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Shorter Rules
St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925
Rule 30: How We Shall Remove the Vice of Evil Concupiscence. (R. 49)
By a burning desire to fulfil the will of God, such as he showed who said: The judgments of the Lord are true, righteous altogether, more to be desired than gold and much precious stone, and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.”1 For the desire of better things, where there is power and opportunity to enjoy what is desired, always compels us to despise and spurn inferior things, as all the Saints have taught—how much more bad and shameful things?
Notes
- Ps. xix. 9; 10.