For someone to make progress in spiritual life, he always has to find redeeming qualities for everyone, even for the devil himself. The one thing he should never do is to defend and justify himself or transfer the blame to someone else.
We should always defend and excuse others, think good thoughts for them, and only critique ourselves.
https://www.koinoniaorthodoxias.org/gerontes/riseis-gerontos-paisiou/
From the book “From the Ascetic and Hesycastic Athonite Tradition” Translated by Anna Pipinos and Elias Pipinos.
