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Shorter Rules

St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925

Rule 127: Some Say that It is Impossible for a Man to Avoid Anger; is This True? (R. 79)

If it is possible for a soldier to be angry in the presence of his king¹! But not even so is what you have said right. For if the sight of a man who is of equal honour according to nature has prevented passion owing to the pre-eminence of his dignity, how much more should this result be secured if a man is convinced that he has God as the seer of his inward motions? For God Who searches the hearts and reins sees the motions of the soul far more than man sees what is before his eyes.

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