Avoid Calumny

Last updated on: June 16, 2021 at 2:53 am by Henry Karlson

Avoid Calumny 2021-06-16T02:53:34-05:00 Henry Karlson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Sandro Botticelli: Calumny of Apelles / Wikimedia Commons

Calumny is a grave sin. Everyone deserves to be treated with charity. No one should have their reputation unjustly destroyed. Everyone has their foibles, their particular character defects, and it would be easy for us to use them to destroy someone’s reputation. All that we need to do in order to hurt someone else’s good name is to exaggerate their character flaws, making those blemishes appear prominent while ignoring all their good qualities, for this will easily make them appear vile. Calumny doesn’t have to be used against only a particular person, it can be used to denigrate groups of people with unjust generalizations. In all instances, calumny is used to disregard the dignity of others. Many forms of systematic sin derive power and are fueled by the sin of calumny. Racism, sexism, and religious discrimination all use calumny as a part of their justification. Groups of people, whether or not the group is based upon voluntary association (as some religions are), find themselves unjustly treated as a result of generalizations made against them, and the more those generalizations are promoted and supported, the worse their place in society tends to be.

So long as we feel free to gossip and destroy the reputation of others, we are like ravaging wolves, treating people as fodder. Certainly, there are many reasons why we might engage in calumny. Sometimes, it is out of anger, when we feel someone has hurt us and we want to hurt them back. Sometimes, it might be out of envy; in such a case, we want what our victim has and we think if we destroy their good name, they will lose it, so we will no longer be envious of them, or worse, we think we can use detraction as a way to take what they have from them so we can have it for ourselves. Or, we might be afraid of someone, thinking that if we do not give them a target to attack, they will attack us instead, and so we use calumny to create such a target. While these, and other reasons, might explain why we do what we do, once we get caught up in the act of calumny, we often lose control of ourselves as we find ourselves engaging worse and worse forms of calumny in order to preserve our ruse. We let our tongues (or our fingers) take control, letting lose tirade after tirade, telling those who are wise more about ourselves than those whom we desire to undermine. Obviously, this is not to say we should ignore evils in the world, and if someone poses a grave threat to the common good because of what they have done, the public should be warned so that they can properly defend themselves. But this is easily used as an excuse. We must remember that when the common good (or someone’s private good) is not unjustly threatened, we should not engage gossip which can lead to harming someone’s reputation.

Abba Hyperechius warned against calumny. He pointed out to his fellow monks that it would be better for them to forgo their ascetic labors than it would be to commit slander “It is better to eat meat and drink wine and not to eat the flesh of one’s brethren through slander.”[1] Hyperechius understood that the good intended by fasting is lost if one disengages from charity, for fasting is supposed to help us learn how to gain control of ourselves and not fall for some inordinate passion. Fasting is a tool, not an end in and of itself. Fasting is not proper if it is not engaged in the spirit of charity. If we fast, but do not grow in virtue, all we do is make ourselves needlessly hungry.

Nonetheless, it is not just those who speak, but those who listen to calumny who find themselves in danger. For, those who listen to gossip, even if they do not spread it, can believe it and use it to unjustly treat others:

He also said, ‘It was through whispering that the serpent drove Eve out of Paradise, so he who speaks against his neighbour will be like the serpent, for he corrupts the soul of him who listens to him and he does not save his own soul.’ [2]

Thus, those who slander others not only ruin the reputation of those they unjustly attack, not only do they hurt themselves by their own sin, they also hurt and destroy those who would listen to what they have to say. Calumny shows us the way many sins can be and are communal in nature, affecting and destroying groups of people at one time. Likewise, we can see how sin forms systematic structures which influences the actions of people, for calumny establishes a mentality and belief which is then acted upon by those who believe the lies. And when systematic structures of sin are already set up and control a given society, calumny helps reinforce those structures, using lies to keep them in place. We can see this, for example, in racism, sexism, or religious discrimination, as calumny is used to justify unjust impositions on people, making them less equal than the rest of society.

While we must never justify evil, we must also be careful in how we deal with it. We must deal with others in justice and with great mercy. Justice without mercy is not justice. The good which people do should be recognized. People deserve to have their good name preserved. Everyone has flaws. We should not be focus on them, nor unjustly treat one person, or one group of people, according to flaws which we see, while ignoring the flaws of everyone else, so as to make the person or group appear worse than they really are, which is, worse than everyone else. When we promote the good, we get more good. When we focus on the evil, we tend to return evil with evil. We must look to the good, promote the good, and in doing so, hope we will be able to take that good and use it to form something better, for that is what we should be doing, hoping to make things better instead of keeping things as they are. Calumny, because it does not seek what is good, should have no place in our activity, for once it is accepted, it will only makes things worse.

