Condemnation - what happens to the soul when you judge?

Why does Christianity so categorically prohibit judging one's neighbor? After all, condemnation occurs not for outstanding merits and virtues, but for immoral behavior. Or, in the language of Christian asceticism, for sins. But isn’t sin, from the point of view of the Church, worthy of reproach?

Emmanuel Kant said that what amazes him most in the world is the sight of the starry sky above us and the moral law within us. This law of conscience is universal for all humanity and does not depend on cultural, national or religious differences between people. The desire for good is as natural to each of us as, for example, the ability to think, talk or walk on our hind limbs. Therefore, the commandments “thou shalt not kill,” “thou shalt not steal,” “thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife,” even for a person who is just getting acquainted with the life of the Church, do not become the discovery of something fundamentally new and unexpected. But the Gospel commandment about non-judgment very often causes bewilderment and whole line questions.

After all, if a municipal official buys himself a foreign car, the cost is equal to his salary for twenty years of impeccable service, then it is not his love for high-quality and convenient technology that causes condemnation. Married man, who started an affair on the side, his acquaintances condemn him not at all for the fact that he is an exemplary father, and the drunken saxophonist is not condemned at all for his virtuoso skills. musical instrument. Not a single, even the most biased, meticulous and corrosive critic will blame anyone for good and useful deeds. The only reason for conviction can be immoral behavior, an unseemly act or a crime.
But why then does the Church so persistently call on Christians not to condemn anyone, either in deed, or in word, or even in thought? After all, it very often happens that a person clearly sins in front of everyone, and even the most naive altruist and romantic cannot have any doubts about his sinfulness.

In most traditional religions, condemnation and even punishment similar people is the norm. In ancient Israel, for example, pious Jews were required to stone to death sinners caught committing adultery. And in those Muslim countries where Sharia is the basis of criminal law, a sinner caught red-handed today still faces severe physical punishment, up to and including the death penalty. From the point of view of ordinary human logic, this is quite normal: crime requires punishment, and sin requires retribution.

However, the gospel principle of treating sinners decisively contradicts such reasoning. With his earthly life, Jesus Christ showed people the standard of humanity to which we are all called, and therefore any act of Christ described in the Gospel is a standard of behavior for every person who sincerely strives to fulfill the will of God.

What does the Gospel say about Christ's attitude towards sinners? Only one thing: He did not condemn them, but treated them with love and pity. Christ did not condemn the woman caught in adultery (John 8:11); did not condemn the inhabitants of the Samaritan village who refused to give Him food and shelter (Luke 9:51-56); and even Judas, who came to betray Him to a painful death, the Lord did not exclude from among His friends (Matthew 26:50). Moreover: the first person whom Christ introduced into Paradise was a repentant bandit and murderer, crucified for his sins (Luke 23:32-43). The Gospel mentions only one category of people who were sharply condemned by Christ. The Lord called the high priests, scribes and Pharisees “serpents” and “brood of vipers.” This was the religious elite of the Jewish people - that is, precisely those people who considered themselves entitled to condemn sinners.

What is the reason for such a paradoxical attitude towards sinners in Christianity and why in Orthodoxy any form of negative assessment of even an obviously sinful person is considered gravest sin? In order to answer these questions, it is necessary to first find out: how is sin generally understood in Orthodoxy?

IN Greek sin is often called the word “amartya”, which literally translated into Russian means “missing the target”, “miss”. Before the Fall, any action of man was aimed at fulfilling the good will of God for himself and for the world around him. But when man fell away from his Creator, this clear and lofty goal was obscured from him by many other, small and contradictory ones. All his properties and abilities remained the same, but the person began to use them inappropriately. So an archer with blurred vision is still able to pull the tight string of his bow and shoot an arrow, but where it will land is a big question. Most likely, such a blind shot will be “amartya”, that is, miss the target.

Here is how the Monk Simeon the New Theologian writes about this: “Since the time of Adam’s crime, all the natural powers of human nature have been corrupted, that is, the mind, memory, imagination, will, feeling, which are all combined in parts of the soul... They have been corrupted, but not destroyed. Why can a person think, but cannot think correctly? can act, but act unreasonably. For this reason, everything that he thinks and invents, that he plans and undertakes, that he sympathizes with and that he turns away from, is all crooked, askew, erroneous.” In other words, sin in Orthodoxy is understood as an impulse implemented incorrectly, at the wrong time and inappropriately. human nature, which in itself is quite healthy, but, when used for other purposes, has become harmful and dangerous to humans.

