My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

ON IDLE TALK AND GOSSIP
Source: "Letters to a Beginner: On Giving One's Life to God," Saint Xenia Skete Press, Platina, CA.

"But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of Judgment" (St. Matthew 12:36).

You complain, sister, about the trials which are overtaking you, which are arising, according to your words, from certain misunderstandings, suspicion, and indiscretion in conversations. The last, I think, is the effective and chief cause of all your trials and the source of all the evil. On this subject, I want to write you a few words about the harm arising from the idle talk and gossip so common among you. This is something you yourself don't even notice; you speak too much, without discerning whether it is necessary or unnecessary, profitable or harmful, provided only that something is spoken. It is as if you are afraid of silence, which in fact is a nun's first obligation, the chief condition of her success and the adornment of her whole life.

Deeply rooted in people is the love of idle talk, i.e., empty, unnecessary conversations, and it has become a beloved pastime among them. It seems we don't know and don't believe that idle talk is a sin, and a serious sin, which gives birth to a multitude of other sins: quarrels, conflicts, gossip, slander, condemnation, calumny, and the like. Indeed, all the various confusions which fill human life so overflowing, all the disturbances of the inner quiet of the soul, have as their source this same idle talk, which has crept into all of everyday life, as though it were its indispensable property and requirement. If any sin or any passion knows how to clothe itself in an attractive form, it is precisely--idle talk.

It begins under the pretext of conversing, of discussing some business, but then we proceed imperceptibly to an altogether unnecessary, empty, and sinful conversation. Like a deeply-rooted infection, this sickness does not easily submit to healing. It has penetrated all layers of social and private life; it is active in people of every age and gender, every class and social position, and has not even spared Monasteries.

One deeply thinking Priest, contemporary to us, writes the following on idle talk, among other things: "How heedlessly, how carelessly we use our words, which should be highly valued as a great gift from God! But on the contrary, what do we least esteem, if not the spoken word? In what are we fickle, if not in the spoken word? What do we throw out every minute, as though it were dirt, if not the spoken word? O, Christian! Value your words, be attentive to them!"

In our words, which we regard so carelessly, so thoughtlessly, will be either our justification or condemnation, as our Lord Jesus Christ Himself says: "By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shall be condemned" (St. Matthew 12:37); "I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment" (St. Matthew 12:36). If even one idle, i.e., empty, unnecessary word will be subject to accounting in the Day of Judgment, then to what condemnation and punishment will be subject, who talk idly continually and constantly, restrained neither by place nor time, not by the presence of outsiders, who, perhaps even against their will, we make participants in our empty conversations, and in such a manner draw them into sin. So, drawing them into sin, we are subject to a double condemnation--both for idle talk and for being a cause of temptation, for "woe, it is said, to that man by whom the offense cameth" (St. Matthew18:7). We don't think about this, we don't take care at all! We misuse our natural faculty of speech, which was given to us for this purpose above all: that we might praise our Creator, thank and glorify Him with words, as is proper to a rational creature. Even mute nature glorifies Him with its grandeur and harmony, nor deviating in the least from the laws appointed to it by the Creator: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaimeth the word of His hands" (Psalm 18:1).

The gift of speech was also given to us that we may understand one another, not through instinct, like the dumb animals, but through intellect. Thus, we verbally express our ideas, which are abundantly and clearly opened to us by our God-enlightened mind, the source of thought and word, in order that we might conduct intelligent, mutual, brotherly conversation on the aim of daily life and its regulation, for mutual edification, and benefit, in support and consolation of each other, and the like. It was not given to us that we might talk idly; or judge, slander, and condemn our neighbor, pronouncing judgments on them like unmerciful judges and torturers rather than considering ourselves as their brothers, weak and sinful as they, if not still worse. "Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think this, O man, you who judges those practicing such things, and doing the same that you will escape the judgment of God?" (Romans 2:1-3). "Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge" (St. James 4:11). (Orthodox Heritage)

(To be continued)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostomos

With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George