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Shorter Rules
St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925
Rule 226: The Apostle Says, Being Reviled We Bless, Being Defamed We Entreat 5; How Ought…
In general I think that the apostle is here teaching us from his own circumstances that we should endure evil in our relations with all men and requite with good things those who do us evil; go that this should result not only in the case of the reviler but in the case of every evil doer, namely, that we fulfil the saying: “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”2 But by entreating Scripture means not the customary usage of the word, but confirming the heart in the conviction of the truth, as for example: “Entreat ye my people, saith God.”3 And the apostle says: “For I long to see you that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; that is, that I with you may be comforted in you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.”4 And elsewhere: “But he that comforteth the lowly, even God, comforted us by the coming of Titus.”5
Notes
- 1 Cor. iv. 13 βλασφημούμενοι for δυσφημούμενοι K.
- Rom. xii. 21.
- Isa. xl. 1.
- Rom. i. 11; 12.
- 2 Cor. vii. 6.