The sin of condemnation is no exception to this rule. It is based on the same moral law of human striving for good that amazed Kant. Having created man sinless, God put conscience into his nature as the ability to distinguish good from evil, and hatred of sin as a defensive reaction to a collision with evil. Therefore, when the first people agreed to garden of paradise to the persuasion of Satan and ate the fruits of the forbidden tree, they did not become victims of deception or their own ignorance. The Fall was a conscious act of violating the will of God and the voice of their own conscience.

Having fallen away from God, man lost Paradise, but he retains this natural ability to recognize evil and hate sin to this day. True, with one sad caveat: after the Fall, man clearly sees evil, but only in other people, and now he hates exclusively the sins of others. Such a spiritual dispensation gives rise to an attitude towards others, which is usually called Orthodox tradition- the sin of condemnation.

An incorrectly used ability, like a monstrous pair of binoculars, incredibly magnifies before our spiritual gaze all the shortcomings of those around us and their evil deeds. But when we try to look at ourselves through the same binoculars, it begins to equally incredibly reduce all our sins, making them in our eyes small, insignificant and not worthy of attention.

Strange as it may seem, such a desire not to see oneself as sinful and bad also has a basis in the pure God-given nature of man and is nothing more than a distorted sense of holiness, which was characteristic of our nature before the Fall.

The paradox of the sin of judgment is that when we begin to judge the shortcomings and sins of another person, we are actually judging ourselves, although, as a rule, we are not even aware of it. By judging someone, we establish a certain level of moral assessment of human behavior, below which we ourselves have no right to fall. Let's say, having condemned in our hearts a rude boss who yells at his subordinates with or without reason, we thereby determine for ourselves the categorical inadmissibility of such behavior. However, upon returning home from work, we can immediately take out the irritation and fatigue accumulated during the day on innocent relatives. And therefore, the condemnation that was addressed to the unrestrained boss during the day should now, with full right, be used in relation to ourselves. This is how the amazing law of spiritual life manifests itself, which St. John Climacus formulated as follows: “If it is truly true that ... with what judgment you judge, you will be judged (Matthew 7:2), then, of course, for what sins we condemn our neighbor, bodily or spiritual, we will fall into those ourselves; and it doesn’t happen any other way.”

The reason for such severe dependence is that in another person we can recognize and condemn only those sinful inclinations that we ourselves have, even if they are not at all characteristic of this person. We don't see a person's soul, we don't know him inner world, and therefore very often we attribute to other people’s actions the meaning that our own sinful experience tells us. So, for example, seeing a man entering a convenience store in the middle of the night, a bandit may mistake him for his colleague who is about to rob this store. A drunkard, looking at the same late buyer, will decide that he has come running for another portion of booze. And a lover of amorous adventures will think that this man is going to his mistress and wants to buy cake, flowers and champagne on the way. Everyone judges him to the best of his or her own ideas, conditioned by their own experience of this or that type of sin. But the man just came to buy milk for his sick daughter...

So what is it worth, this is our court? After all, everything that we can know about each other is based on by and large fits into this sad scheme: we see only the appearance of other people’s affairs, but we have absolutely no idea of ​​their meaning and intrinsic motivation. Observing other people's actions, we naively try to give a fair assessment to the people who committed them. But this is not how God judges, who looks not at deeds, but at a person’s heart, knows all the circumstances of his life, the movements of his soul, and evaluates in a completely different way even what, without a doubt, is sin in our eyes.

Very good example, explaining how this can be, is given in his teachings by the Monk Abba Dorotheos, a Christian ascetic who lived in the 7th century. He tells how two very little girls were put up for sale at a slave auction, and one of them was bought by a pious Christian woman who dreamed of raising her in the purity and fragrance of the holy commandments of Christ. Another little girl was bought by a completely depraved harlot in order to teach her her vile craft. And, of course, the first girl grew up with a pure soul and body, loving God and filled with all sorts of virtues. And the second... Her evil teacher made her second an instrument of the devil, teaching her the most refined and dirty types of debauchery. And so, Abba Dorotheus exclaims: “Both were small, both were sold, not knowing where they were going, and one ended up in the hands of God, and the other fell into the hands of the devil. Can it be said that God will deal equally with both one and the other? How is this possible! If both fall into fornication or another sin, can it be said that both of them will undergo the same judgment, although they both fell into the same sin? Is it possible? One knew about the Judgment, about the Kingdom of God, day and night she studied in the words of God; the other, unfortunate, has never seen or heard anything good, but always, on the contrary, everything bad, everything devilish; How is it possible for both to be judged by the same court? So, no person can know the destinies of God, but He alone knows everything and can judge the sins of everyone, as He alone knows.”

