Judge not, that ye be not judged (Mt. 7:1). What people truly are is known to no one except God. More accurately, they are something fluid and plastic, and we ourselves often form, on the basis of some chance trait, an imaginary schematic figure, and then either admire it or revile it.
We must abandon the viewpoint that humanity is divided into two hostile camps, two breeds of people—the righteous and the sinners, destined for bliss or doomed to destruction. This does not exist.
We are all sinners, all afflicted with sin, and the Lord suffered for all of us. He holds all equally dear, and therefore the final judgment belongs to Him. That is why immediately after the words of Christ about love come the words about condemnation: Judge not, that ye be not judged.
Do not judge—and it will be easier for you to love everyone. Do not judge—and you will have no enemies. Look upon your “enemies” as people sick with the same disease as you, as people perishing. Leave the viewpoint of personal judgment and take the viewpoint of God’s work in the world…
Our whole life is occupied with condemnation. We do not spare another’s name; we thoughtlessly, often even without malice, condemn and slander, almost out of habit. As autumn leaves rustle and fall and rot, poisoning the air, so condemnations destroy every good work, create an atmosphere of mistrust and malice, and ruin our souls.
A sign of improper judgment is passionateness, spitefulness, and lack of love, arising from leniency toward oneself, failure to acknowledge one’s own sinfulness, and exacting demands on others.
Condemnation falls away if we remember our infinite debt before God. Our unmercifulness, implacability, and ruthlessness toward people block the paths of God’s mercy to us and distance us from God.
The wisdom of life, including Christian life, is not to be demanding toward people.
Our plan for relating to people is often as follows: A person is very likable; we sincerely idealize him and see nothing bad in him. Then suddenly the person slips in some way—lhe ies, boasts, shows cowardice… And then we re-evaluate him, cross out everything we saw before (though it still continues to exist), and cast the person out of our heart.
This is an incorrect and sinful way of relating to people. At the foundation of such treatment lie two unconscious thoughts:
First: I am outside of sin;
Second: The person I loved is also sinless.
How else can we explain both the sharp condemnation of others and the astonishment when a good, kind, pious person sins!
Yet the norm of our attitude toward our neighbors is to forgive endlessly, since we ourselves endlessly need forgiveness. The main thing is not to forget that the good we value remains, while sin was always there—we simply did not notice it.
Let us therefore be more lenient and loving toward one another. We all need mutual help and love, and all our difficulties and sorrows are so insignificant before the face of eternity.
—From the diary of Priest Alexander Elchaninov
On Condemnation
Do not look at the sins of others, but look at your own evil deeds; for you will not be judged for the former, but you will certainly give answer for yourself.
Do not condemn the fornicator even if you are chaste, for you yourself will transgress the law in the same way if you condemn him. For He Who said, Thou shalt not commit adultery (Matt. 5:27), also said, Judge not (Matt. 7:1).
—Ancient Patericon
Do not despise sinners for their failings, lest you yourself be tempted in the same things in which they were tempted.
Do not mock or condemn one who has fallen into temptation, but pray more often that you yourself may not fall into temptation.
When you see or hear something bad in your neighbor, seal your lips with silence and sigh to the Lord concerning him, that He may correct him; and pray for yourself, that you may not fall into the same vice, for as weak beings we are subject to every fall.
Even if with your own eyes you see someone sinning, do not condemn him; for often even the eyes are deceived.
Do not condemn your neighbor; you know his sin, but you do not know his repentance.
Correct the one who sins, but do not condemn the one who falls; for the latter is the work of one who speaks evil, while the former is the work of one who desires to correct.
—St. Nilus of Sinai
Having heard that some were slandering their neighbors, I forbade them; but those who did this evil, in justification, answered that they did it out of love and care for the one being slandered. But I said to them: Leave such love, lest what is said prove false: Him that privily speaks against his neighbour, him have I driven from me: he that is proud in look and insatiable in heart,—with him I have not eaten (Ps. 100:5). If you truly love your neighbor as you say, then do not mock him, but pray for him secretly; for this form of love is pleasing to God. You will refrain from condemning those who sin if you always remember that Judas was one of Christ’s disciples, while the thief was among the murderers; yet in a single moment a wondrous change occurred with both.
Whoever wishes to conquer the spirit of slander should ascribe the fault not to the one sinning, but to the demon who incites him. For no one wishes to sin against God, although each of us sins not by compulsion.
I saw one who sinned openly but repented in secret; and the one whom I had condemned as a fornicator was already chaste before God, having propitiated Him by his sincere conversion.
Never be ashamed before the one who slanders his neighbor in your presence, but rather say to him: “Stop, brother; I daily fall into far worse sins—and how can I condemn him?” In this way you will do two good deeds and with a single plaster heal both yourself and your neighbor. This is one of the shortest paths to the forgiveness of sins—that is, to condemn no one. For it is said: Judge not, and ye shall not be judged (Lk. 6:37).
As fire is opposed to water, so is condemnation foreign to the repentant soul. Even if you saw someone sinning at the very moment his soul was departing from the body, neither condemn him then, for the judgment of God is unknown to men. Some have openly fallen into great sins, yet secretly performed greater virtues—and those who loved to mock them were deceived, chasing after smoke and not seeing the sun.
Hear me, hear me, you evil judges of others’ deeds. If it is true—as indeed it is true—that For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again (Matt. 7:2), then of course we shall fall into the very sins, whether bodily or spiritual, for which we condemn our neighbor; and it cannot be otherwise.
Those who are quick and severe to judge their neighbor’s transgressions suffer from this passion because they do not have perfect and constant remembrance and concern for their own sins. For if a man were to see his own evil deeds exactly, without the veil of self-love, then he would no longer care about anything else pertaining to earthly life, realizing that even if he lived a hundred years and saw a whole River Jordan of tears flowing from his eyes, it would not suffice for weeping over himself alone. I have observed the weeping of true repentance—and found in it not a trace of slander or condemnation.
The man-killing demons urge us either to sin ourselves or, when we are not sinning, to condemn those who sin, so that by the second they might defile the first.
Know that this too is a sign of a resentful and envious man—if he easily and with pleasure criticizes the teaching, deeds, and virtues of his neighbor, being possessed by a spirit of hatred.
I have seen people who secretly and hiddenly committed grave sins, yet, considering themselves better than others, mercilessly attacked those who fell into light but open faults.
To judge is to shamelessly usurp the rank of God. And to condemn is to destroy one’s own soul.
As vainglory, even without any other passion, can powerfully destroy a man, so condemnation alone can by itself completely destroy us. For that Pharisee was condemned for this very thing.
As a good vinedresser tastes only the ripe berries and leaves the sour ones, so a prudent and discerning mind carefully notes the virtues it sees in anyone; while a foolish man seeks out vices and shortcomings. Of him it is said: They have searched out iniquity; they have wearied themselves with searching diligently (Ps. 63:7).
From: Readings For Every Day of Great Lent, Ed. N. Shaposhnikova (Moscow: Danilov Monastery, 2025).
