When, energized by divine grace, you find yourself full of tears in prayer before God, lie on the ground stretched out in the form of a cross, beat the earth with your brow and ask for deliverance from this life as a release from corruption and a liberation from trials and temptations.
But ask that this may be granted, not as you wish, but as and when God wills.
For your part, you should long for your departure now, hoping that, if you come before God with, tears and in the depths of humility, you will stand firm and confident in the fire of your desire and your prayer; but you should also be ready for your death to be delayed for the time being, should God foresee something better for you.
Pursue your goal forcefully, dedicating your whole life to God, in all your actions, words and intentions seeking by all possible means not to fall away from Him.
St. Theognostos
On the Practice of the Virtues, Contemplation and the Priesthood from the The Philokalia (Vol. 2)
“There will come a time when corruption and lewdness among the youth will reach the utmost point. There will hardly be any virgin youth left. They will see their lack of punishment and will think that everything is allowable for them to satisfy their desires. God will call them, however, and they will realize that it will not be possible for them to continue such a life. Then in various ways they will be led to God… That time will be beautiful. That today they are sinning greatly, will lead them to a deeper repentance. Just like the candle before it goes out, it shines strongly and throws sparks; with its light, it enlightens the surrounding darkness; thus, it will be the Church’s life in the last age. And that time is near.”
+ St. Seraphim of Viritsa, Seraphim of The New Saint of the Russian Church
“The only hope of salvation from the delusions and the heresies, the innovations and the traps of wicked people and of the devil is prayer, repentance and humility.”
+ Elder Joseph the Hesychast, Elder Joseph the Hesychast: Struggles, Experiences, Teachings
When the Fathers and the great ascetics speak about tears, they always mean those three of the first category. Repentance is the most astounding miracle and experience in the life of a person. It is his or her most integral and forceful act. It is the radical ripping out of all features of one's previous life. Ιn such a way that nothing stands up in worldly terms. Literally everything is made "upside down". You feel as if everything is being turned backwards. Being doubted. Being overturned. Being frustrated. Being annihilated forever. This is what repentance is (metanoia, a change of mind). Is it possible for such an impalement of soul and spirit not to bring tears, not to cause pain?
The root of tears, their very first and inexhaustible source, is repentance. The first and major fruit of this is the "fear of God". A fear which is characterized by Scripture as the "beginning of wisdom" (Psalm ΙΙΙ:10). The more one is made wise in the fear of God, the more one sees and senses miracles within and all around. A miracle is not a miracle unless someone has wondered at it in all its magnitude. Miracle (thavma) is then a wonder (thavmasma).
Only for this reason did God create humankind. To marvel and discover continuously, for a whole lifetime, deeper aspects of the truth, in other words of God's love. Here then is yet another meaning of the Biblical saying: "Those who increase knowledge increase sorrow" (Ecclesiastes 1:18), which is the most mystical equalisation in human life.
It is only natural, following such a deep dive into the mystery of life and death, that the person of faith should feel more and more privileged compared to the rest of creation. It is an incomparable privilege to be a partaker in the deeper rhythm of the world, thereby discovering by first hand the boundless love of God. The only human answer to this "initiation", which reaches a climax in "participation" and eventually leads to "deifιcation", if God is pleased to allow this, are tears. Tears of compunction, contrition and appreciation, which as a result become "supplicatory tears", as they redeem us from all worldly uncertainties and doubts.
St. Isaac the Syrian wrote the following on such a correlation between the fear of God and tears of repentance: "Ι do not have a sorrowful heart to search for you, Ι do not have repentance, Ι do not have compunction, nor tears which return children to their homeland. Ι do not have, Lord, a supplicatory tear; my mind is darkened by the νanity of the world, and it is not able to gaze upon you with pain; my heart has grown cold from the multitude of temptations, and it cannot become warm through tears of love towards you. But you, Lord Jesus Christ my God, the treasury of good things, grant me perfect repentance and a toilsome heart, so that I may come to search for you with all my heart; for without you Ι wish to be estranged from every good thing" (2nd Discourse, Concerning renunciation of the world etc).
Even if we only isolated and underlined one phrase out of this stirring passage, we would see the value which the Saint recognizes in tears, when he observes that they alone "return children to their homeland".