“Hate the sin, but love the sinner” - this is the principle of Orthodox asceticism, which does not allow identifying a person with his evil deeds. But even hatred of another's sin can be spiritually dangerous. After all, those who carefully consider the behavior of others themselves risk, through condemnation of sinful acts, imperceptibly falling into condemnation of the person who commits them. An instructive incident of this kind is mentioned in the Ancient Patericon: “One elder of holy life, having learned about a certain brother that he had fallen into fornication, said: “Oh, he did something bad.” After some time, the Angel brought the soul of the sinner to him and said: “Look, the one you condemned has died; where do you order to place him - in the Kingdom or in torment? “Shocked by this, the holy elder spent the rest of his life in tears, repentance and immeasurable labors, praying that God would forgive him this sin.” The elder did not condemn his brother, but only his action, but the Lord showed him the inadmissibility of even such a seemingly pious and righteous judgment.

Sin is worthy of hatred - but everyone who wants his salvation must learn to hate sin, first of all, in himself. About the sins of others and about the correct attitude towards them, Abba Dorotheos wrote the following: “It really happens that a brother sins out of simplicity; but he has one good deed, which pleases God more than his whole life, and you judge and condemn it, and burden your soul. If he happened to stumble, why do you know how much he labored and how much he shed his blood before he sinned? Now his sin appears before God as if it were a matter of truth. For God sees his labor and sorrow, which, as I said, he suffered before sinning, and has mercy on him. But you only know this sin, and while God has mercy on it, you condemn it and destroy your soul. Why do you know how many tears he shed about this before God? You saw sin, but did not see repentance.”

Even a very dirty person can feel clean and tidy if he meets a poor fellow even dirtier and sloppier than himself. The trouble is that our nature, damaged by sin, constantly strives for self-affirmation by recognizing another person as inferior, bad, sinful. And another loophole for this sick desire very often appears to us in the words of the New Testament about the reproof of sin: Test what is pleasing to God, and do not participate in the unfruitful works of darkness, but also reprove. For what they do in secret is shameful even to speak of (Eph 5:10-12). It would seem that this is a direct sanction for condemning the sins of others, supported by the authority of Holy Scripture. However, one should not rush to conclusions. Before proceeding to expose evil deeds, all those striving for this kind of activity should first become familiar with the thoughts of spiritually experienced ascetics on this matter: “Deceived by the false concept of jealousy, unreasonable zealots think, indulging in it, to imitate the Holy Fathers and holy martyrs, forgetting about themselves that they, zealots, are not saints, but sinners. If the saints denounced the sinners and the wicked, they denounced them according to the command of God, according to their duty, according to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and not according to the inspiration of their passions and demons. Whoever decides to spontaneously reprove a brother or make a reprimand to him clearly reveals and proves that he considered himself more prudent and virtuous than the one he reproaches, that he acts out of passion and seduction by demonic thoughts,” wrote Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov).

And here are the words of St. Philaret (Drozdov): “Telling the truth is a good thing when duty or love for one’s neighbor calls us to it, but this must be done as much as possible, without judging one’s neighbor and without vanity and exaltation of oneself, as if one knows better than another.” the truth. But at the same time, you need to know people and deeds, so that instead of telling the truth, you don’t say reproaches and instead of peace and benefit, you don’t create enmity and harm.”

It is not difficult to notice that two of the most authoritative teachers of our Church, who lived in the second half of the 19th century, independently expressed almost the same thought: you should not expose sinners unless you were specifically called to this by God and have not cleansed your heart of passions. But if we turn to the ancient Fathers, their opinion about the appropriateness of exposing other people’s sins will be even more categorical: “Do not expose to anyone any of his shortcomings, for any reason. ...Do not reproach your brother, even if you see him as a violator of all the commandments, otherwise you yourself will fall into the hands of your enemies.” ( Reverend Anthony Great)

“Cover the sinner, if there is no harm to you from this: you will give him courage, and the mercy of your Master will support you” (Reverend Isaac the Syrian)

“Don’t reproach anyone, because you don’t know what will happen to you. ...Speak a word of consolation to a careless soul, and the Lord will strengthen your heart” (Reverend Ephraim the Syrian)

One day the brethren asked the Monk Pimen the Great: “Abba, should one, seeing a brother’s sin, remain silent and cover up his sin?” “It should,” answered the Monk Pimen. “If you cover your brother’s sin, then God will cover your sin.” “But what answer will you give to God, because when you saw someone sinning, you did not rebuke him?”

