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he may work; for this reason He also endured all those things, that He might summon us to ask. Let us not then despair; but having so many reasons and good hopes, even if we sin every day, let us approach, entreating, beseeching, asking for the forgiveness of our trespasses. For thus we shall be more hesitant to sin in the future, and we shall drive away the devil, and we shall call forth the love of God for mankind, and we shall attain the good things to come, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

57.307 HOMILY 23. Judge not, that you be not judged.

1. What then? Ought we not to accuse those who sin? For Paul says this very same thing; or rather, there too Christ through Paul, saying: Why do you judge your brother? And you, why do you despise your brother? And, Who are you, who judges another's servant? And again: Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes. How then does he say elsewhere: Reprove, rebuke, exhort? And, Those who are sinning rebuke before all? And Christ to Peter: Go, reprove him between you and him alone; and if he will not listen, add another to yourself; and if he will not yield even so, report it to the church; and He appointed so many to rebuke, and not only to rebuke, but also to punish? For He commanded that he who listened to none of these should be as a Gentile and a tax collector. And how did He give them the keys? For if they are not going to judge, they will be powerless over all things, and they will have received the authority to bind and to loose in vain. And besides, if this should prevail, all things will be ruined, both in the churches, and in the cities, and in the houses. For if the master does not judge the servant, and the mistress the handmaid, and the father the son, and the friend the friend, the affairs of wickedness will increase. And what am I saying, the friend the friend? If we do not judge our enemies, we will never be able to end the enmity, but all things will be turned upside down. What then is that which has been said? Let us pay close attention, so that no one may think the medicines of salvation and the laws of peace to be laws of subversion and confusion 57.308. For most of all He showed the virtue of this law to those who have understanding through the things that follow, saying: Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the beam that is in your own eye? But if to many of the more careless it still seems unclear, I will try to explain it from the beginning. For here, as it seems to me, He does not simply command us not to judge all sins, nor does He simply forbid doing such a thing, but to those who are full of countless evils and attack others for trivial matters. And it seems to me that He is also alluding here to the Jews, that being bitter accusers of their neighbors for small and insignificant things, they themselves were insensibly sinning in great matters; which He also said when reproaching them at the end, that You bind heavy and hard-to-bear burdens, but you yourselves are not willing to move them with your finger; and, You tithe the mint and the dill, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, judgment, and mercy, and faith. It seems, then, that He is also addressing them, checking them in advance in those things of which they were about to accuse the disciples. For even if they had not sinned in any such way, nevertheless to those men these were considered to be transgressions; for instance, not keeping the Sabbath, eating with unwashed hands, reclining with tax collectors; which He also says elsewhere: You who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel. Nevertheless, He also lays down a common law concerning these things. And to the Corinthians, Paul did not simply command them not to judge, but not to judge those who were above them, and for a reason not acknowledged; not simply not to

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ἐργάσηται· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ πάντα ὑπέστη ἐκεῖνα, ἵνα ἡμᾶς ἐκκαλέσηται πρὸς τὸ αἰτεῖν. Μὴ τοίνυν ἀπογνῶμεν· ἀλλ' ἔχοντες τοσαύτας ἀφορμὰς καὶ χρηστὰς ἐλπίδας, κἂν καθ' ἑκάστην ἁμαρτάνωμεν τὴν ἡμέραν, προσίωμεν παρακαλοῦντες, δεόμενοι, τὴν ἄφεσιν τῶν πλημμελημάτων αἰτοῦντες. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν ὀκνηρότεροι λοιπὸν ἐσόμεθα, καὶ τὸν διάβολον ἀποσοβήσομεν, καὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν ἐκκαλεσόμεθα, καὶ τῶν μελλόντων ἐπιτευξόμεθα ἀγαθῶν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

57.307 ΟΜΙΛΙΑ ΚΓʹ. Μὴ κρίνετε, ἵνα μὴ κριθῆτε.

αʹ. Τί οὖν; οὐ χρὴ τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν ἐγκαλεῖν; Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Παῦλος τὸ αὐτὸ

