Elder Paisios says that all people are divided into two categories. The former are like a bee, and the latter are like a fly. How does a bee behave? For example, she accidentally flies into some bad place, say, into the station toilet, where there is a lot of dirt and impurity. But the bee does not seem to notice all this, it flies past and finds a piece of marmalade in the far corner, forgotten by the child. A fly behaves completely differently. When she flies into a beautiful flowering garden, she does not notice fragrant flowers, but flies past them and, finding some filth in the far corner, sits on it...

With all our might, brothers and sisters, we must try to get rid of the passion of condemnation. We must be very careful not to condemn anyone, lest our minds be corrupted and we become sick and unclean flies. Let us not condemn anyone, even in the case when someone's guilt or depravity is obvious and indubitable. One is the judgment of man, and the judgment of God is quite another. Judas was among the closest disciples of Christ and performed many miracles, and the thief committed many atrocities and sat in prison, awaiting execution. But only a few hours have passed, and we see that the thief was the first of all mankind to enter Paradise, and Judas betrayed Christ and went to hell. Where is the righteousness of human judgment? Is not human judgment a lie and an error? Is it not for this reason that we have been given the commandment "Judge not," for our judgment almost always turns out to be incorrect and contradictory to God's judgment, distorting God's judgment?

How can we learn not to judge? Elder Paisios advised us to mentally put ourselves in the place of the one whom we want to condemn. He said that if we do this, we will not condemn even the poisonous snake that hisses at us. In fact, let's put ourselves in her place: the snake sat in a cold, damp hole all winter, and at last summer came, and it crawled out to bask in the sun. And then some people rush at her with a stick or throw stones - wouldn't anyone in her place hiss and bite?

Or another example: it happens that stray dogs pounce on us on the street, although we do not touch them, and it can be very unpleasant for us. However, if we put ourselves in their place, we will not condemn them. It is only necessary to remember that dogs spend nights outside in severe frost, that they are hungry and cold, that the people around them in the city are mostly hostile to them, ready to hit, throw stones, even injure them, that they are crushed by cars, that they are often raided and caught in order to put them to sleep, and if we call a spade a spade, simply to kill them. It is also necessary to remember that the primary and main cause of animal suffering is man. For the animals suffer because of Adam's transgression, before Adam's transgression they did not know suffering. Man also often suffers in this world, but at least he suffers through his own fault, and animals, including dogs, do not suffer through their own fault, but through the fault of man. Is it any wonder after all this that they are sometimes aggressive and throw themselves at people? Wouldn't anyone in their place do the same? Rather, on the contrary, one should be surprised at their patience and generosity, surprised that they do not pounce on people so often. Many, if they were in their place, would behave much worse.

Let's give another example. Often on the TV news we hear about degraded people — drunkards, drug addicts, corrupt women — and the ugly things they do. And so we begin to condemn these people. However, at the same time, we do not know the circumstances of their lives at all: what kind of childhood they had, in what environment they grew up, what heredity they have, and much more. What if we had grown up in such conditions? Wouldn't we be like them, or even much worse? The Monk Abba Dorotheus tells an incident of how two little girls were sold by a slave trader to different people: one was bought for upbringing by a pious woman of high spiritual life, and the other by a corrupt and depraved woman, who wanted to teach the girl her bad trade. Isn't it obvious that in twenty years these children will come out of completely different people? And many, looking at them, will praise the one, and condemn the other. However, God will judge every person with righteous, true judgment, for He is omniscient and takes into account everything, absolutely all circumstances, most of which are not known to us at all.

And so, brothers and sisters, let us not condemn people, forgetting the commandment of Christ that we have accepted. It is not given to us to judge, only God can judge. Our judgment always turns out to be false, it contradicts, it is hostile to God's judgment, which is why, by condemning, we become enemies of the Lord Himself. Let us be afraid of this, let us not become adversaries and enemies of God. Let us make an effort not to condemn any person. Then the Lord will not condemn us, then His word will be fulfilled in us: "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged." Amen.

Sunday of All Saints Who Shone Forth in the Russian Land

You are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world, Christ says to His disciples in the Gospel. Saints are the salt of the earth, the meaning of its existence. The earth must bring forth fruits pleasing to God, that is, of the saints. Many of the Savior's parables speak of this, for example, about the evil husbandmen and the barren fig tree. From these parables it follows that the saints are the fruit for the sake of which the earth exists. Every Christian Orthodox people brings these fruits of holiness and righteousness to God. Among them are the Russian people, the Russian Church has been bearing such fruits to God for a thousand years.