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Shorter Rules
St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925
Rule 82: Since It Says, the Elder Women as Mothers, If It Happen that the Elder Woman…
When the apostle taught us to honour the elder women as mothers it was not as doing things worthy of punishment. But if it should happen that the elder woman fall into the same sin as the younger, we must first note the natural faults of each age, if we may so express it, and then fix the right measure of punishment for each age. For instance, sloth is almost natural in old age, but not so in youth. Just as wandering thoughts and perturbation and audacity and the like are natural in youth but not in old age, and seem to be assisted by the natural heat of youth. So the same sin, sloth for example, deserves heavier rebukes in the younger woman, since her years in no way excuse her. And the same sin, wandering thoughts, audacity, or perturbation, make the elder woman deserve a heavier condemnation, since she is helped by her very age to be meek and quiet. Besides this, we must examine the manner of the sin in each person and then apply the fitting method of cure through the appropriate penalty.
Notes
- 1 Tim. v. 2.
- thy πρεσβυτέραν, see Intr. p. 40. Superiors, responsible through women-superiors for the moral guidance of the sisters, seek advice on the difficult question of the discipline affecting the elder women (including the superiors).