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Shorter Rules
St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925
Rule 38: What of a Brother Who Receives a Command and Refuses to Obey But Afterwards…
In that he refused, being a gainsayer and provoking others to do the same, let him be recognised as subject to this judgment: ‘“An evil man stirreth up gainsayings, but the Lord sends upon him a cruel messenger.”1 And let him be sure that he does not gainsay or obey man but the Lord Who said: ‘He that heareth you heareth me; and he that rejecteth you rejecteth me.”2 And if he shows compunction let him first apologise and then if he receives permission do the work.3
Notes
- Prov. xvii. 11 ἐπιπέμπει, Sw. (B) ἐκπέμψει.
- Lk. x. 16, quoted also in Ben. Reg. v.
- Of. F. 29, where the works of the froward are not to be mixed with those of the obedient.