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Longer Rules

St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925

50. Rule 50: How the Superior Should Administer Rebuke

Let not the Superior administer censures on sinners in a fit of passion. For to rebuke one’s brother with wrath and anger is not to free him from sin but to involve oneself in wickedness. Wherefore it says: “In meekness correcting them that oppose themselves.”¹ Nor must he be vehement where he himself has been spurned but where he sees another despised show kindness towards the sinner, but rather be more displeased at the evil in the latter case. For thus he will escape the suspicion of self-love and will prove that he does not hate the sinner but revolts from the sin, by thus making a distinction between himself and the other. But if the difference in his anger is not what I have said but the other way round, he is clearly angry not for God’s sake or because of the danger the sinner is in, but because of his own love of reputation and rule. For showing zeal on behalf of the glory of God Who is dishonoured by the transgression of the commandment, and having tender compassion arising from love of the brethren on behalf of the salvation of his brother—who is in danger by his sin, for “the soul that sinneth it shall die”²— he must in the case of every sin be stirred up against the sin and show the fervour of his disposition by his vehemence in avenging it.

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