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Sayings of the Fathers (Systematic Collection, Latin)

tr. Chadwick, 1958; selections

9. Part 9: That We Should Judge No Man

A brother in the community of Abba Elias was once tempted. And being expelled from the community, he went away to the mountain to Abba Antony. And when he had stayed there with him for some time, Antony sent him back to his old community. But when they saw him, they drove him out again. Again he went to Abba Antony and said: “They will not have me, father.” So the old man sent a message to them, saying: “A ship was wrecked in the ocean and lost its cargo, and with great difficulty the lightened ship was brought to land. Do you want to run a rescued ship aground and sink it?” They saw that Abba Antony had sent him back, and at once accepted him.

A brother sinned, and the presbyter ordered him to go out of church. But Abba Bessarion rose up and went out with him, saying: “I too am a sinner.”

Abba Isaac of the Thebaid came to a community and saw one of the brothers to be blameworthy, and sentenced him. But when he had gone out to the desert, the angel of the Lord came and stood in front of the door of his cell, and said: “I will not let you go in.” He asked: “Why not?” And the angel of the Lord answered: “God sent me to say this to you: ‘Where do you command me to send that blameworthy brother whom you sentenced?’” And at once Abba Isaac did penance, saying: “I have sinned, forgive me.” And the angel said: “Arise, God forgives you. But in future take care you judge no man before God has judged him.”

In Scete a brother was once found guilty. They assembled the elders, and sent a message to Abba Moses telling him to come. But he would not come. Then the presbyter sent, saying: “Come, for a meeting of monks is waiting for you.” Moses rose up and went. He took with him an old basket which he filled with sand and carried on his back. The people who went to meet him said: “What is this, father?” The old man said to them: “My sins are chasing me, and I do not see them—have I come today to judge the sins of someone else?” They listened to him, and said nothing to the erring brother, but pardoned him.

Abba Joseph asked Abba Poemen: “Tell me how to become a monk.” The old man said: “If you want to find rest in this life and the next, say at every turn ‘Who am I?’ and judge no man.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen: “If I see my brother sin, is it good to tell no one about it?” The old man said: “Whenever we cover our brother’s sin, God will cover our sin. Whenever we tell people about our brother’s guilt, God will do the same with ours.”

Once a brother in a community stumbled. In the same region there lived a hermit who for a long time had not gone out of his cell. The abbot of the community went to the hermit and told him of the monk’s offence. The hermit said: “Expel him.”

So the monk was expelled from the community, and flung himself in a ditch and wept. Some other monks happened to pass that way to see Abba Poemen, and they heard him groaning in the ditch. They climbed down and found him in desperate grief: and they asked him to go to the old hermit. But he refused, saying: “I shall die here.” The brothers went to Abba Poemen and told him about it. He asked them to go back to the monk and say: “Abba Poemen summons you.” They did what he said, and the monk came to Abba Poemen. The old man saw how he was suffering, and rose up and kissed him, and hospitably invited him to take supper.

But Abba Poemen sent one of his brothers to the hermit with this message: “I have heard of you, and for many years have wanted to meet you, but we were both too lazy to arrange a meeting. But now, by God’s will and this opportunity, make the tiring journey so that we can meet.” For Poemen was under a rule of not going out of his cell. When the hermit heard the message, he said: “He would not have sent to me unless God had inspired him to it.” And he rose up and went.

They greeted each other with pleasure and sat down. Abba Poemen said to him: “There were two men in one place, and they were each mourning for a dead man. But one left his own dead, and went away to weep for the other’s.” And the old hermit was stricken at the saying, and remembered what he had done. And he said: “Poemen is up in heaven, I am down on earth.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen: “What am I to do, for I become a weakling just by sitting in my cell?” The old man said: “Despise no one: condemn no one: abuse no one: and God will give you quietness, and you will sit tranquil in your cell.”

Once there was a meeting of monks in Scete, and the fathers discussed the case of a guilty brother. But Abba Pior said nothing. Afterwards he rose up and went out; he took a sack, filled it with sand, and carried it on his shoulders. And he put a little more sand in a basket, and carried it in front of him. The fathers asked him: “What are you doing?” He answered: “The sack with a lot of sand is my sins: they are many, so I put them on my back and then I shall not weep for them. The basket with a little sand is the sins of our brother; and they are in front of me, and I see them and judge them. This is not right. I ought to have my own sins in front of me, and think about them, and ask God to forgive me.”

When the fathers heard this, they said: “Truly this is the way of salvation.”¹

An old man said: “Judge not the adulterer if you are chaste—or you will break the law of God likewise. For he who said ‘Do not commit adultery’ also said ‘Judge not.’”

The presbyter of a church came to a hermit to consecrate the offering for him to communicate. But another man came to the hermit and made accusations against that presbyter. The next time that the presbyter came to consecrate as usual, the hermit was scandalized and would not let him in. The presbyter saw it and went away. And then the hermit heard a voice saying: “Men have taken my judgement into their own hands.” And he was rapt, and saw a vision of a well of gold and a bucket of gold, and a rope of gold, and plenty of drinking water. And he saw a leper emptying and refilling the bucket: and he wanted to drink himself, but did not because the leper had emptied it. Then the voice came a second time to him and said: “Why do you not drink this water? What does it matter who fills it? For he only fills it, and pours it out again.”

Then the hermit came back to his normal mind, and understood what the vision had meant. He called the presbyter and made him consecrate the offering as before.

Two brothers in a community lived a saintly life, and had made such progress that they could see the grace of God in each other. It happened that one of them went out of the monastery on a Friday and saw a man eating, though it was morning. He said to him: “Are you eating at this hour on a Friday?” On the Saturday the usual celebration of mass was held. And his brother saw that the grace which had been given him had departed from him, and he was distressed. He went to the cell and said: “What have you done, brother? I did not see the grace of God in you as I used to do.” And he said: “I am not aware of having sinned, either in deed or thought.” His brother said: “Did you say an idle word to someone?” And he remembered, and said: “Yes. Yesterday I saw someone eating food in the morning, and I said to him: ‘Are you eating at this hour on a Friday?’ That is my sin. Be severe with me for a fortnight and we will beg God to forgive me.” They did so. And after a fortnight the brother saw the grace of God again coming upon his brother. And they were comforted, and gave thanks to God who alone is good.

12A. A holy man wept bitterly when he saw someone sinning, and said: “He today: I tomorrow.” However grave a sin is brought to your notice, you must not judge the culprit, but believe yourself to be a worse sinner than he.

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