τοῦτό φησι· μᾶλλον δὲ κἀκεῖ ὁ Χριστὸς διὰ Παύλου, λέγων· Σὺ τί κρίνεις τὸν ἀδελφόν σου; καὶ σὺ, τί ἐξουθενεῖς τὸν ἀδελφόν σου; Καὶ, Σὺ τίς εἶ, ὁ κρίνων ἀλλότριον οἰκέτην; Καὶ πάλιν· Ὥστε μὴ πρὸ καιροῦ τι κρίνετε, ἕως ἂν ἔλθῃ ὁ Κύριος. Πῶς οὖν ἑτέρωθί φησιν· Ἔλεγξον, ἐπιτίμησον, παρακάλεσον; Καὶ, Τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας ἐνώπιον πάντων ἔλεγχε; καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς δὲ τῷ Πέτρῳ· Ὕπαγε, ἔλεγξον αὐτὸν μεταξύ σου καὶ αὐτοῦ μόνου· κἂν παρακούσῃ, καὶ ἕτερον σαυτῷ πρόσθες· ἂν δὲ μηδὲ οὕτως ἐνδῷ, καὶ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ κατάγγειλον· καὶ τοσούτους ἐπέστησε τοὺς ἐπιτιμῶντας, καὶ οὐ μόνον τοὺς ἐπιτιμῶντας, ἀλλὰ καὶ κολάζοντας; Τὸν γὰρ οὐδενὸς τούτων ἀκούσαντα, ἐκέλευσεν ὡς ἐθνικὸν εἶναι καὶ τελώνην. Πῶς δὲ αὐτοῖς καὶ τὰς κλεῖς ἔδωκεν; Εἰ γὰρ μὴ μέλλουσι κρίνειν, ἁπάντων ἔσονται ἄκυροι, καὶ μάτην τοῦ δεσμεύειν καὶ τοῦ λύειν ἐξουσίαν εἰλήφασι. Καὶ ἄλλως δὲ, εἰ τοῦτο κρατήσειεν, ἅπαντα οἰχήσεται, καὶ τὰ ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις, καὶ τὰ ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι, καὶ τὰ ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ δεσπότης τὸν οἰκέτην, καὶ ἡ δέσποινα τὴν θεραπαινίδα, καὶ ὁ πατὴρ τὸν υἱὸν, καὶ ὁ φίλος τὸν φίλον ἐὰν μὴ κρίνωσιν, ἐπιδώσει τὰ τῆς κακίας. Καὶ τί λέγω, ὁ φίλος τὸν φίλον; Τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ἐὰν μὴ κρίνωμεν, οὐδέποτε καταλῦσαι δυνησόμεθα τὴν ἔχθραν, ἀλλ' ἄνω καὶ κάτω πάντα γενήσεται. Τί ποτ' οὖν ἐστι τὸ εἰρημένον; Προσέχωμεν μετὰ ἀκριβείας, ἵνα μὴ τὰ φάρμακα τῆς σωτηρίας καὶ τοὺς τῆς εἰρήνης νόμους νομίζῃ τις ἀνατροπῆς εἶναι καὶ συγχύσεως νό 57.308 μους. Μάλιστα μὲν γὰρ καὶ διὰ τῶν ἑξῆς ἐνεδείξατο τοῖς νοῦν ἔχουσι τοῦ νόμου τούτου τὴν ἀρετὴν, εἰπών· Τί βλέπεις τὸ κάρφος τὸ ἐν τῷ ὀφθαλμῷ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου, τὴν δὲ δοκὸν τὴν ἐν τῷ σῷ ὀφθαλμῷ οὐ κατανοεῖς; Εἰ δὲ πολλοῖς τῶν ῥᾳθυμοτέρων ἀσαφέστερον ἔτι εἶναι δοκεῖ, ἄνωθεν αὐτὸ διαλῦσαι πειράσομαι. Ἐνταῦθα γὰρ, ὡς ἔμοιγε δοκεῖ, οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἅπαντα τὰ ἁμαρτήματα κελεύει μὴ κρίνειν, οὐδὲ ἁπλῶς ἀπαγορεύει τὸ τοιοῦτον ποιεῖν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς μυρίων γέμουσι κακῶν, καὶ ἄλλοις ὑπὲρ τῶν τυχόντων ἐπεμβαίνουσι. ∆οκεῖ δέ μοι καὶ Ἰουδαίους ἐνταῦθα αἰνίττεσθαι, ὅτι πικροὶ τῶν πλησίον ὄντες κατήγοροι, μικρῶν ἕνεκεν καὶ οὐδαμινῶν, αὐτοὶ τὰ μεγάλα ἀνεπαισθήτως ἡμάρτανον· ὃ καὶ πρὸς τῷ τέλει ὀνειδίζων αὐτοὺς ἔλεγεν, ὅτι ∆εσμεύετε φορτία βαρέα καὶ δυσβάστακτα, ὑμεῖς δὲ τῷ δακτύλῳ οὐ θέλετε κινῆσαι αὐτά· καὶ, Ἀποδεκατοῦτε τὸ ἡδύοσμον καὶ τὸ ἄνηθον, καὶ κατελίπετε τὰ βαρύτερα τοῦ νόμου, τὴν κρίσιν, καὶ τὸν ἔλεον, καὶ τὴν πίστιν. ∆οκεῖ μὲν οὖν καὶ πρὸς τούτους ἀποτείνεσθαι, προαναστέλλων αὐτοὺς ἐν οἷς ἔμελλον τῶν μαθητῶν κατηγορεῖν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ μηδὲν ἥμαρτον ἐκεῖνοι τοιοῦτον, ἀλλ' ὅμως ἐκείνοις πλημμελήματα ἐνομίζετο εἶναι· οἷον, τὸ Σάββατον μὴ τηρεῖν, τὸ χερσὶν ἀνίπτοις ἐσθίειν, τὸ μετὰ τελωνῶν κατακεῖσθαι· ὃ καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ φησιν· Οἱ τὸν κώνωπα διϋλίζοντες, καὶ τὴν κάμηλον καταπίνοντες. Πλὴν καὶ κοινὸν τὸν περὶ τούτων τίθησι νόμον. Καὶ Κορινθίοις δὲ ὁ Παῦλος οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἐκέλευσε μὴ κρίνειν, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοὺς μὴ κρίνειν, καὶ δι' ὑπόθεσιν μὴ ὡμολογημένην· οὐχ ἁπλῶς τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας μὴ