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Shorter Rules
St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925
Rule 175: How Do We Discern Him that Loves His Brother According to the Commandment of…
There are two prime characteristics of love: to feel grief and anxiety when the loved one is injured; and to rejoice at and strive for his advantage. Blessed therefore is he that grieves over the sinner, whose peril is so terrible; and that rejoices over the virtuous man, whose gain is incomparable, as it is written.1 Moreover, Paul the apostle testifies saying: ‘If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it “—which is absolutely in accord with the love of Christ: ‘and if one member is honoured, all the members rejoice with it ’2—with the purpose that is of pleasing God. And he that does not have these dispositions is clearly not a lover of his brother.
Notes
- Perhaps a reference to Mt. v. 4. 1 Cor. xii. 26 ἐὰν πάσχῃ for εἴτε πάσχει **,
- R. adds 1 Jn. iii. 14 b; 17.