ACCORDING TO THE ORTHODOX PRESS

From condemnation the grace of Godyx audit

– Geronda, when a thought comes to me against someone, is it always condemnation?

– You don’t understand this at that moment?

– Sometimes I realize it late.

– Try to realize your fall as quickly as possible and ask for forgiveness from the sister you condemned and from God, because condemnation becomes an obstacle in prayer. From condemnation, the Grace of God withdraws by itself, and coldness appears in your relationship with God. How will you pray then? The heart turns into ice, into stone.

Condemnation and slander are the most terrible sins, they remove the Grace of God more than any other sin. “As water quenches fire,” says Saint John Climacus, “so condemnation quenches the grace of God.

- Geronda, I fall asleep during the morning service.

- Maybe you judged some sister? You look at things externally and judge others, which is why you fall asleep in the service. When a person judges and does not look at things spiritually, he is deprived of spiritual strength. And when he loses his strength, he either becomes sleepy or, on the contrary, suffers from insomnia.

– Geronda, I often sin with gluttony.

– Now you should turn all your attention to condemnation. If you don’t stop judging, then you won’t be able to free yourself from gluttony. A person who condemns drives away the Grace of God from himself, becomes defenseless and therefore cannot correct himself. And if he does not realize his mistake and does not accept it, he will constantly fall. But if he understands and turns to God for help, then God’s grace will return

He who condemns others falls into the same sins

– Geronda, why does this happen: when I condemn my sister for some shortcoming, then I myself do the same?

– If someone judges someone else for something other than
realizes his fall and does not repent, he usually falls into the same sin. This happens so that a person realizes his fall. God, out of His love, allows the condition of the one whom He condemned to be copied. If, for example, you say about someone that he is selfish, and you do not understand what you have condemned, then God will take away His grace and allow you to fall into selfishness - and you will begin to save. Until you realize your fall and ask God for forgiveness, spiritual laws will apply.

To help you understand this better, I will tell you a story from my life. When I was living at the Stomion Monastery, I learned that one of my classmates had lost her way. I prayed that God would inspire her with the idea of ​​coming to my monastery. I even copied some thoughts about repentance from the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Fathers. And then one day she came. We talked, and it seemed to me that she understood everything. She began to often come to the monastery with her child, bringing candles, oil, and incense for the temple. One day my friends, pilgrims from Konitsa, told me: “Geronda, this woman is pretending. He brings candles and incense here, and in the city he continues to walk with the officers.” When she came to the monastery the next time, I started shouting at her in the temple: “Get out of here, you stank everything around you!..” The poor woman left in tears. After a while, I felt a strong carnal warfare. "What is this? Such temptations have never happened to me. What's happening?" I couldn't find the reason. I pray - it doesn’t go away. I went up to Gamila (the top of Mount Pindos). “It’s better to let the bears eat me,” I thought. And he rose high, but the temptation did not pass. I had a small hatchet hanging from my belt. I took it out and hit my leg three times in the hope that the pain would make the temptation go away. Blood poured into the shoe, but the temptation did not pass. Suddenly the thought of that woman flashed through my head. I remembered the words I told her. “Oh my God,” I thought, “I’ve only experienced this a little bit.” hellish torment, and she lives with her constantly!.. God, forgive me for judging her.” And immediately I felt the coolness of heaven, the battle passed. Do you see what judgment does?

If we are lenient towards the mistakes of others, then God will be lenient towards our mistakes.

– Geronda, today during the olive harvest I condemned some of the sisters because they were inattentive to the matter.

You know, leave judgment and condemnation, otherwise God will condemn you too. Don't you always put slightly spoiled olives along with good ones?

- No, I try not to put it down.

– If Christ sorts us out just as carefully at the Last Judgment, we are lost! But if we are lenient towards the mistakes of other people and do not condemn them, then we will be able to say to Christ: “God, place me in heaven, in some corner!”
Do you remember what is written in the Fatherland about a careless monk who was saved because he did not condemn. When it was time for him to die, he was cheerful and calm. Then the elder, for the spiritual benefit of the fathers who had gathered from other cells, asked him: “Brother, why are you not afraid of death, after all, you lived carelessly?” The brother answered him: “It is true that I lived carelessly, but from the time I became a monk, I tried not to condemn anyone, so now I will say to Christ: “Christ, I am an unhappy person, but at least Your commandment “Judge not, lest ye be judged” I have observed.” “Blessed are you, brother,” the elder told him, “for you received salvation without difficulty.”

– Geronda, some believers, when they see a person living in sin, say: “He is on the straight path.”
goes to hell!”