Clearly, all of the above comments refer to godly tears. They are what the Fathers called the greatest "gift" of the present world. For it is natural that, since tears arise from the fear of God and repentance, they should lead directly towards God Himself, according to His grace. Thus the character and the value of tears co-inside absolutely.
The second group of tears is also second in terms of importance. This is because it is confined, first of all, to the values of this world for which it either laments or rejoices. This is the group of four which follows the previous group of three. They are tears of pain and horror or joy on the one hand, or indίgnation and emotion on the other. These tears do not cease to have some value, since they spring from sincerity, spontaneously. Indeed they may, by cultivating and refining people, lead them at some stage to repentance, namely to God. Therefore, we enter the mystical process of godly tears which has already been described "through the back door". That is why someone like Victor Hugo could state that "no one can see God unless they have teary eyes".
Ιn concluding this brief reference to the order of tears, we must state that, if there are any kind of tears which are totally futile and which have nothing to do with the cultivation and fate of the soul, they are the tears of hypocrisy. They, as tears which stem from ulterior motives, might be useful only to actors, on a professional level. And even more so to the crocodiles which use them as a means to secure their food.
The compassionate God still calls to Himself all that have turned away, and He awaits them and promises them mercy.
Sinners that repent are still saved; both publicans and fornicators cleansed by repentance enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
The loving Father still receives His prodigal sons come back from a far country and He opens the doors of His house and clothes them in the best robe, and gives them each a ring on their hand and shoes on their feet and commands all the saints to rejoice in them.
St. Tikhon of Zadonsk
Repentance signifies regret, change of mind. The distinguishing marks of repentance are contrition, tears, aversion towards sin, and love of the good.
St. Nektarios of Aegina
The mystery of repentance is the greatest and most blessed mystery, which prepares us perfectly beforehand for Heaven...
There is no sin on earth which is unforgivable for the person who will repent, and for the God of love Who receives him.
God is pleased and takes rest in the man who repents, no matter how great a sinner he is. Repentance is always open to every sinful person. God desires only the confession of the error. From there forward, all things are perfected. Through humility comes confession, and confession brings purification, and purification brings the vision of God.
The tears of the repenting soul purify the heart, the nous, the soul, the body, the life, the word, and purify more than every expression of man.
Let us never loose home. Even if we fall and are traumatized, let us not loose hope. As long as God grants us life, let this become an approach towards God, for He waits for us. If God were not incomparably merciful, no one would be saved. Our Christ waits for us, we should not procrastinate and put it off.
Repentance is expressed by the Greek word, metanoia. In the literal sense, this means a change of mind. In other words, repentance is a change of one's disposition, one's way of thinking; a change of one's inner self. Repentance is a reconsideration of one's views, an alteration of one's life.
How can this come about? In the same way that a dark room into which a man enters is illumined by the rays of the sun. Looking around the room in the dark, he can make out certain things, but there is a great deal he does not see and does not even suspect is there. Many things are perceived quite differently from what they actually are. He has to move carefully, not knowing what obstacles he might encounter. When, however, the room becomes bright, he can see things clearly and move about freely.
The same thing happens in spiritual life.
When we are immersed in sins, and our mind is occupied solely with worldly cares, we do not notice the state of our soul. We are indifferent to who we are inwardly, and we persist along a false path without being aware of it.
But then a ray of God's Light penetrates our soul. And what filth we see in ourselves! How much untruth, how much falsehood! How hideous many of our actions prove to be, which we fancied to be so wonderful. And it becomes clear to us which is the true path.
If we then recognize our spiritual nothingness, our sinfulness, and earnestly desire our amendment - we are near to salvation. From the depths of our soul we shall cry out to God: "Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy according to Thy Great mercy!" "Forgive me and save me!" "Grant me to see my own faults and not to judge my brother!"
As Great Lent begins, let us hasten to forgive each other all hurts and offenses. May we always hear the words of the Gospel for Forgiveness Sunday: If ye forgive men their debts, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if ye forgive not men their debts, neither will your Father forgive your debts (Matt. 6:14-15).
St. John Maximovitch
(Source)
There once lived a woman of prayer and fasting. Externally she appeared pious, but [internally] she had great pride and thought herself a saint. She also had remembrance of wrongs; if she argued with someone not only would she not want forgive the other woman, she never even wanted to see her again.
