Difficult to see with your own eyes. We see a mote in someone else's eye, we don't notice a log in our own ...

In the section on the question, please recall how verbatim the saying about the log in your own eye sounds, given by the author Inna the best answer is A. S. Pushkin spoke as follows-
"From the all-night evening going home,
Antipievna scolded Marfushka;
Antipyevna was superbly excited.
“Wait,” he shouts, “I will manage with you;
Do you think I forgot
That night, when, climbing into a corner,
Have you been naughty with your godson Vanyushka?
Wait, hubby will find out about everything! »
- You eh to threaten! - Marfushka answers:
Vanyusha - what? After all, he is still a child;
And the matchmaker Trofim, who you have
Both day and night? The whole city knows it.
Shut up, godfather: and you, like me, are sinful,
And you will break everyone with words;
In someone else's - --- - you see a straw,
And you don't even see the logs. "
Which of you did not pick up the missing word? There are none, I can say with 100% certainty!
Finding out the author is much more difficult, isn't it? Announcement: Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. And this poem
with such a pass was printed in mass publications
collected works of the great poet during the strict Soviet censorship.
Am I missing something or what?
What a wasp on a Nokia 5800, but because gladioli ... idiocy ..!

Answer from flush[expert]
You notice a mote in someone else's eye, but you don't see a log in your own)
like so)

Answer from pickle[guru]
"In his own eye he does not see a log, but in someone else's eye he sees a speck / twig."

Answer from Zloygenii[newbie]
I think that the word HUT is missing, since the poem is quite old, at the same time there was an expression not to take rubbish out of the hut ...

Answer from Extend[newbie]
pussy*

Answer from Yotiv Hammer[guru]
This is not a saying, but the words of Christ:
"How can you say to your brother: brother! let me take the speck out of your eye, when you yourself do not see the beam in your eye? Hypocrite! first take the beam out of your eye, and then you will see how to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

To see a mote in someone else's eye, not to notice a log in your own, what does it mean?

There are people who are very fond of discussing others and delving into their personal lives and washing their bones. And at such a moment they cling to any mistakes of this person, and the mote means some absolutely small fact or misconduct from their life, which does not play any role at all.

And this is being discussed very actively, although this person, who discusses and condemns, is much worse than his counterpart. And a beam in his eye, this is some kind of act, or misconduct, which he does not remember and forgot, although his role there was completely ugly. But one will never see one's own, which is why such a proverb has developed.

This can only be explained with a real life example.

there are people who do not notice any bad deeds behind them, let alone judge relatives and not quite close masters. there are some housewives who can’t say to put it mildly, and if you treat them to a face with a squirm, then it’s not salty, then it’s dry. so it turns out that a friend can see everything, but she herself cannot do this.

Such a proverb can only be explained with a specific example. Well, for example ... There was such a case during my school practice. In the 90s, at the school where I worked, the director was a former party official who had a pedagogical diploma from his youth, but he hardly worked on it. As after the institute he began to spin on party work, he rose to the rank of deputy first secretary of the city committee. In the early 90s, the party ceased to exist, and he, as a the leader was thrust into the school as the director. But how to work if he doesn’t know the specifics? No, to learn where there is! Pride did not allow. He found a way out: he began to spread rot on his subordinates according to the formal nomenclature, according to instructions, everyone in a row, at every teachers' council, at every meeting. That is, I saw a straw in everyone's eye. And in my own eye I did not notice the log. The log is his complete unsuitability as a teacher and as a primary leader. Another example, with him. Once spoke at a meeting against him with criticism. He decided to take revenge and came to my lesson. In the analysis, he wrote such dirt that it was just right to kick me out of work. Then he called me and told me to take this notebook in the teacher's room and get acquainted with his verdictquot ;. I took it, read it, and suddenly I find spelling mistakes in his writing! I boldly take a pen with red ink, correct all the mistakes and, with a sense of accomplishment, put the notebook back in its place. The next day I found torn sheets there, and he no longer appeared at my lessons, he sent the head teacher.

This proverb can be transformed into another expression: The wolf was afraid of the dog for its big teethquot ;. Or else: He who stole a million hates a pickpocketquot ;.

Most often, in practice, this happens. A person who has perfectly and long noticed in both his eyes a long rotten log (how can you not notice when they interfere with life) begins the rest of the world under yourself. He so touchingly and unexpectedly begins to suddenly rejoice for the purity of the Universe, for the crystal order in the matter of justice, that you will hear directly. He will pick up every speck of dust and examine every speck through a microscope. He pays special attention to non-existent ones. This makes it more effective. This is how he tries to blow off the fluff from his dirty stigma.

