Library › St Basil the Great › Shorter Rules

Shorter Rules

St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925

Rule 138: Is It Right that Any Man in the Brotherhood Should Be Allowed to Fast or Watch…

The Lord said: “I am come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of the Father that sent me¹; so whatever a man does according to his own will is the work of him that does it and is alien to piety. And there is a fear lest he be told by God in regard to what he seems to do: To thee shall be his conversion and thou shalt rule over him.”² And to want to do more in comparison with others, even in actual good things, is a vice of contention springing from vainglory, which the apostle shows to be forbidden, saying: “For we are not bold to number or compare ourselves with certain of those that commend themselves.”³ Wherefore, laying aside our own desires and the desire of seeming to do anything above the rest, we must obey the apostle who warns us: Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”⁴ For contention and vainglory and self-pleasing are altogether alien to those who strive in the good contest lawfully. Wherefore it saith, in one place: “Let us not be vainglorious,”⁵ in another, “But if any man seemeth to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the Churches of God”; and again elsewhere: ‘“We ought not to please ourselves’; to which he added in moving words:⁶ “For Christ also pleased not himself.”⁷ But if any man thinks he needs more, whether in fasting or watching or from any other cause, let him reveal his reason for needing more to those who are entrusted with the common care, and abide by their decisions. For it will often be necessary to satisfy his needs in some other way.

Previous · Contents · Next