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Shorter Rules
St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925
Rule 288: Ought He Who Wishes to Confess His Sins to Confess to All and Sundry? If Not,…
God’s plan of kindness to sinners is clear in the words of Scripture: “I desire not the death of the sinner but so that he should be converted and live.”1 Since then both the mode of conversion ought to be congruous to the sin and there is need of fruits worthy of repentance, according to the text: “Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance,” lest through lack of repentance the words of the added threat apply: “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire,”2 it is necessary to confess sins to those who are entrusted with the stewardship of the mysteries of God.3 For so also those who repented of old are found to have done so in the presence of the Saints. For it is written in the Gospel that they confessed their sins to John the Baptist; and in the Acts, to the apostles, by whom also they were all baptized.
Notes
- Ezek. xxxiii. 11 οὐ θέλω τὸν θάνατον τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ ὡς τὸ ἐπιστρέψαι καὶ ζῆν αὐτόν, Sw.’s (B) text οὐ βούλομαι τὸν θάνατον τοῦ ἀσεβοῦς ὡς ἀποστρέψαι τὸν ἀσεβῆ ἀπὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ αὐτοῦ καὶ ζῆν αὐτόν.
- Lk. iii. 8; 9.
- This, if it stood alone, would most naturally be taken = priests, but the mention of John is curious, and there is much evidence telling in another direction; cf. B. 184 and see Intr. p. 50.