But he doesn’t realize that the red cap that once flaunted on his head has long since flared and burned with a blue flame. Even more strongly demonstrating to the assembled spectators the logs sticking out of his cunning eyes.

Collecting dust particles from the paths is an exceptionally noble thing. But in order to get the moral right to do this, you must first remove the garbage from your eye sockets.

This folk saying, very often used, does not hide the true meaning too deeply. This, of course, is not about a mote and a log. Yes, and there are no such huge eyes, in which not only a log, but also a chip will fit imperceptibly.

It's about sins, misdemeanors, shortcomings. The fact that people tend to notice other people's, even small mistakes, while we do not notice our own, much larger, difficult and unforgivable ones.

People are often too critical of others and not critical enough of themselves. In others, we notice the slightest flaw (even a mote in the eye), but in ourselves we do not notice or do not recognize even major flaws ( log compared with mote).

To see a mote in someone else's eye, but not to notice a log in one's own is just a figurative expression.

Apparently, it takes its history from the Gospel.

I think there is another call to start the path to virtue with yourself. First you need to become righteous yourself, and then you can start teaching others. And it’s better not to judge others at all ( don’t judge, lest you be judged;), but, perhaps, with your example and good parting words, show them the right path.

I know people who see a mote in someone else's eye, but don't notice a log in their own) This proverb means that people really like to discuss other people, notice all their shortcomings, condemn even insignificant actions. Although they themselves behave much worse, they do not notice this behind themselves.

This means an absolutely non-objective attitude towards one's own misdeeds and the misdeeds of another person.

One-sided judgment of one's rightness. A loyal attitude towards one's jambsquot ;, and at the same time a tactless, revealing attitude towards the minuses of others.

This is a very ancient proverb, which is mentioned in the New Testament and its meaning is obvious - other people's shortcomings are always much more striking to us than our own shortcomings. That is, the smallest fault, the smallest shortcoming of another person is sometimes subjected to cruel ridicule and condemnation from people who themselves are seen in much more serious offenses. Such a condescending attitude in oneself often comes from the desire to hide our well-known shortcomings by transferring the attention of others to the shortcomings of another person. It's wrong, but it happens everywhere. And if with a smile, then the young lyceum student Pushkin also turned to this proverb in his not the most decent poems and was really noticed by Derzhavin, who recommended that the poet not ruin his talent with such verses.

Seeing a speck in someone else's eye means that a person notices the slightest and most insignificant shortcomings of the people around him. Do not notice the log in your own eye - means that a person is not aware of his major shortcomings, which other people condemn. I first heard this saying about fifty years ago. I was then seven years old. So to the complaint of the main bully class my first teacher reacted. I told him then, after his long harassment, a black eye For the first time in my life, I was not punished for a fight.

The events in Ukraine and Crimea occupy all the attention not only of our official Russian press, so to speak, but of all Russian leftists.

At the same time, the common position of the latter, all these “fighting for the rights of workers” is full support for the actions of the Russian bourgeois authorities, which have graciously chopped off a piece of territory from a neighboring state to the noisy cries of the oppression of Russian-speaking citizens in Ukraine and the “reunification of the Russian people”. “Particularly smart” leftists presented what is happening in Crimea even as “the re-creation of the USSR”, completely forgetting about the difference between a socialist and a bourgeois state. Some people shouted at the top of their lungs about the "friendship of peoples."

In general, everything was like in a good movie - all the roles are painted, each in its place, and it doesn’t matter at all that the actors in this performance were not all professional, some, so to speak, gave themselves not for a salary, but “at the call of souls."

Russian opportunism has reached its logical end, merging in voluptuous ecstasy with the Russian bourgeoisie.

The imperialist policy of the Russian government in Ukraine received the full support of the Russian population, embraced by great-power patriotism. This is the reality of today's Russia, from which there is no escape. Practically no one spoke out against such a policy, with the possible exception of the liberal opposition, which managed to maintain its own view of what is happening, and literally isolated representatives of the communist movement, who anxiously stand on the positions of the proletariat and understand what's what.

But they were not listened to. And why? Now none of the leftists think what their support for the Russian bourgeois government will turn out to be in the future. They will think later (and that is not a fact!), when our people will cry bloody tears. And you can be absolutely sure that this will happen.

