Prologue in Sermons: April 22

 

One Must Not Judge a Person By Outward Actions

April 22

(A Word about the Venerable Vitalios* the monk, how he left his cell and went to Alexandria, and saved many harlots.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

For the most part, we judge a person by his outward actions. If a man does something bad in our sight, we say that he is a bad man, and, for embellishment of speech, we even invent something about him ourselves, and thus an evil rumor spreads about him. But one must not judge this way, because we do not know the inner motives that led a person to do one thing or another, and not knowing them, we cannot condemn him. For example, in order to avoid human glory, a man does good secretly, but we, not seeing him openly giving alms, say that he is stingy. Do we judge rightly? Certainly not. A man by nature is silent and loves to do good not in words but in deeds. But we, not knowing his virtues and basing ourselves only on his lack of talkativeness, call him hard-hearted. Do we judge justly? Again, no. A man, not wishing to appear before others as fasting, eats sweet foods in company; but we, not knowing that at home he does not even eat his fill of coarse bread, call him a glutton and a drunkard. Is our judgment not mistaken? Without doubt, yes. There may be other cases. Let us take the following.

Our Venerable Father Vitalios, after sixty years of ascetic labors in the Cell of Saint Spyridon, came to Alexandria and began to live there, as it is said in his life, “as a man for scandal.” Wishing to avoid human glory, he acted thus: during the day he hired himself out for work and received for his labor a silver coin per day; from this money he bought for himself food — beans — for the smallest possible sum, and then in the evening he would go to the houses of fallen women. There, giving them the money he had earned during the day, he begged the women to abandon their sinful life, and afterward spent the whole night with them in the singing of psalms and in prayer. When leaving, he always took a promise from the fallen women not to tell anyone why he came to them. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of the city, not knowing the true purpose of his visits, reproached him daily and said: “Go, wretch, your harlots are waiting for you.” Or: “It would have been better if you had married than to disgrace the monastic rank!” Vitalios did not justify himself and, concealing his virtue, continued his struggle to the end, and saved many of the fallen. His deed was revealed only after his death, when a demoniac woman was healed by touching his body, and “many,” as it is said, “ of the lame and the blind were healed.”

Here, then, is yet another clear proof that one must not judge a person by outward actions, because it is easy to be mistaken. And from this it follows of itself that if one can be mistaken in judging a person by visible actions, and therefore should not judge, then all the more should one not judge based on rumors or slanders from others. And if it is not possible to judge either by rumors or by outward actions, then it is better not to judge at all, if one is not called to it by one’s office. “Judge nothing before the time,” says the word of God, “until the Lord comes, who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts; and then each one will receive praise from God” (1 Cor. 4:5). The Apostle James also warns against judging, saying: “There is one Lawgiver and Judge, who is able to save and to destroy; who are you to judge another?” (James 4:12). The same is taught by the Apostle Paul: “Who are you,” he says, “to judge another man’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls” (Rom. 14:4). And the Lord Himself says: “Judge not, and you shall not be judged; condemn not, and you shall not be condemned” (Luke 6:37). Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

 

* Commemorated on  April 22 according to the Slavic calendar, while on the Greek calendar he is commemorated on January 11.