A Lesson from St Anthony the Great

There is a spiritual danger that has troubled Christians in every generation: the temptation to occupy ourselves with the faults of others while neglecting the condition of our own souls.

We may speak frequently about righteousness, defend the truth, criticize the errors of others, and even appear zealous for the Church. Yet, while our attention is fixed on our neighbours’ shortcomings, we may fail to notice the passions taking root in our own hearts.

St Anthony the Great offers us a sober reminder of where our spiritual attention ought to be directed.

In his Admonitions, in the section concerning judgment and self-examination, we read:

“If you are concerned with the things of God, be devout, free from envy, good, temperate, meek, generous according to your ability, sociable, peaceable, and the like.

For this is the inviolable treasure of the soul: to please God through such deeds, by judging no one and by saying of no one that so-and-so is evil and has sinned.

It is better, rather, to discuss our own faults and to examine within ourselves our own manner of life, to see whether it is pleasing to God. For what concern is it of ours if another is wicked?”

— St Anthony the Great, Admonitions, “Judgment and Self-Criticism”.

The great Egyptian ascetic’s words direct us away from a familiar distraction: the desire to examine everyone else’s spiritual condition while remaining insufficiently attentive to our own.

It is comparatively easy to identify the faults of another person. We can see his impatience, his pride, his anger, his carelessness, and his mistakes. We may even be correct in our observations. But recognizing another person’s fault is not the same as overcoming a fault within ourselves.

A man may speak against pride while secretly cherishing his own reputation. He may condemn another for anger while permitting irritation to govern his own words. He may speak about humility while inwardly believing himself superior to those whom he criticizes.

Thus, the question is not merely whether we can recognize what is wrong in others. It is whether we are willing to confront what is wrong in ourselves.

St Anthony directs us toward this more difficult task. Our spiritual life must not become an endless investigation of our neighbour’s sins. We must examine our own thoughts, conduct, intentions, and relationship with God.

Are we becoming more humble? Are we less envious? Are we learning to restrain our tongues? Are we more patient with those who trouble us? Do we genuinely desire the salvation of others, or are we secretly pleased when their weaknesses become apparent?

These are questions that can bear fruit in the soul.

For Orthodox Christians, this teaching requires a proper understanding. The Holy Fathers do not call us to indifference toward the truth, nor do they teach that the Church should abandon correcting error. The Church must preserve the Orthodox Faith, distinguish truth from falsehood, and warn the faithful against spiritual deception.

But there is a profound difference between discerning an error and condemning a person’s soul; between defending the Faith and indulging our own anger; between offering a necessary correction and delighting in the humiliation of another.

It is possible to speak correctly about a matter of doctrine while behaving in a manner contrary to the spirit of repentance. It is possible to oppose a genuine error and yet become consumed by resentment toward those who hold it.

Orthodox discernment must therefore be accompanied by humility. We should be concerned with the truth because it leads us to Christ, not because it allows us to exalt ourselves above others.

The person who truly desires the salvation of his neighbour does not rejoice in another’s fall. He grieves over it, prays for him, and examines his own conscience before God.

This is especially important whenever we speak about the errors, failures, or compromises of our own times. Our duty is to bear witness to the truth faithfully, without allowing our defense of the Faith to become an excuse for cultivating hatred, vanity, or self-righteousness.

Why does St Anthony ask us, in effect, what concern it is of ours if another is wicked?

He is not suggesting that evil is unimportant. Rather, he directs our attention to the work that has actually been entrusted to us: the purification of our own hearts.

We cannot repent on behalf of another person. We cannot compel another soul to become humble. We cannot answer for the inner movements of another person’s conscience before the Judgment Seat of Christ.

We must, however, answer for our own lives.

Every hour spent obsessively recounting another person’s faults is an hour in which we might instead have examined our own conscience, asked forgiveness, restrained an angry response, offered a prayer, or performed an act of mercy.

The danger becomes greater when criticism assumes a religious appearance. We may convince ourselves that we are serving God simply because we are speaking about the failings of others. Yet religious language does not automatically purify the heart from the passions that govern it.

The true test is not merely what we say about righteousness, but whether we are striving to practise it.

Before speaking about the shortcomings of another, let us pause and examine our own conscience. Before correcting someone in anger, let us ask whether our own words are governed by humility and love of truth. Before assuming that we understand another person’s spiritual condition, let us remember how imperfectly we understand our own.

This does not mean abandoning necessary correction or refusing to speak when the Faith is threatened. It means undertaking every necessary duty with a heart that itself stands in need of repentance.

We should strive to become devout without envy, temperate without harshness, meek without cowardice, generous according to our means, and peaceable without compromising the truth.

These virtues are not ornaments added to the Christian life. They are part of the daily struggle through which we seek to please God.

The great ascetics did not flee into the desert merely to observe the sins of the world from a distance. They went into the wilderness to struggle against the passions within themselves, to seek purification, and to draw near to God. The most important spiritual battle is the one we must wage against sin within our own hearts.

Let us therefore be zealous for the truth, but equally zealous for repentance. Let us defend the Orthodox Faith without permitting pride to disguise itself as righteousness. Let us pray for those who fall, rather than finding satisfaction in their failures.

And when we are tempted to ask why another person is so wicked, let us first turn the question inward: Is my own life pleasing to God?

For it is this question, asked sincerely before the Lord, that can lead us away from self-righteousness and toward the humility without which no one can make progress in the spiritual life.

May the Lord grant us the grace to begin this work of repentance within ourselves.