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Shorter Rules

St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925

Rule 283: Is the Man Who Does the Will of Another His Accomplice? (R. 120)

If we believe the Lord’s words: Every one that committeth sin is the bondservant of sin”’ and again: ‘Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do,” we know that he is not merely an accomplice but chooses him whose work he does as his lord and father, according to the Lord’s saying. And the apostle confirms this in plain language when he says: “Know ye not that to whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness?123

Notes

  1. Jn. viii. 44.
  2. ” Rom. vi. 16.
  3. A community without endowments depending mainly on agriculture would often experience such set-backs.

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