What is the reason for these traitorous actions of the left? After all, among them are a lot of those who sincerely consider themselves communists and even Marxist-Leninists?

Frightened by the threat of fascism, but not understanding its true nature, they were looking for someone to whom they could hide under the wing from the impending danger. And they found such a "defender" in the person of the Russian bourgeois authorities. But the fact that this “defender” himself will give a hundred points ahead to Bandera and the Ukrainian right-wing opposition, which has now seized power in Ukraine, in terms of oppressing the country’s own population, was somehow not taken into account by the Russian left and “communists”.

After all, it’s really much calmer to look for motes in the eyes of a neighbor, stubbornly ignoring what has been going on under your nose for years (!!!), especially since the Russian authorities don’t stroke the head of the “especially vigilant” ones. Isn't that why a rare leftist resource, even one that proudly declares its extreme revolutionary nature, dares to publish any material on the topic of terrorism and the events taking place in the North Caucasus?

But there is a real civil war going on. And the daily messages from this region - rather big, by the way, 15 million population, as in Moscow - resemble reports from the front.

"In the North Caucasus, during the armed conflict from March 24 to March 30, 11 people were killed."

"Seven people became victims of the armed conflict in the North Caucasus from March 17 to March 23".

"5291 people affected by the conflict in the North Caucasus in four years, more than half in Dagestan".

The account already goes to tens of thousands of dead, and even more injured. This is hundreds of times higher than the number of those who died in the “Maidan showdowns” in Ukraine.

But why does it bother NOBODY in Russia? Even the "freedom-loving" liberals are silent in a rag, not to mention the left?

Maybe because there in the North Caucasus, mostly non-Russians are killed? But Russians are also dying there, both among local residents and among federal troops.

Or maybe our leftists and "communists" do not pay attention to the North Caucasus because there are no monuments to Lenin demolished, swastikas are not painted everywhere and members of the Communist Party are not beaten? So, in their opinion, there is nothing to worry about - there is nothing terrible in the events taking place in the Caucasus, no, this is not a "threat to fascism", as in Ukraine.

And this, dear citizens, how to say... If you know, the situation in the North Caucasus is an order of magnitude worse than what is happening now in Ukraine.

Here are excerpts from today's article from one well-informed and serious resource:

“According to Aishat Dyshnoeva, on March 22 they woke up from the roar of many cars and screams. “We heard people shouting over the loudspeaker in Russian: “Come out, everyone leave the house! Turn on the lights in all rooms! I spent the night with my mother and older brother Magomed in the old house, and Bashir and Aslan with my wife spent the night in the new one. We went out into the yard, and it was full of armed soldiers, almost all of them in black masks. There were armored personnel carriers and Ural vehicles near the house. Magomed was immediately placed facing the wall, and Bashir was on his knees and forced to put his hands behind his head. Mom rushed to him, but she, me and the pregnant daughter-in-law, Aslan's wife, were forced to leave the yard. And then, about ten minutes later, we were put in a car and taken to Nazran. That's how I remember my brother - on his knees, hands behind his head. I never saw him alive again,” said Aishat.

According to her, in Nazran they were brought to the Center for Combating Terrorism of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Ingushetia, where everyone was interrogated: what the brothers did, who their friends were.

“Fingerprints and materials for DNA testing were taken from everyone. At the last interrogation I was asked to give the names of all the brothers. I named everyone and Bashir too. And the one who interrogated asks again: “Is this the one who was killed?” I replied that when we left, he was alive, and he grinned and said: “Well, yes, he is alive. Was alive." When we left the Ministry of Internal Affairs, I saw my older brother Magomed, he was all swollen from beatings. His head was broken, his legs were swollen, he could hardly walk. I asked what happened to Bashir, he replied that everything was in order. He didn’t say that he was killed, he didn’t want us to start crying in front of those who interrogated us,” Aishat said.

According to her, in the evening, when they returned home, they saw that there was nothing left of the house. “But the most bitter thing is that they killed Bashir. Magomed then said that the feds told the brothers to run away. Bashir asked: "Why should we run away if we are not guilty of anything and have not done anything?" Then they pushed Bashir hard, and he took a few steps to the side so as not to lose his balance. And then they fired a burst of machine guns at him. Then they brought his body into the house, put it on the bed and blew up the house. And then they said that he blew himself up, because there were explosives in the house and something else. They took some kind of weapon out of the house, a bucket with something, and they say that all this is ours, and we kept it in our house. I saw all this for the first time,” Aishat continues her story.

