Do not judge, do not condemn anyone – you know nothing about the past of this person (e.g., see above the story about two orphan girls), and it was certainly not sweet, since the person is now in such a passionate state, sins-suffers. Take strength from these thoughts (pity, compassion, empathy) for sincere prayer: Lord, have mercy on him (her, them), and by his prayer (or: for his sake) have mercy on me, a sinner! (Mercy without humility nurtures pride! Therefore, always humble yourself, force yourself to humble before every person, fall at their feet to whom you ask for prayers). These remedies (mercy and humility) have no contraindications, only do not engage in self-medication. There is no virtue without discernment, without counsel (the essence of spiritual life – faith in the providence of God, discernment with counsel). These thoughts-deeds-remedies should be used both in the struggle against the passions of judgment, anger, irritability, cruelty, mercilessness, malice… and for the prevention of inflammation of the passions (symptoms of sin-godlessness-egoism-pride). Let us not forget the most important thing – it is only the Healer-Savior-Healer Lord Jesus Christ who calms the passions and heals the disease, and our task is to zealously, sincerely, Orthodoxly (according to the laws of spiritual life) fight the passions (symptoms of the disease of sin), to acquire humility, which is the only necessary condition for receiving the Eucharist, the Body of Christ, the baptism of the Holy Spirit!
You ask, how could the saints (sincerely, without deceiving themselves or others) consider themselves worse than obvious sinners (maniacs, murderers, pedophiles, “blue,” fornicators, thieves, corrupt officials, satanists…)?! It’s very simple. I know that the brother sins (fornicates, kills, steals, envies, hates… name any sins, passions), I also know (first and foremost), that I am in the Holy Spirit, that I am a Christian (I see in myself the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, kindness… I have, for service, various gifts of the Holy Spirit: knowledge of God’s Mysteries (prophecy), teaching, clairvoyance, miracle-working, healing…), and I know for sure (in the Holy Spirit), that I am worse than this sinner (murderer, maniac, pedophile, adulterer…)!!! (For the saints, the neighbor is God: whoever has seen his brother, has seen his God, and before God (the living image of God) how not to humble, not to be humbled?!). The saints – humble ones, who know the truth about themselves: how much is given to me, and how little I bring forth fruits?! Recall what we said about talents, which must be doubled, and that by heavenly mathematics the greater is the one who made more effort (for example, 0.0000001 talents (which are 50% of the initial talents)
25 talents (which are 25% of the initial talents), that is, one multiplied the initial talents by 50%, and the other only by 25%). This is how the saints sincerely, truly (in the Holy Spirit, taught by the Holy Spirit) consider themselves, see themselves worse than all, under all creation! The sign of holiness – humility – to see oneself under all creation, to be the last, to be a servant to all (this is to be a catholic person, who holds everything, therefore is under all – like a foundation (under-support = hypo-stasis), which is under the whole building and holds it… Everything is held by the Lord Jesus Christ, and the saint is one with Christ…). And the path to holiness, to the baptism of the Holy Spirit – mercy and humility: ascetically, I show mercy, pity, compassion, suffer with, love every person (= I wish them happiness and do everything I can to help them achieve it), and I force myself to love-show mercy to my enemies, and humble myself, humble myself, diminish myself before every person, fall at their feet
– and all this for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ to the glory of God the Father! And the greatest enemy (hindrance) on the path of repentance, on the path to the baptism of the Holy Spirit (on the path to Happiness, the Kingdom of God) – is judgment (it is the mother and simultaneously the child of cruelty, mercilessness, cynicism, malice, pride (self-exaltation: I am not like other people, or like this sinner, scum, nothingness…)). Judgment – a sign that a person is moving in the opposite direction to Happiness (imitates the prosecutor-devil, not the Advocate-Comforter; Satan, not God), is in a state of rebellion against God, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (resisting the Holy Spirit, condemning those whom the Holy Spirit protects, condemning to hell those whom Christ saves, justifies…).
***
To see sin, the disease of godlessness-death, you need to tame its symptoms (first of all, blindness and madness; passions are blind and, being satisfied, give birth to even greater blindness; passions are mad and if satisfied, indulged, they lead to even greater madness, obsession, slavery) – to come to one’s senses, to oneself, to consciousness (to awareness: who I am, where I am, in what state I am, what I should be, Who is the norm for me, etc.), and then – repentance-announcement, preparation for the operation (baptism of the Holy Spirit). It is only Christ who saves-heals-cures from sin (and from the passions – symptoms of sin) and only those who wanted (“who wants…”) to be healthy, cured (deified, united with God in the Holy Spirit) and gave themselves wholly, entrusted themselves to Christ God, Whom in the process of preparation for baptism (the struggle with passions) they knew as All-conquering Love-Mercy. How is humility cultivated (awareness of one’s own powerlessness, weakness, poverty of Spirit) and trust in God, in the Lord Jesus Christ? The announced, trying to fulfill the commandment of God (to love God and the image of God), fights with some passion – nothing comes out on his own, he cries out to God, to the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy-salvation, and the Lord saves… And so the person gradually, little by little learns his powerlessness, helplessness (I cannot overcome the smallest passion, the smallest temptation) and the great Love of God, help, salvation from the passions in prayer to the merciful God. And this process, the pedagogy of coming to one’s senses (knowing one’s powerlessness and growing trust in God, in the Lord Jesus Christ) ends with a complete humble trustful surrender of oneself to Christ God, Who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.