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Longer Rules
St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925
Rule 1: Concerning the Order and Sequence of the Lord’s Commandments (R. 1)
Since the word3 has given us licence to put questions,4 we ask first of all to be taught whether there is any order or sequence in the commandments of God, so that one comes first, another second, and so on; or whether all are inter-dependent, and all may be regarded as equally important so far as making a start goes, so that a man who so desires may be safe in beginning at any point he likes in the circle.
Your question is an old one and was propounded long ago in the gospels, when the lawyer came to the Lord and said: “Master, which is the first commandment in the law?” And the Lord answered: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”5 The Lord Himself then assigned this order to His own commandments. He defined the commandment of love towards God to be the first and greatest; and next to it in order, and like it, or rather completing the first commandment and linked on to it, the commandment of loving one’s neighbour. Accordingly from what has been said, and from similar passages contained in the inspired Scriptures, it is possible to learn the order and sequence of all the Lord’s commandments.
Notes
- The titles are not original. “This title and the other similar ones are not found in old books. Nevertheless we found them in the printed editions and therefore preferred to make no change, all the more so because they seem to throw some light on things” (Garnier). The questions, e.g. F. 15, are original, being found in Rufinus. F. 8, e.g., has the original question and the added title.
- i.e. Rufinus has this as Ch. I in his composite book of Rules; see Intr. p. 29.
- Cf. e.g. Deut. xxxii. 7.
- Basil has just given them leave to do so, see 331D.
- Mt. xxii. 36-39 conflated with Mk. xii. 28-31.