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Shorter Rules
St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925
Rule 254: What is the Bank in Which, Saith the Lord, Thou Shouldest Have Put Thy Money?
The parables do not represent plays for us to look at their outward appearance, but they lead the mind to a particular purpose. As then money is wont to be given to the bankers to trade with, (for there are, as I saw at Alexandria, men who accept money and do this with it,2) so it is necessary that the man who has received any grace whatever should give to him who is in need, or do what the apostle said as regards the word: “These things commit to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also”’3; for this naturally applies not only to the word but to every other matter. For some have power to do things, others have received skill in imparting them.
Notes
- See Mt. xxv. 27.
- An interesting biographical detail, throwing light on economic history. The banking system of Cappadocia must have been rudimentary for B. to speak in this way. Perhaps the export of the Egyptian wheat crop necessitated a more complicated system of finance.
- 2 Tim. 11. 2.