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Shorter Rules

St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925

Rule 56: The Lord Declared, He that Exalteth Himself Shall Be Humbled; and the Apostle…

The high-minded is he that exalts himself, that is proud of his good deeds after the pattern of that Pharisee, and does not condescend to the humble. The same description will serve for the puffed up,⁶ the accusation levelled against the Corinthians. The boastful⁷ is he who does not walk according to the ordinances or fulfil the command to walk by the same rule and be like-minded, but devises a private way of righteousness and piety. The haughty⁸ is he who plumes himself because of his possessions and studies to seem more than he is. The puffed up⁹ is perhaps the same as the boastful, or very nearly so, according to the saying of the apostle, ‘He is puffed up, knowing nothing.”¹⁰

Notes

Lk. xviii. 14†.
Rom. xi. 20†.
2 Tim. iii. 2†.
φυσιοῦται 1 Cor. xiii. 4†. As “puffed up” has been used for τετυφωμένοι of 2 Tim. iii. 2 another phrase is wanted here.
ὑψηλόφρων.
πεφυσιωμένος.
ἀλάζων. B. with his “walk” and “way” clearly remembers the original meaning “vagabond,” hence “impostor.”
ὑπερήφανος.
τετυφωμένος.
1 Tim. vi. 4†.