Library › St Basil the Great › Shorter Rules
Shorter Rules
St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925
Rule 263: What Does the Lord Wish to Teach by the Examples Which He Gives Ending with the…
The Lord’s object in these examples is not to give a man power to become a disciple or not as he pleases, but to show the impossibility of pleasing God under conditions which distract the soul. In such conditions he is both in danger of becoming an easy prey to the plots of the devil and he is thought worthy of mocking and laughter because of his failure to complete what he seems to have been zealous to do. This the prophet prayed might not be his fate, saying: “Lest they rejoice over me: and when my feet were shaken they spoke great things against me.”1
Notes
- Ps. xxxviii. 16.