At some point she became sick and she called for a spiritual father to come. But she did not confess thoroughly – this is something some nominal Christians have the habit of doing, they hide their big sins and only reveal the small ones.
In the end when the priest came with Holy Communion for her to commune, she turned her face toward the wall and wasn’t able to even look at the divine communion.
At the same time, with divine concession, she confessed in a loud voice: “Just as I from pride did not forgive those who trespassed against me, and abhorred [and turned away from] them, so now the Lord turns His face from me and refuses to enter my unworthy soul. I will not see Him in the Heavenly Kingdom, but I will burn in the eternal fire.”
And with this her soul departed.
_____________________________
May God enlighten us all to forgive and love one another just as the Lord forgives and has compassion on us!
http://lessonsfromamonastery.wordpress.com/
Any soul which has lost its peace must repent, and the Lord will forgive its sins, and then peace and joy will visit the soul. There need be no witnesses, for the Holy Spirit is the witness of the remission of sins. Here is a sign of forgiveness: if you have come to hate sin, then the Lord has forgiven your sin.
Elder Siluan
Any soul which has lost its peace must repent, and the Lord will forgive its sins, and then peace and joy will visit the soul. There need be no witnesses, for the Holy Spirit is the witness of the remission of sins. Here is a sign of forgiveness: if you have come to hate sin, then the Lord has forgiven your sin.
Elder Siluan
Once a man comes to repentance from his previous sinful life, he forces himself to stay within the divine Law.
And due to his passionate habits, he undergoes great struggles and suffers sharp pains. Then divine grace secretly gives him comfort and joy, mourning, delight, and sweetness from the divine
words he reads, as well as stregnth and boldness in his spiritual struggle. This is called purifying grace which mystically helps the struggling penitent to be purified from his sins and to remain in the state according to nature.
Elder Joseph the Hesychast
By fasting it is possible both to be delivered from future evils and to enjoy the good things to come. We fell into disease through sin; let us receive healing through repentance, which is not fruitful without fasting.
Saint Basil the Great
Every sinner who sincerely turns to God must rely completely upon every sort of grace-filled help from God during his warfare with sins, passions, and every kind of sinful habit. It is only necessary to believe in God sincerely and undoubtingly; to heartily to call upon His aid, and sincerely to despise sin; to repent earnestly with a pure intention and thenceforth not yield to sin. All the Saints, the Mother of God Herself, the holy guardian Angels, and God's servants are all ready to provide help for our salvation; spiritual fathers and pastors have been ordained by God in order to save and guide those who seek salvation. Behold the conscience of every man, this unbribable, stern, and righteous judge-thou must but obey it eagerly and unceasingly.
St. John of Kronstadt
Two factors are involved in man's salvation: the grace of God and the will of man. Both must work together, if salvation is to be attained.
Repentance is a Mystery through which he who repents for his sins confesses before a Spiritual Father who has been appointed by the Church and has received the authority to forgive sins, and receives from this Spiritual Father the remission of his sins and is reconciled with the Deity, against Whom he sinned.
Repentance signifies regret, change of mind. The distinguishing marks of repentance are contrition, tears, aversion towards sin, and love of the good.
Saint Nektarios of Aegina
As a general rule fasting and praying awaken in a person the desire for a more spiritual way of life. When the passions of the body become pacified, a person's mind is enlightened, and he begins to see his own shortcomings better. He becomes ashamed of his sinful deeds and bad habits, and he feels a strong desire to cleanse his soul through repentance before God.
We can appreciate better the importance of repentance when we remember that Christian teaching began precisely with the call to repent. The prophet John the Baptist preached: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3:1-2). The Lord Jesus Christ began his preaching with the same words. "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance," John the Baptist continues, "but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Matthew 3:11). That was a prophecy about the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost and the divine rebirth of Christians through their faith and repentance.
Indeed, after the descent of the Holy Spirit, the teaching of the Apostles was, first of all, the calling for repentance and the beginning of a new life in Jesus. The believers had to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior from the evil dominating the world. This is the very essence of Christianity. After the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, when the crowd asked, "What shall we do, brothers?" The Apostle Peter answered: "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit … Save yourselves from this corrupt generation!" (Acts 2:37-40). These words pointed out the deep, sinful sore in humanity, which can be healed only through repentance, rebirth in Christ, and unity with Him.
So, as we see, the Apostles called for profound changes in people's attitudes, a break with their past, and suppression of passions. The acceptance of Christ as our Savior requires a fundamental transfiguration of our thoughts and feelings: a sincere desire for a New Life in Christ. That is why the Church is so persistent in its calling to repentance during Lent. Repentance is the beginning of salvation. And fasting — being a restraint from gluttony, all kinds of excesses, and worldly concerns — contributes to true repentance! That is how the goal of our faith is reached, as Saint Paul teaches: "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature: former things have gone" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
To those that have sinned after holy Baptism the only remaining hope is true repentance. Glory to God for that! Glory to God, that we have not yet perished, O sinners! A hope yet remains. God's compassions have not yet come to an end. Repentance is still preached to sinners. The poor are still given glad tidings. The Heavenly King still proclaims His mercy everywhere. The doors of compassion are not yet shut. The grace of God is still open to all. The Gospel and the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world are still preached. The Kingdom of God is still proclaimed.
Sinners that repent are still saved; both publicans and fornicators cleansed by repentance enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. The compassionate God still calls to Himself all that have turned away, and He awaits them and promises them mercy. The loving Father still receives His prodigal sons come back from a far country and He opens the doors of His house and clothes them in the best robe, and gives them each a ring on their hand and shoes on their feet and commands all the saints to rejoice in them.
"Rejoice, ye angels, and all My elect! Sinners return to Me, men, My creatures, made in My image and likeness, they that have perished are now saved, they that were dead are alive again, they that were lost are found." Glory to His goodness! Glory to His love for man! Glory to His compassion! Glory to His bounties! Poor sinners, why do we yet tarry in a distant country and not go toward our Father? Why do we perish from hunger? Why do we fill ourselves with iniquities as with husks? In the house of our Father is everything in abundance. There, even the hired servants have enough and to spare.
Our Father awaits us with great zeal and desire, and with love He will see us returning from afar, and He will look upon us with compassionate eyes, and we shall be dear to Him, and He will fall on our neck running and embrace us and kiss us with His holy love. He will not reproach us, and He will no longer remember our sins and iniquities, and all the holy Angels and all His elect will begin to rejoice over us.
Let us come to ourselves, and arise, and go and hasten to our Father, and let every one say to Him with humility and sorrow, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before Thee, And am no more worthy to be called Thy son; make me as one of Thy hired servants" (Lk. 15:18-19). Let us hasten, hasten, O sinners, while the time has not yet passed, while the Father awaits, while the doors of His holy house are not shut. Let us repent while the mercy of God still operates, lest we experience the operation of God's righteousness, eternal judgement.
Do not despair of whatever sins you may have committed since Baptism and find yourself in true repentance, but await God's mercy. However many and however great and burdensome your sins may be, with God there is greater mercy. Just as His majesty is, so likewise is His mercy. Only guard yourself from sinning henceforth, and walk according to the aforementioned points.
If you have transgressed in this as a man, and have sinned, do not despair. But at that very moment, confess your sin and fall down with humility before the compassionate eyes of God and ask mercy with the voice of the publican, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" (Lk. 18:13), and your sins will be forgiven you.
True repentance demands that a man turn away from sins and from the vanity of this world and turn toward God with all his heart, that he be changed within, and that he become different from what he was before, and so work out his salvation with fear and trembling (cf. Phil. 2:12), and so endeavor to do nothing else but only to please God and so be saved. For if you wish to be in true repentance and so be saved, change yourself and be renewed, and become different from what you were before, and take care for nothing else but only to please God and be saved, and so shall you be a new creature in Christ. For every Christian that wishes to be a true Christian, and not false, ought to be a new or renewed man or a new creature. Do not, then, indulge your flesh, and do not do everything it may desire. It must be crucified "with its affections and lusts" (Gal. 5:24) when you wish to be a Christian, that is, Christ's. Much effort and labor is needed, for a man to be changed and to be the good tree that brings forth good fruit. Strive, then, for nothing else but to change, renew, and correct yourself. And pray for this, and sigh often and with all zeal to Christ the Lord, that He Himself might renew you and make you good, for without Him our renewal and correction cannot take place. And when you are renewed inwardly and good, then your outward life and works shall also be good.
Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk
-Elder,how can someone be helped to not fall into the same fault?
-If one truly feels pain for his fault,he will not do it again.There must be an inner contrition with sincere repentance in order for a person to be corrected.This is why Saint Mark the Ascetic says,If one does not feel contrition commensurate to his fault,he will easily fall into the same fault again.In other words,if the mistake is minor,the repentance can also be less severe,but if the mistake is major,then more severe repentance will be required.
When people do not grasp the severity of their sins and do not experience grief commensurate to their fault,then they can easily fall into the same or even greater fault.
-How can we know if our grief is not commensurate to our fault?
-The proof is if you fall again into the same fault.In addition,when you examine yourselves,don't just diagnose your situation.You are constantly carrying out bacterial tests;upon discovering a virus,you assess it and say,"I must kill it"but you don't embark on a healing process.Fine,you have established that you have some disease.At once,you must find a way to treat it.What's the point of constantly
analysing and diagnosing if you don't try to correct yourselves?
You say to yourselves,"I have this ailment,or that ailment,"but you do nothing to cure yourself and you remain idle,lamenting your condition.You only waste your energy and remain useless.You
render your mind and your heart useless.
You get sick from grief over it but do nothing to treat it.
Later,when you get well,you start over again:"Why did i get sick then,and how did i get sick?"Of course,you will carefully observe yourselves; you won't allow your faults to go undetected,but your grief should be contained,only go to a certain point! I'm not suggesting indifference,but you should not go to the other
extreme!
You did something that wasn't right?Did you think about
it?Did you see it?Did you recognise it?Did you confess it?Then
move on.Don't get stuck there.Just keep it in mind so you'll be
careful next time you're faced with a similar situation.
Lamenting over our faults is pointless if we don't also try to correct
them.It's like grieving constantly over someone who's sick without
offering him any help.
-Elder,are we not to grieve even when we rightly suffer because of
our mistake?
-No,you should grieve,but the grief must be commensurate to your
fault.If you do not suffer,you will remain happy-go-lucky and
careless and will again fall into the same mistake;you will not correct yourself.
But if you move from the sadness of repentance into despair,then it
means that you have grieved more than you should have.
In this case,one needs to give himself a little encouragement and face his faults with a little"positive indifference".
Taken from Elder Paisios of Mount Athos, Spiritual Counsels Vol 3"Spiritual Struggle"
What does it mean to say "we are all in prelest"?
You write, "When I was reading the writings of Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov, the following questions came to mind: On page 230 it is written that we are all in prelest; why then, when someone speaks of 'a man in prelest', is this attributed a special meaning? and how should one treat such a person?
In order to understand the expression "we are all in prelest," it is necessary to consider the following. The ancient ascetics regarded "repentance or lamentation of one's sins" as their primary ascetic labor. Many of their sayings concerning this have come down to us. I will cite a few of these in confirmation of [Bishop Ignatius'] writings.
"A brother said to Abba Sisoes: I perceive that the remembrance of God (mental prayer) ever abides in me. The elder said: It is not so extraordinary that your mind is constantly turned toward God; what is extraordinary is when a person considers himself the worst of all creatures" (Ignatius Brianchaninov, Patericon, 4).
"When Abba Arsenius the Great passed away, and St. Poemen heard of his repose, he shed abundant tears and said: Blessed are you, Abba Arsenius, because you wept over yourself during this life! One cannot help but weep, either here according to his own will, or against his will in the torments of hell" (Patericon, 29).
The more advanced a man is in holiness, the deeper is his awareness of his own sinfulness. Conversely, the less refined a man is, the weaker is his awareness of his own sinfulness. In the majority of people Such an awareness is altogether absent. This is why they do not understand the ascetic labor of repentance and do not feel any need for it. Because they do not understand this labor and feel no need to repent, one may say that all such people are in prelest. And inasmuch as we have but a limited awareness of our sinfulness, one may say that we are all in prelest !
Sophia 11/23/1927
What constitutes "prelest proper"?
..St. Isaac the Syrian wrote about this kind of prelest: "The effect of the cross is twofold; the duality of its nature divides it into two parts, One consists in enduring sorrows of the flesh which are brought about by the action of the excitable part of the soul, and this part is called activity. The other part lies in the finer workings of the mind and in divine meditation, as well as in attending to prayer, etc.; it is accomplished by means of the desiring part of the soul and is called contemplation. The part of the soul by dint of its zeal, while the second part is the activity of soulful love, in other words, natural desire, which enlightens the rational part of the soul. Every man who, before perfectly mastering the first part, switches to the second, attracted out of weakness--to say nothing of laziness, is overtaken by God's wrath because he did not first mortify his members which are upon the earth (Col. 3:5). In other words, he did not cure his thoughts of infirmities by patiently bearing the cross, but rather dared in his mind to envision the glory of the cross" (Word 55).
