Judge not — and ye shall not be judged
In Egypt, near the place where the holy fathers once struggled, there lived a brother who fell into sin and brought a woman into his cell. The local people learned of this and resolved to drive out the brother who had sinned. By God's providence the bishop Abba Ammon happened to be there, and they asked him to go with them to drive out the brother. Abba Ammon agreed.
When the brother saw the people coming to him, he hid the woman in a great jar. The bishop, as soon as he entered the cell, understood this; he came, sat down upon that jar and gave orders that the woman be sought. After a diligent search they reported to Abba Ammon that the woman was nowhere to be found. Then the abba reproached them:
— See what you have done? You have judged an innocent brother. Return to your village and judge others no more!
After the villagers had gone, the abba rose and with humility admonished the brother:
— Brother, take care for the salvation of thy soul!
Thus do those act who are clothed with the grace of the Holy Spirit.
A certain monk was distinguished neither by fasting, nor by prayer, nor by any other virtue, but lived altogether carelessly. The hour of his departure from this world came. The brethren of the monastery marvelled when they saw that this careless monk not only did not grieve at the approach of his end, but calmly met eternal life and glorified God.
— Why art thou so glad of heart, when thou must stand before the dread judgement of the Lord? — they asked. — We know thy life and do not understand such indifference in thee. Be strengthened by the grace of Christ and tell us, that we may glorify the Lord and His love for mankind.
Then the dying man raised his head from the bed and said to them:
— Brethren and fathers, it is true that I lived carelessly, but now, when the angels of the Lord unrolled my whole life before me like a book, I sincerely confessed my sins and awaited a dreadful punishment; but the angels said to me: “For all thy negligence, thou didst never judge men and wast forbearing towards all!” After these words they tore up the handwriting of my sins. This is the cause of my joy.
Having said this, he departed in peace to the Lord.
To a certain monk who struggled alone in the desert a priest came from time to time to offer the royal Sacrifice. Once there came to this monk a man possessed by a demon, and he judged the priest. The monk listened to him and was scandalised. After this, when the priest came to him as usual to serve, the monk did not open the door to him, and the priest returned home grieved.
When the monk stood to pray, he heard a voice from heaven: men have lost My righteousness and contend with Me over judgement. Hearing this, the monk was seized with fear and terrified. At that moment he saw a well of gold, a rope of gold and a vessel for drawing. The water was especially pure, but he who drew the water was unclean. An angel of the Lord came to the monk and said to him: O man, what harm will the unclean drawer do to this pure water? Or of what will an unworthy offerer deprive the all-holy Sacrifice? Such a one condemns only himself, but harms not others. But he who judges sets himself against the Lord. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The monk came to himself, was terrified, repented of his fault with tears, called that priest, knelt before him, asked forgiveness and with entreaties persuaded him to serve as before. Afterward this monk taught others also that no one must be judged, for God is the Judge of all, and He has written to us: “Judge not, that ye be not judged”; condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned. All the more must we not judge priests, who stand together with the angels, offer the holy Gifts to the Lord and bring down the Holy Spirit, to Whom belongs glory unto the ages of ages.
In Scetis a brother fell into sin. The brethren gathered and called Abba Moses also, but he would not come; then the presbyter sent a brother to him again and told him that the assembly was waiting for the elder. Abba Moses rose and went — and he carried with him a leaking basket full of sand. When the brethren saw the elder coming, they asked: what is this, father? — These are my sins pouring out behind me; I do not see them, and I have come to judge the sins of another. Hearing this, they did not judge the brother, but forgave him.
Once the venerable Arsenius the Great fell grievously ill. The monks carried him to the infirmary by the church and laid him on a soft bed.
A hieromonk from another monastery visited him and, seeing him lying on a soft bed, was scandalised and thought: “Is this Arsenius the Great? Can such comfort be right for him?”
But scarcely had he thought this when the priest who was there discerned his thoughts, drew him aside and asked him how he had lived in the world.
— I was a shepherd; I lived in utmost poverty and sorrow, — answered the monk without any hesitation.
— And now dost thou live well? — the priest asked again.
— Very peacefully, — he answered, — I have everything needful.
— Know then, — said the priest, — that this elder whom thou seest was almost a second father to the children of the emperor; he had thousands of servants, a soft and costly bed; his wealth was beyond counting; and so, after so many labours in the world, thou here art at rest, while Father Arsenius, after his comfort in the world, here labours.
