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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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To Amphilochius, concerning the Canons.238XXII. Men who keep women carried off by violence, if they carried them off when betrothedto other men, must not be received before removal of the women <strong>and</strong> their restorationto those to whom they were first contracted, whether they wish to receive them, or to separatefrom them. In the case of a girl who has been taken when not betrothed, she ought first tobe removed, <strong>and</strong> restored to her own people, <strong>and</strong> h<strong>and</strong>ed over to the will of her own peoplewhether parents, or brothers, or any one having authority over her. If they choose to giveher up, the cohabitation may st<strong>and</strong>; but, if they refuse, no violence should be used. In thecase of a man having a wife by seduction, be it secret or by violence, he must be held guiltyof fornication. The punishment of fornicators is fixed at four years. In the first year theymust be expelled from prayer, <strong>and</strong> weep at the door of the church; in the second they maybe received to sermon; in the third to penance; in the fourth to st<strong>and</strong>ing with the people,while they are withheld from the oblation. Finally, they may be admitted to the communionof the good gift.XXIII. Concerning men who marry two sisters, or women who marry two brothers ashort letter of mine has been published, of which I have sent a copy to your reverence. 2703The man who has taken his own brother’s wife is not to be received until he have separatedfrom her.XXIV. A widow whose name is in the list of widows, that is, who is supported 2704 bythe Church, is ordered by the Apostle to be supported no longer when she marries. 2705There is no special rule for a widower. The punishment appointed for digamy maysuffice. If a widow who is sixty years of age chooses again to live with a husb<strong>and</strong>, she shallbe held unworthy of the communion of the good gift until she be moved no longer by herimpure desire. If we reckon her before sixty years, the blame rests with us, <strong>and</strong> not with thewoman.XXV. The man who retains as his wife the woman whom he has violated, shall be liableto the penalty of rape, but it shall be lawful for him to have her to wife.XXVI. Fornication is not wedlock, nor yet the beginning of wedlock. Wherefore it isbest, if possible, to put asunder those who are united in fornication. If they are set on cohabdeclinarit.Canon 8, Neocæsariensis laicis, quorum uxores adulterii convictæ, aditum ad ministerium ecclesiasticumclaudit; clericis depositionis pœnam irrogat, si adulteram nolint dimittere. Canon 65 Eliberitanus sic habet:Si cujus clerici uxor fuerit mæchata, et scierit eam maritus suus mæchari, et non eam statim projecerit, nec infine accipiat communionem. Hermas lib. i, c. 2, adulteram ejici jubet, sed tamen pœnitentem recipi. S. Augustinusadulterium legitimam esse dimittendi causam pronuntiat, sed non necessariam, lib. ii. De Adulter. nuptiis, cap.5, n. 13.”2703 Probably Letter clx. to Diodorus is referred to.2704 Διακονουμένην. So the Ben. Ed. Another possible rendering is “received into the order of deaconesses.”2705 1 Tim. v. 11, 12.681

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