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Shorter Rules
St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925
Rule 284: If a Brotherhood Falls into Poverty 8 Owing to Calamity or Disease, May 1…
He that remembers the Lord’s words: ‘Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me”1 gives much thought, with zeal and care, to be worthy of being ranked as a brother of the Lord. If then a man is really such, let him have no hesitation in accepting help, but receive it joyfully. From whom and when and how it should be received, he who is entrusted with the general care ought to decide, remembering what David said: “Let not the oil of the sinner anoint my head2; and again: “He who walks in the blameless way, this man ministered to me.”3
Notes
- Mt. xxv. 40.
- Ps. cxli. 5.
- Ῥβ. ΟἹ. 6. 8 We gather from B.’s answer that buying and selling between monasteries was a declension from the ideal, which he was forced to tolerate. Cf. F. 39, where goods are to be sold in the neighbourhood at a low price rather than at a distance at a higher price.