Aishat also said that, according to eyewitnesses, before blowing up the house, they took out all household appliances, all the dowry of Bashir's young wife - he only got married two months ago. “There was nothing left, everything was loaded onto the Ural and taken away. We have nothing to wear now. We walk like homeless people. We spend the night at one place, then at another. All our documents were taken away, mobile phones, nothing was left. The villagers are helping us. Last Saturday, guys from all over the village helped clear the rubble,” says Aishat.

According to her, their family members are still not left alone, they are called in for interrogations every now and then. “But we have nothing to say, Bashir lived in front of everyone and everyone knows that he was not a member of any illegal armed groups. But no one wants to listen to us, no one cares about us and our misfortune,” says Aishat.

And here's another piece of evidence:

“According to Leyla Kurieva, the mother of the murdered Muslim Kuriev, several years ago she and her son bought a land plot in the village of Plievo, on which they put a trailer and bought building materials in order to build a house on this site. “My son worked from dawn to dusk as a builder, and we had almost everything ready to start building our house. I thought that this year, closer to autumn, my son is getting married. But everything turned out quite differently.”

“On March 22, early in the morning, I heard the rumble of engines, it was clear that this was not one car. I looked out the window, saw the Ural right next to our trailer and a lot of soldiers around. She woke up her son, said: "let's go somewhere, hide." He just waved me away: “Where to run? Are we guilty of something to run somewhere, hide? We stayed at home and didn't go out. At about five o'clock, they began to shout through the loudspeaker: "The owners of the trailer, get out!" I was terribly frightened, my legs gave out, I can’t walk, my son helped me go out into the yard. The son raised his hands and said: “Guys, we have nothing, check!”. Past us, several people with machine guns entered the trailer, and after a few minutes they began to shout: "Kuriev, come in here, we'll talk!" I didn’t want to let him go there alone, I rushed after him, and the military grabbed me and dragged me away from the trailer,” said Leyla Kurieva.

According to the woman, she stood near the cars for a long time, until dawn, waiting for her son to be released. “I didn’t hear shots in the house. Then I asked the employees who were standing nearby: “for what? Why are you here?" To which she heard: “Mother, do you think we want to stand here? It was your tip that was given!” Kurieva said.

According to her, two employees in camouflage uniforms approached her and said in Ingush that they needed to go with them so that she could write an explanation. “I told them that I would not go anywhere until I found out what happened to my son. In response, she heard a rude: “You will go, where will you go!” and they forced me into the car and took me away. When we were passing our street, I saw that the Dyshnoevs were also full of military men, and many people had gathered. Their gates were open, I saw that the small house of the Dyshnoevs, which was located in the middle of the courtyard, opposite the gate, was destroyed, ”the woman said.

In Nazran, at the Center for Combating Extremism, where they brought Kurieva, she did not stay long. The employee, who, according to her, did not introduce himself, asked about his son, where he works, with whom he communicates, whether he often leaves home. Layla replied that there was not a day when Muslim did not spend the night at home.

Leyla Kurieva says that when she arrived home, she was not allowed through the uncoupling for a long time, but then they let her through. “And when I was walking to the trailer, behind my back one of the soldiers told another that it was her murdered son that was lying in the trailer. That's how I found out that I no longer have a son, ”says Leila.

According to her, they did not let her into the trailer, explaining that experts were working there.

“Military men were standing near the house, I asked them why they killed my son, and one of them said that they had a tip, and some kind of list, in which my son’s surname was. In the yard I saw a stretcher with my son's body on it. After that, an ambulance arrived and took Muslim away,” says Leyla.

Leyla Kurieva got into her home only in the evening. Everything inside was turned upside down. Lost laptop, mobile phones, money, documents.

What was it? And so, just an ordinary anti-terrorist special operation, which every other day, but every day, is carried out here and there on the territory of the republics of the North Caucasus. The usual, so to speak, life of the local peoples, driven by what is happening to complete despair.

“During the special operation on March 22, the house that belonged to a resident of the village Khusein Pliev was also destroyed, said Leyla Kurieva and the mother of the murdered Bashir Dyshnoev, Aishat Dyshnoeva. They also said that Hussein Pliyev was visually impaired.

