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Shorter Rules

St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925

Rule 247: The Scripture Says, Boast Not and Speak Not High Things; and the Apostle in One…

We have here a clear example of the apostle’s necessary opposition to vices. For he says these things not to commend himself but to bring down the audacious arrogance and pride of certain men. It is glorying in the Lord when a man refers his virtues not to himself but to the Lord, saying: “I can do all things in Christ that strengtheneth me.”⁵ But forbidden glorying is of two sorts, either according to the verse: “The sinner is praised in the desires of his soul”’⁶ and: “Why boastest thou in wickedness, thou powerful one?”⁷ or else according to the saying: “They do it to be seen of men,”⁸ through the very fact of their wishing to be praised for what they do, as it were glorying in their actions. Moreover such men may be called sacrilegious, since they appropriate the gifts of God and snatch for themselves the glory due to God.

Notes

1 Sam. ii. 3.
2 Cor. xi. 17.
2 Cor. xii. 11†.
2 Cor. x. 17.
Phil. iv. 13 add Χριστῷ K.
Ps. xi. 3.
Ps. lii. 1.
Mt. xxiii. 5.