to such judgments is our hypocritical tendency to vindicate ourselves by condemning our fellow.
Bearing these reasons in mind, the venerable Chrysostom writes: “This type of judgment does not arise out of concern bur from misanthropy. He who engages in ill-intentioned criticism wears the mask of philanthropy, while carrying out a work of the utmost malevolence: he heaps accusations and insults upon his fellows, and sets himself up as a teacher though unworthy of being even a student. This is precisely why Christ called him a hypocrite. Indeed, you who are so strict about the behavior of others, and can discern even the smallest mistakes, how can you show so little concern for your own actions that even big mistakes are ignored?” (12)
Every man can easily observe his fellow’s failings and exaggerate them, but has great difficulty in observing his own. And if he does notice them, he tries to mitigate their importance. It is precisely for this reason that the Church has appointed the Prayer of St. Ephrem to be said during the season of Great Lent: Grant me to see my own faults, and not to condemn my brother. Indeed, when we look at our own sins and become conscious of how much we have grieved God by committing them, we do not feel remotely inclined to concern ourselves with the sins of our brethren.
Knowing these things, we can appreciate the truth of Abba Isaak’s words: “Blessed is the man who knows his own [spiritual] weakness, because this knowledge becomes to him the foundation, the root, and the beginning of all goodness.” (13) “For the righteous man who has no consciousness of his own weakness walks on a razor’s edge, and is never far from falling, nor far from the ravening lion-I mean the demon of pride. And again, a man who does not know his own weakness falls short of humility; and he who falls short of this, also fall short of perfection … ” (14)
~Hiermonk Gregorios, Do not Judge: Understanding the Vice of Passing Judgment
11 Abba Dorotheos, Practical Teaching on the Christian Life, Lesson 6, 70, Athens 2000, p. 134.
12 Homilies on Matthew, 23, 2.
13 St, Isaak the Syrian, Homily 8, The Ascetical Homilies, Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Boston 1984, p. 67.
14 Ibid p. 69.
