Library › St Basil the Great › Longer Rules

Longer Rules

St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925

Rule 7: That It is Necessary, with a View to Pleasing God, to Live with Like-minded…

Since your words have convinced us that a life lived with those who are contemptuous of the commandments of God is fraught with danger, we want to learn in due course, whether the man who has retired from such should live privately by himself, or join with like-minded brethren who have chosen the object of religion.

I recognise that the life of a number lived in common¹ is more useful in many ways. To begin with, none of us is self-sufficient even as regards bodily needs, but we need one another’s help in getting necessaries. For just as the foot has certain powers but lacks others, and without the help of the other limbs neither finds its own strength sufficient for endurance nor has the support of what is lacking, so in the solitary life both what we have becomes useless and what we lack becomes unprocurable,² since God the Creator ordained that we need one another, as it is written,³ in order that we may be linked with one another. But apart from this the fashion of the love of Christ does not allow us to look each at his own good. For “love” we read “seeketh not its own.”⁴ Now the solitary life has one aim, the service of the needs of the individual. But this is plainly in conflict with the law of love, which the apostle fulfilled when he sought not his own advantage but that of the many, that they might be saved.

Secondly, in such separation the man will not even recognise his defects readily, not having anyone to reprove him and to set him right with kindness and compassion. For it often happens that reproof even from an enemy induces in a good man a desire to be cured; but a skilful cure of sin is carried out by a man who has loved sincerely. “For he that loveth chasteneth diligently.”⁵ Such a guide it is difficult to find in solitude, unless one has already formed a link with him in community life.⁶ There happens to him in consequence what has been said: “Woe to the solitary man, since if he fall there is none to raise him up.”⁷ And many commandments are easily performed by a number living together, but not by a solitary man; for by doing one commandment another is hindered. For example, when we visit a sick man we cannot receive a stranger; when we bestow and distribute the necessaries of life—especially when these ministrations have to be performed at a distance—we neglect work; so that the greatest commandment of all and that which conduces to salvation is neglected, and neither is the hungry fed nor the naked clothed. Who then would choose the idle and fruitless life in preference to the fruitful life which is lived in accordance with the commandment of the Lord?

Now all of us who have been received in one hope of our calling are one body having Christ as head, and we are severally members one of another. But if we are not joined together harmoniously in the close links of one body in the Holy Spirit, but each of us chooses solitude, not serving the common welfare in a way well-pleasing to God but fulfilling the private desires of self-pleasing, how, when we are thus separated and divided off, can we preserve the mutual relation and service of the limbs one to another, or their subjection to our head, which is Christ?⁸ For it is impossible to rejoice with him that is glorified or to suffer with the sufferer when our life is thus divided, since it is impossible for the individual monk to know the affairs of his neighbour. In the next place, no single man is sufficient to receive all spiritual gifts, but according to the proportion of the faith that is in each man the supply of the Spirit is given; consequently, in the common life the private gift of each man becomes the common property of his fellows. “For to one is given the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge, to another faith, to another gifts of healing, ete.”⁹ Each of which gifts the recipient has as much for others’ sake as for his own. So that of necessity in the community life¹⁰ the working of the Holy Spirit in one man passes over to all the rest at once. Now all you who have read the Gospels know the great danger incurred by the man living alone, who has one gift perhaps, and makes it useless by idleness, digging a hole for it in himself. Whereas when a number live together a man enjoys his own gift, multiplying it by imparting it to others, and reaps the fruits of other men’s gifts as if they were his own.

Further, living together has other benefits, all of which are not easily enumerated. For it is both more useful than solitude for keeping the good things given us by God, and as regards warding off the external attacks of the enemy a rousing from sleep by the watchers is safer, should it happen to any man to slumber in that sleep which leads unto death, which we have been taught by David to pray may not be our fate, when he said: “Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep in death.”¹¹ Further, to the sinner it is easier to depart from sin when he fears the condemnation passed by a number in agreement, so that the words apply to him: “Sufficient to such a one is this punishment, which was inflicted by the many”¹²; while the virtuous man receives much assurance when the many approve and assent to his work. For if in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established, much more stedfastly to be sure will he who accomplishes a good work be confirmed by the testimony of the many. But the solitary life¹³ has another danger besides what we have mentioned. First and greatest comes that of self-pleasing; for having no one to test his work, a man will think he has reached perfection in the commandment. And secondly, having shut up his character unexercised he neither recognises his defects nor knows his progress in good works, since he has taken away all the material for doing the commandments.

For wherewith shall a man show humility, if he has no one in comparison with whom to show himself humble? Wherewith shall he show compassion, when he is cut off from the communion of the many? How can he practise himself in long-suffering, when there is none to withstand his wishes? If a man says he finds the teaching of the divine Scriptures sufficient to correct his character, he makes himself like a man who learns the theory of building but never practises the art, or who is taught the theory of working in metals but prefers not to put his teaching into practice. To whom the apostle says: “Not the hearers of the law are just with God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.”¹⁴ For, behold, the Lord for the greatness of His love of men was not content with teaching the word only, but that accurately and clearly He might give us a pattern of humility in the perfection of love He girded Himself and washed the feet of the disciples in person. Whose feet then wilt thou wash? Whom wilt thou care for? In comparison with whom wilt thou be last if thou livest by thyself? How will that good and pleasant thing, the dwelling of brethren together, which the Holy Spirit likens to unguent flowing down from the High Priest’s head,¹⁵ be accomplished by dwelling solitary? So it is an arena for athletics, a method of travelling forward, a continual exercise and practising in the Lord’s commandments, when the brethren dwell together. It has as its object the glory of God according to the commandment of our Lord Jesus Christ Who said: “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”¹⁶ And it keeps the stamp of those Saints told of in the Acts, of whom it is written: “And all that believed were together and had all things common.”¹⁷ And again: “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them said that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.”¹⁸

Previous · Contents · Next