It is evident from these words of Isaac the Syrian that what we call prelest proper exists when a man starts trying to live above his capabilities. Without having cleansed himself of passions, he strives for a life of contemplation and dreams of the delights of spiritual grace. Thus the wrath of God befalls a man; because he thinks too highly of himself, God's grace is withdrawn from him and he falls under the influence of the evil one who actively begins to tickle his vainglory with lofty contemplation and [spiritual] delights...
Briefly, the difference between "general prelest" and prelest in the particular sense of the word can, on the basis of the above. be expressed thus. General prelest is forgetting and not noticing one's sinfulness. That which we call prelest proper is attributing to oneself righteousness when it does not actually exist. If a man thinks he is righteous, then his righteousness is not divine, but diabolical, foreign to the grace of God and to humility. One should recall the famous saying of Abba Poemen the Great: "I prefer a man who sins and repents to one who does not sin and does not repent. The first has good thoughts, for he admits that he is sinful. But the second has false, soul-destroying thoughts, for he imagines himself to be righteous" (Bp. Ignatius, Patericon, 75).
Sophia, 11/24/1927
(Archbishop Theophan's letters translated from the Russian by Antonina Janda)
We are all involved in a life long struggle against our sinful tendencies. Our greatest challenge is to recognize the weaknesses in our character, to gain a clear view of our defects and failings so we can overcome them. Normally this is done through inner introspection. Sometimes others will point our weaknesses out to us and in this case we must be careful not to react badly, but to accept this information as a gift from God.
A disciple of Elder Paisios asked him if it was possible to try and see oneself as he really is, but be unable to actually do so. He answered "Yes, if his attempt to do so contains pride, he will not be able to see the real self." We need a bit of humility to begin to see our true self so we can begin the work to grow spiritually. We can use a good mirror.
Elder Paisios advises us that until we are able to uproot our defects we should mirror ourselves in the defects of others. He says that other people are a mirror in which we can see ourselves.
Do you find that you can easily spot the failings of others, but find it difficult to see your own failings? This is a most common condition. When Elder Paisios was asked about this condition he pointed out that we see the illness in others when we cannot see them in ourselves.
If you knew you own illness, you wouldn't know the illness of others. I am not saying you shouldn't be concerned with their pain and suffering, but you mustn't preoccupy yourself with other's faults. If a person is not concerned with his self, the tempter devil will lead him to be concerned with other's faults. If we work on ourselves, then we know ourselves and come to know others as well. Otherwise, we judge others by the wrong assumptions we make about ourselves. There are two important points here. One is that we can see our own faults in others if we are not blocked from seeing them because of our pride. Our efforts to focus on others' defects can block us from seeing our own defects because of our pride. Second, once we recognize the failings of others in ourselves, we will no longer judge them because we will know the true assumptions about them. We now know them in ourselves are now focused on our own defects and not theirs.
Next time you catch yourself judging others, or being critical of their behavior, stop and reflect on what you have in yourself that mirrors this behavior. When you find that weakness in yourself, see if that does not change your view of the one you were about condemn. Most likely you will find that you now do not have time for such speculation as you are busy working on your own perfection.
When you do find a weakness in yourself all you need is willpower to make changes, according to Elder Paisios. It's just like with a physical illness. We must accept the treatment to get well and carry it out.
Elder says,
This is why the starting point is for one not to be embarrassed, but gladly aware of his illness, his faults. From that point, he must accept the necessary treatment, the appropriate medicines, and be grateful to his physicians - the spiritual father or the elder - and not resist them.
When you catch yourself judging others, stop and seek to find the weakness in yourself. Pretend you are looking into a mirror. By using others as a mirror in this way you can begin to dig deeper into your true self. With the help of your spiritual father you will find cures for what you find and you will also find your relations with others and God changes as you change.
Reference: Elder Paisios of Mount Athos Spiritual Counsels III: Spiritual Struggle, pp157-164
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