Being bodiless it neither eats nor drinks, but do not be anxious for the soul about what you might eat or what you might drink; for the soul puts forth the appetitive power, not for its own sake, but for the care of the body; for this is what is nourished. 26 Mt 7, 1 If you judge, you will be judged, he says, by yourself; for if being a sinner you judge sinners, you bring your own judgment against yourself. Leave off, then, judging others and judge only yourself, so that being judged by others you may not inherit Gehenna. 27 Mt 7, 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, instead of: in the very act of condemning others you come under judgment, having seized the person of a judge, you who ought, considering the rank of those being judged and the multitude of your own offenses, to tremble and to fear and to be concerned and distressed about these things, how you will make a defense, but not, overlooking these things, to reckon up the faults of others and to condemn them for these things, of which they themselves sometimes commit far worse. Whether, therefore, one condemns someone who has sinned more, or equally, or less than oneself, one condemns oneself; for he who condemns one who has sinned less, it is clear that he has rather condemned himself, having sinned more himself and having added to these things the condemnation of others. And he who judges one who has sinned more has also condemned himself, because when it was necessary to wipe out his own sins and to propitiate the common judge with a contrite heart and repentance, he, puffed up against his neighbor, put on the dignity of a judge and was lifted up to judge others, being himself one of those who are judged. Likewise also he who condemns one who has committed similar sins passes a common sentence against both himself <and> the one being condemned, or rather against himself; for to the one being condemned, he has through his own rashness moderated his existing offenses (if that one bears his insolence philosophically); but for himself he has wrought an addition to his previous evils, having also incurred the punishment that comes from condemning others. What then? Must one not, he says, judge others even if they are committing the most outrageous acts, being shameless, stealing, robbing? Most certainly he says you are not to condemn even these; for laws and public judgments punish these and such as these, but it is fitting for you to suffer with and grieve with the condemned, in their suffering seeing your own apparent evils, but not to tread upon or rebuke the one lying in his fall. What then? Should we not even admonish nor exhort someone to recover from his error? Indeed we should, if we first correct ourselves especially; for exhortation and admonition and sympathy are one thing, and judgment