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NPNF2-08. Basil: Letters and Select Works - Holy Bible Institute

NPNF2-08. Basil: Letters and Select Works - Holy Bible Institute

NPNF2-08. Basil: Letters and Select Works - Holy Bible Institute

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Ascetic.Q. “When a man has ab<strong>and</strong>oned all more expensive clothing, does he sin, <strong>and</strong>, if so,how, if he wishes his cheap upper garment or shoes to be becoming to him?”A. “If he so wishes in order to gratify men, he is obviously guilty of the sin of manpleasing.He is alienated from God, <strong>and</strong> is guilty of vain glory even in these cheap belongings.”LXIV. is a somewhat lengthy comment on Matt. xvii. 6. To “make to offend,” or “tosc<strong>and</strong>alize,” is to induce another to break the law, as the serpent Eve, <strong>and</strong> Eve Adam.LXXXIII. is pithy.Q. “If a man is generally in the right, <strong>and</strong> falls into one sin, how are we to treat him?A. “As the Lord treated Peter.”CXXVIII. is on fasting.Q. “Ought any one to be allowed to exercise abstinence beyond his strength, so that heis hindered in the performance of his duty?”A. “This question does not seem to me to be properly worded. Temperance 562 doesnot consist in abstinence from earthly food, 563 wherein lies the ‘neglecting of the body’ 564condemned by the Apostles, but in complete departure from one’s own wishes. And howgreat is the danger of our falling away from the Lord’s comm<strong>and</strong>ment on account of ourown wishes is clear from the words of the Apostle, ‘fulfilling the desires of the flesh, <strong>and</strong> ofthe mind, <strong>and</strong> were by nature the children of wrath.’” 565 The numbers in the Cœnobiumare not to fall below ten, the number of the eaters of the Paschal supper. 566 Nothing is tobe considered individual <strong>and</strong> personal property. 567 Even a man’s thoughts are not hisown. 568 Private friendships are harmful to the general interests of the community. 569 Atmeals there is to be a reading, which is to be thought more of than mere material food. 570The cultivation of the ground is the most suitable occupation for the ascetic life. 571 No feesare to be taken for the charge of children entrusted to the monks. 572 Such children are not562 ἐγκράτεια. Gal. v. 23.563 ἄλογα βρώματα. Combefis translates “terreni cibi.” Garnier “nihil ad rem pertinentium.”564 Col. ii. 23.565 Eph. ii. 3.566 Sermo Asceticus, 3.567 Reg. brev. tract. lxxxv., but see note on p.568 Proœm. in Reg. fus. tract.569 Sermo Asceticus. 5. The sacrifice of Gregory of Nazianzus may have been due to the idea that all privateinterests must be subordinated to those of the Church.570 Reg. brev. tract. clxxx.571 Reg. fus. tract. xxxviii.572 Reg. brev. tract. ccciv.94

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