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Shorter Rules

St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925

Rule 275: Does the Passage, I Paul Purposed to Come Once and Again, and Satan Hindered…

Of good works done in the Lord some are accomplished by the purpose and decision of the soul, while others are done by the body, either actively or passively. The things then that lie within the purpose and decision of the soul, these it is in no way possible for Satan to hinder. But as regards good things done by bodily activity God often allows hindrances to arise, to test and prove him that is hindered, in order that he may either be proved to desist from his good purpose, like those sown upon the rock who for a while received the word with joy but when affliction came immediately fell away, or else may be shown to persevere in good works through his zeal for righteous action, like the apostle himself who, having often purposed to go to the Romans and having been prevented as he himself confessed, nevertheless did not cease desiring until he fulfilled his purpose. But of passive endurance we have Job as an example, who, having suffered so many things at the hands of the devil who tried to make him utter some blasphemy, or to be ungrateful to God, yet in spite of extreme calamities did not desist from his godly judgment and right thinking about God. For it is written concerning him: “In all these things, Job sinned not in his lips before God and gave not folly to God.”²

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