John Chrysostom, On the Obscurity of Prophecies

do you bind more heavily? Is it not enough for you to be held accountable for your own evils, but you also heap other sins upon yourself? This defense is superfluous; you do not owe an account for hearing, but you are indebted for an account of accusation. For when you hear and do not keep silent, you owe an account not only for hearing, but also for accusation. For by your words you will be justified, he says, and by your words you will be condemned. These things I say and testify, fearing not for those who hear evil, but for those who speak evil. For he who hears evil has not been abused, nor has he been harmed; but if what is said about him is false, he even has a reward; but if it is true, he has not been abused in any way by your accusation. For the judge will not then render his verdict based on your slander. And if I must say something remarkable, he will even gain the greatest things by bearing the blasphemy nobly, just as the tax collector did; but he who speaks evil, even if he speaks evil truths about his neighbor, has been wronged in the greatest things. And that the slanderer is lost, there is no need for proof; but that, even if he speaks the truth, he makes the judgment more burdensome for himself, by parading the misfortunes of his neighbor, and becoming a cause of scandals, which he ought to hide, uncovering them to all, and proclaiming the sins 56.191 of his neighbor, is surely clear to everyone. For if one who scandalizes a single person will pay an inexorable penalty, how great a punishment will he not undergo who scandalizes thousands through an evil report? For the Pharisee was not lying, but spoke the truth, calling the tax collector a tax collector, yet he was punished. Knowing these things, therefore, beloved, let us flee from accusing. For no sin is more grievous, nor easier than this. For what reason? Because it is committed more swiftly than any transgression, and quickly seizes the one who is not attentive. For other sins require time, and expense, and delay, and accomplices, and are often interrupted in the passage of time. For example: Someone chose to murder, someone chose to rob and be greedy; he needs much effort, and in delaying he has often dissolved his anger, desisted from the evil impulse, abandoned the corrupt intention, he has not added the deed to the will; but in the case of speaking evil it is not so, but if we are not extremely sober, we are easily carried away; and we need neither time, nor delay, nor expense, nor effort, in order to speak evil; but it is enough only to choose, and immediately the will has gone forth into action. For it is the tongue alone that serves. Since, therefore, the evil is swift, and the sin easily besetting, and the punishment and retribution grievous, and there is no gain, not small, not great, let us with great precision flee this disease, and let us cover the evils of others, and not parade them; let us admonish those who sin, as the Lord also says: If your brother sins against you, go and reprove him between you and him alone. So that the privacy of the reproofs will make 56.192 the cure easier. Let us not bite, nor devour the wounds of others; let us not imitate the flies, but let us emulate the bees. Flies settle on wounds, and bite; bees fly to the flowers. For this reason the latter make honeycombs, while the former bring diseases to whatever bodies they settle on; and the one are loathsome, while the other are desired and renowned. Let us therefore prepare our soul to fly to the meadow of the virtue of the saints, and continually stir up the sweet fragrance of their good deeds, and not bite the wounds of our neighbors; but if we see any doing this, let us silence them, building up for them the fear of punishment, reminding them of their kinship with their brothers. But if they yield to none of these things, let us call them flies, so that at least the reproach of this name may turn them away from the evil practice

