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to correct. And he was not then rebuking all indiscriminately, 57.309 but he was censuring disciples for doing this concerning teachers, and those who, being liable for countless evils, slander the innocent. This, then, is what Christ also alluded to here; and he did not simply allude to it, but also imposed great fear. and an inexorable punishment. For with what judgment you judge, he says, you will be judged. For you are not condemning him, he says, but yourself, and you are making the tribunal fearsome for yourself, and the reckonings exact. Therefore, just as in the forgiveness of sins the initiative is ours, so also in this judgment the measures of condemnation are set by us. For one must not reproach, nor trample upon, but admonish; not speak evil, but counsel; not attack with desperation, but correct with affection. For you are delivering not him, but yourself to the ultimate punishment, by not sparing him, when it is necessary to cast a vote concerning his offenses. 2. Do you see how these two commandments are both light and the cause of great goods for those who obey, just as, indeed, of evils for those who do not heed them? For he who forgives his neighbor has freed himself from charges before the other, without any labor; and he who has examined the offenses of others with forbearance and forgiveness has beforehand laid up for himself a great fund of forgiveness from his own verdict. What then? If he commits fornication, he says, should I not say that fornication is evil, nor correct the licentious man? Correct him, yes, but not as an adversary, nor as an enemy demanding a penalty, but as a physician preparing medicines. For he did not say, do not stop a sinner, but, do not judge; that is, do not be a bitter judge. Besides, this was not said about great and forbidden sins, as I have already said, but about things that do not even seem to be offenses. Wherefore he also said: Why do you see the mote that is in your brother’s eye? For many do this now; if they see a monk having an extra garment, they bring forward to him the Lord’s law, while they themselves plunder countless things and are avaricious every day; and if they see one enjoying more lavish food, they become bitter accusers, while they themselves get drunk and debauched daily, not knowing that along with their own sins they are gathering for themselves from this a greater fire, and deprive themselves of all defense. For that your own things must be examined with exactness, you were the first to lay down the law, by judging so in the case of your neighbor. Therefore, do not think it is a harsh thing, if you yourself are also to be subject to such reckonings. You hypocrite, first cast out the beam from your own eye. Here he wishes to show the great anger which he has towards those who do such things. For whenever he wishes to show that a sin is great, and the punishment and