Library › St Basil the Great › Shorter Rules
Shorter Rules
St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925
Rule 208: Generally Speaking is It Good to Practise Silence (R. 136)
Whether silence is good or not depends on the time and person, as we learn from inspired Scripture. Time, as when it says: “He that understandeth will keep silence in that time, for it is an evil time.”2 And again: “I put a watch on my mouth, while the sinner stood before me.” And on the person, as when the apostle writes: ‘“But if a revelation be made to another sitting by, let the first keep silence”3; and again: “Let the women keep silence in the churches.” Sometimes to those who are intemperate in speech and cannot keep the precept: “Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for the edifying of the faith,”4 complete silence is necessary until they are cured thereby of the vice of rashness in speech, and can learn at leisure when, what and how they must speak in order to5 give grace unto the hearers.”
Notes
- Cf. F. 13.
- Amos v. 13 καιρὸς πονηρός ἐστιν with AQ, Sw.’s (B) text πονηρῶν.
- Ps. xxxix. 1.
- Eph. iv. 29 πίστεως for χρείας*.
- Eph. iv. 29 †.