Askhab, a resident of the same locality who lives not far from Hussein Pliyev, said that the man could hardly see anything. “We do not know what he was guilty of, that his house was destroyed. Judging by the conversation between the security forces, we realized that they had the wrong address in the dark. They also remembered that they also made a mistake with the address during the special operation in Dolakovo. The fact that there was a mistake in the work of the security forces is also evidenced by the fact that there were no accusations against Hussein Pliyev and his family from the specialists”…”

“According to Sarazhdin Sultygov, one of the leaders of the Mekhk-Khel public organization, what happened in Plievo is an extrajudicial execution. “At the time when the Olympics were underway, there were no special operations. Everything was calm. Now everything is back to normal: again special operations, again the murders of our guys. We know these young people who were killed on the night of March 22. Neither neighbors, nor relatives, nor fellow villagers who had to communicate with them, can say anything bad about them. They lived quietly and worked. One of them got married two months ago, the other was going to start a family. But they were killed. The thread broke, the branch of the family tree was broken. And who is responsible for this? Practice shows that the guilty will not be found, and the dead will be declared members of illegal armed formations. But it does not happen that a person leads a double life. After all, this is a village, here everyone is in full view of each other,” he says.

Sultygov believes that even if these guys were engaged in some kind of illegal activity, if they had connections with members of an illegal armed formation, then this must, firstly, be proved, and secondly, judged, as required by law.”

We fully agree with the opinion of the head of the public organization Sultygov - it is impossible to kill people without trial and investigation, even if the bourgeois authorities pass five hundred laws allowing this. If a person is guilty - prove it, condemn him and punish him. Only this way and nothing else. Otherwise, there can be no question of any democracy in the country.

We fully understand that the testimonies of individuals, especially the relatives of the victims, are a subjective opinion, which may well not reflect the real picture of what happened then in the village. The only thing is that this is by no means an isolated case. On the same Internet resource, there are many similar testimonies, as well as many examples when relatives of people who died just as innocently managed to prove their case in international courts.

But this is not even the point, but first of all, that the problem and the serious problem - EXISTS . And it should not be hushed up, but DECIDED. It is not the first year that a civil war has been going on in the North Caucasus, in which real people are dying. And they die DAILY! Not to see, not to notice the ongoing tragedies of entire peoples under one’s nose, while simultaneously shouting about the protection of the rights of Russian-speaking citizens in other countries, is shameful hypocrisy and servility in front of one’s own bourgeoisie, which will covet foreign territories, not wanting to solve the problems of their own country and its inhabitants. peoples!

An equally real fact in our country is the CTO regime, which actually abolishes all civil rights and freedoms of the Russian population. Under this regime, any influential person can, if desired, bring anything. And as we see, they fail, forming the very “lists” in accordance with which special operations are carried out. And this is nothing else than state terrorism, since these interested and influential persons act on behalf of the entire Russian state. This is the same terrorist dictatorship of big capital, i.e. fascism, about which they talk so much about Ukraine, and completely do not notice its manifestations in their own country - in Russia.

Moreover, this policy of the Russian authorities also tends to tighten. The events of recent years clearly and clearly show that the scope of this CTO is expanding more and more, drawing into itself new regions of the country. A civil war is spreading throughout southern Russia. And there is no guarantee that she will not go further. The Russian authorities are becoming bolder and bolder every day, more and more curtailing the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens. Any protest, any indignation of the working people is now equated by it almost with a crime, for which one can easily get a prison term or a bullet in the forehead.

Isn't all this a terrorist dictatorship of the ruling class of the Russian oligarchy, which oppresses the entire working people, who are now deprived of any right to express their will in any way? Isn't this the same fascism that our Russian leftists are afraid of to the point of green diarrhea? But it's too late to be afraid, he's already here in Russia. Including through the fault of the left itself, who did not bother to recognize this impending danger in time.

Now there is only one thing left - to fight against it with all your might, forming the very broad Popular Front of the struggle for the democratization of the entire Russian society, which should include all the progressive forces of the country. And this needs to be done not only in Ukraine, as we once did, but also here in Russia. The struggle for democracy, for the expansion of civil and political freedoms in the country, the broad class struggle of the Russian proletariat for its emancipation is the only way to lay siege to the unbridled big capital in Russia, which, if it is not stopped in time, will inevitably draw our country into a new world imperialist slaughter.

Ivan Shmelev, in his autobiographical story “Praying Man,” recalls how, as a child, he examined the refectory church of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Noticing that his attention was especially attracted by the painting, which depicts sinners with a knot and a log in their eye, the monk explained that this picture explains the gospel parable, and quoted the words of the Savior: “Why are you looking at the knot in your brother’s eye, and the log in your can't you feel it in your eyes?" (Matthew 7:3).

