88. Malice is committed in various ways: 1) By taking away the life of the one against whom the evil occurs. Thus Cain, incited by envy and malice, rose up against the innocent Abel and killed his half-brother. 2) Beating, poisoning, taking away health, possessions, damage to livestock, etc. 3) Hatred and persecution of the friends of the one against whom malice is nourished in the heart. For the wicked one, if he cannot harm the one against whom he is angry, tries to persecute and embitter his friends and those who love him. Thus Satan, being angry with Christ and hating Him, persecutes and embitters Christians, His servants, who love Him and are loved by Him. People follow this evil and spiteful spirit, and in its likeness they commit malice. 4) Backbiting and slander. Hence it happens that so many innocently endure grievous reproaches and slander, and both ecclesiastical and secular histories are full of examples of such evil. And in the present age, many will know the same evil action and its abominable fruits. 5) Many have a heart filled with such malice, that, having fulfilled it, they boast. It is a great folly to boast of what one should regret! You have done harm to your neighbor; the law of God, holy and eternal, has been violated; God Almighty, great and terrible, was angered; they have written themselves down to Satan and subjected them to eternal torment - and they boast of this lawless deed.. So malice darkens the eye of the soul that the poor man does not see his obvious destruction. He sins twice. He sins and boasts of sin: "Look, I gave it to him, let him know me." True, he knows you, he knows your malice, he knows that you have injured him. But do you know yourself? Where are you and what condition are you in? Do you know that you have injured yourself more than him? You have destroyed his body, but you have destroyed your own soul. People despise and condemn him because of your slander, but God condemns you. Thou hast subjected it to its disgrace and temporal reproach, and thou hast subjected thyself to eternal reproach. Listen to what the Psalmist sings to you: "Why do you boast of malice, O mighty one?" and note that he further adds: "Therefore God will destroy you to the end; He shall uproot thee, and carry thee away from thy dwelling, and thy root from the land of the living" (Psalm 51:3, 7). That is why St. Chrysostom says: "When we are angry and deceitful against others, then we sharpen the sword against ourselves, and we wound ourselves with wounds much greater than theirs" (Discourse 51 on the Evangelist John). 6) Many out of malice fall into such madness and blindness that they prefer to destroy themselves rather than abandon vengeance. I, they say, will die myself, and I will take revenge on him.. Why do you say and rage, you blinded and poor creature? Do you want to destroy yourself, so that your brother may perish, for whom Christ, the Son of God, died? Look around, what and whose spirit is acting in you? Is it not the one who himself perished and our forefathers, and with them destroyed us? He always breathes malice for our destruction. Christ wants to save both you and him, but you want to destroy both yourself and him. But see against whom you rise up and arm yourself; He says: "He who is not with Me is against Me" (Matt. 12:30). By your own destruction you seek your neighbor's destruction, and therefore you are not with Christ, but against Christ, Who wants to save you and your neighbor in such a way that He shed His Blood for this. And by this you show that you are philosophizing in the same way as that evil spirit which in every way wants to drag you and your neighbor and all people into destruction. And, as it seems, you do worse than the demon. For the demon does not rise up against the demon, but they all arm themselves against one man and seek how to destroy him. But you rise up against a man like yourself and want to destroy your brother, who recognizes the same Creator and Lord as you do; he has the same father in the flesh Adam as you do; of the same nature as you; by the same Redeemer Christ redeemed from the devil and hell, just as you are; He is washed by the same bath of baptism, as you are; I am called to the same eternal life as you are. Yet in the fire of your anger you cry out: I myself will perish, and I will take revenge on him.. True, you will destroy yourself, if you will, but not your neighbor, if he lives in the grace and help of the Highest. Do you not know that there is destruction, which you wish both for yourself and for your neighbor? Put your hand to the fire, and you will know in part what destruction is. If you cannot endure this little fire, as you can endure the eternal fire, which burns and does not shine; burns, and does not eat; torments, and does not kill? By this fire, the wicked, if they do not repent like iron, will be red-hot, and from without and within they will be devoured and tormented without end. But the blinded man does not see this, and in his rage he cries: "I will perish myself, and I will not leave him..