- Yes, if worldly people go to hell because of debauchery,
then spiritual because of condemnation... It cannot be said about anyone
that he will go to hell. We don't know how God works. Courts
God's abyss. There is no need to condemn anyone, because
so we take away judgment from the hands of God, we make ourselves
gods. If Christ asks us on the day of judgment, then
and tell us our opinion...

Elder Paisiy Svyatogorets. Words. Volume 5. Passions and virtues. M., 2008

Archpriest Georgy Breev

About why it is so common and natural to condemn, how and why to fight it, why Christ does not judge anyone, and what to do with the concept Last Judgment, says the rector of the Church of the Nativity Holy Mother of God in Krylatskoye, caring for the clergy of the Western Vicariate of Moscow, Archpriest Georgy Breev.

If you look into yourself and try to see our inclinations, then we will easily notice that we already have an established habit of condemning.

Clergymen, when confessing people, very rarely meet a person who could say: “But I don’t condemn anyone.” This is nice to hear, but this condition is rather an exception...

Condemnation is a manifestation of our pride, by which we arrogate to ourselves the opportunity to judge another person. Self-exaltation is characteristic of every person; it is deeply instilled in all of us. A feeling of self-satisfaction and self-worth always warms us from the inside: “He is so handsome, good, and I am even more beautiful and better!” - and immediately our souls feel warm. Everything pleasant that we hear addressed to us makes us happy, but just say something contrary to our opinion about ourselves... oh, my brother! Some even get furious at this: “What did you tell me?!” A sense of self-worth can be a strong incentive to achieve many heights, it is a powerful driver! But still, we know that it works on carnal, earthly energies. And we know that Scripture says: “God resists the proud”...

You can’t overcome the feeling of pride, it’s very strong. And if a person does not fight him, does not reject him from himself, then naturally he has the need to judge others from the height of his conceit: “I am so high and perfect, but all around I do not see perfection, therefore I have the right to reason and label “labels” on others.” And now people are trying to get together, talk, discuss how he lives, like this one. And they themselves don’t notice how they begin to condemn, while making excuses: “I don’t condemn, I reason.” But in such reasoning there is always a tendency to paint a person in gloomy, dark colors.

So we begin to take upon ourselves what does not belong to us - judgment. And most often we do this not openly. For example, we look at someone and think to ourselves: “Aha, this person is such and such a person, he is so determined.” This is a slippery slope and a misconception!

***

IN Holy Scripture there is a very deep expression: For which man knows what is in a man except the spirit of man that dwells in him?(1 Cor. 2 :eleven). And further: Likewise, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.(1 Cor. 2 :12). By this, the Lord immediately determines the depth that is characteristic of a person. You can't fully know a person! Even if you thoroughly study his biography, there is still a lot of hidden things left in him that only he himself is able to experience and feel.

If there is no such depth in our approach to a person, then all our judgments are rather superficial. Therefore, the Lord directly says: Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not feel the plank in your own eye? Or, as you can say to your brother: brother! Let me take the speck out of your eye, when you yourself cannot see the beam in your eye? Hypocrite! First take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see how to remove the speck from your brother’s eye(OK 6 :41–42).

From the outside, we can imagine a person in any light, but truly, deeply, knowing him is given only to himself - if he, of course, tests himself, if he wants to know himself, and not just as one of millions, but himself before the face of God. Because when we evaluate ourselves differently - in front of other people or based on our own opinions - it seems to us: yes, we are really special, worthy, and, of course, not criminals. As the Pharisee said: “I am not like other men. I fulfill God’s law, I fast, I give tithes.” It naturally spills out of us. And it indicates that we do not have deep knowledge about ourselves.

***

Knowledge, a person’s knowledge of himself and of God- It seems to me that this is the source of non-judgment. It is given either by grace, or as a result of achievement, inner work. And condemnation occurs because, on the one hand, we are not inclined to deep knowledge of ourselves, and on the other, we have not reached the level of repentance.

Looking into yourself is the beginning of the spiritual process. Conscience gives a person knowledge about himself, and seeing himself, he sometimes even reaches the point of hatred: “I hate myself like this! I don’t like myself like this!” Yes, you have come to the knowledge of yourself, it is bitter, but this knowledge is perhaps the most important, the most significant in life. Because here - a starting point repentance, an opportunity for the rebirth of your mind, qualitative change relationship to yourself and the whole world, and above all, to your Creator and Creator.

Why is it said that there is greater joy in heaven about one repentant sinner than about a hundred righteous people who do not need to repent? Because it is difficult, but necessary, to come to this understanding: “It turns out that by my nature I am no different from others, my nature is from the old Adam, I am the same by nature as my brother.”

