He who is not aware of his own spiritual condition is spurred on by pride and criticizes others, and for this he is condemned by the impartial Lord. On the other hand, he who is aware of his condition is humbled, and with magnanimity towards his fellows, seeks the Lord’s mercy. Concerning a person who has attained self-awareness, one saint says: “He who has a sense of his sins is superior to one who resurrects the dead with his prayers … He who has been accounted worthy of knowing himself is superior to the one blessed to behold Angels!” (15)
The Gerontikon refers to the following incident: “A brother of a Skete once committed a sin, and a council was held by the brethren to adjudicate the matter. They sent for Abba Moses, but he did not wish to come. The presbyter again sent for him, saying: ‘Come, for we are all waiting for you.’ Then Abba Moses arose and took a basket with holes in the bottom, filled it with sand, and carried it on his back to the meeting. The Fathers came out to meet him, and when they saw him carrying the basket on his shoulders, they asked him: ‘What is this, Father?’ The Elder replied to them: ‘They are my sins that are flowing out behind me, and I do not see them; and yet, I have come today to judge someone else’s sins.’ When they heard this, they said nothing to the brother whom they wished to judge, bur forgave him.” (16)
We judge our fellows in manifold ways, and if we observe ourselves, we can become aware of most of these. Here we will mention two ways, both rather difficult to discern, in which we may sin without realizing it.
1. Occasionally, malicious criticism is cleverly mixed with praise. St. Maximos the Confessor says: “Do not disparage today as wicked and vile the person whom yesterday you extolled as virtuous, just because your love for him has turned to hatred … Do not adulterate the usual praise of your brother in conversations with others on account of the sorrow that is still hidden in your soul, mixing reproach into your words without realizing it.” (17)
2. Another type of negative criticism is one that supposedly stems from love for a brother who has sinned, or from the intention to correct him. However, something done in a bad way cannot have a positive result.
St. John Klimakos writes: “I have heard people judging others, and I have rebuked them. And these doers of evil replied in self-defense that they were doing so out of love and care for the person whom they were judging. I said to them: ‘Stop that kind of love, otherwise you will be condemning the prophet David as a liar who said: Whoever speaks secretly against his neighbor I have driven away from me (Ps. 100:5). If you say you love, then pray secretly, and do not mock the man. For this is the kind of love that is acceptable to the Lord.”’ (18)
~Hiermonk Gregorios, Do not Judge: Understanding the Vice of Passing Judgment
15 St. Isaak the Syrian, Homily 24, 25, The Ascetical Homilies. Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Boston 1984, p. 153.
16 The Evergetinos: A Complete Text, vol. 3, Erna 2008, p. 24.
17 The Evergetinos: A Complete Text, vol. 1, Etna 2008, p. 350.
18 Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 10.4.
