Library › St Basil the Great › Longer Rules

Longer Rules

St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925

36. Rule 36: Concerning Those Who Secede from the Brotherhood

It cannot be a matter of indifference whether or not those who have once agreed to live together remain where they are or depart. B Refusal to carry out one’s purpose has two causes, either harm received from living together, or instability¹ on the part of him who changes his mind. Let him who separates from his brethren on account of the harm he is receiving not keep the cause to himself but rather denounce the harm after the fashion shown us by the Lord when He said: “If thy brother sin, go, show him his fault between thee and him alone, etc.”² And if the required amendment is made he has both gained his brethren, and does not put the community to shame; but if he sees them abiding in evil, and not receiving correction, he will show the matter to those who are competent to judge such things; and then at last (if he cannot get redress) let him depart having got a number to witness what he is doing. He will then be departing no longer from brethren but from strangers, for the Lord compares him who abides in evil to a Gentile and a publican. For He says: “Let” such a man “be to thee as a Gentile and a publican.”³ But if he runs away from the community of the brethren through his own frivolity let him cure his own weakness, or if he is unwilling so to do let the brotherhoods refuse to accept him. But if brethren go to one place or another in order to keep the commandment of the Lord, such men are not severing themselves but fulfilling their duty. But no other cause of separation from one’s brethren can be allowed. In the first place, any other cause dishonours the name of our Lord Jesus Christ which has brought us together; secondly, because (if other causes are admitted) the minds of individuals towards others cannot be pure but they will be suspicious of each other. And this is clearly opposed to the commandment of the Lord Who said: “If thou art offering thy gift at the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”⁴

Previous · Contents · Next