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)."

"What evil generation is there that does not come from reproach? From this are born hatreds, from this come enmity and disagreement, from this arise evil suspicions, which give cause to innumerable evil" (Discourse on Psalm 100).

"He who loves slander serves the devil."

"As the preacher of the truth saves many people by his word, so, on the contrary, the slanderer destroys many with the same word, uttering words of perdition and hurling speeches at the immersion of men. Moreover, not only the slanderer of the body, but also the souls themselves, when with his flattering tongue he puts into them false and lawless opinions" (Discourse on Psalm 61).

"Not only should one blaspheme one's neighbor, but also those who blaspheme him should not be listened to" (Discourse 3 on the Departure of Bishop Flavian).

Such are the sayings of St. Chrysostom.

Consider this, you slanderers, who do not consider it a sin to slander and slander your neighbor.

93. In order to avoid these vices, it is useful to note the following: 1) Everyone should look at himself, and put his vices and sins before his eyes, and try to cleanse them: for for them he will be tormented before the judgment of God, if he does not repent. Such an examination of one's own sins will not allow us to seek out the vices of others. Just as a weak person, seeing his own weakness, cares for himself and not for others, so he who sees his own spiritual weakness tries to free himself from it, and first tries to correct himself rather than others, first to remove the beam from his own eye rather than the mote from his eye