Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Series 2 - The Still Small ...

to be pledged to join the community till they are old enough to understand what they are
about. 573
573 Reg. fus. tract. xv. After the Regulæ are printed, in Garnier’s Ed. 34, Constitutiones Monasticæ, with the
note that their genuineness is more suspicious than that of any of the ascetic writings. They treat of the details
of monastic life, of the virtues to be cultivated in it and the vices to be avoided. Sozomen (H.E. iii. 14) has been
supposed to refer to them. All later criticism has been unfavourable to them. cf. Maran, Vit. Bas. xliii. 7; Ceillier
VI. viii. 3; Fessler, p. 524. It may be remarked generally that the asceticism of St. Basil is eminently practical.
He has no notion of mortification for mortification’s sake,—no praise for the self-advertising and vain-glorious
rigour of the Stylites. Neglecting the body, or “not sparing the body” by exaggerated mortification, in is cclviii.
condemned as Manichæism. It is of course always an objection to exclusive exaltation of the ascetic life that it
is a kind of moral docetism, and ignores the fact that Christianity has not repudiated all concern with the body,
but is designed to elevate and to purify it. (cf. Böhringer vii. p. 150.) Basil may be not unjustly criticised from
this point of view, and accused of the very Manichæism which he distinctly condemns. But it will be remembered
that he recognises the holiness of marriage and family life, and if he thinks virginity and cœnobitism a higher
life, has no mercy for the dilettante asceticism of a morbid or indolent “incivisme.” Valens, from the point of
view of a master of legions, might deplore monastic celibacy, and press Egyptian monks by thousands into the
ranks of his army. (cf. Milman, Hist. Christ. iii. 47.) Basil from his point of view was equally positive that he
was making useful citizens, and that his industrious associates, of clean and frugal lives, were doing good service.
“En effet, le moine basilien, n’est pas, comme le cénobite d’Égypte, séparé du monde par un mur infranchissable
‘Les poissons meurent,’ disait Saint Antoine, ‘quand on les tire de l’eau, et les moines s’énervent dans les villes;
rentrons vîte dans les montagnes, comme les poissons dans l‘eau.’ (Montalembert, Moines d’Occident, i. 61.) Les
moines basiliens vivent aussi dans la solitude pour gagner le ciel, mais ils ne veulent pas le gagner seuls.…Les
principaux, au moins, doivent se mêler à la société pour l’instruire. Cet homme à la chevelure négligée, à la demarche
posie, dont l’œil nes s’égare jamais, ouvre son monastère à ses sembables, ou va les trouver, du moment qu’il s’agit
de leur edification. Son contact fortifie le clergé; il entre lui-même dans les ordres, et devient collaborateur de
l’évêque. Il va aux fètes des martyrs et prêche dans les églises. Il entre dans les maisons, prend part aux conversations,
aux repas, et, tout en evitant les longs entretiens et les liaisons aux les femmes, et le directeur et le compagnon de
piété des âmes.…Le moine ne doit pas seulement soulager les mœux de l’âme. Les maisons des pauvres, dont se
couvrait une parlie de l’Asie Mineure, étatent des asiles ouverts toutes les souffrances physiques.…Pour Basile, ces
deux institutions, le monastère et la maisons des pauvres, quoique séparées et distinctes, n’en formaient qu’une.
A ses yeux, les secours corporels n’etaient qu’un moyen d’arriver à l’âme. Pendant que la main du moine servait
les voyageurs, nourissait les pauvres, pausait les malades, ses lèvres leur distribuatent une aumône plus précieuse,
celle de la parole de Dieu.” Fialon, Ét Historique, pp. 51–53. A high ideal! Perhaps never more nearly realized
than in the Cappadocian cœnobia of the fourth century.
Ascetic.
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