and censure and rebuke are another, and the former are useful to all when they happen at the right time, but to censure and judge and rebuke belongs only to the high priests of God, when, having tried everything else, they have made the one being treated no better. He also judges and censures who has been entrusted with judicial votes, whom their deeds may bring to a court, and a father a child for the improvement of his morals; and masters are not forbidden to censure and judge and rebuke slaves humanely and kindly. There are, therefore, so many differences arising from the judgment itself and from the persons of those who judge and those who are judged: one is when the one judging and rebuking does this loving and cherishing, but not mocking and hating; a second is when he does this by law and the common justice of the state; a third is when he does this not according to any of these, but hating and ridiculing; or also in vain, not even having known the one being judged well; or in the censures against that one, someone will seem to make it his business to be exact, trying to hide his own shameful deeds by severity and slander concerning others, so that one who harshly censures others for these things would not himself be thought to have been caught in similar ones. a sixth difference is when they themselves, being of those who are judged, attempt to judge others; for such people have neither friendship nor affection for a defense. 28 Mt 7, 5 The 'First cast out the beam from your own eye' and what follows he added to cut off every pretext for condemning
ἀσώματος οὖσα οὔτε ἐσθίει οὔτε πίνει, ἀλλὰ μὴ μεριμνήσητε τῇ ψυχῇ τί φάγητε ὑμεῖς ἢ τί πίητε· καὶ γὰρ ἡ ψυχὴ προβάλλεται τὴν ὀρεκτικὴν δύναμιν, ἀλλ' οὐ χάριν ἑαυτῆς, ἀλλὰ τῆς τοῦ σώματος προνοίας· τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ τρεφόμενον. 26 Mt 7, 1 Ἐὰν κρίνῃς, κριθήσῃ, φησίν, ὑπὸ σεαυτοῦ· εἰ γὰρ ἁμαρτωλοὺς κρίνεις ἁμαρτωλὸς ὤν, κατὰ σεαυτοῦ τὴν ἰδίαν κρίσιν φέρεις. ἄφες λοιπὸν τὸ ἑτέρους κρίνειν καὶ κρῖνε σεαυτὸν μόνον, ὅπως μὴ ἀφ' ἑτέρων κρινόμενος κληρονομήσῃς γέενναν. 27 Mt 7, 2 Ἐν ᾧ γὰρ κρίματι κρίνετε, κριθήσεσθε ἀντὶ τοῦ· ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ κατακρίνειν ἑτέρους ὑπὸ κρίμα γίνεσθε κριτοῦ ἁρπάσαντες πρόσωπον, οὓς ἐχρῆν τὴν τῶν κρινομένων τάξιν ἐννοοῦντας καὶ τῶν οἰκείων πλημμελημάτων τὸ πλῆθος τρέμειν καὶ δεδοικέναι καὶ περὶ τούτων φροντίζειν καὶ ἀγωνιᾶν, ὅπως ἀπολογήσωνται, ἀλλὰ μὴ τούτων ὑπερορῶντας ἑτέρων ἐλαττώματα λογοθετεῖν καὶ τούτους κατακρίνειν ἐπὶ τούτοις, ὧν αὐτοὶ χείρονα μακρῷ ἐστιν ὅτε διαπράττονται. ἄν τε οὖν μείζονα ἄν τε ὅμοια ἄν τε ἐλάττονα αὐτοῦ ἡμαρτηκότα κατακρίνῃ τις, ἑαυτὸν κατακρίνει· ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἐλάττονα ἁμαρτήσαντα εὔδηλον, ὅτε μᾶλλον ἑαυτὸν κατέκρινε μείζονα αὐτὸς ἡμαρτηκὼς καὶ προσθεὶς τούτοις τὸ καὶ ἑτέρους κατακρίνειν. ὁ δὲ μείζονα ἁμαρτήσαντα κρίνων καὶ αὐτὸς κατέκρινεν ἑαυτόν, ὅτι δέον ἐξαλεῖψαι τὰ οἰκεῖα καὶ τὸν κοινὸν κριτὴν ἐξιλεώσασθαι συντριμμῷ καρδίας καὶ μεταμελείᾳ, ὁ δὲ φυσηθεὶς κατὰ τοῦ πλησίον κριτοῦ ἀξίωμα ἐνέδυ καὶ κρίνειν ἑτέρους ἐπήρθη εἷς καὶ αὐτὸς τυγχάνων τῶν κρινομένων. ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ ὁ τὸν τὰ ὅμοια ἡμαρτηκότα κατακρίνων κοινὴν ἐξάγει τὴν ψῆφον καθ' ἑαυτοῦ τε <καὶ> τοῦ κατακρινομένου, μᾶλλον δὲ καθ' ἑαυτοῦ· τῷ μὲν γὰρ διὰ τῆς ἰδίας προπετείας καὶ τὰ ἐνόντα ἐμετρίωσε πλημμελήματα, ἂν φιλοσόφως ἐκεῖνος μάλιστα τὴν παροινίαν ἐνέγκῃ τὴν αὐτοῦ, ἑαυτῷ δὲ προσθήκην εἰργάσατο τῶν κακῶν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ κατακρίνειν ἑτέρους τιμωρίαν προσειληφώς. τί οὖν; οὐ δεῖ, φησίν, κρίνειν ἑτέρους κἂν τὰ ἀτοπώτατα εἴησαν ἀναισχυντοῦντες, κλέπτοντες, λῃστεύοντες; μάλιστα μὲν οὐδὲ τούτους σε κατακρίνειν φησίν· τούτους γὰρ καὶ τοὺς τοιούτους νόμοι καὶ δημόσιαι κρίσεις κολάζουσιν, σὲ δὲ συναλγεῖν καὶ συλλυπεῖσθαι προσήκει τοῖς κατακρίτοις ἐν τῷ ἐκείνων πάθει τὰ σὰ ἀποβλέπειν δοκοῦντα κακά, ἀλλὰ μὴ ἐπεμβαίνειν μηδὲ ἐπιπλήττειν τὸν ἐν τῷ πτώματι κείμενον. τί οὖν; μηδὲ νουθετῶμεν μηδὲ παραινῶμεν ἀνανῆψαί τινα τοῦ σφάλματος; μενοῦνγε, ἂν ἑαυτοὺς προτέρους διορθωσώμεθα μάλιστα· ἄλλο γὰρ παραίνεσις καὶ νουθεσία καὶ συμπάθεια καὶ ἄλλο κρίσις καὶ ἐπιτίμησις καὶ ἐπίπληξις καὶ τὰ μὲν πᾶσίν ἐστι χρήσιμα εὐκαίρως γινόμενα, ἐπιτιμᾶν δὲ καὶ κρίνειν καὶ ἐπιπλήττειν ἀρχιερεῦσι θεοῦ μόνοις ἀνήκει, ἐπειδὰν τὰ λοιπὰ πάντα ἐπιδειξάμενοι οὐδὲν βελτίω τὸν θεραπευόμενον διέθηκαν. κρίνει δὲ καὶ ἐπιτιμᾷ καὶ ὁ τὰς δικαστικὰς ἐμπεπιστευμένος ψήφους, οὓς ἂν αἱ πράξεις εἰς δικαστήριον ἄγωσιν, καὶ πατὴρ παῖδα ἐπὶ βελτιώσει ἠθῶν· καὶ δεσπόται δούλοις ἐπιτιμᾶν καὶ κρίνειν καὶ ἐπιπλήττειν φιλανθρώπως καὶ εὐμενῶς οὐ κωλύονται. γίνονται οὖν διαφοραὶ ἀπό τε τῆς κρίσεως αὐτῆς καὶ τῶν κρινόντων καὶ τῶν κρινομένων προσώπων τοσαῦται· μία μὲν ἂν ὁ κρίνων καὶ ἐπιπλήττων, φιλῶν καὶ στέργων, ἀλλὰ μὴ διασύρων καὶ μισῶν τοῦτο ποιῇ· δευτέρα δὲ ἂν νόμῳ καὶ κοινῷ τῆς πολιτείας καὶ δικαίῳ τοῦτο ποιῇ· τρίτη δὲ ἂν κατὰ μηδὲν μὲν τούτων, μισῶν δὲ καὶ διακωδωνίζων τοῦτο ποιῇ· ἢ καὶ μάτην οὐδὲ τὸν κρινόμενον καλῶς ἐγνωκώς· ἢ ἐν ταῖς κατ' ἐκείνου ἐπιτιμήσεσιν ἀκριβής τις εἶναι δόξει πραγματευόμενος καὶ τὰ οἰκεῖα αἴσχη τῇ περὶ ἑτέρους ἀποτομίᾳ καὶ διαβολῇ ἀποκρύπτειν πειρώμενος ὡς ὁ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἑτέρους τραχέως ἐπιτιμῶν οὐκ ἂν αὐτὸς νομισθείη τοῖς ὁμοίοις ἑαλωκώς. ἕκτη δὲ διαφορὰ ἂν αὐτοὶ τῶν κρινομένων ὄντες κρίνειν ἄλλους ἐπιχειρῶσιν· οὔτε γὰρ φιλίαν οὔτε στοργὴν οἱ τοιοῦτοι ἔχουσιν εἰς ἀπολογίαν. 28 Mt 7, 5 Τὸ ἔκβαλε πρῶτον τὴν δοκὸν ἐκ τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ σου καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς ἐπήγαγε πᾶσαν πρόφασιν ἐκκόψαι τὴν εἰς τὸ κατακρίνειν