There is something almost incomprehensible in this passage from St. Anastasios and St. Maximos because it reveals just how surrounded we are by mercy while continuing to behave as though condemnation were wisdom.

The Fathers do not merely tell us not to judge.

They overwhelm us with reasons not to judge.

They show us a universe saturated with the patience of God, the intercession of angels, the prayers of saints, the tears of repentance, the mystery of hidden transformation, the power of baptism, the healing of affliction, the medicine of chastisement, the compassion of Christ, and the joy of Heaven itself over the salvation of even one sinner.

And still we condemn.

That is the horror.

We condemn while standing inside the greatest revelation of mercy the world has ever known.

St. Anastasios says plainly: you do not know what has happened between God and that soul after the moment you witnessed his sin.

Not five years later.

Ten steps later.

That is how quickly grace can act.

A man may fall publicly and repent secretly.

And the Fathers insist that we understand this:

we know almost nothing.

We see fragments and imagine ourselves judges of the whole human being.

We see behavior but not wounds.

Worst of all, we do not see what God Himself is doing inside another person.

The Fathers say there are souls purified through illness.

How then dare we speak so confidently about anyone?

The terrifying thing is that we do this while calling ourselves Christians.

Christians.

Those who claim to worship the God who became man for sinners.

The Incarnation alone should silence every condemning tongue forever.

The angels themselves longed to behold this mystery: that God would unite Himself to fallen humanity. Not to idealized humanity. Not to polished humanity. Fallen humanity.

Christ assumed the very flesh we despise in one another.

He entered the human condition completely apart from sin so that no sinner could ever again say:

He knows.

He entered it willingly.

And Heaven never ceased rejoicing over this mystery.

St. Anastasios says the angels love mankind precisely because they beheld God become man. Imagine that. The bodiless powers who never fell into flesh are astonished by what humanity has become through Christ.

Meanwhile we, who were baptized into Him, often despise one another mercilessly.

The Fathers remind us that every baptized person has been entrusted to an angel.

The angels themselves plead for us.

Think of that.

While we gossip about one another, the angels intercede for one another.

While we expose each other’s failures, Heaven labors for each other’s salvation.

While we speak words that crush souls, the saints and angels beg God to heal them.

And still we continue as though condemnation were normal.

St. Maximos says Heaven is astonished at this.

Astounded.

The earth quakes.

But we are “insensible and unabashed.”

Insensible because we no longer perceive the mystery of redemption correctly.

The saints trembled before judging another human being because they knew that judgment belongs to Christ alone. To judge another is not merely to commit a moral fault. St. Anastasios says it is to usurp the office of the Lord Himself.

This is why the Fathers speak so fiercely.

The judging heart has forgotten the Gospel.

It has forgotten the thief entering Paradise in a single moment.

The saints understood something we resist with all our strength:

human beings are not static creatures.

A single moment of real repentance can alter eternity.

And because of this, the saints became exceedingly merciful. Not naïve about evil. Not indifferent to sin. But deeply aware that every person stands inside a battle for salvation surrounded by mysteries unseen to human eyes.

The demons accuse.

The demons reduce persons to failures.

The demons delight in exposure.

And the terrible thing is how often religious people unknowingly participate in the work of accusation while imagining themselves defenders of righteousness.

The Fathers knew better.

This is why the holiest among them became gentlest toward sinners and harshest toward themselves.

Because the closer one comes to God, the more clearly one sees that he himself survives only by mercy.

And once a man truly knows this, condemnation becomes impossible.

He no longer stands above humanity.

He stands beside it, beating his breast, praying:

“To You, O Lord, belongs mercy.”

---

Text of chat during the group:

00:02:05 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/nazareth-and-the-hidden-life

00:34:49 Julie: It feels like there is no rest

00:35:43 Julie: With the senses I mean, to cut the thought straight away

00:36:19 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 18 paragraph 1

00:36:31 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "P. 18 paragraph 1" with 👍

00:52:58 Janine: I always wondered if everyone has a Guardian angel or only the baptized…

00:59:22 Julie: Beautiful

01:06:50 Fr Martin, Arizona: When I was in my early twenties, i kept trying to figure out a way to live on an even keel, a constant peace. My spiritual father again and again suggest that life is ebb and flow. Forty years later I've still not been able to smooth out the spiritual path. The readings today make sense to me.

01:07:41 Anna: I have filled voicemail, phone noises off, and yes totally do not disturb and I love it!!! 😁❤️

01:08:21 Julie: I feel the silence is sometimes louder, so reading or listening to prayers slows them down

01:09:37 Andrew Zakhari: Isaiah 26:4-“trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord is the rock eternal.”

01:10:04 Danny Moulton: There is a part of me that wants to push back against the idea that we should NEVER judge others. (Jesus gave explicit instructions on how to deal with those who sin against us (Mt. 18), and it does not entail remaining silent.)  But the reality is that the challenge I face is the 99.9% of the time when my tendency to judge is motivated by self- righteousness. It’s so predominant, that the case for judging from a position of love becomes almost moot.

01:14:07 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 20 G

01:15:21 forrest: Replying to "There is a part of m..."

Me too. But may that 0.1% opportunity be a yeast to leaven the whole!

01:16:15 Bob Čihák, AZ: Bless you, Father.

01:16:16 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:16:20 Jessica McHale: many prayers!!!

01:16:23 Danny Moulton: THank you!