When I was working on this I decided to ask for help from my family. This is a tough one to elaborate on. Father Thomas doesn’t say much more about this Maxim. He does say this, which is heard in the original podcast…
Don’t defend or justify yourself. The Saints say: “Those who try to justify themselves commit suicide.” We don’t need to justify ourselves. God will vindicate us. We don’t need to defend ourselves. God is our defender.
Fr. Thomas Hopko
So I asked for help.
My hubby, Deacon James, had some good insight. He feels that maybe what Fr. Thomas meant was that when we are criticized or ridiculed we ought not to defend or justify ourselves. In the end God is our defender and we do not need to defend or justify our actions.
St. Ignatius Brianchaninov says:
The Lord remained silent before Pilate and Herod; He made no attempt to justify Himself. You must imitate His holy and wise silence when you see that your enemies accuse you, with every intention of certain conviction; they accuse only with the purpose of hiding their own evil intention under the guise of judgement.
St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, The Cup of Christ
Christ is the perfect example.
May we be work towards being more like Christ.
Kindler of Joy! 