Oh, malice, devil's daughter, - malice, how you blind the poor man! The wicked one wants to destroy himself, so that his neighbor may perish. There can be no greater madness than to seek one's neighbor's perdition by one's own destruction. Many of the wicked abstain from fish, milk, eggs, meat, which God has not forbidden, but even with thanksgiving and prayer has allowed to be consumed; but they want to sacrifice the living people of God as a sacrifice! Many eat nothing on Wednesday and Friday; but out of malice they do not want to fast even for one minute - what God forbids under the threat of eternal torment. Such a great and terrible evil is malice! So miserably does malice captivate the heart and blind the mind! And surely there is a vice, the devil's own, who himself died, and tries to attract others to the same destruction.

89. Since the poison of malice is hidden in the heart of wicked people; and they secretly weave various stratagems against the one against whom they are angry; and now in one way, then in another, then in a third way they plot to commit their malice, and therefore it is impossible to protect oneself from them. The pious soul has only one refuge left - holy prayer, patience, unshakable hope in the Providence of God, before Whom nothing is hidden, Who rewards everyone according to their deeds.

90. Wicked people, if they believe that God exists and rewards all according to their deeds, must put aside malice and forgive their neighbor, according to the word of Christ: "Forgive, and you will be forgiven," and heed what Sirach says: "He who avenges will receive vengeance from the Lord, who will not forget his sins. Forgive your neighbor's offense, and then through your prayer your sins will be forgiven. Man harbors anger towards man, but asks the Lord for forgiveness; He has no mercy for a person like himself, and prays for his sins; Himself, being in the flesh, nourishes malice: who will cleanse his sins? Remember the latter and cease to be at enmity; remember corruption and death, and keep the commandments; remember the commandments, and do not be angry with your neighbor" (Sir. 28:1-7). Nothing destroys a person like malice. Whatever virtues he may have, malice destroys everything. And even then it happens that into the pit which the wicked dig for their neighbor, they themselves accidentally fall and find their own destruction before the time. And so the psalm's word comes true for such people: "He dug a pit and deepened it, but he will fall into the pit which he made. His malice shall be turned upon his head, and his iniquity shall come down upon his crown" (Psalm 7:16-17).

Chapter 4: On Slander and Condemnation

"Judge not, that ye be not judged: for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure you measure, it will be measured to you also. And why do you look at the mote in your brother's eye, and do not feel the beam in your own eye? Or how wilt thou say unto thy brother, Let me take the mote out of thy eye, and behold, there is a beam in thy eye? Hypocrite! first take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see how to take the mote out of your brother's eye" (Matthew 7:1-5).

91. Condemnation, slander, and backbiting are inherent vices and are the fruits of an unbridled tongue and heart, unguarded by the fear of God. Condemnation not only with the tongue, but also with thought, gesture, nodding the head, sighing, laughing, and other things happens.

The reasons for which these vices occur are different: 1) They are from pride: the proud, exalted and not tolerating that another should be equal to him, argues and humiliates him, or, wishing to hide his sins, he slanders and slanders others, so that those who hear him would think that he does not have such sins as he condemns his neighbor. 2) Sometimes they are from envy: since the envious one does not want to see his neighbor in reverence and glory, he tries to darken his honorable name, and for this reason he defames him with a dishonorable name. 3) Sometimes they are caused by malice: a spiteful person, having nothing with which to take revenge on the one against whom he is angry, tries to darken his glory by backbiting and slander. 4) There are also from evil habits, jealousy, impatience, and so on.

