Ps 100:5

“And Jezebel was able to injure the most religious Naboth by her false accusations; but then it was the wicked and apostate Ahab who listened to her. But the most holy David, whose example you ought to follow, as all pray that you may, does not favor such people but was apt to turn away from them and avoid them, as raging dogs. He says, "Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him will I destroy." For he kept the commandment that says, "You shall not receive a false report." And false are the reports of these people in your sight. You, like Solomon, have required of the Lord (and you ought to believe yourself to have obtained your desire), that it would seem good to him to remove far from you vain and lying words.”

“I beseech you, let us avoid altogether passing sentence on our neighbor. You see, even though you have no share in judicial authority and yet you still pass judgment in your mind, you have rendered yourself guilty of sin for accepting no proof and acting in many cases only on suspicion and mere slander. This, in fact, was the reason blessed David also cried out in the words, "The one who slanders his neighbor in secret I drove out." Do you see the extraordinary degree of virtue? Not only did he not entertain what was said but he also gave short shrift to the person bent on slandering his brother. So if we, too, want to reduce our own faults, we should be on our guard about this most of all, not to condemn our brothers or to encourage those anxious to slander them, but rather to rebuff them as the inspired author recommended and utterly repel them. In fact, I am inclined to think this is what the inspired author Moses also was indicating in his words, "Do not accept an idle report."”

“"Whoso privily slandered his neighbour, him I persecuted" [Psalm 101:5]. Behold the righteous persecutor, not of the man, but of the sin. "With the proud eye, and the insatiable heart, I did not feed." What means, "I did not feed with"? I did not eat in common with such. Attend, beloved; since you are about to hear something wonderful. If he did not feed with this man, he did not eat with him; for to feed is to eat; how is it then that we find our Lord Himself eating with the proud? It was not only with those publicans and sinners, for they were humble: for they acknowledged their weakness, and asked for the physician. We find that He ate with the proud Pharisees themselves. A certain proud man had invited Him: it was the same who was displeased because a sinning woman, one of ill repute in the city, approached the feet of our Lord....That Pharisee was proud: the Lord ate with him; what is it therefore that he says? "With such an one I did not eat." How does He enjoin unto us what He has not done Himself? He exhorts us to imitate Himself: we see that He ate with the proud; how does He forbid us to eat with the proud? We indeed, brethren, for the sake of reproof, abstain from communion with our brethren, and do not eat with them, that they may be reformed? We rather eat with strangers, with Pagans, than with those who hold with us, if we have seen that they live wickedly, that they may be ashamed, and amend; as the Apostle says, "And if any man obey not our word by this Epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." [2 Thessalonians 3:14] For the sake of healing others we usually do this; but nevertheless we often eat with many strangers and ungodly men.”

“If it were always praiseworthy to suffer persecution, it would have been enough for the Lord to say, "Blessed are they that suffer persecution," without adding "for justice sake." Similarly, if it were always blameworthy to persecute, it would not be written in the sacred Books: "The one that in private speaks ill of his neighbor, him did I persecute." Sometimes, then, the one who suffers persecution is unjust, and the one who persecutes is just. It is clear that the bad have always persecuted the good and the good have persecuted the bad; the former to do harm unjustly, the latter to bring about amendment by punishment; the one without limits, the other within bounds; those as slaves of passion, these out of love. The one who kills does not mind how he butchers his victim, but the one who cures watches carefully how he cuts; he has health as his aim, the other destruction. Impious people killed the prophets; the prophets also killed impious people. The Jews scourged Christ, and Christ scourged the Jews. The apostles were delivered up by people to the civil rulers, and the apostles delivered up people to the power of Satan. In all these cases, what else is to be noted except to ask which of them served the cause of truth, which that of sin; which one wished to injure, which one wished to convert?”

“He [Poemen] also said, "If a monk hates two things, he is able to free himself from the world, and these are," he said, "the gratifications of the body and vainglory."The same old man also said, "Wrath is a natural thing in a person, it is his nature, but it must be used to cut off evil passions. Hunger is natural in a person, but it must be employed [in satisfying] the needs of the body and not [to gratify] the feeling of eager lust [to eat], even as the blessed David said, "With him whose eye is lofty and whose heart is greedy I have not eaten." Sleep "too is natural in humankind, but [it must not be indulged] to satiety."”