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Shorter Rules
St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925
Rule 101: Must He that is Entrusted with the Administration of the Things Dedicated to…
The precept ‘Give to every one that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away”’ refers to a manner of trial, as the context shows; the command is to be put into operation as regards wicked men, not deliberately but when circumstances compel. For “sell what thou hast and give to the poor”2 and “sell what thou hast and give alms”34 are commandments to be deliberately obeyed. But since to spend on one class of men what has been set apart for another is perilous in view of the Lord’s words: “I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It is not meet to take the children’s bread and to cast it unto dogs,”5 why cannot a man come to a right decision for himself?6
Notes
- 1 Cor. vii. 24.
- Mt. v. 42 add παντί *.
- Mt. xix. 21 omit τοῖς K.
- Lk. xii. 33.
- Mt. xv. 24; 26.
- In Ep. cl. Heraclidas quotes Basil. “He said that experience was needed in order to distinguish between cases of genuine need and of mere greedy begging. For whoever gives to the afflicted gives to the Lord, and from the Lord shall have his reward; but he who gives to every vagabond casts to a dog, a nuisance indeed from his importunity, but deserving no pity on the ground of want.”