But we do not want to know ourselves, to examine ourselves with an examining eye, because this will require the next step - searching for an answer to the question: “Why is this so in me?” The carnal opposes the spiritual; this is the law of internal warfare. Therefore, people choose a more natural and seemingly simpler path - to look around, judge others, and not about themselves. They don't realize that it causes them great harm...

***

When a person begins to see clearly, he begins to understand that God doesn't condemn anyone. The Gospel of John says this directly: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.(In 3 :16–17). Associated with the Messiah is the idea that He will be invested with royal power and will come to judge the nations, as having a truly Divine judgment. But then it suddenly turns out that God came not to judge us, but to save us! This mystery is truly amazing, it is amazing for us! And if God does not judge us, then who can judge us?

Therefore, condemnation is an erroneous attitude of our consciousness, an erroneous idea that we have power. What if God Himself refuses this power? Scripture says that the Father gave judgment to the Son, and the Son says, “I did not come to judge you.”

But at the same time The Lord does not hide that there will be a righteous judgment, which, as Lermontov wrote, “is not accessible to the ringing of gold.” God will reveal himself, and in that appearance all creation will see itself as it is. Now the Lord hides Himself because of our weaknesses, our imperfections, and when the full revelation of God comes, then there will be nothing to hide. The books of conscience will unfold, everything secret will be revealed, and a person will give an answer for every word he says. And then the Lord says: He who rejects Me and does not accept My words has one who judges him: the word that I have spoken will judge him at the last day.(In 12 :48). It shows that our idea of ​​the court as some kind of extraordinary, superpersonal, authoritative proceeding - as in our earthly courts, when a whole panel of judges gathers, considers huge volumes on the case and makes a decision - is not entirely correct. God doesn't make decisions. It gives freedom, always gives a person the opportunity to improve: deviate from unhealthy norms that do not bring joy to you or others. Thus, a person is completely free to choose.

They say it’s hard to come under human judgment, because people in their judgments can be very cruel, fundamentally cruel: they passed a sentence on you - that’s it, and try to change yourself in the eyes of the public! But God's judgment is merciful, because the Lord wants to justify man: I do not want the sinner to die, but for the sinner to turn from his way and live(Eze 33 :11).

***

The line between condemning a person and condemning an act It's hard for us not to cross! But it is said: do not judge a person’s personality, do not judge him as the image and likeness of God. The Holy Spirit does not accept it when we arrogate to ourselves the power to judge another harshly. Yes, even if his bad, ugly act is worthy of condemnation, but don’t judge the man himself as a person! He can correct himself tomorrow, follow the path of repentance, become different - this opportunity is not taken away from a person until his last breath. We do not fully know the Providence of God about him, nor how dear he is to God, - after all, Christ shed His blood for everyone, redeemed everyone and condemned no one. Therefore, we simply do not have the right to judge for ourselves!

Yes, Christ dispersed the merchants near the temple with a whip, but this is not a condemnation, but volitional action directed against lawlessness. Scripture says: Jealousy for Your house consumes me(In 2 :17). Similar examples occur in our lives. When we see that someone’s actions go beyond the spiritual and moral framework, that someone communicates a lot of evil to people, then, of course, we can react, call to order, pull the person back: “What are you doing? Come to your senses! Look what that in itself means.”

But such is our nature, distorted by sin, that negative emotions they immediately ask to come out in any situation, without any reason: you just look at a person, and you are already measuring him, assessing his external merits - but you have to stop yourself. Judge not, lest ye be judged, for with the same judgment that ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you(Mt. 7 :1–2) - These words of the Lord should be a reminder to us at any time, in any place. A lot of sobriety is needed here. And adherence to principles: “No, Lord, You are the One Judge, You are the One Lover of Mankind, You do not want anyone to perish and You have not uttered words of condemnation even over the most terrible sinners. Even being crucified, You prayed: “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.”

***

I remember I had such a parishioner, from the common people, who said: “ Father, God will have mercy on everyone, forgive everyone, I believe that everyone will be saved!“Out of the kindness of her heart, she did not want to judge anyone and believed that all people have something good that can be learned from. This attitude is achieved by sobriety of mind, when the soul is nourished with true examples and the Gospel. And everyone who prays and reads Scripture every day has a special attitude, a special mood! Those who have felt grace feel God’s love for everyone, and therefore do not want to accept any malicious attacks or caustic feelings towards others.

