“Lord, grant me to see my own faults and not to judge my brother (neighbor)” (the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian) – with these words the Church teaches the catechumen to pray, pointing to the essence of catechesis (repentance) – to recognize (see and understand) their sin, their hell (“The sign of proper catechesis, the healing of the soul, coming to one’s senses, to oneself – is the vision of one’s own sins, one’s infernal state”). Indeed, the judgment of others (one of the most foolish and blind passions!) is a very dangerous symptom of the disease of sin; if this problem (judgment) is not addressed in time, the dead person may die “the second death.” As long as I watch my neighbors with a cunning eye (“what’s happening with those people”), I do not see myself (my flaws, sins, “logs in my own eye”) and through judgment nurture Satanic pride (“I am not like other people…”, I am incomparably better than…) – the greatest folly and blindness. And a deadly disease, if not treated (not seen, not understood, not recognized in time), leads to death (the dead person will die the second death if they do not repent and turn to the Savior-Healer for salvation). Judgment (Pharisaism, hypocrisy, folly, and blindness, which the Lord criticizes most: “woe to you…”) is the deadliest symptom of pride (which blinds a person and makes them even more foolish), blocking access to the Healer (“are we also blind?”), when a person does not desire, does not see the need for salvation, for repentance. Therefore, “your sin remains on you” (see John 9:39-41).
“If you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent” (see Matthew 12:7).
“Hypocrites will receive the greatest condemnation. Looking up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins, and He said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on’” (see Mark 12:38-44, Luke 21:1-4). Formally judging, the widow gave the least (two small copper coins), but before God, for God, in the eyes of God, she gave the most of all. She gave all she had; while others placed millions, billions out of their excess into the treasury, they (these rich people) only gave themselves to God by two spiritual coins, but the poor widow entrusted herself, her entire life to God (the spiritual value of the widow’s two small coins is the price of the Kingdom of God, which belongs to the poor in spirit). Therefore, “do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment” (see John 7:24), do not judge by quantity, by external signs, but by the movement of the heart, by motivation! And only God, the Holy Spirit, sees the heart! So never judge anyone (for if you judge, it will only bring judgment and condemnation upon yourself), but always strive for mercy-love to everyone and everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Do not judge anything before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes, who will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart” (see 1 Corinthians 4:3-5).
“Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, they stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand” (see Romans 14:1-13). How can you judge someone, pass judgment, deliver a verdict when you know nothing (essentially) about the person: neither their past, nor their present circumstances, nor their motives and intentions. You know nothing, yet you rush to deliver a verdict and condemn the person. For example, to feel the absurdity of judgment (and the sign of malice and cunning, folly and blindness of the one who judges), we will tell a story about two orphan girls (see Abba Dorotheus. Teaching six. “On Not Judging Others”. (Similar real stories can be cited thousands of times)).
A ship arrived in the port of a city with slaves, including small children – orphans, destitute, abandoned, without parents… They were brought to be sold. Imagine the scene – unfortunate children who have not yet begun to live independently, they know nothing yet, have learned nothing. They look at you and smile. Perhaps you are an evil, cunning person, a criminal, and they reach out their little hands to you and want to kiss you – sincere, innocent children. Small hearts, in which nothing is yet written – only what they inherited from their ancestors, whom they do not know. Nothing is yet written in their souls in this life, in this world. When the ship docked, a pious nun came from a monastery outside the city. She knew that the children were brought to be sold and said to herself: – I will save at least one child, a little girl. So that she does not fall into bad hands, I will take her to the monastery. We will raise her, teach her to cook, embroider, sing, work, and when she grows up, let her do as she wishes: either stay with us in the monastery or get married and have her own family. At the other end of the city, a very depraved prostitute, learning that a ship had arrived with children, said to herself: – I will go and buy myself a girl. I need her. I will teach her all the secrets of our trade, and she will earn money and bring it to me. Both the nun and the prostitute went to the port. The Lord saw everything. He saw the innocent children on the ship, saw the prostitute, saw the nun and other people who intended to take one child each, some to adopt, some to place in an orphanage. The nun paid the ship’s owner money and took one of the girls with her. And another girl was bought and taken by the prostitute. The children parted.