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Shorter Rules

St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925

Rule 271: In View of the Lord’s Words, Howbeit Give for Alms Those Things Which are…

Your question is explained by what has gone before. For having said: “Ye cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness”’ then He added: ““‘Give as alms the things that are within, and behold all things are clean unto you”’² —all those sins and evil deeds which consist in snatching and overreaching. Indeed Zacchaeus declares this when he said: Behold the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have wrongfully exacted aught of any man, I restore fourfold.”³ So that whatsoever sins there are of this sort which it is possible to undo, and for which one can restore manyfold, are cleansed in this way. In this way, I say, not that the man is sufficient of himself to gain cleansing, but he needs primarily the mercy of God and the blood of Christ; in Whom we also have redemption from all other sins, when we produce in each case fruits worthy of repentance.

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