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Shorter Rules
St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925
Rule 57: If Any Man Has a Fault Which He Does Not Amend and Though Continually Reproved…
It has been said elsewhere1 that we must convert sinners with long-suffering, according to the fashion shown us by the Lord. But if the condemnation and rebuke of the many is not sufficient for his conversion, as it was for the Corinthian, such a man must be regarded as a Gentile. But it cannot be safe for any one that such a man, condemned as he is by the Lord, should be retained,2 for the Lord said it is expedient a man should lose an eye or a hand or a foot and enter into the kingdom, rather than that he should be spared one of these and be wholly cast into the gehenna of fire, where is the weeping and gnashing of teeth.3 And the 4354 apostle testifies that “a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.”4
Notes
- B. 3.
- ἐναφίεσθαι. The word translated “be discharged” in the question is ἐπαφιέναι. R. has “parcere,” so ἐναφίεσθαι is probably corrupt.
- Mt. v. 29, 30¶.
- 1 Cor. v. 6.