anger for it great, he begins with an insult. Therefore, just as he said in indignation to that man who demanded the hundred denarii: ‘You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt’; so also here, ‘You hypocrite. For such a verdict is not of solicitude, but of misanthropy; and it puts on the mask of philanthropy, but it performs the work of extreme wickedness, heaping superfluous reproaches and charges upon his neighbors, and 57.310 usurping the position of a teacher, when he is not even worthy to be a disciple; for this reason He called him a hypocrite. For how is it that you, who are so bitter in the affairs of others as to see even small things, have become so negligent in your own affairs as to overlook even great things? First cast out the beam from your own eye. Do you see that he does not forbid judging, but commands to first cast out the beam from the eye, and then to correct the things of others? For a person knows his own things better than those of others; and he sees the greater things more than the lesser; and he loves himself more than his neighbor. So if you do it out of concern, be concerned for yourself first, where the sin is both clearer and greater. But if you neglect yourself, it is clear that you judge your brother not out of concern, but out of hatred and wishing to expose him. For even if it were necessary for this man to be judged, by one who has no such thing

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διορθοῦν. Καὶ οὐδὲ ἀδιορίστως 57.309 ἅπασι τότε ἐπετίμα, ἀλλὰ μαθηταῖς περὶ διδασκάλων τοῦτο ποιοῦσιν ἐπέπληττε, καὶ τοῖς μυρίων κακῶν ὑπευθύνοις οὖσι, τοὺς ἀνευθύνους διαβάλλουσιν. Ὅπερ οὖν καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἐνταῦθα ᾐνίξατο· καὶ οὐχ ἁπλῶς ᾐνίξατο, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολὺν ἐπέστησε τὸν φόβον. καὶ τὴν κόλασιν ἀπαραίτητον. Ἐν ᾧ γὰρ κρίματι κρίνετε, φησὶ, κριθήσεσθε. Οὐ γὰρ ἐκεῖνον καταδικάζεις, φησὶν, ἀλλὰ σαυτὸν, καὶ φοβερόν σοι ποιεῖς τὸ δικαστήριον, καὶ ἀκριβεῖς τὰς εὐθύνας. Ὥσπερ οὖν ἐν τῇ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἀφέσει παρ' ἡμῶν αἱ ἀρχαὶ, οὕτω καὶ ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ κρίσει παρ' ἡμῶν τὰ μέτρα τῆς καταδίκης τίθεται. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ὀνειδίζειν δεῖ, οὐδὲ ἐπεμβαίνειν, ἀλλὰ νουθετεῖν· οὐ κακηγορεῖν, ἀλλὰ συμβουλεύειν· οὐδὲ μετὰ ἀπονοίας ἐπιτίθεσθαι, ἀλλὰ μετὰ φιλοστοργίας διορθοῦν. Οὐ γὰρ ἐκεῖνον, ἀλλὰ σαυτὸν ἐσχάτῃ παραδίδως τιμωρίᾳ, μὴ φειδόμενος αὐτοῦ, ἡνίκα ἂν δεήσῃ ψηφίζεσθαι περὶ τῶν πεπλημμελημένων αὐτῷ. βʹ. Ὁρᾷς πῶς αὗται αἱ δύο ἐντολαὶ καὶ κοῦφαι καὶ μεγάλων αἴτιαι ἀγαθῶν τοῖς πειθομένοις, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ κακῶν τοῖς μὴ προσέχουσιν; Ὅ τε γὰρ ἀφιεὶς τῷ πλησίον, ἑαυτὸν πρὸ ἐκείνου τῶν ἐγκλημάτων ἀπήλλαξεν, οὐδὲν καμών· ὅ τε μετὰ φειδοῦς καὶ συγγνώμης τὰ πεπλημμελημένα ἑτέροις ἐξετάσας, πολὺν ἑαυτῷ τῆς συγγνώμης τὸν ἔρανον ἀπὸ τῆς ψήφου προαπέθετο. Τί οὖν; ἂν πορνεύῃ, φησὶ, μὴ εἴπω ὅτι κακὸν ἡ πορνεία, μηδὲ διορθώσωμαι τὸν ἀσελγαίνοντα; ∆ιόρθωσον μὲν, ἀλλὰ μὴ ὡς πολέμιος, μηδὲ ὡς ἐχθρὸς ἀπαιτῶν δίκην, ἀλλ' ὡς ἰατρὸς φάρμακα κατασκευάζων. Οὐδὲ γὰρ εἶπε, μὴ παύσῃς ἁμαρτάνοντα, ἀλλὰ, μὴ κρίνῃς· τουτέστι, μὴ πικρὸς γίνου δικαστής. Ἄλλως δὲ οὐδὲ περὶ τῶν μεγάλων καὶ ἀπηγορευμένων, ὅπερ ἔφθην εἰπὼν, ἀλλὰ περὶ τῶν οὐδὲ δοκούντων εἶναι πλημμελημάτων τοῦτο εἴρηται. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἔλεγε· Τί βλέπεις τὸ κάρφος τὸ ἐν τῷ ὀφθαλμῷ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου; Καὶ γὰρ πολλοὶ νῦν τοῦτο ποιοῦσι· κἂν ἴδωσι μοναχὸν περιττὸν ἱμάτιον ἔχοντα, τὸν νόμον αὐτῷ προβάλλονται τὸν δεσποτικὸν, αὐτοὶ μυρία ἁρπάζοντες καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην πλεονεκτοῦντες τὴν ἡμέραν· κἂν ἴδωσι δαψιλεστέρας τροφῆς ἀπολαύοντα, πικροὶ γίνονται κατήγοροι καθ' ἡμέραν αὐτοὶ μεθύοντες καὶ κραιπαλῶντες, οὐκ εἰδότες ὅτι μετὰ τῶν οἰκείων ἁμαρτημάτων μεῖζον ἑαυτοῖς ἐντεῦθεν συνάγουσι τὸ πῦρ, καὶ πάσης ἑαυτοὺς ἀποστεροῦσιν ἀπολογίας. Ὅτι μὲν γὰρ δεῖ μετὰ ἀκριβείας ἐξετάζειν τὰ σὰ, σὺ πρῶτος νόμον ἔθηκας, οὕτω τοῖς τοῦ πλησίον δικάσας. Μὴ τοίνυν βαρὺ νόμιζε εἶναι, εἰ καὶ αὐτὸς μέλλεις τοιαύτας ὑπέχειν εὐθύνας. Ὑποκριτὰ, ἔκβαλε πρῶτον τὴν δοκὸν ἐκ τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ σου. Ἐνταῦθα τὴν ὀργὴν ἐνδείξασθαι βούλεται τὴν πολλὴν, ἢν ἔχει πρὸς τοὺς τὰ τοιαῦτα ποιοῦντας. Καὶ γὰρ ὅπουπερ ἂν βουληθῇ δεῖξαι τὸ ἁμάρτημα μέγα ὂν, καὶ πολλὴν τὴν ἐπ' αὐτῷ κόλασιν καὶ ὀργὴν, ἀπὸ ὕβρεως ἄρχεται. Ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον τὸν τὰ ἑκατὸν δηνάρια ἀπαιτοῦντα ἀγανακτῶν ἔλεγε· Πονηρὲ δοῦλε, πᾶσαν τὴν ὀφειλὴν ἐκείνην ἀφῆκά σοι· οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα, Ὑποκριτά. Οὐ γὰρ κηδεμονίας ἡ τοιαύτη ψῆφος, ἀλλὰ μισανθρωπίας ἐστί· καὶ προσωπεῖον μὲν φιλανθρωπίας προβάλλεται, ἔργον δὲ ἐσχάτης πονηρίας πληροῖ, ὀνείδη περιττὰ καὶ ἐγκλήματα προστριβόμενος τοῖς πλησίον, καὶ 57.310 διδασκάλου τάξιν ἁρπάζων, οὐδὲ μαθητὴς ἄξιος ὢν εἶναι· διὰ τοῦτο ὑποκριτὴν αὐτὸν ἐκάλεσεν. Ὁ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ἑτέρων οὕτως ὢν πικρὸς, ὡς καὶ τὰ μικρὰ ἰδεῖν, πῶς ἐν τοῖς σοῖς οὕτω γέγονας ῥᾴθυμος, ὡς καὶ τὰ μεγάλα παραδραμεῖν; Ἔκβαλε πρῶτον τὴν δοκὸν ἐκ τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ σου. Ὁρᾷς, ὅτι οὐ κωλύει τὸ κρίνειν, ἀλλὰ κελεύει ἐκβάλλειν πρῶτον τὴν δοκὸν ἐκ τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ, καὶ τότε τὰ τῶν ἄλλων διορθοῦν; Καὶ γὰρ τὰ ἑαυτοῦ τις μᾶλλον οἶδεν, ἢ τὰ ἑτέρων· καὶ τὰ μείζονα μᾶλλον ὁρᾷ, ἢ τὰ ἐλάττω· καὶ ἑαυτὸν μᾶλλον φιλεῖ, ἢ τὸν πλησίον. Ὥστε εἰ κηδόμενος ποιεῖς, σαυτοῦ κήδου πρότερον, ἔνθα καὶ σαφέστερον καὶ μεῖζον τὸ ἁμάρτημα. Εἰ δὲ σαυτοῦ καταφρονεῖς, εὔδηλον ὅτι καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν οὐ κηδόμενος κρίνεις, ἀλλὰ μισῶν καὶ ἐκπομπεῦσαι βουλόμενος. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ δέοι τοῦτον κρίνεσθαι, παρὰ τοῦ μηδὲν τοιοῦτον