A HOMILY ON JUDGING ONE ANOTHER, preached a few days ago at Pachacamac Monastery.
| CHRIST PANTOCRATOR painted by a monk of Pachacamac |
Jesus told his disciple parable: “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when full trained,every disciple will be like his teacher.Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye,but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? How can you say to your brother,‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first;then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.” (Luke 6: 39-42)
Just think for a moment how many times during any day you criticise somebody or take part in gossip! In Peru it is said that a small town can become a big hell. It was probably worse in the Egyptian desert where the monks heard little news of any importance. Listen to this short excerpt from the Desert Fathers:
The old men used to say, “there is nothing worse than passing judgement.
They said of abba Macarius that he became as it is written a god upon earth, because just as God protects the world, so abba Macarius would cover the faults that he saw as though he did not see them, and those which he heard as though he did not hear them.
Abba Pastor said, ”Judge not him who is guilty of fornication, if you are chaste, or you will break the law like him. For He who said “do not commit fornication” said also “Do not judge”.
A brother asked abba Poemen, “If I see my brother sin, is it right to say nothing about it?” The old man replied, “whenever we cover our brother’s sin, God will cover ours; whenever we tell people about our brother’s guilt, God will do the same about ours.”
A brother in Scetis committed a fault. A council was called to which abba Moses was invited, but he refused to go to it. Then the priest sent someone to him, saying, “Come, for everyone is waiting for you”. So he got up and went. He took a leaking jug and filled it with water and carried it with him. The others came out to meet him and said, ” what is this, father?” The old man said to them, “My sins run out behind me, and I do not see them, and today I am coming to judge the errors of another.” When they heard that, they said no more to the brother but forgave him.
A brother sinned and the priest ordered him to go out of the church; abba Bessarion got up and went out with him, saying, “I, too, am a sinner.”
What can we say about people who condemn other people? Obviously we can say that condemning other people is wrong. Obviously we can condemn that tendency in ourselves. What we can’t do is condemn anyone else without hypocrisy.
Let me give you an example. There is a peninsular in Greece which is a monastic republic in that all its citizens are monks. It is called Mount Athos. Around 2,000 monks, living in monasteries, small houses, hermitages and even caves, seek God in silence and prayer. It is a wonderful place. It was where my abbot had his first experience of monastic life as a student in the university of Thessaloniki. It is the spiritual hub of the Orthodox Church, and its reputation for holiness has spread far be, to beyond the borders of Orthodoxy.
Yet it is also famous for xenophobia. It was burned and monks were massacred by the Catholic Frankish army for refusing to unite with Rome in the thirteenth century. In Athonite vocabulary, a western European guest is still called a “Frank”, and they speak of the massacre as though it were yesterday and that the pope is personally responsible for what happened. The abbots are absolutely anti-Catholic, and they seem to believe that, to be faithful to Orthodoxy, a person must accept a view of history of Catholic-Orthodox relations in which Orthodoxy is completely right and Catholicism completely wrong. Catholicism is judged by some events in the past, and every other aspect of Catholicism is ignored.
I have chosen Mount Athos because it is clear why I can say that condemning Catholicism in the way they do, the abbots of Mount Athos are wrong. They are blind leaders in this matter. But, how can I condemn those abbots who, most certainly, are a thousand times more holy than I am? Their anti-Catholicism is a very small aspect of their total relationship with God and their neighbour. After all, it scarcely touches their present lives on Athos. Of all people, it must be said that they are far greater than their views of a Catholicism that they hardly know. They are so great that, however large their prejudice may be, it is but a mote in the eye of their general holiness.
Let us declare war on our tendency to criticise and condemn. Pope Francis has said that, if we never condemn anybody, we are well on our way to holiness.
Source: http://fatherdavidbirdosb.blogspot.com/2015/09/a-homily-on-judging-one-another.html
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Whistler Blowers, Insiders
” It was the sin of judging and criticising others. Each stage of the spiritual life has a temptation to which all in that stage are prone.”
Because it’s a very immature stage to want to be led. We see it all the time with people with little to no knowledge of a subject attempting to speak with authority. When it comes to unsubstantiated beliefs, judging and condemning others based on it, is nothing but odious arrogance. You know nothing to make any such judgements, in fact it proves disbelief because if you did believe in an all powerful judgemental deity, you would not dare to role play it, you would have respect, allow IT to do it’s own judging, and mind your own business.
The biblical deity commands followers to utterly destroy people with other beliefs, be ruthless, have no mercy, destroy everything about them, which to me proves it is nothing but political BS to justify land theft and treat populations as property. A genuine deity would command you to do the opposite, practice what you preach, convert people not by being a complete barbarian monster, but by your good works and deeds.
Add: If you can’t tell the difference between right and wrong, it’s empathy you lack, not organised religion. The difference between empathy and sympathy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Evwgu369Jw