βαρύτερον δεσμεῖς; Οὐκ ἀρκεῖ σοι περὶ τῶν οἰκείων κακῶν εὐθύνας ὑποσχεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἑτέρας ἁμαρτίας ἐπισωρεύεις σαυτῷ; Περιττὴ αὕτη ἡ ἀπολογία· οὐκ ἀκοῆς λόγον ὀφείλεις, ἀλλὰ κατηγορίας λόγον χρεωστεῖς. Ὅταν γὰρ ἀκούσας, οὐ σιγήσῃς, οὐ τῆς ἀκοῆς λόγον μόνον ὀφείλεις, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατηγορίας. Ἐκ γὰρ τῶν λόγων σου δικαιωθήσῃ, φησὶ, καὶ ἐκ τῶν λόγων σου κατακριθήσῃ. Ταῦτα οὐχ ὑπὲρ τῶν κακῶς ἀκουόντων, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ τῶν κακῶς λεγόντων δεδοικὼς λέγω καὶ διαμαρτύρομαι. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ κακῶς ἀκούσας, οὐδὲν ἐπηρέασται, οὐδὲ ἐβλάβη· ἀλλ' ἂν μὲν ψευδῆ ᾖ τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ λεγόμενα, καὶ μισθὸν ἔχει· ἂν δὲ ἀληθῆ, οὐδὲν οὐδὲ οὕτως ἐπηρέασται παρὰ τὴν σὴν κατηγορίαν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς σῆς λοιδορίας οἴσει τότε τὴν ψῆφον αὐτῷ ὁ δικάζων. Εἰ δὲ χρή τι καὶ θαυμαστὸν εἰπεῖν, καὶ τὰ μέγιστα κερδανεῖ γενναίως φέρων τὴν βλασφημίαν, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ ὁ τελώνης· ὁ δὲ κακῶς λέγων, ἄν τε ἀληθῆ κακῶς εἴπῃ τὸν πλησίον, τὰ μέγιστα ἠδίκηται. Καὶ ὅτι μὲν ὁ συκοφαντῶν ἀπόλωλεν, οὐδὲ ἀποδείξεως χρεία· ὅτι δὲ, κἂν ἀληθῆ λέγῃ, φορτικώτερον ἑαυτῷ ποιεῖ τὸ δικαστήριον, ἐκπομπεύων τὰς τοῦ πλησίον συμφορὰς, καὶ σκανδάλων αἴτιος γινόμενος, ἃ κρύπτειν δέον, ἐκκαλύπτων ἅπασι, καὶ κηρύττων τὰ ἁμαρτήματα 56.191 τοῦ πλησίον, παντί που δῆλόν ἐστιν. Εἰ γὰρ ἕνα τις σκανδαλίσας, ἀπαραίτητον δώσει τιμωρίαν, ὁ μυρίους σκανδαλίζων διὰ τῆς πονηρᾶς φήμης, πόσην οὐχ ὑποστήσεται κόλασιν; Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Φαρισαῖος οὐκ ἐψεύδετο, ἀλλ' ἀληθῆ ἔλεγε, τελώνην καλῶν τὸν τελώνην, ἀλλ' ὅμως δίκην ἔδωκε. Ταῦτ' οὖν εἰδότες, ἀγαπητοὶ, φεύγωμεν τὸ κατηγορεῖν. Οὔτε γὰρ ταύτης χαλεπωτέρα, οὔτε εὐκολωτέρα ἐστὶν ἁμαρτία. Τίνος ἕνεκεν; Ὅτι πάσης παρανομίας ὀξύτερον δρᾶται, καὶ ταχέως συναρπάζει τὸν μὴ προσέχοντα. Αἱ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλαι ἁμαρτίαι καὶ χρόνου δέονται, καὶ δαπάνης, καὶ μελλήσεως, καὶ συνεργῶν, καὶ πολλάκις ἐν τῇ τοῦ χρόνου διατριβῇ διακόπτονται. Οἷόν τι λέγω· Εἵλετό τις φονεῦσαι, εἵλετό τις ἁρπάσαι καὶ πλεονεκτῆσαι· πολλῆς αὐτῷ δεῖ τῆς πραγματείας, καὶ ἐν τῷ μέλλειν πολλάκις ἐξέλυσε τὸν θυμὸν, ἀπέστη τῆς πονηρᾶς ὁρμῆς, κατέλυσε τὴν διεφθαρμένην γνώμην, οὐ προσέθηκε τὸ ἔργον τῇ βουλῇ· ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ κακῶς λέγειν οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλ' ἐὰν μὴ σφόδρα ὦμεν νήφοντες, συναρπαζόμεθα ῥᾳδίως· καὶ οὔτε χρόνου, οὔτε μελλήσεως, οὔτε δαπάνης, οὔτε πραγματείας ἡμῖν δεῖ τινος, ὥστε κακῶς εἰπεῖν· ἀλλ' ἀρκεῖ μόνον ἑλέσθαι, καὶ εὐθέως εἰς ἔργον ἐξῆλθε τὸ βούλημα. Γλῶσσα γάρ ἐστιν ἡ ὑπηρετουμένη μόνον. Ἐπεὶ οὖν καὶ ὀξύῤῥοπον τὸ κακὸν, καὶ εὐπερίστατος ἡ ἁμαρτία, καὶ χαλεπὴ ἡ κόλασις καὶ ἡ τιμωρία, καὶ κέρδος οὐδὲν, οὐ μικρὸν, οὐ μέγα, μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἀκριβείας φεύγωμεν τὸ νόσημα, καὶ τὰ ἀλλότρια περιστέλλωμεν κακὰ, καὶ μὴ ἐκπομπεύωμεν· παραινῶμεν τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσι, καθὼς καὶ ὁ Κύριός φησιν· Ἐὰν ἁμαρτήσῃ εἰς σὲ ὁ ἀδελφός σου, ὕπαγε, ἔλεγξον αὐτὸν μεταξὺ σοῦ καὶ αὐτοῦ μόνου. Ὥστε τὸ ἀδημοσίευτον τῶν ἐλέγχων εὐκολωτέραν 56.192 ποιήσει τὴν θεραπείαν. Μὴ δάκνωμεν, μηδὲ κατεσθίωμεν τὰ ἀλλότρια τραύματα· μὴ τὰς μυίας μιμησώμεθα, ἀλλὰ τὰς μελίττας ζηλώσωμεν. Αἱ μυῖαι τοῖς τραύμασιν ἐγκαθέζονται, καὶ δάκνουσιν· αἱ μέλιτται τοῖς ἄνθεσιν ἐφίπτανται. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο αὗται μὲν κηρία πηγνύουσιν, ἐκεῖναι δὲ νοσήματα ἐπάγουσιν, οἷς ἂν ἐπικαθεσθῶσι σώμασι· καὶ αἱ μέν εἰσι βδελυκταὶ, αἱ δὲ ποθειναὶ καὶ ἐπίδοξοι. Καὶ ἡμεῖς τοίνυν τῷ λειμῶνι τῆς ἀρετῆς τῶν ἁγίων ἐπιπτῆναι τὴν ψυχὴν παρασκευάσωμεν, καὶ συνεχῶς τὴν εὐωδίαν τῶν παρ' ἐκείνοις κατορθωμάτων ἀνακινῶμεν, τὰ δὲ τραύματα μὴ δάκνωμεν τῶν πλησίον· ἀλλ' εἰ καί τινας ἴδωμεν τοῦτο ποιοῦντας, ἐπιστομίζωμεν, τὸν φόβον αὐτοῖς τῆς κολάσεως ἐπιτειχίζοντες, τῆς συγγενείας αὐτοὺς ἀναμιμνήσκοντες τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ἀδελφούς. Εἰ δὲ μηδενὶ τούτων εἴκοιεν, μυίας αὐτοὺς καλῶμεν, ἵνα κἂν τὸ ὄνειδος τῆς προσηγορίας ταύτης ἀποστήσῃ τῆς πονηρᾶς μελέτης