The hieromonk acknowledged his error, fell at the priest's feet and asked forgiveness for having offended the venerable father in his heart.
One of the brethren, sent into the city on the needs of the monastery, acted carelessly and fell into a sin of the flesh. Falling into despair, the brother, on returning to the lavra, repented of his sin before the venerable father. The saint, as an experienced and understanding physician, calmed the brother and persuaded him not to give himself over to despondency, but to have hope in the Lord, and kept him in the monastery as a novice. The monk Paul — a brother of the same monastery — began to judge the fallen brother and laid it to the venerable father's charge that he had kept in the lavra a fellow brother who had committed a lawless and shameful deed. Saint Athanasius looked at him sternly and answered: “Paul, what art thou doing? Instead of judging thy brethren, it were better to look into thine own thought. It is written: ‘Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall’ (1 Cor. 10:12).” By God's providence, from that very day the passion of fornication fell upon Paul, and for three days and nights he was grievously tormented. But worst of all was that he was ashamed to confess and shrank from accepting help. Saint Athanasius by his enlightened spirit understood Paul's condition and put into him the boldness to confess. Paul disclosed his sin and asked the venerable father, as a caring parent for children in distress, for forgiveness. Saint Athanasius first of all instructed him to judge the fallen no more, but to have compassion and to pray for those who are in temptation; and then, seeing Paul's obedience and repentance, he prayed for him before God and delivered him from the unseemly passion. At that moment Paul felt a coolness poured upon his head that passed through his whole body, and the burning of the flesh in him was quenched.
The venerable John the Sabbaite relates: “Once a novice came to me from a neighbouring monastery, and I asked him how the fathers there were living. He answered me: ‘Well, by your prayers.’ Then I asked about that novice who did not have a good name. The guest said to me: ‘He has not changed at all, father.’ As soon as I heard this, I exclaimed: ‘That is bad!’ — and scarcely had I spoken this word when at that very moment I felt some unspeakable rapture and saw Jesus Christ crucified between two thieves. I was just making ready to bow down before the Saviour, when suddenly the Lord turned to the angels standing by: ‘Cast him out — he is an antichrist, for before My judgement he has judged his brother.’ And as by the Lord's command I was being driven out, my mantle remained behind the door, and I suddenly awoke. ‘A misfortune has befallen me,’ I said to the novice who had come as my guest. ‘Evil is this day for me.’ ‘Why?’ he asked me. Then I disclosed to him the vision and explained that the mantle left behind signified the loss of God's protection and help. From that day I spent seven years in the desert, taking no bread, seeking no shelter, entering into conversation with no man, until I saw my Lord, Who gave me back my mantle.”
A certain monk, learning that a brother had fallen into sin, judged him and said: “He has done the greatest evil.” Time passed, and an angel brought to the monk the soul of the brother he had judged and said: “He whom thou didst judge has died. Where dost thou command his soul to be set: in paradise or in hell?” The monk was afraid. “Thou art surely the judge of the righteous and of sinners,” the angel went on, “command! Wilt thou receive him or appoint him eternal torment?” The monk understood that by judging his brother he had fallen into the gravest sin, and with wailing and lamentation he begged forgiveness. For a long time the Lord left him without answer; at last He had mercy and sent the angel to him again. “God has forgiven thee,” said the angel, “and now remember how heavy a thing is judging.”
Of the holy bishop Ammon they relate that a woman was brought to him for judgement who had been convicted of the sin of adultery (in those days the office of judge was joined to that of the bishop). The holy bishop looked upon the unhappy woman and said: “Thou hast conceived a child; thy childbearing will be hard,” — and then he turned to the monks and said: give her ten arshins of linen; if she dies in childbirth, it will be her burial cloth, and if the child is born, it will serve her.” And he let the woman go, neither punishing her nor laying a penance upon her. A certain woman who was present at the judgement and was full of a thirst to see the sinner punished cried out: “This bishop is truly a fool.” The bishop answered: “Ten years I spent in the desert in silent prayer, that I might attain this folly, and now I do not wish to part with it and shall not exchange it for any earthly wisdom.” That is, the hierarch had attained such perfection that he did not see evil in another man. In this case the bishop by his wise deed brought the sinful woman to deep repentance and made her think also of death.
