On this, the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost, we commemorate Venerable Sisoes the Great (429), Ven. Sisoes of the Kiev Caves (13th c.), the holy Martyrs Marinus and Martha, and their children, Audifax and Abbacum, Priest Valentine, Asterius, and those with them at Rome (269), Martyrs Isaurius the Deacon, Innocent, Felix, Hermias, Basil, Peregrinus, Rufus and Rufinus in Macedonia (3rd c.), the Martyr Quintus of Phrygia (ca. 283), the Virgin-martyr Lucy and those with her at Rome (301).
As regards censure the God-bearing Maximos the Confessor says in one of his homilies: The Father judges no one, He has given all judgment to the Son, while the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, commands: "Do not judge, so that you not be judged," and his divinely preaching Paul, the mouth of Christ, says: "Pass no judgment before the time," during which the judge of all, the most righteous, the only One who has authority to judge all, shall judge and give unto each one according to his works.
Foolish people having grasped from the Son of God the right to judge, having left their own sins, judge and censure one another. The heavens are amazed at this and the earth trembles, wile people do not understand, nor feel the great sin which they are committing.
We have the right to call Herod iniquitous and lawless, not lawful and righteous; to call Judas not a disciple, but a betrayer; Arius we should not call a saint, but a heretic, a raging wolf, and each heretic we should call unjust and unlawful. We should speak the truth whether one is good or evil, and as the Church and God consider them, thus should we also consider them. But simultaneously let us say God shall judge them, we do not have the right to judge them, because we also are sinners and do not know unto the end what shall happen to us. Judas was a disciple, an Apostle, the thief who was crucified together with Christ was a murderer. In one moment the Apostle on the one hand became a betrayer, while the thief, repenting, entered first into Paradise. Be careful, be careful, be careful!
So neither I, nor you, nor anyone else has the right to judge kings, hierarchs, clergymen, lay people, young, old, men, women. If they go astray we should censure [i.e., correct] them, not with curses , with anger or agitation, but with meekness, with love and a gentle manner, let us show them the correct, the righteous, the good, and let us pray that God will give them enlightenment and repentance. This is not censuring, but it is advice, counsel, it is interest and love to benefit them. However, when we break out in anger, wrath, agitation, swearing, curses [and] wickedness, we reveal their sins to others as well who do not know them, we broadcast them, we publicize them with passion and wickedness, then not only is it censuring but it is also resentment and lack of love. A good thing is not good if it is not done in a good way . . . A good manner many times makes the evil person good, whereas an evil manner makes the good person evil too.
Since you ask my opinion I advise you as a spiritual father, that silence is preferable and more beneficial, silence with people and inner, spiritual speech - in prayer, with God. Flee untimely discussions, be silent, and be saved.
- From a letter of the Elder Philotheos Zervakos (+1980) to one of his spiritual children.
+ Many sinful people were saved, just because they did not criticize others and were aware of their own sinfulness.
+ Glory to God! When you say "Glory to God," all the demons choke!
- Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain (+1994)
+ God creates out of nothing; and if we sincerely recognize ourselves as being nothing, He will recreate our hearts.
- St. Tikhon of Zadonsk (18th c.)
The Orthodox Church is called "Apostolic" because the Apostles placed the historical beginning of the Church. They spread Christianity to the ends of the earth and almost all of them sealed their preaching with a martyr's death. The seeds of Christianity were sown in the world by their word and watered with their blood. They lit the unquenched flame of faith in the world by the power of their personal faith.
The Apostles preserved and transmitted to the Church the Christian teaching of faith and life in the form in which they had received it from their Master and Lord. Giving in themselves the example of the fulfillment of the commandments of the Gospel, they handed down to the faithful the teaching of Christ by word of mouth and in the Sacred Scriptures so that it might be preserved, confessed and lived.