We Christians in this regard have a strong example of people of high spirituality. They loved everyone, pitied them, did not condemn anyone, and even vice versa: the weaker a person was, the more visible shortcomings he had, the more attention and love the saints showed to such people; They valued them very much because they saw that the truth would reach them, because they were prepared for this with their very hard lives. But pride, on the contrary, will always find terrible judgments that are ready to depersonalize any person.

“Everyone is bad and everything is bad!”- this is the spirit of pride, the demonic spirit, this is the narrowing of our heart. It sets in motion mechanics from which people themselves suffer. Any condemnation is the introduction of some kind of darkness into oneself. In the Gospel of John the Theologian there are these words: He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the Only Begotten Son of God. The judgment is that light came into the world, but people loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.(In 3 :18–19). By condemning, a person violates the spiritual law of life in God and immediately receives notification that he has sinned gravely. How many times has this happened: someone prayed, asked God for mercy, forgiveness, and the Lord gave it to him - and the person left the service renewed! But he met someone on the way from the temple, and condemnation began: you are this and that, and he is so and so. All. He lost everything he just gained! And many holy fathers say: as soon as you look askance at someone, accept a bad thought about a person, grace immediately leaves you. She does not tolerate condemnation, which is completely opposite to the spirit of the Gospel.

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How to deal with condemnation? Firstly, we have this advice: if you have sinned in thought, immediately repent mentally. I thought something bad about my relative, about my friend, and caught myself saying: “What kind of thoughts? Why am I doing this? Lord, forgive me for this instantaneous manifestation! I do not want it".

Secondly: when an inner feeling prompts you to give negative rating anyone, you immediately turn to yourself: are you free from this shortcoming? Or do you not know anything about yourself that could be reproached for? And - you will feel that you are the same as the one whom you are ready to condemn!

In ancient times there was still such a “golden” rule. When you are struggling with feelings of indignation and cannot understand why this person did this, then put yourself in his position, in his place, and this person in yours. And a lot will become clear to you right away! This is very sobering. So I put myself in the position of someone else: “My God, how many difficulties he has in life! There are difficulties in the family, there is no understanding with the wife, with the children... Indeed, how difficult is it for him, the poor thing!”

The Holy Fathers have another rule. Do you want to judge someone? And you put Christ in your place. Will the Lord judge? But even when He was crucified, Christ did not condemn anyone; on the contrary, He suffered for everyone. So why did I suddenly imagine myself above God and set myself up as a judge?

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Condemnation can be avoided in any case. Because a person is designed in such a way that he can always protect the identity of another, not put a stigma on him, but immediately follow the path of reasoning: “I know how wonderful he is, how many difficulties he had, and he endured everything.”

Condemnation is a heart misaligned. So I meet a person, and instead of joy I think: “Aha, he’s coming with a cigarette again” or “Again he’s tipsy, so-and-so.” There are no good motivations that should be there. There is a temptation to judge along the way - there is no escape! But before the stream of judgmental thoughts pours out, I must first put myself in my place and give room to reason.

I like the saying of a modern Greek ascetic, a monk: “ Modern man should be a “factory of good thoughts.” You must be ready to accept and understand a person’s personality: yes, it’s hard for him, he found himself in difficult circumstances, his life has broken him, but still there is something good, whole in him, something that makes it possible not to exclude him from the list. decent, good people. The internal development of such good thoughts, acceptance of any person, in any capacity, no matter how he looks and behaves, - as a protective environment, it will not allow the evil, destructive area of ​​​​a person to be accepted into the heart. But you destroy your neighbor in your soul when you give him a bad characterization.

The person himself is wonderful! As one ascetic said, if we knew how beautiful the human soul is, we would be surprised and would not condemn anyone. Because the human soul is truly magnificent. But it will reveal itself - as always happens in all our fairy tales - at the last moment...

How do we treat other people? Very often it depends on people's attitude towards us. At the same time, we love to judge people. We rarely pay attention to a person's positive qualities, but we always notice shortcomings. Even when someone does something nice for us, we may simply not notice it. But we are ready to remember all the negativity and bad attitude for the rest of our lives.

Have you ever noticed how dependent you are on people’s opinions? Very often we choose one side or another only based on the opinions of people. If someone treats us well, we give them gifts positive qualities, and vice versa. We criticize people who hurt us or hurt us, but we forget that this contradicts all the tenets of humanism :)

For example, you can take grandmothers who sit on benches all day and criticize people passing by. One person for them will be a drug addict, another - lung girl behavior, and the third may turn out to be akin to the devil. When we start judging people, we become like old ladies who like to attribute only negative qualities to a person.