92. Here are some reasons that lead away from these vices: 1) God has strongly forbidden us to judge and condemn our neighbors: "Judge not," says the Lord, "that ye be not judged. And why do you condemn your brother? Or are you also humiliating your brother? We will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ," says the Apostle (Romans 14:10). Consequently, those who condemn their neighbor do not listen to this commandment of God, and resist the will of God, and therefore sin gravely. 2) One Judge is Christ, the Son of God: "To Him the Heavenly Father has given all judgment" (John 5:22); He will judge everyone without partiality. Both those who judge and those who are judged will not escape His righteous judgment, but will accept everything according to their works. "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive according to what he did while living in the body, good or bad," says the holy Apostle (2 Corinthians 5:10). Consequently, whoever foolishly judges his neighbor steals away the dignity of Christ, which is also difficult and terrible. "It is not commanded to you, O man," says St. Chrysostom, "that you should judge others, but that you should reason for yourself: why do you steal the office of your Lord? It belongs to Him to judge, and not to you" (Discourse 11 on 1 Epistle to the Corinthians). And again: "Every sinner hath his judge: thou shalt not steal the honor of the Only-begotten Son of God; To Him alone is the throne of judgment determined" (Discourse 42 on the Evangelist Matthew). 3) It is intolerable for a man to be a master when his servant is before him, but without his will is judged and slandered by someone else. Every man is God's servant - how vexed it is to God when we judge and slander His servant before His eyes! In His eyes, I say, we judge, for God is everywhere and sees everything. 4) Our neighbor is a servant of God, he stands or falls before his Lord, and therefore it is also difficult for a man to judge and slander God's servant; And we don't need it to do so. "Who art thou, that condemn another man's servant? He stands before his Lord, or falls. And he will be raised, for God is able to raise him up," says the Apostle (Romans 14:4). 5) We are all sinners before God. If you are not in some sin, then perhaps you have already been; if you haven't, you can be; you can sin more grievously than your neighbor, whom you judge for sin. For everyone has the same wretchedness. Evil lies within us. Our enemies in our houses are our passions. We are subject to the same cases. Your neighbor is today, and you will do the same tomorrow, although not in deed, but in word, or in thought. Without God's grace we can do nothing but one evil. Chance and deed show this. 6) It often happens that many appear before us as sinners, but inwardly they are righteous; foolish to the world, but wise to Christ. On the contrary, many are righteous, but inwardly they are sinners, and therefore hypocrites. They are wise to the world, but foolish to Christ. 7) Often evil hearing from the malicious, envious, and proud is carried in vain, and thus the condemned often endures reproach in vain. 8) Whoever condemns will be condemned himself, according to the word of Christ: "Condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned" (Luke 6:37). 9) A neighbor is greatly offended by the fact that he was beaten with a rod, and even more. For the wounds of the body will heal sooner than the wounds of the soul. The body is wounded by a rod, but the soul is wounded by a reproachful word. From this wound - sorrow, and from sorrow - weakness, from weakness - death. And the greater the reproach, the greater the wounding and sorrow of the soul will follow. A man, being ambitious, would rather be deprived of wealth than of a good name: having lost wealth, he can find it again, but a good name is very difficult to regain. 10) The more honest and higher the person who is reproached, the greater is the wound for him, and the greater is the sin for the one who reproaches. (11) When a superior is condemned and slandered, he is less respected by his subordinates; and from disrespect follows contempt in them, from contempt disobedience, from disobedience all fearlessness, disorder and disorder, as it is convenient for everyone to understand. And therefore, although it is a sin to condemn everyone, and it is a grave sin, to slander a ruler is a much greater sin. 12) It often happens that although someone has indeed sinned, he has already repented, but God forgives the penitent, and for this reason it is terrible for a person to condemn someone whom God forgives and justifies. 13) In confirmation of how grave and abominable is the vice of condemnation and slander, the teaching of St. Chrysostom is cited here.

"Even if we did not commit any other iniquity, this alone could plunge us into the abyss of Gehenna, that we, not feeling heavy logs in our eyes, always execute a strict judgment on the faults of others, and spend our whole life in a curious review and re-discussion of other people's affairs, without considering what Christ threatens: "With what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with what measure you measure, it will be measured to you also" (Matt. 7:2. - In Book 1 about tenderness for the monk Dimitri).

"Do not condemn another, but try to correct yourself, so that you yourself are not worthy of condemnation. For you will receive an even greater punishment if you accuse others of what you yourself do not do, and condemn them for the sin to which you yourself are subject. If even righteous people are not allowed to condemn others, how much more should sinners refrain from condemning themselves."

"Even though you, condemning your neighbor, and the righteous things that you have said against him, and even if you have defamed his well-known deed, yet you will not escape punishment for this; for God will judge you, not according to his works, but according to your words. He says: "By your words you will be condemned" (Matt. 12:37). The Pharisee spoke righteous and well-known things, but even for this he received punishment. And if certain deeds should not be said to denounce others, how much more doubtful ones" (Discourse 42 on the Evangelist Matthew).

"What is the use of abstaining from fowl and fish, when we bite and devour one another? And every slanderer and reproacher gnaws and devours his neighbor's flesh" (Discourse 3 on the Departure of Bishop Flavian).

"Even if we eat ashes, then even such a strict life will not bring us any benefit, but if we do not refrain from reproach, for "that which does not enter into the mouth defiles a man, but proceeds out of the mouth" (Discourse 3 on the Departure of Bishop Flavian)."