"No, it doesn't hurt!" It must be admitted that the monk's answer very accurately reflected the feeling experienced by a person who is used to judging. It really does not hurt him: he does not suffer either for the condemned or for himself, since he does not feel the logs of his passion at all. And that "understanding" about which the monk spoke to the boy, the one who condemns others does not have either. The beam sticking out of his eye does not in the least prevent him from noticing even small offenses - knots in the eyes of others and, moreover, from considering himself entitled to intrude with awkward attempts to heal, correct another: “Give me, I will take the speck out of your eye” (Matt. 7, 4).

Pretty common situation. At the Sunday Liturgy, a “permanent” parishioner approaches a woman who has made a bow to the ground and importantly points out: “On Sundays, bows to the ground are not performed.” She “pulls the speck out of her eye” in such a way, believing that she is doing good to her neighbor. But does she really know what is going on in someone else's soul at that moment, what feeling of despair, crying out to God for help or, on the contrary, gratitude for the past misfortune caused this bow? Yes, bowing to the ground on Sundays is not prescribed by the charter, because every Sunday is a small Pascha. But if a person does it, he does not commit a crime. Why unceremoniously intrude into someone else's prayer of repentance or gratitude? The parishioner is full of a sense of her own importance and solemnly carries her log further.

The passion of condemnation is probably the most widespread and at the same time the least noticeable of all other vices. Inconspicuously, but all-encompassing, it invades our everyday life, at all moments of life, like dust penetrates into all cracks. The one who observes his inner life with horror notices that the process of condemnation is almost unstoppable and uncontrollable. A person constantly condemns everyone and everything, regardless of where he is: in the temple, at home, at work or on the street. If, for example, one can somehow cope with the sin of gluttony, overpower one's desire, then condemnation, like harmful and barely discernible dust, imperceptibly clogs the soul.

It must be understood that the condemnation of others is extremely dangerous, because this sin deals a triple blow: it is directed against God, tramples on love for one's neighbor, and harms the one who condemns.

By condemning other people, a person steals the court from God, appropriates to himself the functions inherent only to God. As the only Creator of all things, the Lord has absolute knowledge of the soul of every person, with its vices and virtues. Only God is fully open to the inner struggle and the tears of repentance hidden from the world. A person who allows himself, without hesitation, to easily condemn others, does not even understand what he is doing, his own sin seems so insignificant to him. He seems to be saying: “Lord, I know better than You what this person is right about, and what needs to be corrected, what to put on his mind.”

The Japanese writer Yukio Mishima has a story in which a criminal, a witness and a victim tell about the same crime. All of them, for example, describe the bush near which it was committed, but they do it in completely different ways. In this story, the writer remarkably showed that we cannot judge anything objectively, since each person looks "from his own bell tower." No one, even a well-intentioned person, is immune from errors in his opinion about the actions and words of another. Moreover, we are not aware of other people's thoughts, feelings and motives of behavior. For this reason, the Lord urges us not to delve into the imperfections of others and not to judge the actions of other people, but to observe our own behavior and notice the untruth in our hearts. After all, our thoughts and dispositions are more open to us than those of others. On this occasion, the apostle Paul wisely remarks that “if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged” (1 Cor. 11:31).

When we justify ourselves and judge others severely, we are hypocrisy, that is, we approach ourselves and those around us with different measures. But the Savior specifically said that “with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with what measure you measure, it will be measured to you” (Matt. 7:2). This means that when we pronounce a strict judgment on another person, we thereby deprive ourselves of God's indulgence. We all have innate shortcomings and acquired passions: obvious to us and hidden from us, because a person looks subjectively at himself. And the Lord covers all our imperfections with His boundless love, if a person keeps himself from condemnation.

The Prologue tells the story of the death of a negligent monk who, to the surprise of the brethren, died with joy and hope. When asked to reveal the reason for his carelessness, the dying man said that when, with contrition, he pleaded guilty to many sins and expected the most severe judgment of God, he heard from the angels: “For all your negligence, you were gentle and did not condemn anyone,” and immediately all his sins were blotted out. “So,” concludes the Prologue, “the word of Christ was fulfilled over him: Judge not, lest you be judged (Matt. 7:1).”

Did that monk alone in the whole monastery have shortcomings? But he did not even dare to look at someone's life in order to evaluate it and, moreover, to blame his brother, but looked only at himself and lamented about his sins. For, as Abba Moses said, “it is foolish to leave one’s dead (that is, one’s soul, exhausted in sins) and go to cry over someone else’s dead.”