- Elder, if a thought crosses against another, is it always judgement?
- You don't understand it at that time?
- Sometimes I'm late to understand.
- See that you understand the quickness of your fall and ask for forgiveness from the sister which you condemned by God, because this becomes an obstacle to prayer. With judgmentalism the Grace of God automatically leaves and immediately generates coldness in your communication with God. How can you pray after? Your heart becomes ice, marble.
Judgmentalism and condemnation are the greatest sins and remove the Grace of God more than any other sin. As Saint John Klimakos wrote: "As water extinguishes the fire, so does judgmentalism extinguish the Grace of God."
- Elder, I'm very sleepy during the morning Service.
- Did you perhaps condemn a sister? You see external things and judge, which is why you are sleepy after the Service. From the moment you judge someone and do not look at things spiritually, dozens of spirits gather and we are weakened. And when we are weakened, we are sleepy or have insomnia.
- Elder, I often fall into gluttony.
- Look, what you need to be very careful about now is judgmentalism. If you do not cut off judgmentalism, you will not be able to be freed of gluttony. The person who judges, because they eliminate the Grace of God, remains hopeless and cannot cut off their flaws. And if they can't figure out their flaws and be humbled, they will constantly fall. But if they understand it and ask for God's help, then the Grace of God returns.
From Passions and Virtues. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.