I have heard people slandering, and I have rebuked them. And these doers of evil replied in self-defense that they were doing so out of love and care for the person whom they were slandering. I said to them: “Stop that kind of love, otherwise you will be condemning as a liar him who said: ‘Him that privily talked against his neighbor, did I drive away.’ (Psalm 100:5) If you say you love, then pray secretly, and do not mock the man. For this is the kind of love that is acceptable to the Lord.” But I will not hide this from you – and of course be careful, lest you judge the offender: Judas was in the company of Christ’s disciples, and the thief was in the company of murderers. Yet it is a wondrous thing, how in a single instant, they exchanged places. St. John Climacus, “The Ladder of Divine Ascent,” (Boston: Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 1978), Step 10: On Slander or Calumny
If you have spoken evil of your brother, and you are stricken with remorse, go and kneel down before him and say: 'I have spoken badly of you; let this be my surety that I will not spread this slander any further.' For detraction is death to the soul. Abba Or
If you want to overcome the spirit of slander, blame not the person who falls but the prompting demon. No one wants to sin against God, even though all of us sin without being compelled to it.
I knew a man who sinned openly but repented in secret. I denounced him for being lecherous but he was chaste in the eyes of God, having propitiated Him by a genuine conversion.
Do not allow human respect to get in your way when you hear someone slandering his neighbor. Instead, say to him, "Brother, stop it! I do worse things every day, so how can I criticize him?" You accomplish two things when you say this. You heal yourself and you heal your neighbor with the one bandage. St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, 10
It is better to eat meat and drink wine and not to eat the flesh of one's brethren through slander. St. Tikhon of Voronezh
No sensible person, I think, will dispute that slander is born of hatred and remembrance of wrongs. Therefore it comes next in order after its forebears. St. John Climacus, “The Ladder of Divine Ascent,” (Boston: Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 1978), Step 10: On Slander or Calumny
One who loves his neighbor can never tolerate slanderers, but rather runs from them as from fire. St. John Climacus, "The Ladder of Divine Ascent," (Boston: Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 1978), Step 30: Concerning the Linking Together of the Supreme Trinity Among the Virtues
Slander is, an offspring of hatred, a subtle yet coarse disease, a leech lurking unfelt, wasting and draining the blood of love. It is, simulation of love, the patron of a heavy and unclean heart, the ruin of chastity. St. John Climacus
Upon the death of Mary’s mother, her father, Evgenios, resolved to dedicate his life completely to God; therefore, he became a monk. Mary also desired to betroth herself to Christ. However, she did not wish to be separated from her father. Hence, our venerable mother discarded her feminine apparel and donned men’s clothing. She then cropped her hair in a manly fashion and assumed the name of Marinos. Under this disguise, she entered the very same monastery as her father near Alexandria of Egypt. Soon after, however, her father reposed in the Lord. Mary was then tonsured and kept the name of Marinos. Though her tasks (obediences) involved laboring with the younger monks, no one ever thought that the young Fr. Marinos might be a woman.
Nearby the monastery, there was an inn. Once, it became necessary, during a monastic obedience outside the monastery, that Fr. Marinos lodge at the inn. The innkeeper’s wayward daughter, believing that Fr. Marinos was a man, burned with desire for the young monk. After pursuing the monk and humiliating herself when repulsed by Mary, the wanton innkeeper’s daughter sought revenge. She accused the righteous Fr. Marinos of seducing her. She did this because she already had illicit relations with a soldier and had conceived by him.
Mary gladly accepted this false accusation and the reproach that went with it. She even went so far as to admit that she committed sin with the innkeeper’s daughter. In time, the innkeeper’s daughter brought forth a son. At this point, Mary was expelled from the monastery when the newborn was entrusted to her. Henceforth, she was expected to support and bring up the lad.
The responsibility, anxiety, and care of rearing and feeding another’s infant was something that the ever-memorable one voluntarily endured with much hardship and public scorn. During this time, the innkeeper’s daughter went mad when she became possessed by an evil demon. After three years of enduring deprivation, Mary, inspired by God, re-entered the same monastery again, together with her foster son.
It was there that she dwelt until her blessed repose in 508. When preparations were being made for the burial, it was only then discovered that Monk Marinos was actually a woman. When the innkeeper’s daughter touched the precious relics of Mary, she was immediately healed from demonic possession, and admitted that the actual father was some soldier.
At this unexpected turn of events, the abbot of the monastery and all the brotherhood, who formerly accused the holy one of being wretched and depraved, now called Mary blessed and worthy of great honor. "The Lives of the Spiritual Mothers," (Buena Vista, California: Holy Apostles Convent, 1991), pp. 70-72
When you hear that your neighbor or friend has abused you behind your back or even to your face, then show love and praise him. St. John Climacus, "The Ladder of Divine Ascent," (Boston: Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 1978), STEP 22: On the Many Forms of Vainglory
Wherefore, not those that are slandered, but the slanderers, have need to be anxious, and to tremble, for the former are not constrained to answer for themselves, touching the evil things which are said of them, but the latter will have to answer for the evil they have spoken, and over these impends the whole danger. St. John Chrysostom
When you hear your name being criticized act as if you didn't hear. This is Paradise, this is perfection. Elder Amphilochios Makris - http://agrino.org/cyberdesert/makris.htm
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