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Longer Rules

St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925

29. Rule 29: Concerning Him Who Works with Pride or Murmuring

The work of a man who has murmured or has been detected in pride must not be mixed with that done by men humble in heart and of a contrite spirit; it must not be used at all by the pious.¹ “For that which is exalted among men is an abomination before God.”² And there is another command of the apostle: “Neither murmur ye, as some of them murmured, and perished by the destroyer.”³ Then there is this: “Not grudgingly or of necessity.”⁴ So the work of such men is unacceptable, like a blemished sacrifice—which it was impious to mingle with the offerings of other men. For if those who brought strange fire to the altar experienced such great wrath,⁵ surely it is perilous to accept a work springing from a mind hostile to God to assist us in keeping God’s commandments. “For what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever?”⁶ Wherefore it saith: “The lawless, he that sacrificeth a calf for me, is as he that killeth a dog; and he that bringeth a meal offering is as he that bringeth swine’s blood.”⁷ Wherefore the works of the hesitating and gainsaying man are to be removed from the brotherhood. The Superiors⁸ must give strict attention to this matter, lest they violate the decree of him that said: “He that walked in a perfect way, he ministered unto me. He that wrought proudly did not dwell in the midst of my house”⁹; and lest when a man mingles sin with his observance of the commandment and defiles his work by lazy shrinking from toil, or else by elation because of his achievement, they allow him to remain in his depravity in view of what they receive from him, not permitting him to attain a perception of his own sin. The Superior then must be persuaded that to be superior over a brother in a wrong fashion brings grievous and inexorable wrath upon himself. For his blood shall be required of his hands, as it is written.¹⁰ And the subordinate must be prepared to shrink from no command, not even the most difficult, persuaded that his reward is great in heaven. Nay rather, let the hope of glory gladden him who obeys, in order that the work of the Lord may be wrought in all joy and patience.

Notes

So in the primitive Church the offerings of the excommunicate were not accepted. Watkins, A History of Penance, p. 156, quotes the Didascalia: “God has said to you not to take from the wicked and help the Churches; it were profitable for you to be tortured by hunger rather than take from the wicked.” Cf. modern controversies about “tainted” money.
Lk. xvi. 15 διότι for ὅτι **, ὑψηλόν after τό **, add ἐστιν before ἐνώπιον.
1 Cor. x. 10.
2 Cor. ix. 7. The rest of the quotation occurs in Ben. Reg. v, which deals with murmuring.
Lev. x. 1, 2.
2 Cor. vi. 14, 15.
Isa. lxvi. 3 ὁ ἄνομος, ὁ θύων μοι μόσχον ὡς ὁ ἀποκτείνων κύνα· καὶ ὁ προσφέρων σεμίδαλιν, ὡς αἷμα ὕειον (Sw. (B) ὁ δὲ ἄνομος . . . ὡς ἀποκτέννων κύνα· ὁ δὲ ἀναφέρων κτλ.)
If this stood alone it might be taken of the various superiors of several monasteries, in spite of the preceding *“brotherhood” (singular). But F. 35 shows that a class of “superiors” within the one brotherhood is meant.
Ps. ci. 6, 7.
Ezek. iii. 18.