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Longer Rules
St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925
41. Rule 41: Concerning Authority and Obedience
However of the arts which are permitted an individual ought not to be allowed to practise the one he has or would like to learn but that for which he is judged to be fitted. For he that has denied himself and put away all his desires does not what he wants but what he is taught. Nor even do our principles allow a man to choose for himself what is expedient when he has once entrusted the management of himself to others, who will designate him for that work for which they judge him suited in the name of the Lord. For he that chooses a work according to his own desire brings an accusation against himself, first that he seeks to please himself, secondly that he has attached himself to the work for reasons of worldly reputation or for hope of gain or similar reason, or that he prefers the lighter task because of laziness or sloth. But to be ensnared in these motives proves that he has not yet been freed from evil affections. One who desires to fulfil his own impulses has not denied himself nor bidden farewell to the affairs of the world since he is still moved by feelings of gain and reputation. Nor has he mortified his members that are upon the earth who will not endure toil in his works, on the contrary he shows himself to be self-willed since he thinks his own judgment more likely to be right than the decision of the majority. So if a man has an art not condemned by the common verdict, he ought not to desert it; for it is the mark of an inconstant mind and unstable judgment to despise what one is at present engaged on. But if he has no proper art, let him not take one for himself, but accept what has been approved by the majority, that obedience may be preserved in every respect. Just as to choose for oneself has been shown to be unfitting, so not to accept what has been allotted by others is condemned. Moreover if any man has an art, but his exercise of it does not please the brotherhood, let him readily cast it away and show that he has no attachment to anything in this world. Because to do the desires of one’s mind is the mark of one that has no hope, according to the word of the apostle: but to be obedient in everything is worthy of acceptation, for the same apostle praises some, because they first gave themselves unto the Lord, and then also to us by the will of God.
But each should attend to his own work and look after it with alacrity, and as if God were beholding, meaning to fulfil it blamelessly with untiring zeal and attentive care, that he may always be emboldened to say: “Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hands of their masters, so our eyes are upon the Lord our God”1 and not to shilly-shally from one thing to another. For by nature we are unable to carry on many pursuits successfully at the same time, and to gain a mastery of one art is more useful than to dabble in a number. For the splitting up of one’s energies in a number of occupations and the continual changing from one to another, in addition to resulting in no work being completed, also convicts one of an already existing fickleness of character, or else creates it if not there already. But if need should arise it is fitting that the man who has the requisite capacity should help in other arts. And not even this on his own initiative, but only if he has been invited, we not doing this by preference but only in an emergency. Just as in the case of the members of our body, if the foot has stumbled we support ourselves on the hand. Further, just as it is wrong to rush into an art on one’s own initiative, so it deserves condemnation if one does not accept what is ordered, otherwise the fault of self-will is encouraged and the rule of obedience and docility is broken. And the care of tools is a special consideration to the workman in each occupation. If ever it should happen that one is neglected, since it is the common property of all, let the matter be counted worthy of proper attention by those who have been the first to observe it. For even if they are used privately the benefits of their use are common to all. For to neglect the affairs of another craft as no concern of his shows that a man regards them as the affairs of strangers. Nor indeed may those who practise the crafts claim to be proprietors of the tools so as not to allow the Superior of the brotherhood to use them for any purpose he wishes, or so as to allow themselves to sell or change them, or to part with them in any other way, or to get others besides them. For when a man has once decided that he is not, master of his own hands even, but has entrusted the management of their activities to others, how can he do such things, claiming lordship over the tools of his craft and using the privilege of control over them?
Notes
- Ps. cxxiii. 2.