Why do we like to judge people? Maybe we're bored and don't know what to do? No. This usually occurs due to envy of someone and refusal to accept other people's shortcomings. We cannot accept people as they are and begin to criticize them.

By doing this, we receive a certain degree of moral satisfaction, our self-esteem rises, we say to ourselves: “This is who I am.” good man, unlike …” This is a destructive path, the effects of which a person rarely thinks about. This mode of self-affirmation can only bring a large portion of negativity into your life and additional problems. Negative thoughts and emotions have never brought happiness to a person. Remember: “Judge not, lest ye be judged”

We know that we shouldn’t judge people, but we continue to do it. Why? Do we think that criticism will help a person change? But very often our criticism is unfounded and we discuss people behind their backs. We think about people's actions as consequences, but we never think about the motives that prompt them to do this or that.

We ourselves are not always able to monitor our actions, but we are happy to do it for others. In most cases, a person is not interested in his own behavior, but in the actions of everyone else. Pay attention to your behavior and shortcomings, which everyone definitely has. If you start to analyze your shortcomings, the problems of others will no longer interest you. Every person has problems, and you are no exception. Of course, it’s more pleasant to sort out other people’s vices, but this path is aggressive. And such aggression never leads to good consequences. You may be able to look better against the background of some friend, but soon you yourself may turn into a background.

Remember - no one is perfect. Even if you don’t have enough time to help a person, you shouldn’t judge him. This will never help you in solving difficult situations. You can tell about a person's shortcomings, possible ways their decisions, but don't judge people.

When communicating with people, we must give up the habit of looking for faults, condemning and insulting. We are all imperfect and far from ideal. Only when we understand this can we get rid of the bad habit of judging people. Remember the main thing: “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” As soon as a person learns this simple truth, his life will become simpler, richer and more exciting. Suddenly, there will be time to resolve old problems, communicate with loved ones and other pleasant activities that are simply not available to you due to condemnation of other people's shortcomings.

Do you know the phrase " condemn - you will be condemned"? Let's find out if this is true. And - how not to judge people and why you should always start with yourself. And as a bonus - that, against the will of a person, can influence his action.

What you will learn from the article:

Condemn - you will be condemned

How we love to judge another person. It feels like it’s in the blood of the average person. Of course, we know much better what to do in a given situation. We know better and are perplexed as to how Styopa or Masha could have acted the way they did. They are arrogant, stupid, narrow-minded, vile, unrestrained, inadequate,... Write in any word...

And if you analyze your life and remember when and why you condemned someone, then after a while it turns out that very soon you yourself did the same. Remember. I am sure that you will definitely remember at least one such case.

This is especially true for the phrase: “I wouldn’t tolerate it if I were her (him)!”, “I definitely couldn’t do that!” And similar phrases too. Scroll forward in life a couple of months or years - and you will be amazed that life immediately tested you. And more often than not, you were able to do this, you did this. You will talk about the circumstances. But the person you convicted before also had circumstances!

Condemn - you will be condemned! This is not just a threat and a lesson. These are the laws of the Universe. The world, like a mirror, reflects to us what we transmit to it...

There is an expression: Before you judge someone, put on his shoes, walk his path, trip over every stone that lay in his path, feel his pain, shed his tears. And then... Then you will no longer be able to condemn him.

Here is the answer - how not to judge people. Just remember this wisdom. Just stop and take a pause.

How not to judge people?

I love listening to other people's life stories. I like to ask myself the question: what would happen if I were in the place of this character. What would I do?

I almost always have a ready answer. Sometimes it matches what was said, sometimes it doesn’t. But I always clearly realize that whatever step this person takes, even if it sharply resonates with my concepts of life or generally accepted norms of behavior, it was the only possible step at that moment for this particular person.

We can draw our own conclusions. You can and should mark other people’s mistakes (again, they only seem like mistakes to us). Learn from other people's mistakes. After all, we only hear what sounds on the same wavelength as us. A person is not able to catch other waves, like a radio tuned to a certain frequency.

As they say, let the holy one cast the first stone. Only here is the thing - whoever is holy will not take a stone into his own hands...

Every truth has at least two sides.

And there is also the factor of external influence. For example, the energies of the day and hour, flying stars. When a person falls under unfriendly energies, he can act in a way that is completely unusual for him.

Or if the laws of karma suddenly turned on. If suddenly, say, Uncle Saturn came to him...

What am I talking about here? Let's love people, near and far. Let our response be love, empathy and compassion, but not judgement. Let's not be blind.

I love you and wish you all happiness.

Oh yes! Tell me, how are you doing with your conviction? Have you noticed its echoes in your life?