The Apostles established, according to the commandment of the Lord, the Church's sacred rites. They placed the beginning of the performance of the Holy Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ, of Baptism, of Ordination.
The Apostles established in the Church the grace-giving succession of the episcopate, and through it the succession of the whole grace-giving ministry of the Church hierarchy, which is called to be stewards of the Mysteries of God, in accordance with I Corinthians 4:1.
The Apostles established the beginning of the canonical structure of the Church's life, being concerned that everything should be done "decently and in order;" an example of this is given in the fourteenth chapter of I Corinthians, which contains directions for the assemblies where Church services are celebrated.
All this concerns the historical aspect. But besides this there is another, inward aspect which gives to the Church an Apostolic quality. The Apostles were not only historically in the Church of Christ; they remain in it and are in it now. They were in the earthly Church and they are now in the Heavenly Church, continuing to be in communion with believers on earth. Being the historical nucleus of the Church, they continue to be the spiritually living, although invisible, nucleus of the Church, both now and forever, in its constant existence. The Apostle John the Theologian writes, "That which we have seen and have heard, we proclaim to you, that you also may have fellowship [literally, "communion" - ed.] with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ" (I John 1:3). These words have for us the same force as they had for the contemporaries of the Apostle; they contain an exhortation to us to be in communion with the ranks of Apostles, for the nearness of the Apostles to the Holy Trinity is greater than ours.
Thus, both for reasons of an historical character and for reasons of an inward character, the Apostles are the foundations of the Church. Therefore it is said of the Church: It is built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone (Eph. 2:20). The naming of the Church as "Apostolic" indicates that it is established not on a single Apostle (as the Roman Church later taught), but upon all twelve; otherwise it would have to bear the name of Peter, or John, or some other. The Church, as it were, ahead of time, warned us against thinking according to a "fleshly" principle (I Cor. 3:4): "I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas." In the Apocalypse, concerning the city coming down from heaven it is said: "And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb" (Rev. 21:14).
- Fr. Michael Pomazansky (+1989)
+ Keep from prying into other peoples affairs, for such prying gives occasion for slander, judgment, and other grievous sins. Why do you need to be concerned about others? Know and examine your own self. If you see or hear someone sin, keep from slandering him and judging him. You tell someone else about him, he tells it to another, the other to the third, the third to the fourth, and so everyone will come to know it and be tempted. And they will judge the one who has sinned, which is a very serious thing. And you will be the cause of all this, by publishing your brother's sin. Slanderers are like lepers that harm others by their foul odor. Keep yourself, then, from talking evil about your neighbor, lest you gravely sin and give someone else cause for sin.
- St. Tikhon of Zadonsk (18th c.)
St. Tikhon's words are very important for us to consider. How often do we seek to know what is going on in the lives of others? How often do we share with each other morsels of gossip about others and their behavior and the facts of their lives? How often we spread negative comments about others? All such speaking and sharing is sin! We should set as a steadfast rule for our lives: that we will never speak evil of another. Very often, of course, we downplay the significance of our words. "It is only a little thing," we say to ourselves. "I was just giving my opinion, I was only sharing my thoughts." Away with such nonsense!! Anything we say that is negative about anyone is sin. Even if it is just a negative comment about their hairstyle or clothes or the way that they drive or the manner in which they walk, etc. It is gossip and it has no place in our conversations. Let us instead talk good about each other, let us mutually encourage each other by sharing stories of righteous and holy people and complimenting all those whom we know and see. Let us refrain from curiosity (the Fathers say that Satan is a very curious being) and from evil talk. In the words of St. Philaret of Moscow (+1867), "He who sufficiently knows himself has no time to judge others."
- Fr. Alexander Fecanin
+ I commit my whole life and everything by which a man lives, my spiritual and bodily requirements, unto Christ my God, the Provider, the Ruler, and the Savior; for everything is in His hands. As for me, I have only to zealously fulfill His commandments.
- St. John of Kronstadt (+1908)