Abba Daniel, on his way to the monastery, was overtaken by night and spent the night in a village. He heard how quarrelling villagers reviled one another with foul words. The abba at once rose, fell upon his knees and began to pray. There appeared to him an angel of the Lord with a huge sword in his hand, who said: “With this sword shall every man be overcome who judges his fellow. Blessed art thou, for the noise of the quarrel came to thee for thy temptation, and thou didst judge no one, but didst pray! Therefore the blessing of God shall be upon thee.”
The venerable father Vitalis, after sixty years of struggle in the cell of Saint Spyridon, came to Alexandria and began to live there, as is written in his life, “for the scandal of men”. To escape human glory, he resolved to work by day as a hired labourer. For his labour he received one silver piece a day. Of the money he earned he used a trifling part for his food (he bought beans), while in the evenings he visited the houses of harlots. There he left all the money with those women, entreated them to turn away from fornication, and spent the whole night with them in the singing of psalms and in prayer. On leaving for home he took from them a promise not to disclose the true purpose of the holy father's visit. But the inhabitants of the city reviled the saint and shouted: “Go, accursed man. The harlots are waiting for thee,” — or else: “It would be better for thee to marry; thou dishonourest the name of a monk.” The venerable Vitalis did not justify himself, but hid the grace given him by the Lord, struggled to the end of his life, and delivered many fallen women from sin. The venerable father's labour was made known only after his repose, when at the touch of his holy relics a man possessed was healed and many lame and blind were made whole.
Mark the Egyptian did not come out of his cell for thirty years, and a certain priest used to come to him and commune him of the holy Mysteries. The devil, filled with envy at Mark's virtue and patience, wished to cast him into the sin of judging. And for his trial he brought to him a certain wicked man, as though to ask a blessing. Before the elder had blessed him, this man, at the devil's prompting, seized his moment and said to the elder: the priest who comes to thee is full of every defilement of soul, and let him in no more. The God-inspired Mark answered: “Child, it is written: judge not, that thou be not judged.” And even if that priest were sinful, I ask of God his salvation, for this too is written: “pray one for another, that ye may be healed.” Having said this, he prayed for him, drove out the demon from him and let him go whole.
When the priest came, the elder received him with joy. The good and merciful God, seeing the guilelessness of the elder, showed him this wonder: when the priest was about to stand before the holy table, an angel of the Lord who came down from heaven laid his hand upon his head, and the priest suddenly became like a pillar of fire. To the astonished elder the angel said: O man, why art thou amazed at what thou hast seen? If earthly kings do not admit to themselves one who is dressed in filthy garments, but require that he be clothed fittingly and approach in glory, shall not the King of Heaven the more cleanse the ministers of the holy Mysteries and those who offer the unspeakable Sacrifice, and make them shine with heavenly glory? A brother who was saved without labours, because he judged no one
Such a wonder did the venerable Mark see, and he told it to us all, that we might not judge priests, for they stand before the Lord, offer the sacrifice to heaven and from thence receive the grace which they hand on to us also. But the Judge of all is the Lord, to Whom be glory unto the ages of ages.
Once there came to the house of Kavsokalyvia a certain layman, to be tonsured a monk. But the fathers of the house would not receive him, for, besides being careless and negligent, he was of a bold temper and constantly stirred up trouble. But since he had come to love the house, he asked the fathers' permission to keep him there as a layman, that he might sometimes help them.
So he spent his life in negligence and carelessness, until the hour of his end came; he took to his bed and was giving up the ghost. The fathers stood always beside him and comforted him.
And one day, standing at the threshold of death, he fell into a trance and began to point at something with his hands. The fathers did not understand what was happening! When he came to himself, he told them this dreadful thing:
— I saw the archangel Michael with a scroll in his hand, in which all my sins were written down, and he said to me:
“Seest thou, thou hast done all this, and therefore make ready to go to hell.”
Then I said to him:
“Look now, is there among my sins the sin of judging?”
The archangel searched and said to me:
“No, there is none.”
“Then,” I say, “neither must I go to hell, according to the word of the Lord: ‘Judge not, and ye shall not be judged’ (Luke 6:37).”
And then the archangel Michael tore up the handwriting of my sins. So then, fathers, I shall go to paradise. When you told me that I was not fit to be a monk of the house, and I worked as a layman, I used to go to the main church of the house on the feasts, and I heard the words of the Gospel: “Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matt. 7:1) — and I said: wretched man, fulfil at least this — and this saved me without labours.
Scarcely had he finished his words when he gave up his soul to the archangel Michael.