[1] The Sayings of the Desert Fathers. trans. Benedicta Ward (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1984), 238 [Saying of Abba Hyperechius #4].

[2] The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, 238 [Saying of Abba Hyperechius #5].

Stay in touch! Like A Little Bit of Nothing on Facebook.
If you liked what you read, please consider sharing it with your friends and family!

Sayings of the Desert Fathers

Previous Post

June 14, 2021

Granting Forgiveness Does Not Mean We Return To The Way Things Were

Next Post

June 18, 2021 Biden And The Death Penalty

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Abraham abuse Aesthetics AI Aliens Ambrose Ancestors and Everything Andrew Angels Animals Anne Anthony Antisemitism apologetics Apophatic Apostle John Aquinas Artificial Intelligence Asanga Ascension Asceticism Assumption Atheism Attachment Augustine Authority Avarice Balthasar Baptism Beauty Biden birthright citizenship Bishops Black History Books Buddhism Bulgakov Byzantine Calendar C.S. Lewis Calcidius Catholic Catholicism Catholicism Celibacy Charity Chastity children Chrismation Christ Christmas Christology Church Climate Change Common Good Communion Confession Confirmation Conscience Constantine conventions conversion councils Covid Creation Cross Dead Death Death Penalty Debate Deception Demagogues Demons Desert Monks Desert Mothers Desire destruction development Dialogue Dignity Dionsyius Dionysius Discipline Diversity Division Doctor Who doctrine dogma Dormition Dualism Easter Easter Series Ecumenical Councils Ecumenism Education Election Empathy Environment Error Eschatology eschaton Eternity Ethics Eucharist Evangelism Eve Evil evolution Faeries Faith Fear femininity Ficino Florence Florensky Folktale Fools Forgiveness Freedom Future gender Gentile Gentiles Glory Gnostic God gods Good Samaritan Goodness Gospel Government Grace Great Fast Guns Hate healing Health Heaven Hell Hellenism Heresy Hierarchy Hildegard Hinduism History Holiness Holy Spirit Holy Week Hope Horror Human rights humanity Humility hypocrisy ICE icon icons Identification Identity Idol II Nicea Immigration incarnation Individualism Informal Reflections Inklings Intention Inter-Religious Interfaith Internet Interpretation Intrinsic evil Irenaeus Islam Israel Jacob Jerome Jesus Jews John Chrysostom John of Damascus John the Baptist Joseph Judaism justice Justification kenosis Kindnesss Kingdom of God Kingdom of Heaven Law Law of Moses Lazarus Leaf by Niggle Lent Lenten Reflection Liberation Theology Lies Life Listen Literature Liturgy locutions Logic Logos Love Marriage Martyrs Mary Mass Maximos The Confessor Meanness Meditation Mercy Middle Path Migrants Mind Miracles Miriam Morals Moses Movies Music Muslims Myths Names Nationalism Native Americans New Year Nicea Nicholas Nothing Novatian Obedience Occam's Razor Ordination Origen Original Sin Orthodox orthopraxis Pagans Palamas Palm Sunday Paradise Paschaltide Paul Peace Pentecost person Peter piety PKD Plato pluralism Plurality Poem Poetry Poiltics Politics Poor Pope Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV Post Office Prayer Pride Pro-life Prodigal Son propaganda Prophecy Prophets Providence Putin Racism Reading Reason Reflection Refugees Relationships Religion Religion Series Religious Liberty Repent Republicans Rest Resurrection Rich Rites Russia Sacraments Saints Salvation Salvian Santa Science Scripture Self-Giving Sexuality Sibyl Sick Silence Sin Singlehood Social Justice Society Sodom Solovyov Speculations Spiritual Reflection St. Cyril of Alexandria St. Justin Martyr Suffering Sunday of the Paralytic Man Sunday of the Samaritan Woman Superhero Supreme Court Teaching Technology Thanksgiving The Father the Universe Theological Reflection Theology Theosis Theotokos Thomas Timaeus Time Tolerenace Tolkien Tradition Transfiguration Trinity Trump Truth Uncategorized Unity Universities USCCB Value Vatican II Vegetarian Vices Violence Virtue Vocations War Water Welcome Wisdom Womanhood Women Work World View Worship Writing Zacchaeus

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz