Shorter Rules (Asceticon, Regulae brevius tractatae) 39–74
Greek text: PG 31.English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0).
Chapter 39
39PG 31:1107
Ἐὰν δὲ ὑπακούσας τις γογγύσῃ. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Τοῦ ᾿Αποστόλου εἰπόντος· Πάντα ποιεῖτε χωρὶς γογγυσμῶν καὶ διαλογισμῶν, ἀπηλλοτρίωται καὶ ὁ γογγύζων τῆς ἑνώσεως τῶν ἀδελφῶν, καὶ τὸ τούτου ἔργον τῆς χρήσεως αὐτῶν· φανερὸς δὲ ἐστιν ὁ τοιοῦτος νοσῶν τὴν τε ἀπιστίαν καὶ τῆς ἐλπίδος τὴν ἀμφιβολίαν.
Ean de hypakousas tis gongysę̄. APOKRISIS. Tou ᾿Apostolou eipontos; Panta poieite chōris gongysmōn kai dialogismōn, apēllotriōtai kai ho gongyzōn tēs henōseōs tōn adelphōn, kai to toutou ergon tēs chrēseōs autōn; phaneros de estin ho toioutos nosōn tēn te apistian kai tēs elpidos tēn amphibolian.
Question. And if someone obeys but grumbles?
Answer. Since the Apostle said, “Do all things without grumbling and disputing,” the one who grumbles is estranged from the unity of the brothers, and his work from their use. And such a one is clearly sick with unbelief and with doubt about the hope.
Phil 2:14 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: One who obeys while grumbling cuts himself and his work off from the brotherhood, and shows unbelief and doubt about the hope.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR letter): ἐστικ → ἐστιν.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 39 (PG 31:1107; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/39). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/39
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 40
40PG 31:1107
Ἐὰν ἀδελφὸς ἀδελφὸν λυπήσῃ, πῶς ὀφείλει διορθώσασθαι ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Εἰ μὲν οὕτως ἐλύπησεν, ὡς ὁ Ἀπόστολος, εἰπών· Ἐλυπήθητε γὰρ κατὰ Θεὸν, ἵνα ἐν μηδενὶ ζημιωθῆτε ἐξ ἡμῶν, οὐχ ὁ λυπήσας χρήζει διορθώσεως, ἀλλ' ὁ λυπηθεὶς ὀφείλει τὰ ἰδιώματα τῆς κατὰ Θεὸν σας τὸ τοιοῦτον ἁμάρτημα, πληρωσάτω τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου εἰρημένον· Ἐὰν προσφέρῃς τὸ δῶρόν σου ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον, καὶ ἐκεῖ μνησθῆς, ὅτι ὁ ἀδελφός σου ἔχει τι κατὰ σοῦ, ἄφες ἐκεῖ τὸ δῶρόν σου ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου, καὶ ὕπαγε, πρῶτον διαλλάγηθι τῷ ἀδελφῷ σου, καὶ τότε ἐλθὼν, πρόσφερε τὸ δῶρόν σου.
Ean adelphos adelphon lypēsę̄, pōs opheilei diorthōsasthai APOKRISIS. Ei men houtōs elypēsen, hōs ho Apostolos, eipōn; Elypēthēte gar kata Theon, hina en mēdeni zēmiōthēte ex hēmōn, ouch ho lypēsas chrēzei diorthōseōs, all' ho lypētheis opheilei ta idiōmata tēs kata Theon sas to toiouton hamartēma, plērōsatō to hypo tou Kyriou eirēmenon; Ean prospherę̄s to dōron sou epi to thysiastērion, kai ekei mnēsthēs, hoti ho adelphos sou echei ti kata sou, aphes ekei to dōron sou emprosthen tou thysiastēriou, kai hypage, prōton diallagēthi tǭ adelphǭ sou, kai tote elthōn, prosphere to dōron sou.
Question. If a brother grieves a brother, how ought he to make amends?
Answer. If he grieved him in the way the Apostle did, who said, “For you were grieved in a godly way, so that you suffered loss from us in nothing,” it is not the one who caused grief who needs to make amends; rather, the one grieved ought [to show] the marks of godly [grief] … [If he has committed] such a sin, let him fulfil what the Lord said: “If you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
2 Cor 7:9 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 5:23–24 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: If the grief was godly, the one grieved must show its fruits; if it was a sin, the one who caused it must first be reconciled to his brother, as the Lord commanded.
- A line is lost in the scan text after “the marks of godly” (the end of that clause and the beginning of the next, which turned to the case of grief caused by sin); the sense is supplied in brackets.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (split word): ζημιω θῆτε → ζημιωθῆτε.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 40 (PG 31:1107; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/40). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/40
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 41
41PG 31:1109
Ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀνέχηται ἀπολογήσασθαι ὁ λυπήσας ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Πληρῶσαι ὀφείλομεν ἐπ' αὐτῷ τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου ἐπὶ τοῦ ἁμαρτήσαντος καὶ μὴ μετανοήσαντος εἰρημένα· Ἐὰν δὲ καὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας παρακούσῃ, ἔστω σοι ὡς ὁ ἐθνικὸς καὶ δ΄ τελώνης.
Ean de mē anechētai apologēsasthai ho lypēsas APOKRISIS. Plērōsai opheilomen ep' autǭ ta hypo tou Kyriou epi tou hamartēsantos kai mē metanoēsantos eirēmena; Ean de kai tēs Ekklēsias parakousę̄, estō soi hōs ho ethnikos kai d΄ telōnēs.
Question. And if the one who caused the grief will not bring himself to apologize?
Answer. We ought to carry out in his case what the Lord said about one who has sinned and not repented: “And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as the Gentile and the tax collector.”
Matt 18:17 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: One who caused grief and refuses to apologize is to be treated as an unrepentant sinner, as a Gentile and tax collector.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 41 (PG 31:1109; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/41). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/41
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 42
42PG 31:1109
Ἐὰν δὲ, ἀπολογουμένου τοῦ λυπήσαντος, μὴ θέλῃ διαλλαγῆναι ὁ λυπηθείς. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Φανερόν ἐστι το κρίμα τοῦ Κυρίου ἐπὶ τοῦ τοιούτου ἐν τῇ παραβολῇ τοῦ δούλου πρὸς τὸν σύνδουλον, ὃς, ἐπειδὴ παρακαλούμενος, μακροθυμῆσαι οὐκ ἤθελεν· Ἰδόντες δὲ, φησὶν, οἱ σύνδουλοι τὰ γενόμενα, διεσάφησαν τῷ κυρίῳ αὐτῶν· ὀργισθεὶς δὲ ὁ κύριος, ἀνεκαλέσατο τὴν ἑαυτοῦ εἰς αὐτὸν χάριν, καὶ παρέδωκεν αὐτὸν τοῖς βασανισταῖς, ἕως οὗ ἀποδῷ τὸ ὀφειλόμενον
Ean de, apologoumenou tou lypēsantos, mē thelę̄ diallagēnai ho lypētheis. APOKRISIS. Phaneron esti to krima tou Kyriou epi tou toioutou en tę̄ parabolę̄ tou doulou pros ton syndoulon, hos, epeidē parakaloumenos, makrothymēsai ouk ēthelen; Idontes de, phēsin, hoi syndouloi ta genomena, diesaphēsan tǭ kyriǭ autōn; orgistheis de ho kyrios, anekalesato tēn heautou eis auton charin, kai paredōken auton tois basanistais, heōs hou apodǭ to opheilomenon
Question. And if, when the one who caused grief apologizes, the one grieved will not be reconciled?
Answer. The Lord's judgment on such a one is plain in the parable of the servant and his fellow servant, who, when entreated, would not be patient: “When his fellow servants saw what had happened,” it says, “they told their lord; and the lord was angry, and revoked his favour toward him, and handed him over to the torturers until he should pay what was owed.”
Matt 18:28–34 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: One who refuses to be reconciled when an apology is offered falls under the judgment of the unforgiving servant in the Lord's parable.
- The quotation combines and paraphrases Matt 18:31–34.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 42 (PG 31:1109; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/42). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/42
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 43
43PG 31:1109
Πῶς οφειλει τις προσέχειν τῷ εἰς προσευχὴν ἐξυπνίζοντι ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Εἰ ἐπιγινώσκει τις τὴν ζημίαν τὴν ἐκ τοῦ ὕπνου, ὅτι οὐδὲ ἑαυτῆς ἐπαισθάνεται ἡ ψυχή, γνωρίζει δὲ τὸ κέρδος τῆς ἐγρηγόρσεως, καὶ μάλιστα τὴν ὑπερέχουσαν δόξαν, ὅτε προσάγεταί τις τῷ Θεῷ εἰς προσευχὴν, ὡς τὰ μεγάλα καὶ τὰ ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν ἐπιθυμίαν εὐεργετοῦντι, προσέξει τῷ ἐξυπνίζοντι, εἴτε εἰς προσευχὴν εἴτε εἰς οἱανδηποτοῦν ἐντολήν.
Pōs opheilei tis prosechein tǭ eis proseuchēn exypnizonti APOKRISIS. Ei epiginōskei tis tēn zēmian tēn ek tou hypnou, hoti oude heautēs epaisthanetai hē psychē, gnōrizei de to kerdos tēs egrēgorseōs, kai malista tēn hyperechousan doxan, hote prosagetai tis tǭ Theǭ eis proseuchēn, hōs ta megala kai ta hyper pasan epithymian euergetounti, prosexei tǭ exypnizonti, eite eis proseuchēn eite eis hoiandēpotoun entolēn.
Question. How ought one to regard the one who wakes him for prayer?
Answer. If one recognizes the loss that comes from sleep, in that the soul is not even aware of itself, and knows the gain of wakefulness, and above all the surpassing glory when one is brought to God in prayer, as to one who bestows great benefits beyond all desire, he will heed the one who wakes him, whether for prayer or for any commandment at all.
Notes and citation
Summary: One who understands the loss of sleep and the glory of coming to God in prayer will gladly heed whoever wakes him.
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 43 (PG 31:1109; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/43). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/43
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 44
44PG 31:1109
Ἐὰν δὲ στυγνάσῃ ὁ ἐξυπνισθεὶς ἢ καὶ ὀργισθῇ, τίνος ἐστὶν ἄξιος ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Τέως μὲν ἀφορισμοῦ καὶ ἀσιτίας, ἐὰν ἄρα δυνηθῇ κατανυγεὶς ἐπιγνῶναι ὅσων καὶ ἡλίκων ἀγαθῶν ἑαυτ τὸν ἀναισθήτως ἀποστερεῖ, καὶ οὕτως ἐπιστρέψας ἐνευφρανθῇ τῇ χάριτι τοῦ εἰπόντος· Ἐμνήσθην τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ εὐφράνθην· ἐὰν δὲ ἐπιμένῃ ἀναισθη τῶν, ἀποκοπτέσθω, ὡς τὸ σεσηπὸς καὶ διεφθαρμένον μέλος ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος. Γέγραπται γάρ· Συμ φέρει ἵνα ἀπόληται ἓν τῶν μελῶν σου, καὶ μὴ ὅλον τὸ σῶμά σου βληθῇ εἰς γέενναν
Ean de stygnasę̄ ho exypnistheis ē kai orgisthę̄, tinos estin axios APOKRISIS. Teōs men aphorismou kai asitias, ean ara dynēthę̄ katanygeis epignōnai hosōn kai hēlikōn agathōn heaut ton anaisthētōs aposterei, kai houtōs epistrepsas eneuphranthę̄ tę̄ chariti tou eipontos; Emnēsthēn tou Theou, kai euphranthēn; ean de epimenę̄ anaisthē tōn, apokoptesthō, hōs to sesēpos kai diephtharmenon melos apo tou sōmatos. Gegraptai gar; Sym pherei hina apolētai hen tōn melōn sou, kai mē holon to sōma sou blēthę̄ eis geennan
Question. And if the one who is woken is sullen or even angry, what does he deserve?
Answer. For the present, exclusion and going without food, in the hope that, pierced with compunction, he may recognize how many and how great the good things are of which he deprives himself without feeling it, and so, turning back, may rejoice in the grace of him who said: “I remembered God and was glad.” But if he remains without feeling, let him be cut off like a rotten and corrupt member from the body. For it is written: “It is better that one of your members perish, than that your whole body be thrown into hell.”
Ps 77:3 (76:4 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 5:29 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: One who resents being woken for prayer should be excluded and go without food until he repents; if he remains insensible, he is to be cut off like a rotten limb.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (column letter inside a word; split word): ἐνΑ ευφρανθῇ → ἐνευφρανθῇ; διεφθαρμέ νον → διεφθαρμένον.
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 44 (PG 31:1109; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/44). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/44
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 45
45PG 31:1111
κάν τις, ἀκούσας τοῦ Κυρίου εἰπόντος, ὅτι Ὁ δοῦλος ὁ γνοὺς τὸ θέλημα τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ, καὶ μὴ ποιήσας, μηδὲ ἑτοιμάσας πρὸς τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ, δαρήσεται πολλάς· ὁ δὲ μὴ γνοὺς, ποιήσας δὲ ἄξια πληγῶν, δαρήσεται ὀλίγας, ἀμελήσῃ τῆς γνώσεως τῶν τοῦ Κυρίου θελημάτων, εἰ ἔχει τὴν παραμυθίαν. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ, Δῆλός ἐστιν ὁ τοιοῦτος σχηματιζόμενος τὴν ἄγνοιαν, καὶ ἄφευκτον ἔχει τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὴν κρίσιν μὴ ἦλθον γὰρ, φησὶν ὁ Κύριος, καὶ ἐλάλησα αὐτοῖς, ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ εἶχον· νῦν δὲ πρόφασιν οὐκ ἔχουσι περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν, τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς πανταχοῦ πᾶσι τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ διαγγελλούσης. Ὥστε οὐχὶ μετὰ τῶν ἀγνοησάντων ὁ τοιοὔτος ἔλαττον κρίνεται, ἀλλὰ μετ' ἐκείνων σφοδρότερον κατακρίνεται, περὶ ὧν γέγραπται· Ὡσεὶ ἀσπίδος κωφῆς, καὶ βυούσης τὰ ὦτα αὐτῆς, ἥτις οὐκ εἰσακούσεται φωνῆς ἐπᾳδόντων, φαρμακοῦ τε φαρμακευομένη παρὰ σοφοῦ. Ὁ μέντοι ἐπιτεταγμένος τὴν οἰκονομίαν τοῦ λόγου, ἐὰν ἀμελήσῃ τοῦ ἀναγγεῖλαι, ὡς φονεὺς κρίνεται, καθὼς γέγρα πται.
kan tis, akousas tou Kyriou eipontos, hoti Ho doulos ho gnous to thelēma tou kyriou autou, kai mē poiēsas, mēde hetoimasas pros to thelēma autou, darēsetai pollas; ho de mē gnous, poiēsas de axia plēgōn, darēsetai oligas, amelēsę̄ tēs gnōseōs tōn tou Kyriou thelēmatōn, ei echei tēn paramythian. APOKRISIS, Dēlos estin ho toioutos schēmatizomenos tēn agnoian, kai apheukton echei tēs hamartias tēn krisin mē ēlthon gar, phēsin ho Kyrios, kai elalēsa autois, hamartian ouk eichon; nyn de prophasin ouk echousi peri tēs hamartias autōn, tēs hagias Graphēs pantachou pasi to thelēma tou Theou diangellousēs. Hōste ouchi meta tōn agnoēsantōn ho toioutos elatton krinetai, alla met' ekeinōn sphodroteron katakrinetai, peri hōn gegraptai; Hōsei aspidos kōphēs, kai byousēs ta ōta autēs, hētis ouk eisakousetai phōnēs epądontōn, pharmakou te pharmakeuomenē para sophou. Ho mentoi epitetagmenos tēn oikonomian tou logou, ean amelēsę̄ tou anangeilai, hōs phoneus krinetai, kathōs gegra ptai.
Question. If someone, having heard the Lord say, “The servant who knew his master's will and did not do it, nor prepared himself for his will, will be beaten with many blows; but the one who did not know, and did what deserved blows, will be beaten with few,” neglects to learn the Lord's will, does he have that consolation?
Answer. Such a one is plainly feigning ignorance, and the judgment on his sin is inescapable. “For if I had not come and spoken to them,” says the Lord, “they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin,” since holy Scripture everywhere proclaims the will of God to all. So such a one is not judged more lightly with those who did not know, but is condemned more severely with those of whom it is written: “Like a deaf asp that stops its ears, which will not hear the voice of charmers, nor of a drug skilfully prepared by a wise man.” The one, however, who is entrusted with the stewardship of the word, if he neglects to declare it, is judged as a murderer, as it is written.
Luke 12:47–48 (quotation, high confidence) · John 15:22 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 58:4–5 (57:5-Ps LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ezek 33:6–8 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: One who neglects to learn God's will in order to plead ignorance is feigning and will be judged more severely; and one charged with teaching who fails to speak is judged as a murderer.
- “Judged as a murderer”: probably Ezek 3:18 and 33:6–8 (the watchman).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (split word): θελημά των → θελημάτων; ἀσπί δος → ἀσπίδος.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 45 (PG 31:1111; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/45). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/45
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-basil-regulae-brevius-45) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 46
46PG 31:1111
Εἰ ὁ ἑτέρου ἀνεχόμενος εἰς τὸ ποιῆσαι ἁμαρτίαν ἔνοχός ἐστι τῆς ἁμαρτίας ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Τοῦτο τὸ κρῖμα φανερὸν ἐκ τῶν τοῦ Κυρίου πρὸς Πιλᾶτον ῥημάτων, εἰπόντος· Ὁ παραδιδούς με σοὶ μείζονα ἁμαρτίαν ἔχει. Σαφὲς γὰρ ἐκ τούτου, ὅτι καὶ ὁ Πιλᾶτος, ἀνεχόμενος τῶν παραδεδωκότων, ἁμαρτίαν εἶχεν, εἰ καὶ ἐλάττονα. Παρίστησι δὲ τοῦτο φανερῶς καὶ ὁ ᾿Αδὰμ ἀνασχόμενος τῆς Εὔας· καὶ ἡ Εὔα ἀνασχομένη τοῦ ὄφεως· οὐδεὶς γὰρ αὐτῶν ὡς ἀθῶος ἀτιμώρητος ἀφείθη. Καὶ αὐτὴ δὲ ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ κατ᾿ αὐτῶν ἀγανάκτησις ἐπιτετηρημένως τοῦτο ἐνδείκνυται· τοῦ γὰρ ᾿Ἀδὰμ ἀντὶ ἀπολογίας προσενεγκόντος τὸ, Ἡ γυνὴ, ἣν δέδωκας μετ' ἐμοῦ, αὕτη μοι ἔδωκε, καὶ ἔφαγον· ἀποκρίνεται ὁ Θεός Ὅτι ἤκουσας τῆς φωνῆς τῆς γυναικός σου, καὶ ἔφαγες ἀπὸ τοῦ ξύλου, οὗ ἐνετειλάμην σοι, τούτου μόνου μὴ φαγεῖν, ἐπικατάρατος ἡ γῆ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις σου. καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς.
Ei ho heterou anechomenos eis to poiēsai hamartian enochos esti tēs hamartias APOKRISIS. Touto to krima phaneron ek tōn tou Kyriou pros Pilaton rhēmatōn, eipontos; Ho paradidous me soi meizona hamartian echei. Saphes gar ek toutou, hoti kai ho Pilatos, anechomenos tōn paradedōkotōn, hamartian eichen, ei kai elattona. Paristēsi de touto phanerōs kai ho ᾿Adam anaschomenos tēs Euas; kai hē Eua anaschomenē tou opheōs; oudeis gar autōn hōs athōos atimōrētos apheithē. Kai autē de hē tou Theou kat᾿ autōn aganaktēsis epitetērēmenōs touto endeiknytai; tou gar ᾿Adam anti apologias prosenenkontos to, Hē gynē, hēn dedōkas met' emou, hautē moi edōke, kai ephagon; apokrinetai ho Theos Hoti ēkousas tēs phōnēs tēs gynaikos sou, kai ephages apo tou xylou, hou eneteilamēn soi, toutou monou mē phagein, epikataratos hē gē en tois ergois sou. kai ta hexēs.
Question. Whether one who puts up with another in doing a sin is guilty of the sin.
Answer. This judgment is plain from the Lord's words to Pilate: “He who delivered me to you has the greater sin.” For it is clear from this that Pilate too, in putting up with those who had delivered him, had sin, even if less. Adam shows this plainly too in putting up with Eve, and Eve in putting up with the serpent; for none of them was let go unpunished as innocent. And God's very indignation against them shows this pointedly; for when Adam offered by way of defence, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me, and I ate,” God answers: “Because you listened to the voice of your wife, and ate of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat of this alone, cursed is the ground in your works,” and so on.
John 19:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 3:1–6 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 3:12 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 3:17 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Whoever goes along with another's sin shares its guilt, as Pilate, Adam, and Eve show.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR letter; stray letter inside a word): ὅτα καὶ → ὅτι καὶ; προσ Dενεγκόντος → προσενεγκόντος.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 46 (PG 31:1111; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/46). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/46
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 47
47PG 31:1113
Εἰ δεῖ τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν ἐφησυχάζειν. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Ὅτι μὲν οὐ δεῖ, φανερὸν ἐκ τῶν τοῦ Κυρίου προσταγμάτων ἐν μὲν τῇ Παλαιᾷ Διαθήκῃ εἰπόντος· Ἐλεγμῷ ἐλέγξεις τὸν πλησίον σου, καὶ οὐ λήψῃ δι' αὐτὸν ἁμαρτίαν· ἐν δὲ τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ· Ἐὰν ἁμάρτῃ εἰς σὲ ὁ ἀδελφός σου, ὕπαγε, ἔλεγξον αὐτὸν μεταξὺ σοῦ καὶ αὐτοῦ μόνου. Εάν σου ἀκούσῃ, ἐκέρδησας τὸν ἀδελφόν σου· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀκούσῃ, παράλαβε μετὰ σοῦ ἔτι ἕνα ἢ δύο, ἵνα ἐπὶ στόματος δύο μαρτύρων ἢ τριῶν σταθήσεται πᾶν ῥῆμα. Ἐὰν δὲ παρακούσῃ αὐτῶν, εἰπὲ τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ· ἐὰν δὲ καὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας παρακούσῃ, ἔστω σοι ὥσπερ ὁ ἐθνικὸς καὶ τελώνης. Ἡλίκον δὲ ἐστι τὸ κρίμα τοῦ ἁμαρτήματος τούτου, ἔξεστι γνῶναι πρῶτον μὲν ἐξ ἀποφάσεως τοῦ Κυρίου καθολικῶς εἰπόντος· Ὁ ἀπειθῶν τῷ Υἱῷ οὐκ ὄψεται τὴν ζωήν· ἀλλ᾽ ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ μενεῖ ἐπ᾿ αὐτόν· ἔπειτα καὶ ἐξ ἱστοριῶν ἔν τε τῇ Παλαιᾷ καὶ τῇ Καινῇ Γραφῇ φερομένων. Ἰδοὺ γὰρ ὁ μὲν ῎Αχαρ, ἡνίκα ἔκλεψε τὴν γλῶσσαν τὴν χρυσῆν καὶ τὴν ψιλὴν, ἐπὶ πάντα τὸν λαὸν γέγονεν ὀργὴ Κυρίου, καίτοιγε ἀγνοήσαντα καὶ τὸν ἡμαρτηκότα καὶ τὸ ἁμάρτημα, μέχρις ὅτε ἐφανερώθη ὁ προειρημένος, καὶ τὸν φοβερὸν ἐκεῖνον ἅμα πᾶσι τοῖς ἰδίοις ὑπέμεινεν ὅλεθρον. Ὁ δὲ Ἠλεί καίπερ οὐκ ἐφησυχάσας τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ υἱοῖς, οἵτινες ἦσαν υἱοὶ λοιμοί, πολλάκις δὲ αὐτοῖς παραινέσας, καὶ εἰπὼν, Μὴ, τέκνα, οὐκ ἀγαθὰ ἀκούω περὶ ὑμῶν, καὶ λόγῳ πλείονι κατασκευάσας τῆς τε ἁμαρτίας τὸ ἄτοπον καὶ τῆς κρίσεως τὸ ἄφευκτον, ὅτι μὴ ὅλως ἐξεδίκησε, μηδὲ τὸν πρέποντα ζῆλον κατ' αὐτῶν ἐπεδείξατο, τοσοῦτον παρώξυνε τὴν ὀργὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὡς καὶ τὸν λαὸν τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτοῦ συναναλωθῆναι, καὶ τὴν κιβωτὸν αὐτὴν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων ληφθῆναι, καὶ αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τούτοις οἰκτρῷ τέλει θανατωθῆναι. Εἰ δὲ κατὰ τῶν μὴ συνεγνωκότων τῷ ἁμαρτήσαντι, καὶ κατὰ τῶν κωλυσάντων, καὶ διαμαρτυραμένων τὸ ἁμάρτημα, τοσαύτη ἡ ὀργὴ ἐξεκαύθη, τί ἄν τις εἴποι περὶ τῶν γινωσκόντων καὶ ἐφησυχαζόντων; Οἵτινες ἐὰν μὴ ἐπιδείξωνται τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀποστόλου πρὸς τοὺς Κορινθίους εἰρημένα, εἰπόντος· Διὰ τι οὐχὶ μᾶλλον ἐπενθήσατε, ἵνα ἐξαρθῇ ἐκ μέσου ὑμῶν ὁ τὸ ἔργον τοῦτο ποιήσας; καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς αὐτοῖς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ μαρτυρηθέντα γράψαντος· Ἰδοὺ γὰρ αὐτὸ τοῦτο, τὸ κατὰ Θεὸν λυπηθῆναι, πόσην ἐν ὑμῖν κατειργάσατο σπουδήν· ἀλλὰ ἀπολογίαν, ἀλλὰ ἀγανάκτησιν, ἀλλὰ φόβον, ἀλλὰ ἐπιπόθησιν, ἀλλὰ ζῆλον, ἀλλὰ ἐκδίκησιν· ἐν παντὶ συνεστήσατε ἑαυτοὺς ἀγνοὺς εἶναι ἐν τῷ πράγματι· κινδυνεύουσι πάντως καὶ νῦν ὁμοῦ πάντες τὸν αὐτὸν ὄλεθρον ὑποστῆναι, ἢ καὶ χείρονα, ὅσῳ χείρων τοῦ ἀθετήσαντος νόμον Μωσέως ὁ ἀθετῶν τὸν Κύριον, καὶ ὁ τὸ αὐτὸ τῷ προημαρτηκότι καὶ προκατακριθέντι τολμήσας. Ἑπτάκις μὲν γὰρ ἐκδεδίκηται ἐκ Κάϊν, ἐκ δὲ Λάμεχ έβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτὰ, τὸ ὅμοιον ἡμαρτόν τος
Ei dei tois hamartanousin ephēsychazein. APOKRISIS. Hoti men ou dei, phaneron ek tōn tou Kyriou prostagmatōn en men tę̄ Palaią Diathēkę̄ eipontos; Elegmǭ elenxeis ton plēsion sou, kai ou lēpsę̄ di' auton hamartian; en de tǭ Euangeliǭ; Ean hamartę̄ eis se ho adelphos sou, hypage, elenxon auton metaxy sou kai autou monou. Ean sou akousę̄, ekerdēsas ton adelphon sou; ean de mē akousę̄, paralabe meta sou eti hena ē dyo, hina epi stomatos dyo martyrōn ē triōn stathēsetai pan rhēma. Ean de parakousę̄ autōn, eipe tę̄ Ekklēsią; ean de kai tēs Ekklēsias parakousę̄, estō soi hōsper ho ethnikos kai telōnēs. Hēlikon de esti to krima tou hamartēmatos toutou, exesti gnōnai prōton men ex apophaseōs tou Kyriou katholikōs eipontos; Ho apeithōn tǭ Huiǭ ouk opsetai tēn zōēn; all᾽ hē orgē tou Theou menei ep᾿ auton; epeita kai ex historiōn en te tę̄ Palaią kai tę̄ Kainę̄ Graphę̄ pheromenōn. Idou gar ho men ᾿Achar, hēnika eklepse tēn glōssan tēn chrysēn kai tēn psilēn, epi panta ton laon gegonen orgē Kyriou, kaitoige agnoēsanta kai ton hēmartēkota kai to hamartēma, mechris hote ephanerōthē ho proeirēmenos, kai ton phoberon ekeinon hama pasi tois idiois hypemeinen holethron. Ho de Ēlei kaiper ouk ephēsychasas tois heautou huiois, hoitines ēsan huioi loimoi, pollakis de autois parainesas, kai eipōn, Mē, tekna, ouk agatha akouō peri hymōn, kai logǭ pleioni kataskeuasas tēs te hamartias to atopon kai tēs kriseōs to apheukton, hoti mē holōs exedikēse, mēde ton preponta zēlon kat' autōn epedeixato, tosouton parōxyne tēn orgēn tou Theou, hōs kai ton laon tois huiois autou synanalōthēnai, kai tēn kibōton autēn hypo tōn allophylōn lēphthēnai, kai auton epi toutois oiktrǭ telei thanatōthēnai. Ei de kata tōn mē synegnōkotōn tǭ hamartēsanti, kai kata tōn kōlysantōn, kai diamartyramenōn to hamartēma, tosautē hē orgē exekauthē, ti an tis eipoi peri tōn ginōskontōn kai ephēsychazontōn? Hoitines ean mē epideixōntai ta hypo tou Apostolou pros tous Korinthious eirēmena, eipontos; Dia ti ouchi mallon epenthēsate, hina exarthę̄ ek mesou hymōn ho to ergon touto poiēsas? kai ta hexēs autois hyp' autou martyrēthenta grapsantos; Idou gar auto touto, to kata Theon lypēthēnai, posēn en hymin kateirgasato spoudēn; alla apologian, alla aganaktēsin, alla phobon, alla epipothēsin, alla zēlon, alla ekdikēsin; en panti synestēsate heautous agnous einai en tǭ pragmati; kindyneuousi pantōs kai nyn homou pantes ton auton olethron hypostēnai, ē kai cheirona, hosǭ cheirōn tou athetēsantos nomon Mōseōs ho athetōn ton Kyrion, kai ho to auto tǭ proēmartēkoti kai prokatakrithenti tolmēsas. Heptakis men gar ekdedikētai ek Kaïn, ek de Lamech ebdomēkontakis hepta, to homoion hēmarton tos
Question. Whether one should keep silent toward those who sin.
Answer. That one should not is plain from the Lord's commands: in the Old Testament he says, “You shall surely reprove your neighbour, and you shall not incur sin because of him”; and in the Gospel: “If your brother sins against you, go, rebuke him between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother; but if he does not listen, take with you one or two more, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as the Gentile and tax collector.” How great the judgment on this sin is may be learned, first, from the Lord's general pronouncement: “He who disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God will remain on him”; and then from the histories recorded in both the Old and the New Scripture. For see: when Achar stole the golden tongue and the cloak, the wrath of the Lord came on the whole people, although they knew neither the sinner nor the sin, until the man was revealed and suffered that fearful destruction together with all his household. And Eli, although he did not keep silent toward his sons, who were pestilent sons, but often admonished them, saying, “No, children, it is not a good report I hear about you,” and set out at length both the outrage of the sin and the inescapability of the judgment, yet because he did not punish them at all, nor show the zeal against them that was fitting, so provoked the wrath of God that the people perished together with his sons, the ark itself was taken by the foreigners, and he himself died a pitiful death on top of all this. If, then, so great a wrath was kindled against those who were not accomplices of the sinner, and against those who forbade and protested against the sin, what could one say of those who know and keep silent? Unless they show what was spoken by the Apostle to the Corinthians, when he said, “Why did you not rather mourn, so that he who has done this deed might be removed from among you?” and what he afterwards testified of them, writing, “For see what earnestness this very godly grief has produced in you: what defence, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! In everything you have shown yourselves to be pure in the matter”, they all run the risk, now too, of suffering the same destruction together, or even a worse one, inasmuch as one who rejects the Lord is worse than one who rejected the law of Moses, and so is one who dares the same as one who sinned and was condemned before him. For “sevenfold vengeance is taken for Cain, but for Lamech seventy times seven,” since he sinned in the same way …
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Lev 19:17 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 18:15–17 (quotation, high confidence) · John 3:36 (quotation, high confidence) · Josh 7:1–26 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Sam 2:12–25 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Sam 2:24 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Sam 4:10–18 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 5:2 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 7:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Heb 10:28–29 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 4:24 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: We must not keep silent toward sinners: Achan's theft brought wrath on all Israel, and Eli, though he warned his sons, perished with them for failing to punish them; those who know of sin and say nothing risk the same or worse.
- Achar is the Septuagint form of Achan; “golden tongue” is the LXX's wording for the bar of gold (Josh 7:21). A gloss repeating Eli's words (“No, children, sons, not good”) has run into the text and is removed by a logged correction. The end of the answer is lost in the scan text after the saying about Lamech.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (column letter inside a word; marginal gloss run into the text; split word): ἐφανε ρώθη → ἐφανερώθη; τὰ Μὴ, τέκνα, υἱοὶ, μὴ ἀγαθά. ὑπὸ → τὰ ὑπὸ; ΛάΒ μεχ → Λάμεχ.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 47 (PG 31:1113; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/47). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/47
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-basil-regulae-brevius-47) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 48
48PG 31:1115
Ἡ πλεονεξία μέχρι τίνος κρίνεται. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. "Ὅταν ὑπερβῇ τις τοῦ νόμου τὸν ὄρον. Ἔστι δὲ τοῦτο κατὰ μὲν τὴν Παλαιὰν Διαθήκην τὸ πλέον ἑαυτοῦ φροντίσαι ἢ τοῦ πλησίον· γέγραπται γάρ· ᾿Αγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν· κατὰ δὲ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον, τὸ πλέον τῶν πρὸς τὴν ἐνεστῶσαν ἡμέραν ἀναγκαίων σπουδάσαι τι ἑαυτοῦ ἕνεκεν, ὡς ὁ ἀκούσας· Ἄφρον, ταύτῃ τῇ νυκτὶ τὴν ψυχήν σου ἀπαιτοῦσιν ἀπὸ σοῦ· ἃ δὲ ἡτοίμασας, τίνι ἔσται; Οἷς ἐπιφέρει καθολικώτερον· Οὕτως ὁ θησαυρίζων ἑαυτῷ, καὶ μὴ εἰς Θεὶν
Hē pleonexia mechri tinos krinetai. APOKRISIS. "Hotan hyperbę̄ tis tou nomou ton oron. Esti de touto kata men tēn Palaian Diathēkēn to pleon heautou phrontisai ē tou plēsion; gegraptai gar; ᾿Agapēseis ton plēsion sou hōs seauton; kata de to Euangelion, to pleon tōn pros tēn enestōsan hēmeran anankaiōn spoudasai ti heautou heneken, hōs ho akousas; Aphron, tautę̄ tę̄ nykti tēn psychēn sou apaitousin apo sou; ha de hētoimasas, tini estai? Hois epipherei katholikōteron; Houtōs ho thēsaurizōn heautǭ, kai mē eis Thein
Question. To what point is covetousness judged?
Answer. When one oversteps the boundary of the law. According to the Old Testament, this is to care more for oneself than for one's neighbour; for it is written: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” According to the Gospel, it is to be anxious for anything for oneself beyond what is needed for the present day, like the man who heard: “Fool, this night they demand your soul from you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” To which he adds more generally: “So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not [rich] toward God.”
Lev 19:18 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 6:34 (allusion, medium confidence) · Luke 12:20–21 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Covetousness begins where the law's boundary is crossed: under the Old Testament, caring more for oneself than one's neighbour; under the Gospel, seeking for oneself more than the day's needs.
- The answer breaks off in the scan text inside the quotation of Luke 12:21; the last word is supplied in brackets.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 48 (PG 31:1115; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/48). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/48
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-basil-regulae-brevius-48) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 49
49PG 31:1115
Τί ἐστι τὸ περπερεύεσθαι. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Πᾶν ὁ μὴ διὰ χρείαν, ἀλλὰ διὰ καλλωπισμὸν παραλαμβάνεται, περπερείας ἔχει κατηγορίαν
Ti esti to perpereuesthai. APOKRISIS. Pan ho mē dia chreian, alla dia kallōpismon paralambanetai, perpereias echei katēgorian
Question. What is it to be vainglorious in display?
Answer. Everything that is taken up not for need but for adornment is open to the charge of vain display.
1 Cor 13:4 (allusion, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Whatever is used for adornment rather than need is vain display.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 49 (PG 31:1115; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/49). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/49
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-basil-regulae-brevius-49) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 50
50PG 31:1115
Ἐὰν τις τὰ μὲν πολυτελέστερα τῆς ἐσθῆτες ἀπωθῆται, αὐτὸ δὲ τὸ εὐτελὲς, εἴτε ἱμάτιον εἴτε ὑπόδημα οἱονεὶ θέλῃ ἵνα πρέπῃ αὐτῷ, εἰ ἁμαρτάνει, ἢ ποῖον πάθος νοσεῖ ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Ὁ θέλων ἵνα πρέπῃ αὐτῷ πρὸς τὸ ἀνθρώποις ἀρέσαι, φανερός ἐστιν ἀνθρωπαρέσκειαν νοσῶν. καὶ μετεωριζόμενος ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ τὸ πάθος τῆς περπερείας καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς εὐτελέσι πληροφορῶν.
Ean tis ta men polytelestera tēs esthētes apōthētai, auto de to euteles, eite himation eite hypodēma hoionei thelę̄ hina prepę̄ autǭ, ei hamartanei, ē poion pathos nosei APOKRISIS. Ho thelōn hina prepę̄ autǭ pros to anthrōpois aresai, phaneros estin anthrōpareskeian nosōn. kai meteōrizomenos apo tou Theou, kai to pathos tēs perpereias kai en autois eutelesi plērophorōn.
Question. If someone refuses the more costly kinds of clothing, but wants the cheap thing itself, whether cloak or shoe, to look becoming on him, does he sin, or what passion is he sick with?
Answer. One who wants it to look becoming on him so as to please men is plainly sick with man-pleasing, distracted from God, and gives full proof of the passion of vain display even in cheap things.
Notes and citation
Summary: One who wants even cheap clothes to look fine in order to please people suffers from man-pleasing and vain display.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR letter): ἁμαρτάκει → ἁμαρτάνει.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 50 (PG 31:1115; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/50). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/50
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-basil-regulae-brevius-50) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 51
51PG 31:1117
Τί ἐστι ῾Ρακά ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Ἐπιχώριον ῥῆμα ἠπιωτέρας ὕβρεως, πρὸς τοὺς οἰκειοτέρους λαμβανόμενον.
Ti esti ῾Raka APOKRISIS. Epichōrion rhēma ēpiōteras hybreōs, pros tous oikeioterous lambanomenon.
Question. What is “Raca”?
Answer. A local word for a milder insult, used toward those closer to one.
Matt 5:22 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: “Raca” is a local word for a mild insult used among intimates.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 51 (PG 31:1117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/51). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/51
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 52
52PG 31:1117
Τοῦ Ἀποστόλου λέγοντος ποτὲ μὲν, « Μὴ γινώμεθα κενόδοξοι·· ποτὲ δὲ, «Μὴ ἐν ὀφθαλμοδουλεία ὡς ἀνθρωπάρεσκοι, » τίς ὁ κενόδοξος, καὶ τίς ὁ ἀνθρωπάρεσκος. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Λογίζομαι, ὅτι κενόδοξος μέν ἐστιν ὁ, ψιλῆς ἕνεκεν τῆς ἐν κόσμῳ δόξης, τῆς παρὰ τῶν ὁρώντων ἢ ἀκουόντων, ποιῶν τι ἢ λέγων· ἀνθρωπάρεσκος δὲ ὁ πρὸς τὸ θέλημά τινος ἀνθρώπου εἰς ἀρέσκειαν αὐτοῦ ποιῶν, κἂν ἀτιμίας ἄξιον ᾗἢ τὸ γινόμενον.
Tou Apostolou legontos pote men, « Mē ginōmetha kenodoxoi;; pote de, «Mē en ophthalmodouleia hōs anthrōpareskoi, » tis ho kenodoxos, kai tis ho anthrōpareskos. APOKRISIS. Logizomai, hoti kenodoxos men estin ho, psilēs heneken tēs en kosmǭ doxēs, tēs para tōn horōntōn ē akouontōn, poiōn ti ē legōn; anthrōpareskos de ho pros to thelēma tinos anthrōpou eis areskeian autou poiōn, kan atimias axion hę̄ē to ginomenon.
Question. Since the Apostle says at one time, “Let us not become vainglorious,” and at another, “Not with eye-service, as man-pleasers,” who is the vainglorious man, and who the man-pleaser?
Answer. I consider that the vainglorious man is one who does or says something merely for worldly glory from those who see or hear; and the man-pleaser one who acts according to some man's wish in order to please him, even if what is done deserves dishonour.
Gal 5:26 (quotation, high confidence) · Eph 6:6 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The vainglorious act for the sake of worldly glory; the man-pleaser acts to please a particular person's wishes, even dishonourably.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (split word): ἕνε κεν → ἕνεκεν.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 52 (PG 31:1117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/52). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/52
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 53
53PG 31:1117
Τις ἐστην ὁ μολυσμὸς τῆς σαρκὸς, καὶ τίς ὁ μολυσμὸς τοῦ πνεύματος· καὶ πῶς αὐτῶν καθαρεύσομεν· ἢ τίς ὁ ἁγιασμός· καὶ πῶς αὐτὸν κτησόμεθα. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Μολυσμὸς ἂν εἴη σαρκὸς μὲν τὸ ἀναμίγνυσθαι τοῖς αὐτουργοῦσι τὰ ἀπηγορευμένα, πνεύματος δὲ τὸ ἀδιαφορεῖν πρὸς τοὺς φρονοῦντας ἢ ποιοῦντας τὰ τοιαῦτα. Καθαρεύει δέ τις, ὅταν ἀνάσχηται τοῦ ᾿Αποστόλου εἰπόντος τῷ τοιούτῳ μηδὲ συνεσθίειν, καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα· ἢ ὅταν πάθῃ τὸ εἰρημένον ὑπὸ τοῦ Δαβίδ· Ἀθυμία κατέσχε με ἀπὸ ἁμαρτωλῶν τῶν ἐγκαταλιμπανόντων τὸν νόμον σου· καὶ λύπην τοιαύτην ἐνδείξηται, οἴαν ἐπεδείξαντο οἱ Κορίνθιοι, ὁπότε ἐνεκλήθησαν, ὅτι πρὸς τὸν ἁμαρτήσαντα ἀδιαφόρως διετέθησαν, ἐν παντὶ συστήσαντες ἑαυτοὺς ἁγνοὺς εἶναι ἐν τῷ πράγματι. Ἁγιασμὸς δὲ ἐστι τὸ ἀνακεῖσθαι τῷ ἁγίῳ Θεῷ ἐξ ὁλοκλήρου, καὶ ἀδιαστάτως ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ, διὰ φροντίδος καὶ σπουδῆς τῶν αὐτῷ ἀρεσκόντων. Τό τε γάρ λελωβημένον ἐν τοῖς ἀναθήμασιν ἀπρόσδεκτον, καὶ τὸ ἅπαξ ἀνατεθὲν τῷ Θεῷ εἰς κοινὴν καὶ ἀνθρωπίνην χρῆσιν ἕλκειν ἀσεβὲς καὶ ἀτόλμητον
Tis estēn ho molysmos tēs sarkos, kai tis ho molysmos tou pneumatos; kai pōs autōn kathareusomen; ē tis ho hagiasmos; kai pōs auton ktēsometha. APOKRISIS. Molysmos an eiē sarkos men to anamignysthai tois autourgousi ta apēgoreumena, pneumatos de to adiaphorein pros tous phronountas ē poiountas ta toiauta. Kathareuei de tis, hotan anaschētai tou ᾿Apostolou eipontos tǭ toioutǭ mēde synesthiein, kai hosa toiauta; ē hotan pathę̄ to eirēmenon hypo tou Dabid; Athymia katesche me apo hamartōlōn tōn enkatalimpanontōn ton nomon sou; kai lypēn toiautēn endeixētai, oian epedeixanto hoi Korinthioi, hopote eneklēthēsan, hoti pros ton hamartēsanta adiaphorōs dietethēsan, en panti systēsantes heautous hagnous einai en tǭ pragmati. Hagiasmos de esti to anakeisthai tǭ hagiǭ Theǭ ex holoklērou, kai adiastatōs en panti kairǭ, dia phrontidos kai spoudēs tōn autǭ areskontōn. To te gar lelōbēmenon en tois anathēmasin aprosdekton, kai to hapax anatethen tǭ Theǭ eis koinēn kai anthrōpinēn chrēsin helkein asebes kai atolmēton
Question. What is defilement of the flesh, and what is defilement of the spirit, and how shall we be cleansed of them? Or what is sanctification, and how shall we gain it?
Answer. Defilement of the flesh would be mixing with those who themselves do what is forbidden; defilement of the spirit, being indifferent toward those who think or do such things. One is cleansed when he heeds the Apostle, who says not even to eat with such a one, and other such things; or when he experiences what was said by David: “Despondency took hold of me because of the sinners who forsake your law”; and shows such grief as the Corinthians showed when they were reproached for having been indifferent toward the one who had sinned, in everything showing themselves to be pure in the matter. Sanctification is to be dedicated to the holy God wholly and without interruption at every time, through care and zeal for what pleases him. For what is maimed is unacceptable among offerings, and to drag what has once been dedicated to God into common and human use is impious and not to be dared.
2 Cor 7:1 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 5:11 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 119:53 (118:53 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 7:11 (allusion, high confidence) · Lev 22:20–22 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Defilement of the flesh is joining in with those who do forbidden things, and of the spirit is indifference toward them; sanctification is complete and constant dedication to God, like an offering that may not be blemished or taken back.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR letter; split word and OCR letter): ΚορίνΟιοι → Κορίνθιοι; ἀνθρωπί– την γρῆσιν → ἀνθρωπίνην χρῆσιν.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 53 (PG 31:1117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/53). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/53
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 54
54PG 31:1119
Τί ἐστι φιλαυτία, καὶ πῶς γνωρίζει ἑαυτὸν ὁ φίλαντος. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Πολλὰ καταχρηστικῶς λέγεται, ὥσπερ τό· ῾Ο φιλῶν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἀπολέσει αὐτήν· καὶ ὁ μισῶν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τούτῳ εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον φυλάξει αὐτήν. Φίλαυτος οὖν ἐστιν ὁ ἑαυτὸν δῆθεν φιλῶν. Γνωρίζει δὲ ἑαυτὸν, ἐὰν ἄπερ ποιεῖ δι᾽ ἑαυτὸν ποιῇ, κἂν κατ᾿ ἐντολὴν ᾗ τὸ γινόμενον. Τὸ γὰρ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἀναπαύσεως ἐλλεῖψαί τι τῶν πρὸς τὴν χρείαν τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ, εἶτε κατὰ ψυχὴν εἴτε κατὰ σῶμα, φανερὰν ἤδη καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἔχει τῆς φιλαυτίας τὴν κακίαν, ἧς τὸ τέλος ἀπώλεια.
Ti esti philautia, kai pōs gnōrizei heauton ho philantos. APOKRISIS. Polla katachrēstikōs legetai, hōsper to; ῾O philōn tēn psychēn autou apolesei autēn; kai ho misōn tēn psychēn autou en tǭ kosmǭ toutǭ eis zōēn aiōnion phylaxei autēn. Philautos oun estin ho heauton dēthen philōn. Gnōrizei de heauton, ean aper poiei di᾽ heauton poię̄, kan kat᾿ entolēn hę̄ to ginomenon. To gar hyper tēs heautou anapauseōs elleipsai ti tōn pros tēn chreian tou adelphou, eite kata psychēn eite kata sōma, phaneran ēdē kai tois allois echei tēs philautias tēn kakian, hēs to telos apōleia.
Question. What is self-love, and how does the self-lover recognize himself?
Answer. Many things are said in a loose sense, as for example: “He who loves his soul will lose it; and he who hates his soul in this world will keep it for eternal life.” The self-lover, then, is one who loves himself, as he supposes. And he recognizes himself if he does what he does for his own sake, even if what is done is according to the commandment. For to fall short in anything that serves a brother's need, whether in soul or body, for the sake of one's own rest, already makes the vice of self-love plain even to others; and its end is destruction.
John 12:25 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Tim 3:2 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The self-lover only seems to love himself; he is known by doing even commanded things for his own sake and by neglecting a brother's needs for his own comfort, which ends in destruction.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (split word): γινό μενον → γινόμενον.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 54 (PG 31:1119; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/54). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/54
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 55
55PG 31:1119
Ποία διαφορὰ πικρίας, καὶ θυμοῦ, καὶ ὀργῆς, καὶ παροξυσμοῦ. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Θυμοῦ μὲν καὶ ὀργῆς ἡ διαφορὰ τάχα ἐν διαθέσει καὶ ὁρμῇ κεῖται· τοῦ μὲν ὀργιζομένου ἐν διαθέσει μόνῃ ἔχοντος τὸ πάθος, ὡς δηλοῖ ὁ εἰπών· Ὀργίζεσθε, καὶ μὴ ἁμαρτάνετε· τοῦ δὲ θυμουμένου ἤδη τι καὶ πλέον δεικνύντος· θυμὸς γὰρ αὐτοῖς, φησὶ, κατὰ τὴν ὁμοίωσιν τοῦ ὄφεως· καὶ, ῾Ο Ἡρώδης ἦν θυμομαχῶν Τυρίοις καὶ Σιδονίοις. Καὶ τὸ σφοδρότερον ἀπὸ θυμοῦ κίνημα παροξυσμὸς ὀνομάζεται· ἡ δὲ πικρία κατασκευὴν δεινοτέραν τῆς κακίας ἐμφαίνει.
Poia diaphora pikrias, kai thymou, kai orgēs, kai paroxysmou. APOKRISIS. Thymou men kai orgēs hē diaphora tacha en diathesei kai hormę̄ keitai; tou men orgizomenou en diathesei monę̄ echontos to pathos, hōs dēloi ho eipōn; Orgizesthe, kai mē hamartanete; tou de thymoumenou ēdē ti kai pleon deiknyntos; thymos gar autois, phēsi, kata tēn homoiōsin tou opheōs; kai, ῾O Hērōdēs ēn thymomachōn Tyriois kai Sidoniois. Kai to sphodroteron apo thymou kinēma paroxysmos onomazetai; hē de pikria kataskeuēn deinoteran tēs kakias emphainei.
Question. What is the difference between bitterness, rage, anger, and provocation?
Answer. The difference between rage and anger lies perhaps in disposition and impulse: one who is angry has the passion in his disposition only, as he shows who said, “Be angry and do not sin”; while one in a rage already shows something more: “They have rage,” it says, “after the likeness of the serpent”; and, “Herod was furious with the people of Tyre and Sidon.” And the more violent movement that follows rage is called provocation. Bitterness reveals a more dreadful contrivance of wickedness.
Eph 4:31 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 4:4 (4:5 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Eph 4:26 (quotation, medium confidence) · Ps 58:4 (57:5 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Acts 12:20 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Anger is a disposition, rage breaks out further, provocation is rage at its most violent, and bitterness is a more deliberate wickedness.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (split word): Ὀργία ζεσθε → Ὀργίζεσθε.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 55 (PG 31:1119; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/55). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/55
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 56
56PG 31:1119
Τοῦ Κυρίου ἀποφηναμένου, ὅτι « Ὁ ὑψῶν ἑαυτὸν ταπεινωθήσεται·· καὶ τοῦ Ἀποστόλου παραγγέλλοντος, «Μὴ τὰ ὑψηλὰ φρονεῖν·· καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ λέγοντος· « ᾿Αλαζόνες, ὑπερήφανοι, τετυφωμένοι·· καὶ πάλιν·· ῾Η ἀγάπη οὐ φυσιοῦται·· τίς ἐστιν ὁ ὑψηλόφρων, καὶ τὶς ὁ ἀλαζῶν, καὶ τίς ὁ ὑπερήφανος, τις δὲ ὁ τετυφωμένος ἢ τίς ὁ πεφυσιωμένος. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Ὑψηλόφρων μὲν εἴη ἂν καὶ ὁ ἑαυτὸν ὑψῶν, ὁ ἐπὶ τοῖς προσοῦσιν αὐτῷ κατορθώμασι μεγαλοφρονῶν καὶ ἐπαιρόμενος, κατὰ τὸν Φαρισαῖον ἐκεῖνον, καὶ μὴ τοῖς ταπεινοῖς συναπαγόμενος. Ὁ αὐτὸς δ᾽ ἂν λέγοιτο καὶ πεφυσιωμένος, κατὰ τὸ Κορινθίων ἔγκλημα. ᾿Αλαζὼν δὲ ὁ μὴ στοιχῶν τοῖς νενομοθετημένοις, μηδὲ πληρῶν τὸ τῷ αὐτῷ στοιχεῖν κανόνι, τὸ αὐτὸ φρονεῖν· ἰδίαν δὲ ὁδὸν δικαιοσύνης καὶ εὐσεβείας ἐπινοῶν. Ὑπερήφανος δὲ ὁ ἐπὶ τοῖς προσοῦσιν αὐτῷ κομπάζων, καὶ ὑπὲρ ὅ ἐστι, φαίνεσθαι ἐπιτηδεύων. Τετυφωμένος δὲ ἢ ὁ αὐτός έστι τάχα τῷ ὑπερηφάνῳ, ἢ ἐγγὺς τούτου, κατὰ τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀποστόλου εἰρημένον· Τετύφωται, μηδὲν ἐπιστάμενος.
Tou Kyriou apophēnamenou, hoti « Ho hypsōn heauton tapeinōthēsetai;; kai tou Apostolou parangellontos, «Mē ta hypsēla phronein;; kai allachou legontos; « ᾿Alazones, hyperēphanoi, tetyphōmenoi;; kai palin;; ῾Ē agapē ou physioutai;; tis estin ho hypsēlophrōn, kai tis ho alazōn, kai tis ho hyperēphanos, tis de ho tetyphōmenos ē tis ho pephysiōmenos. APOKRISIS. Hypsēlophrōn men eiē an kai ho heauton hypsōn, ho epi tois prosousin autǭ katorthōmasi megalophronōn kai epairomenos, kata ton Pharisaion ekeinon, kai mē tois tapeinois synapagomenos. Ho autos d᾽ an legoito kai pephysiōmenos, kata to Korinthiōn enklēma. ᾿Alazōn de ho mē stoichōn tois nenomothetēmenois, mēde plērōn to tǭ autǭ stoichein kanoni, to auto phronein; idian de hodon dikaiosynēs kai eusebeias epinoōn. Hyperēphanos de ho epi tois prosousin autǭ kompazōn, kai hyper ho esti, phainesthai epitēdeuōn. Tetyphōmenos de ē ho autos esti tacha tǭ hyperēphanǭ, ē engys toutou, kata to hypo tou Apostolou eirēmenon; Tetyphōtai, mēden epistamenos.
Question. Since the Lord declared, “He who exalts himself will be humbled,” and the Apostle commands, “Do not set your mind on high things,” and elsewhere says, “Boasters, arrogant, puffed up with conceit,” and again, “Love is not puffed up,” who is the high-minded man, who the boaster, who the arrogant, who the conceited, and who the puffed-up?
Answer. The high-minded man would also be the one who exalts himself, who thinks great things and is elated over the good deeds he possesses, like that Pharisee, and does not associate with the lowly. The same might also be called puffed up, as in the charge against the Corinthians. The boaster is one who does not keep in line with what has been laid down, nor fulfils the command “to walk by the same rule, to be of the same mind,” but devises his own way of righteousness and godliness. The arrogant man is one who brags of what he has and makes it his business to appear more than he is. The conceited man is either perhaps the same as the arrogant or close to him, according to what the Apostle said: “He is conceited, understanding nothing.”
Luke 14:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 12:16 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Tim 3:2–4 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 13:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 18:11–12 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 4:18–19 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Cor 5:2 (allusion, medium confidence) · Phil 3:16 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Tim 6:4 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Basil distinguishes the high-minded or puffed-up, who are elated by their own good deeds, the boaster, who invents his own way of righteousness, and the arrogant or conceited, who brag and seek to seem more than they are.
- A fragment of a marginal note (“and elsewhere he says”) has run into the quotation of Phil 3:16 and is removed by a logged correction.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (column letter inside a word; marginal note run into the text; stray letter): Κορινθίων Η ἔγκλημα → Κορινθίων ἔγκλημα; κανόνι, Χι, καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ δὲ λέγ. τὸ αὐτὸ → κανόνι, τὸ αὐτὸ; ἐπι- Α στάμενος → ἐπιστάμενος.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 56 (PG 31:1119; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/56). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/56
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-basil-regulae-brevius-56) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 57
57PG 31:1121
Ἐάν τις ἐλάττωμα ἔχῃ ἀδιόρθωτον, καὶ συνεχέστερον καταγινωσκόμενος βλάπτηται, εἰ συμφέρει μᾶλλον ἐπαφιέναι αὐτῷ. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Τοῦτο καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ εἴρηται, ὅτι τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας ἐπιστρέφειν μακροθύμως δεῖ, κατὰ τὸν ὑποδεδειγμένον τρόπον παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου. Ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀρκέσῃ αὐτῷ πρὸς ἐπιστροφὴν ἡ τῶν πλειόνων κατάγνωσις καὶ ἐπιτίμησις, ὡς τῷ Κορινθίῳ, ὡς ἐθνικὸν ὁρᾶσθαι χρὴ τὸν τοιοῦτον. Ἐναφίεσθαι δὲ τὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου κατακεκριμένον κατ' οὐδένα τρόπον ἀσφαλὲς οὐδενὶ, τοῦ μὲν Κυρίου εἰπόντος, ὅτι συμφέρει ἵνα τις, ἕνα ὀφθαλμὸν, ἢ μίαν χεῖρα, ἢ ἕνα πόδα ἀπολέσας, εἰσέλθῃ εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν, ἢ ἐν τῷ φείσασθαί τινος τούτων, ὅλος βληθῇ εἰς τὴν γέενναν τοῦ πυρὸς, ὅπου ἐστὶν ὁ κλαυθμὸς καὶ ὁ βρυγμὸς τῶν ὀδόντων· καὶ τοῦ Ἀποστόλου μαρτυροῦντος, ὅτι μικρὰ ζύμη ὅλον τὸ φύραμα ζυμοῖ.
Ean tis elattōma echę̄ adiorthōton, kai synechesteron kataginōskomenos blaptētai, ei sympherei mallon epaphienai autǭ. APOKRISIS. Touto kai allachou eirētai, hoti tous hamartanontas epistrephein makrothymōs dei, kata ton hypodedeigmenon tropon para tou Kyriou. Ean de mē arkesę̄ autǭ pros epistrophēn hē tōn pleionōn katagnōsis kai epitimēsis, hōs tǭ Korinthiǭ, hōs ethnikon horasthai chrē ton toiouton. Enaphiesthai de ton hypo tou Kyriou katakekrimenon kat' oudena tropon asphales oudeni, tou men Kyriou eipontos, hoti sympherei hina tis, hena ophthalmon, ē mian cheira, ē hena poda apolesas, eiselthę̄ eis tēn basileian, ē en tǭ pheisasthai tinos toutōn, holos blēthę̄ eis tēn geennan tou pyros, hopou estin ho klauthmos kai ho brygmos tōn odontōn; kai tou Apostolou martyrountos, hoti mikra zymē holon to phyrama zymoi.
Question. If someone has a fault that cannot be corrected, and is harmed by being reproved too often, is it better to leave him alone?
Answer. This has been said elsewhere too: those who sin must be turned back with patience, in the way the Lord showed. But if reproof and rebuke by the majority are not enough for his turning back, as with the Corinthian, such a one must be regarded as a Gentile. To leave alone one condemned by the Lord is in no way safe for anyone, since the Lord said that it is better for someone to lose one eye, or one hand, or one foot, and enter the kingdom, than by sparing any of these to be thrown whole into the hell of fire, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth; and since the Apostle testifies that “a little leaven leavens the whole lump.”
Matt 18:15–17 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Cor 2:6 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 5:29–30 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 18:8–9 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 8:12 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Cor 5:6 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: An incorrigible brother must not simply be left alone: he is to be corrected patiently, and if rebuke by many fails, treated as a Gentile, since a little leaven leavens the whole lump.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (column letter and OCR letter; repeated word): ἐ. ελαττωμα ἐλάττωμα → ἐλάττωμα; χεῖρα, Β ἡ ἕνα → χεῖρα, ἢ ἕνα.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 57 (PG 31:1121; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/57). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/57
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 58
58PG 31:1121
Ὁ κατ' ἐπιτήδευσιν ψευσάμενος κρίνεται μόνον ἢ καὶ ὁ κατὰ ἄγνοιάν τι παρὰ τὸ ἀληθὲς ἀπολύτως φθεγξάμενος; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Τὸ κρίμα τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν κατὰ ἄγνοιαν ἁμαρτανόντων φανερὸν, εἰπόντος· Ὁ μὴ γνοὺς, ποιήσας δὲ ἄξια πληγῶν, δαρήσεται ὀλίγας. Πανταχοῦ δὲ ἡ ἀξιόλογος μετάνοια βεβαίαν ἔχει τὴν ἐλπίδα τῆς ἀφέσεως.
Ho kat' epitēdeusin pseusamenos krinetai monon ē kai ho kata agnoian ti para to alēthes apolytōs phthenxamenos? APOKRISIS. To krima tou Kyriou kai epi tōn kata agnoian hamartanontōn phaneron, eipontos; Ho mē gnous, poiēsas de axia plēgōn, darēsetai oligas. Pantachou de hē axiologos metanoia bebaian echei tēn elpida tēs apheseōs.
Question. Is only one who lies deliberately judged, or also one who through ignorance simply says something contrary to the truth?
Answer. The Lord's judgment is plain even on those who sin through ignorance, since he said: “The one who did not know, and did what deserved blows, will be beaten with few.” But everywhere repentance worthy of the name holds a sure hope of forgiveness.
Luke 12:48 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Even untruths spoken in ignorance are judged, though less severely, but true repentance always has a sure hope of forgiveness.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 58 (PG 31:1121; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/58). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/58
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 59
59PG 31:1121
Ἐὰν ἐνθυμηθῇ τις μόνον ποιῆσαί τι, καὶ μὴ ποιήσῃ, εἰ καὶ οὗτος ὡς ψεύστης κρίνεται ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Εἰ κατ᾿ ἐντολὴν ἐστιν ὁ ἐνεθυμήθη ποιῆσαι, οὐχ ὡς ψεύστης μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὡς ἀπειθὴς κατακρίνεται. Ἐτάζων γὰρ καρδίας καὶ νεφροὺς ὁ Θεός.
Ean enthymēthę̄ tis monon poiēsai ti, kai mē poiēsę̄, ei kai houtos hōs pseustēs krinetai APOKRISIS Ei kat᾿ entolēn estin ho enethymēthē poiēsai, ouch hōs pseustēs monon, alla kai hōs apeithēs katakrinetai. Etazōn gar kardias kai nephrous ho Theos.
Question. If someone only intends to do something and does not do it, is he too judged as a liar?
Answer. If what he intended to do is according to the commandment, he is condemned not only as a liar but also as disobedient. For God tries the hearts and reins.
Ps 7:9 (7:10 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: One who intends to do a commanded thing and does not do it is condemned as both a liar and disobedient, since God sees the heart.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 59 (PG 31:1121; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/59). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/59
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 60
60PG 31:1121
Ἐὰν τις προληφθεὶς ὁρίσῃ τι πρᾶξαι τῶν μὴ ἀρεσκόντων Θεῷ, τί χρὴ μᾶλλον, ἀνατρέψαι τὸ κακῶς ὁρισθὲν, ἢ φόβῳ τοῦ ψεύδους τελέσαι τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Τοῦ ᾿Αποστόλου λέγοντος, Οὐχ ὅτι ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν ἱκανοί ἐσμεν λογίσασθαί τι ὡς ἐξ ἑαυτῶν· καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου ὁμολογοῦντος, ὅτι Οὐ δύναμαι ἐγὼ ποιεῖν ἀπ᾿ ἐμαυτοῦ οὐδέν· καὶ πάλιν· Τὰ ῥήματα, ἀλλαχοῦ λέγοντος, ὅτι Καταβέβηκα ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, οὐχ ἵνα ποιῶ τὸ θέλημα τὸ ἐμὸν, ἀλλὰ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πέμψαντός με Πατρὸς, μετανοῆσαι ὀφείλει ὁ τοιοῦτος· πρῶτον μὲν, ὅτι ἀφ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ τολμᾷ τι ὁρίζειν, οἷον ἂν ᾖ· οὐδὲ γὰρ αὐτὰ τὰ καλὰ ἐξ αὐθεντίας ποιεῖν χρή· ἔπειτα δὲ, καὶ σφοδρότερον, ὅτι παρὰ ἀνατρέπειν χρὴ τὸ παρ᾽ ἐντολὴν τοῦ Κυρίου κατὰ πρόληψιν ὁρισθὲν, δείκνυται σαφῶς ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀποστόλου Πέτρου, ὁρισαμένου μὲν κατὰ πρόληψιν, ὅτι οὐ μὴ νίψῃς τοὺς πόδας μου εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἤκουσε τοῦ Κυρίου ἀποφηναμένου· Ἐὰν μὴ νίψω σε, οὐκ ἔχεις μέρος μετ' ἐμοῦ, εὐθὺς μεταθεμένου, καὶ εἰπόντος· Κύριε, μὴ τοὺς πόδας μου μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς χεῖρας καὶ τὴν κεφαλήν. ἃ ἐγὼ λαλῶ ὑμῖν, ἀπ᾿ ἐμαυτοῦ οὐ λαλῶ· καὶ
Ean tis prolēphtheis horisę̄ ti praxai tōn mē areskontōn Theǭ, ti chrē mallon, anatrepsai to kakōs horisthen, ē phobǭ tou pseudous telesai tēn hamartian. APOKRISIS. Tou ᾿Apostolou legontos, Ouch hoti aph' heautōn hikanoi esmen logisasthai ti hōs ex heautōn; kai autou tou Kyriou homologountos, hoti Ou dynamai egō poiein ap᾿ emautou ouden; kai palin; Ta rhēmata, allachou legontos, hoti Katabebēka ek tou ouranou, ouch hina poiō to thelēma to emon, alla to thelēma tou pempsantos me Patros, metanoēsai opheilei ho toioutos; prōton men, hoti aph᾿ heautou tolmą ti horizein, hoion an ę̄; oude gar auta ta kala ex authentias poiein chrē; epeita de, kai sphodroteron, hoti para anatrepein chrē to par᾽ entolēn tou Kyriou kata prolēpsin horisthen, deiknytai saphōs epi tou apostolou Petrou, horisamenou men kata prolēpsin, hoti ou mē nipsę̄s tous podas mou eis ton aiōna; epeidē de ēkouse tou Kyriou apophēnamenou; Ean mē nipsō se, ouk echeis meros met' emou, euthys metathemenou, kai eipontos; Kyrie, mē tous podas mou monon, alla kai tas cheiras kai tēn kephalēn. ha egō lalō hymin, ap᾿ emautou ou lalō; kai
Question. If someone, under the sway of a prior impulse, has resolved to do something that does not please God, what ought he rather to do: overturn what was wrongly resolved, or carry out the sin for fear of lying?
Answer. Since the Apostle says, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as from ourselves,” and the Lord himself confesses, “I can do nothing of myself,” and again, “The words that I speak to you I do not speak from myself,” and elsewhere says, “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me,” such a one ought to repent: first, because he dares to resolve anything of himself, whatever it may be, for one ought not to do even good things on one's own authority; and next, and more seriously, [because he resolved what is contrary to the commandment]. That what has been resolved on impulse contrary to the Lord's commandment must be overturned is shown clearly in the case of the apostle Peter, who resolved on impulse, “You shall never wash my feet”; but when he heard the Lord declare, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with me,” he at once changed his mind and said, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.”
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
2 Cor 3:5 (quotation, high confidence) · John 5:30 (quotation, high confidence) · John 14:10 (quotation, high confidence) · John 6:38 (quotation, high confidence) · John 13:8–9 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: A wrong resolution must be overturned rather than carried out for fear of lying, as Peter at once withdrew his refusal to have his feet washed; one should repent both of deciding on one's own authority and of deciding against the commandment.
- The scan text has the end of the quotation of John 14:10 displaced to the end of the answer, and a line is lost after “and next, and more seriously”; the quotation is translated in its place and the lost clause supplied by sense in brackets.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 60 (PG 31:1121; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/60). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/60
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 61
61PG 31:1123
Ἐὰν τις μήτε ἐργάζεσθαι δύνηται, μήτε τοὺς ψαλμοὺς μαθεῖν βούληται, τι χρὴ αὐτῷ ποιεῖσθαι. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Τοῦ Κυρίου ἐν παραβολῇ εἰπόντος περὶ τῆς ἀκάρπου συκῆς· Ἔκκοψον αὐτὴν, ἵνα τί καὶ τὴν γῆν καταργεῖ; προσάγειν μὲν αὐτῷ τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν πᾶσαν ἀναγκαῖον· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀνέχηται, τὸ προστεταγμένον περὶ τοῦ ἐπιμένοντος τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ καὶ ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ παραφυλαχθῆναι χρή. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ ἀργὸς τοῦ καλοῦ μετὰ τοῦ διαβόλου καὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ κρίνεται.
Ean tis mēte ergazesthai dynētai, mēte tous psalmous mathein boulētai, ti chrē autǭ poieisthai. APOKRISIS. Tou Kyriou en parabolę̄ eipontos peri tēs akarpou sykēs; Ekkopson autēn, hina ti kai tēn gēn katargei? prosagein men autǭ tēn epimeleian pasan anankaion; ean de mē anechētai, to prostetagmenon peri tou epimenontos tę̄ hamartią kai ep᾿ autǭ paraphylachthēnai chrē. Kai gar ho argos tou kalou meta tou diabolou kai tōn angelōn autou krinetai.
Question. If someone is neither able to work nor willing to learn the psalms, what should be done with him?
Answer. Since the Lord said in a parable about the barren fig tree, “Cut it down; why does it even use up the ground?”, it is necessary to apply every care to him; but if he will not bear it, what has been ordained for one who persists in sin must be observed in his case too. For one who is idle in what is good is judged with the devil and his angels.
Luke 13:7 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 25:41 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: A brother who will neither work nor learn the psalms must be given every care, but if he refuses he is to be treated as one persisting in sin, for idleness in good is judged with the devil.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR letters; split word): ποιὴται → ποιεῖσθαι; προστε ταγμένον → προστεταγμένον.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 61 (PG 31:1123; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/61). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/61
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 62
62PG 31:1123
Τί ἑαν ποιήσῃ τις ὡς κρύψας τὸ τάλαντον, κατακρίνεται. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Ὁ οἱανδήποτε χάριν Θεοῦ παρακατασχὼν εἰς ἀπόλαυσιν ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ μὴ ἄλλους εὐεργετῶν, ὡς κρύπτων τὸ τάλαντον κατακρίνεται.
Ti hean poiēsę̄ tis hōs krypsas to talanton, katakrinetai. APOKRISIS. Ho hoiandēpote charin Theou parakataschōn eis apolausin heautou, kai mē allous euergetōn, hōs kryptōn to talanton katakrinetai.
Question. What must one do to be condemned as one who hid the talent?
Answer. Whoever keeps back any grace of God at all for his own enjoyment, and does not benefit others with it, is condemned as hiding the talent.
Matt 25:18 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 25:24–30 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Whoever keeps any gift of God for his own enjoyment and does not use it for others is condemned as having hidden the talent.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 62 (PG 31:1123; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/62). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/62
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 63
63PG 31:1123
Τί ἐὰν ποιήσῃ τις, κατακρίνεται, ὡς ἐκεῖνοι οἱ γογγύσαντες κατὰ τῶν ἐσχάτων. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Ἕκαστος ἐπὶ τῷ ἰδίῳ ἁμαρτήματι κατακρίνεται καὶ οἱ γογγύσαντες ἐπὶ τῷ γογγυσμῷ. ῎Ἄλλοι δὲ
Ti ean poiēsę̄ tis, katakrinetai, hōs ekeinoi hoi gongysantes kata tōn eschatōn. APOKRISIS. Hekastos epi tǭ idiǭ hamartēmati katakrinetai kai hoi gongysantes epi tǭ gongysmǭ. ᾿Alloi de
Question. What must one do to be condemned like those who grumbled against the last?
Answer. Each is condemned for his own sin, and those who grumbled for their grumbling. Others …
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Matt 20:11–12 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Each is condemned for his own sin, and the grumbling workers for their grumbling.
- The end of the answer is lost in the scan text after “Others”.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 63 (PG 31:1123; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/63). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/63
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-basil-regulae-brevius-63) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 64
64PG 31:1125
Τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ λέγοντος, Συμφέρει αὐτῷ ἵνα κρεμασθῆ μύλος ὀνικὸς περὶ τὸν τράχηλον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ῥιφῇ εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν, ἢ ἵνα σκανδαλίσῃ ἕνα τῶν μικρῶν τούτων·· τί ἐστι τὸ σκανδαλίσαι; ἢ πῶς αὐτὸ φυλαξώμεθα, ἵνα μὴ τὸ οὕτω φοβερὸν κρίμα ἔλθῃ ἐφ' ἡμᾶς. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Σκανδαλίζει μέν τις, παρανομῶν λόγῳ ἢ ἔργῳ καὶ ἕτερον πρὸς παρανομίαν ἐνάγων, ὡς ὁ ὄφις τὴν Εὔαν, καὶ ἡ Εὔα τὸν ᾿Αδάμ· ἢ κωλύων ποιῆσαι τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὡς ὁ Πέτρος τὸν Κύριον, εἰπών· Ἴλεώς σοι, Κύριε, οὐ μὴ ἔσται σοι τοῦτο· καὶ ἀκούσας· Ὕπαγε ὀπίσω μου, Σατανᾶ, σκάνδαλόν μου εἶ, ὅτι οὐ φρονεῖς τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων· ἢ οἰκοδομῶν τὸ φρόνημα τοῦ ἀσθενοῦς εἴς τι τῶν ἀπηγορευμένων, κατὰ τὸ παρὰ τῷ ᾿Αποστόλῳ γεγραμμένον, εἰπόντι· Ἐὰν γὰρ τις ἴδῃ σὲ, τὸν ἔχοντα γνῶσιν, ἐν εἰδωλείῳ κατακείμενον, οὐχὶ ἡ συνείδησις αὐτοῦ ἀσθενοῦς ὄντος οἰκοδομηθήσεται εἰς τὸ τὰ εἰδωλόθυτα ἐσθίειν; οἷς ἐπιφέρει· Διόπερ εἱ βρῶμα σκανδαλίζει τὸν ἀδελφόν μου, οὐ μὴ φάγω κρέα εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ἵνα μὴ τὸν ἀδελφόν μου σκανδαλίσω. Γίνεται δὲ τὸ σκάνδαλον κατὰ πλείονας αἰτίας. Ἢ γὰρ παρὰ τὸν σκανδαλίζοντα τὸ σκάνδαλον γίνεται, ἢ παρὰ τὸν σκανδαλιζόμενον τὸ σκανδαλισθῆναι συμβαίνει Καὶ ἐν τούτοις πάλιν διαφόρως· ποτὲ μὲν γὰρ κατὰ ἀπειρίαν ἢ τούτου, ἢ ἐκείνου. Ἔστι δὲ ὅτε ἐν τῇ ὀρθοτομίᾳ τοῦ λόγου ἡ τῶν σκανδαλιζομένων κακία δηλοτέρα γίνεται· καὶ ἐν τοῖς πράγμασι δὲ ὁμοίως. Η γὰρ ἐντολὴν Θεοῦ ποιοῦντος, ἢ τοῖς ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ κειμένοις ἐπ᾿ ἀδείας χρωμένου ὁ σκανδαλιζόμενος σκανδαλίζεται. "Ὅταν μὲν οὖν τοῖς κατ᾿ ἐντολὴν γινομένοις προσκόπτωσιν ἄνθρωποι, καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις σκανδαλίζωνται (ὡς ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ τινὲς ἐπὶ τοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου κατὰ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Πατρὸς γινομένοις καὶ λεγομένοις), τότε χρή μνημονεύειν τοῦ Κυρίου περὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἀποκριναμένου, ἡνίκα προσελθόντες οἱ μαθηταὶ εἶπον αὐτῷ· Οἶδας, ὅτι οἱ Φαρισαῖοι, ἀκούσαντες τὸν λόγον, ἐσκανδαλίσθησαν; πρὸς οὓς φησι· Πᾶσα φυτεία, ἣν οὐκ ἐφύτευσεν ὁ Πατήρ μου ὁ οὐράνιος, ἐκριζωθήσεται. "Αφετε αὐτούς· τυφλοί εἰσιν ὁδηγοί τυφλῶν. Τυφλὸς δὲ τυφλὸν ἐὰν ὁδηγῇ, ἀμφότεροι εἰς βόθυνον ἐμπεσοῦνται. Καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα καὶ ἐν τοῖς Εὐαγγελίοις, καὶ παρὰ τῷ ᾿Αποστόλῳ εὕροι τις ἄν. Ὅταν δὲ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ ἡμετέρᾳ κειμένοις προσκόπτῃ τις, ἢ σκανδαλίζηται, εἰς ἀνάμνησιν ἐλθεῖν δεῖ τότε τῶν τοῦ Κυρίου πρὸς τὸν Πέτρον ῥημάτων, εἰπόντος· Ἄρα γε ἐλεύθεροί εἰσιν οἱ υἱοἱ· ἵνα δὲ μὴ σκανδαλίσωμεν αὐτοὺς, πορευθεὶς εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν, βάλε ἄγκιστρον, καὶ τὸν ἀναβαίνοντα πρῶτον ἰχθὺν ἆρον· καὶ ἀνοίξας τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ, εὑρήσεις στατῆρα· ἐκεῖνον λαβών, δὸς αὐτοῖς ἀντὶ ἐμοῦ καὶ σοῦ· καὶ τῶν τοῦ ᾿Αποστόλου πρὸς Κορινθίους γραμμάτων, ἐν οἷς φησιν· Οὐ μὴ φάγω κρέα εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ἵνα μὴ τὸν ἀδελφόν μου σκανδαλίσω· καὶ πάλιν· Καλὸν τὸ μὴ φαγεῖν κρέα, μηδὲ πιεῖν οἶνον, μηδὲ ἐν ᾧ ὁ ἀδελφός σου προσκόπτει, ἢ σκανδαλίζεται, ἢ ἀσθενεῖ. Ὅπως δὲ ἐστι φοβερὸν τὸ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ κεῖσθαι δοκοῦσι περιορᾶν τὸν ἀδελφὸν σκανδαλιζόμενον ἐν τούτοις, δείκνυσι μὲν ἡ τοῦ Κυρίου παραγγελία, καθόλου πάντα σκανδαλισμοῦ τρόπον ἀπαγορεύοντος, καὶ λέγοντος· ᾿Ορᾶτε μὴ καταφρονήσητε ἑνὸς τῶν μικρῶν τούτων· λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν, ὅτι οἱ ἄγγελοι αὐτῶν διαπαντὸς βλέπουσι τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ Πατρός μου, τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς. Μαρτυρεῖ δὲ καὶ ὁ Ἀπόστολος λέγων ποτὲ μέν· Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο κρίνατε μᾶλλον, τὸ μὴ τιθέναι πρόσκομμα τῷ ἀδελφῷ ἢ σκάνδαλον· ποτὲ δὲ διὰ περισσοτέρας κατασκευῆς σφοδρότερον ἀπαγορεύων τὸ ἄτοπον, δι' ὧν φησιν· Ἐὰν γάρ τις ἴδῃ σὲ, τὸν ἔχοντα γνῶσιν, ἐν εἰδωλείῳ κατακείμενον, οὐχὶ ἡ συνείδησις αὐτοῦ ἀσθενοῦς ὄντος οἰκοδομηθήσεται εἰς τὸ τὰ εἰδωλόθυτα ἐσθίειν; καὶ ἀπολεῖται ὁ ἀσθενῶν ἀδελφὸς ἐπὶ τῇ σῇ γνώσει, δι' ὃν Χριστὸς ἀπέθανεν. Οἷς ἐπιφέρει· Οὕτω δὲ ἁμαρτάνοντες εἰς τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς, καὶ τύπτοντες αὐτῶν τὴν συνείδησιν ἀσθενοῦσαν, εἰς Χριστὸν ἁμαρτάνετε. Διόπερ εἱ βρῶμα σκανδαλίζει τὸν ἀδελφόν μου, οὐ μὴ φάγω κρέα εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ἵνα μὴ τὸν ἀδελφόν μου σκανδαλίσω. Καὶ ἄλλαχοῦ, εἰπών· "Η μόνος ἐγὼ καὶ Βαρνάβας οὐκ ἔχομεν ἐξουσίαν τοῦ μὴ ἐργάζεσθαι; ἑξῆς ἐπιλέγει· Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐχρησάμεθα τῇ ἐξουσίᾳ ταύτῃ, ἀλλὰ πάντα στέγομεν, ἵνα μὴ ἐγκοπήν τινα δῶμεν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Οὕτω δὲ φοβεροῦ δειχθέντος τοῦ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ κειμένοις σκανδαλίζειν τὸν ἀδελφὸν, τί ἄν τις εἴποι περὶ τῶν ἐν τῷ τὰ ἀπηγορευμένα ποιεῖν ἢ λέγειν σκανδαλιζόντων; καὶ μάλιστα ὅταν ἢ γνῶσιν ἔχων περισσοτέραν φαίνηται ὁ σκανδαλίζων, ἢ ἐν βαθμῷ ἐξετάζηται ἱερατικῷ· ὃς, ὥσπερ κανὼν καὶ τύπος ὀφείλων προκεῖσθαι τοῖς ἄλλοις, κἂν βραχύ τι παρίδῃ τῶν γεγραμμένων, ἢ πράξας τὸ κεκωλυμένον, ἢ ἐλλιπὼν τὸ προστεταγμένον, ἢ ὅλως ἐφησυχάσας τινὶ τοιούτῳ, καὶ ἐν τούτῳ μόνῳ τοσοῦτον ἔχει τὸ κρίμα, ὥστε τὸ αἷμα τοῦ ἁμαρτάνοντος, φησὶν, ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν αὐτοῦ ἐκζητηθήσεται.
Tou Kyriou hēmōn Iēsou Christou legontos, Sympherei autǭ hina kremasthē mylos onikos peri ton trachēlon autou, kai rhiphę̄ eis tēn thalassan, ē hina skandalisę̄ hena tōn mikrōn toutōn;; ti esti to skandalisai? ē pōs auto phylaxōmetha, hina mē to houtō phoberon krima elthę̄ eph' hēmas. APOKRISIS Skandalizei men tis, paranomōn logǭ ē ergǭ kai heteron pros paranomian enagōn, hōs ho ophis tēn Euan, kai hē Eua ton ᾿Adam; ē kōlyōn poiēsai to thelēma tou Theou, hōs ho Petros ton Kyrion, eipōn; Ileōs soi, Kyrie, ou mē estai soi touto; kai akousas; Hypage opisō mou, Satana, skandalon mou ei, hoti ou phroneis ta tou Theou, alla ta tōn anthrōpōn; ē oikodomōn to phronēma tou asthenous eis ti tōn apēgoreumenōn, kata to para tǭ ᾿Apostolǭ gegrammenon, eiponti; Ean gar tis idę̄ se, ton echonta gnōsin, en eidōleiǭ katakeimenon, ouchi hē syneidēsis autou asthenous ontos oikodomēthēsetai eis to ta eidōlothyta esthiein? hois epipherei; Dioper hei brōma skandalizei ton adelphon mou, ou mē phagō krea eis ton aiōna, hina mē ton adelphon mou skandalisō. Ginetai de to skandalon kata pleionas aitias. Ē gar para ton skandalizonta to skandalon ginetai, ē para ton skandalizomenon to skandalisthēnai symbainei Kai en toutois palin diaphorōs; pote men gar kata apeirian ē toutou, ē ekeinou. Esti de hote en tę̄ orthotomią tou logou hē tōn skandalizomenōn kakia dēlotera ginetai; kai en tois pragmasi de homoiōs. Ē gar entolēn Theou poiountos, ē tois en exousią keimenois ep᾿ adeias chrōmenou ho skandalizomenos skandalizetai. "Hotan men oun tois kat᾿ entolēn ginomenois proskoptōsin anthrōpoi, kai epi toutois skandalizōntai (hōs en tǭ Euangeliǭ tines epi tois hypo tou Kyriou kata to thelēma tou Patros ginomenois kai legomenois), tote chrē mnēmoneuein tou Kyriou peri tōn toioutōn apokrinamenou, hēnika proselthontes hoi mathētai eipon autǭ; Oidas, hoti hoi Pharisaioi, akousantes ton logon, eskandalisthēsan? pros hous phēsi; Pasa phyteia, hēn ouk ephyteusen ho Patēr mou ho ouranios, ekrizōthēsetai. "Aphete autous; typhloi eisin hodēgoi typhlōn. Typhlos de typhlon ean hodēgę̄, amphoteroi eis bothynon empesountai. Kai polla toiauta kai en tois Euangeliois, kai para tǭ ᾿Apostolǭ heuroi tis an. Hotan de epi tois en exousią hēmeterą keimenois proskoptę̄ tis, ē skandalizētai, eis anamnēsin elthein dei tote tōn tou Kyriou pros ton Petron rhēmatōn, eipontos; Ara ge eleutheroi eisin hoi huioi; hina de mē skandalisōmen autous, poreutheis eis tēn thalassan, bale ankistron, kai ton anabainonta prōton ichthyn aron; kai anoixas to stoma autou, heurēseis statēra; ekeinon labōn, dos autois anti emou kai sou; kai tōn tou ᾿Apostolou pros Korinthious grammatōn, en hois phēsin; Ou mē phagō krea eis ton aiōna, hina mē ton adelphon mou skandalisō; kai palin; Kalon to mē phagein krea, mēde piein oinon, mēde en hǭ ho adelphos sou proskoptei, ē skandalizetai, ē asthenei. Hopōs de esti phoberon to epi tois en exousią keisthai dokousi perioran ton adelphon skandalizomenon en toutois, deiknysi men hē tou Kyriou parangelia, katholou panta skandalismou tropon apagoreuontos, kai legontos; ᾿Orate mē kataphronēsēte henos tōn mikrōn toutōn; legō gar hymin, hoti hoi angeloi autōn diapantos blepousi to prosōpon tou Patros mou, tou en ouranois. Martyrei de kai ho Apostolos legōn pote men; Alla touto krinate mallon, to mē tithenai proskomma tǭ adelphǭ ē skandalon; pote de dia perissoteras kataskeuēs sphodroteron apagoreuōn to atopon, di' hōn phēsin; Ean gar tis idę̄ se, ton echonta gnōsin, en eidōleiǭ katakeimenon, ouchi hē syneidēsis autou asthenous ontos oikodomēthēsetai eis to ta eidōlothyta esthiein? kai apoleitai ho asthenōn adelphos epi tę̄ sę̄ gnōsei, di' hon Christos apethanen. Hois epipherei; Houtō de hamartanontes eis tous adelphous, kai typtontes autōn tēn syneidēsin asthenousan, eis Christon hamartanete. Dioper hei brōma skandalizei ton adelphon mou, ou mē phagō krea eis ton aiōna, hina mē ton adelphon mou skandalisō. Kai allachou, eipōn; "Ē monos egō kai Barnabas ouk echomen exousian tou mē ergazesthai? hexēs epilegei; All' ouk echrēsametha tę̄ exousią tautę̄, alla panta stegomen, hina mē enkopēn tina dōmen tǭ Euangeliǭ tou Christou. Houtō de phoberou deichthentos tou epi tois en exousią keimenois skandalizein ton adelphon, ti an tis eipoi peri tōn en tǭ ta apēgoreumena poiein ē legein skandalizontōn? kai malista hotan ē gnōsin echōn perissoteran phainētai ho skandalizōn, ē en bathmǭ exetazētai hieratikǭ; hos, hōsper kanōn kai typos opheilōn prokeisthai tois allois, kan brachy ti paridę̄ tōn gegrammenōn, ē praxas to kekōlymenon, ē ellipōn to prostetagmenon, ē holōs ephēsychasas tini toioutǭ, kai en toutǭ monǭ tosouton echei to krima, hōste to haima tou hamartanontos, phēsin, ek tōn cheirōn autou ekzētēthēsetai.
Question. Since our Lord Jesus Christ says, “It is better for him that a donkey's millstone be hung around his neck and he be thrown into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble,” what is it to cause to stumble? And how shall we guard against it, so that so fearful a judgment may not come upon us?
Answer. One causes stumbling by breaking the law in word or deed and leading another into lawlessness, as the serpent did Eve, and Eve Adam; or by hindering someone from doing the will of God, as Peter did the Lord when he said, “God be merciful to you, Lord; this shall not happen to you,” and heard, “Get behind me, Satan; you are a stumbling block to me, for you do not set your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men”; or by building up the mind of the weak toward something forbidden, as is written in the Apostle, who says: “For if anyone sees you, who have knowledge, reclining at table in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, since he is weak, be built up to eat food offered to idols?” To which he adds: “Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause my brother to stumble.”
Stumbling arises from several causes. For either the stumbling comes from the one who causes it, or the being caused to stumble happens through the one who stumbles; and in these cases again in different ways: sometimes through inexperience on the part of the one or the other. And there are times when, in rightly handling the word, the wickedness of those who stumble becomes plainer; and likewise in deeds. For the one who stumbles stumbles either when someone does God's commandment, or when he freely uses things that lie within his own authority. When, then, people take offence at what is done according to the commandment and stumble over it (as in the Gospel some did over what the Lord did and said according to the will of the Father), we must remember the Lord's answer about such people, when the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard the saying?” To them he says: “Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” And one could find many such things both in the Gospels and in the Apostle. But when someone takes offence or stumbles at things that lie within our own authority, we must then call to mind the Lord's words to Peter, when he said, “Then the sons are free. But so that we do not cause them to stumble, go to the sea, cast a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth you will find a stater; take that and give it to them for me and for you”; and the words of the Apostle in his letter to the Corinthians, where he says, “I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause my brother to stumble”; and again, “It is good not to eat meat or drink wine, or do anything by which your brother takes offence, or stumbles, or is made weak.”
How fearful it is to disregard a brother who stumbles over things that seem to lie within our authority is shown by the Lord's command, which forbids every kind of causing to stumble altogether, saying: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.” And the Apostle bears witness, saying at one time, “But rather decide this, not to put a stumbling block or a hindrance in a brother's way”; and at another forbidding the outrage more strongly with fuller argument, when he says: “For if anyone sees you, who have knowledge, reclining at table in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, since he is weak, be built up to eat food offered to idols? And through your knowledge the weak brother is destroyed, for whom Christ died.” To which he adds: “Thus, sinning against the brothers and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause my brother to stumble.” And elsewhere, having said, “Or is it only I and Barnabas who have no right to refrain from working?”, he goes on to say: “But we have not made use of this right, but we endure all things, so that we may put no hindrance in the way of the Gospel of Christ.”
If causing a brother to stumble over things that lie within our authority has been shown to be so fearful, what could one say of those who cause stumbling by doing or saying what is forbidden? And above all when the one causing the stumbling appears to have greater knowledge, or is ranked in the priestly order: he ought to be set before the others as a rule and pattern, and if he overlooks even a little of what is written, whether by doing what is forbidden, or by leaving undone what is commanded, or by keeping silent about any such thing at all, even in this alone his judgment is so great that “the blood of the one who sins,” it says, “will be required at his hands.”
Matt 18:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 3:1–6 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 16:22–23 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 8:10 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 8:13 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Tim 2:15 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 15:12–14 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 17:26–27 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 14:21 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 18:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 14:13 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 8:11–12 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 9:6 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 9:12 (quotation, high confidence) · Ezek 3:18 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Causing to stumble means leading others into sin, hindering God's will, or emboldening the weak toward what is forbidden; offence taken at obedience to God must be disregarded, but we must give up even lawful freedoms to avoid offending a brother, and teachers and clergy bear the heaviest judgment.
- Several lines of the scan text are disordered near the end (a marginal phrase “to the brother as a stumbling block” has run into the sentence on “what is forbidden”); they are removed or repaired by logged corrections.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR debris; OCR debris inside a word; column letter; marginal note run into a split word; repeated syllables and words; stray letter): ἔλθη λθῃ ἐφ' ἐφ᾽ ἡμᾶς. ἡ ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ → ἔλθῃ ἐφ' ἡμᾶς. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ; ἐκ-ritia δηλοτέρα → δηλοτέρα; ἢ Β ἀσθενεῖ → ἢ ἀσθενεῖ; σκανδαλίζειν ῃ τὸν ἀδελφὸν → σκανδαλίζειν τὸν ἀδελφὸν; ἐν τῷ τὰ ἀπτῷ ἀδελφῷ εἰς σκάνδαλον. ηγορευμένα → ἐν τῷ τὰ ἀπηγορευμένα; προστεταγμέχιν, νον → προστεταγμένον.
Topics: Ethics, Church office
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 64 (PG 31:1125; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/64). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/64
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 65
65PG 31:1129
Πῶς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐν ἀδικίᾳ τις κατέχει. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ὅταν τοῖς παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ δεδομένοις ἀγαθοῖς εἰς τὰ ἴδια θελήματα καταχρήσηται, ὅπερ ἀπηρνήσατο ὁ ᾿Απόστολος εἰπών· Οὐ γὰρ ἐσμεν, ὡς οἱ πολλοὶ, καπηλεύοντες τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ· καὶ πάλιν· Οὔτε γάρ ποτε ἐν λόγῳ κολακείας ἐγενήθημεν, καθὼς οἴδατε, οὔτε ἐν προφάσει πλεονεξίας, Θεὸς μάρτυς· οὔτε ζητοῦντες ἐξ ἀνθρώπων δόξαν, οὔτε ἀφ᾽ ὑμῶν, οὔτε ἀπὸ ἄλλων.
Pōs tēn alētheian en adikią tis katechei. APOKRISIS Hotan tois para tou Theou dedomenois agathois eis ta idia thelēmata katachrēsētai, hoper apērnēsato ho ᾿Apostolos eipōn; Ou gar esmen, hōs hoi polloi, kapēleuontes ton logon tou Theou; kai palin; Oute gar pote en logǭ kolakeias egenēthēmen, kathōs oidate, oute en prophasei pleonexias, Theos martys; oute zētountes ex anthrōpōn doxan, oute aph᾽ hymōn, oute apo allōn.
Question. How does someone hold down the truth in unrighteousness?
Answer. When he misuses the good things given by God for his own wishes, which the Apostle renounced when he said, “For we are not, like many, peddling the word of God”; and again, “For we never came with a word of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for covetousness, God is witness; nor seeking glory from men, either from you or from others.”
Rom 1:18 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Cor 2:17 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Thess 2:5–6 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: To hold down the truth in unrighteousness is to misuse God's gifts for one's own wishes, as Paul refused to do.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (column letter inside a word): ζη- Β τοῦντες → ζητοῦντες.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 65 (PG 31:1129; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/65). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/65
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 66
66PG 31:1129
Τί ἐστιν ἔρις, καὶ τὶ ἐστιν ἐριθεία ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ἔρις μέν ἐστιν, ὅταν τις, ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ ἐλάττων φανῆναί τινος, σπουδάζῃ ποιεῖν τι· ἐριθεία δὲ τὸ ἐξ ὧν ποιεῖ τις ἐπιδεικτικῶς ἢ κενοδόξως προκαλεῖσθαι, καὶ ἐρεθίζειν ἄλλους εἰς τὰ ὅμοια. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Ἀπόστολος, ποτὲ μὲν ἐριθείας μνημονεύων, τὴν κενοδοξίαν ἐπισυνάπτει, εἰπὼν, Μηδὲν κατ' ἐριθείαν ἢ κενοδοξίαν· ποτὲ δὲ κενοδοξίαν προτάξας, μετὰ ταύτης καὶ τὴν ἐριθείαν ἑτέρῳ ὀνόματι ἀπαγορεύει, λέγων· Μὴ γινώμεθα κενόδοξοι, ἀλλήλους προκαλούμενοι.
Ti estin eris, kai ti estin eritheia APOKRISIS Eris men estin, hotan tis, hyper tou mē elattōn phanēnai tinos, spoudazę̄ poiein ti; eritheia de to ex hōn poiei tis epideiktikōs ē kenodoxōs prokaleisthai, kai erethizein allous eis ta homoia. Kai gar ho Apostolos, pote men eritheias mnēmoneuōn, tēn kenodoxian episynaptei, eipōn, Mēden kat' eritheian ē kenodoxian; pote de kenodoxian protaxas, meta tautēs kai tēn eritheian heterǭ onomati apagoreuei, legōn; Mē ginōmetha kenodoxoi, allēlous prokaloumenoi.
Question. What is strife, and what is rivalry?
Answer. It is strife when someone is eager to do something so as not to appear inferior to someone else; rivalry is to challenge and provoke others to the like by what one does for show or out of vainglory. For the Apostle at one time, when he mentions rivalry, joins vainglory to it, saying, “Nothing from rivalry or vainglory”; and at another, putting vainglory first, he forbids rivalry along with it under another name, saying: “Let us not become vainglorious, challenging one another.”
Gal 5:20 (allusion, medium confidence) · Phil 2:3 (quotation, high confidence) · Gal 5:26 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Strife is striving not to seem inferior to another; rivalry is provoking others by showy or vainglorious deeds, which Paul links with vainglory.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 66 (PG 31:1129; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/66). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/66
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 67
67PG 31:1129
Τί ἐστιν ἀκαθαρσία, καὶ τί ἐστιν ἀσέλγεια. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Τὴν μὲν ἀκαθαρσίαν ὁ νόμος ἔδειξε, χρησάμενος τῷ ὀνόματι ἐπὶ τῶν ἀκουσίως ἐκ φυσικῆς ἀνάγκης συμβαινόντων· τὴν δὲ ἀσέλγειαν δοκεῖ μοι ἐμφαίνειν ὁ σοφώτατος Σολομῶν, ἡδὺν καὶ ἀνάλγητον ὀνομάσας· ὡς εἶναι τὴν ἀσέλγειαν διάθεσιν ψυχῆς μὴ ἔχουσαν ἢ μὴ φέρουσαν ἄλγος ἀθλητικόν· ὥσπερ καὶ ἀκρασία ἐστὶν ἡ μὴ σχοῦσα κράτος κατὰ τῶν ἐνοχλουσῶν ἡδονῶν
Ti estin akatharsia, kai ti estin aselgeia. APOKRISIS. Tēn men akatharsian ho nomos edeixe, chrēsamenos tǭ onomati epi tōn akousiōs ek physikēs anankēs symbainontōn; tēn de aselgeian dokei moi emphainein ho sophōtatos Solomōn, hēdyn kai analgēton onomasas; hōs einai tēn aselgeian diathesin psychēs mē echousan ē mē pherousan algos athlētikon; hōsper kai akrasia estin hē mē schousa kratos kata tōn enochlousōn hēdonōn
Question. What is uncleanness, and what is licentiousness?
Answer. The law has shown what uncleanness is, using the word of things that happen involuntarily from natural necessity. Licentiousness, it seems to me, is indicated by the most wise Solomon when he called a man pleasure-loving and without pain; so that licentiousness is a disposition of soul that does not have or does not bear the pain of the contest, just as incontinence is that which has no mastery over the pleasures that trouble it.
Lev 15:1–33 (allusion, medium confidence) · Gal 5:19 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Uncleanness is the law's word for involuntary natural discharges; licentiousness is a soul that will not bear the pain of struggle, as incontinence has no mastery over pleasures.
- The passage of Solomon is uncertain; Basil plays on ἀσέλγεια as if from ἀ- and ἄλγος (“without pain”).
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 67 (PG 31:1129; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/67). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/67
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 68
68PG 31:1129
Τι ἴδιον θυμοῦ, καὶ τὶ ἴδιον ἀγανακτήσεως εὐλόγου, καὶ πῶς πολλάκις ἀπὸ ἀγανακτήσεως ἀρχόμενοι, εὑρισκόμεθα θυμούμενοι. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Θυμοῦ ἴδιον ὀρμὴ ψυχῆς ἐν μελέτῃ κακώσεως κατὰ τοῦ παροξύναντος· ἀγανακτήσεως δὲ ἐπιστήμονος ίδιον σκοπὸς διορθώσεως τοῦ ἡμαρτηκότος ἀπὸ διαθέσεως ἀπαρεσκομένης τῷ γενομένῳ Τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ καλοῦ ἀρχομένην ψυχὴν ἐκπίπτειν εἰς κακόν, οὐδὲν παράδοξον· πολλὰ γὰρ ἄν τις εὔροι τοιαῦτα. Διόπερ μνημονεύειν χρὴ τῆς θεοπνεύστου Γραφῆς λεγούσης· Ἐχόμενα τρίβου σκάνδαλα ἔθεντό μοι· καὶ πάλιν· Ἐὰν δὲ καὶ ἀθλῇ τις, οὐ στεφανοῦται, ἐὰν μὴ νομίμως ἀθλήσῃ· καὶ φυλάσσεσθαι πανταχοῦ τὴν τε ἀμετρίαν καὶ τὴν ἀκαιρίαν, καὶ τὴν ἀταξίαν. Παρὰ γὰρ τὴν αἰτίαν τῶν εἰρημένων ἕκαστον, καὶ τὸ δόξαν εἶναι καλὸν, πολλάκις εἰς κακὸν μετέπεσεν.
Ti idion thymou, kai ti idion aganaktēseōs eulogou, kai pōs pollakis apo aganaktēseōs archomenoi, heuriskometha thymoumenoi. APOKRISIS. Thymou idion ormē psychēs en meletę̄ kakōseōs kata tou paroxynantos; aganaktēseōs de epistēmonos idion skopos diorthōseōs tou hēmartēkotos apo diatheseōs apareskomenēs tǭ genomenǭ To de apo kalou archomenēn psychēn ekpiptein eis kakon, ouden paradoxon; polla gar an tis euroi toiauta. Dioper mnēmoneuein chrē tēs theopneustou Graphēs legousēs; Echomena tribou skandala ethento moi; kai palin; Ean de kai athlę̄ tis, ou stephanoutai, ean mē nomimōs athlēsę̄; kai phylassesthai pantachou tēn te ametrian kai tēn akairian, kai tēn ataxian. Para gar tēn aitian tōn eirēmenōn hekaston, kai to doxan einai kalon, pollakis eis kakon metepesen.
Question. What is the mark of rage, and what the mark of reasonable indignation, and how is it that, often beginning with indignation, we find ourselves in a rage?
Answer. The mark of rage is an impulse of the soul bent on harming the one who provoked it; the mark of knowledgeable indignation is the aim of correcting the one who has sinned, from a disposition displeased at what was done. That a soul beginning from good should fall into evil is nothing strange; one could find many such cases. Therefore we must remember the God-inspired Scripture, which says, “They have set stumbling blocks for me beside the path”; and again, “And if anyone competes, he is not crowned unless he competes lawfully”; and we must guard everywhere against excess, untimeliness, and disorder. For through the fault of each of these, even what seemed good has often changed into evil.
Ps 140:5 (139:6 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Tim 2:5 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Rage seeks to harm, reasonable indignation seeks to correct; indignation turns to rage through excess, untimeliness, or disorder, which must always be guarded against.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (column letter): κακώσεως Α κατὰ → κακώσεως κατὰ.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 68 (PG 31:1129; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/68). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/68
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 69
69PG 31:1131
Τὸν μὴ ἔλαττον ἐσθίοντα τῶν λοιπῶν, μήτε σῶμα ἔχοντα κατερριμμένον, μήτε ἐμπαθή γνωριζόμενον, ἀδυναμίαν δὲ πρὸς τὸ ἔργον ὀδυρόμενον, πῶς δεῖ μετέρχεσθαι. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Πᾶσα προφασις ἀργίας πρόφασίς ἐστιν ἁμαρτίας· τὴν γὰρ σπουδὴν μέχρι θανάτου, ὥσπερ καὶ τὴν ὑπομονὴν, ἐπιδείκνυσθαι χρή. Ὅτι δὲ ἡ ὀκνηρία τῇ πονηρία συνεζευγμένη κατακρίνει τὸν ὀκνηρὸν, ἐκ τῶν τοῦ Κυρίου ῥημάτων φανερόν, εἰπόντος· Δοῦλε πονηρὲ καὶ ὀκνηρέ
Ton mē elatton esthionta tōn loipōn, mēte sōma echonta katerrimmenon, mēte empathē gnōrizomenon, adynamian de pros to ergon odyromenon, pōs dei meterchesthai. APOKRISIS. Pasa prophasis argias prophasis estin hamartias; tēn gar spoudēn mechri thanatou, hōsper kai tēn hypomonēn, epideiknysthai chrē. Hoti de hē oknēria tę̄ ponēria synezeugmenē katakrinei ton oknēron, ek tōn tou Kyriou rhēmatōn phaneron, eipontos; Doule ponēre kai oknēre
Question. How should we deal with one who eats no less than the rest, whose body is not worn down, and who is not known to be ill, yet laments that he is too weak for work?
Answer. Every pretext of idleness is a pretext of sin; for one must show zeal, as also endurance, even to death. That sluggishness yoked with wickedness condemns the sluggard is plain from the Lord's words, when he said: “You wicked and sluggish servant.”
Phil 2:8 (allusion, low confidence) · Matt 25:26 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: One who is well fed and healthy but pleads weakness to avoid work is making a pretext for sin, for the Lord condemns the wicked and slothful servant.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR letter; split word): ἁμαρ τίας → ἁμαρτίας; ἐκνηρέ → ὀκνηρέ.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 69 (PG 31:1131; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/69). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/69
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 70
70PG 31:1131
Τὸν παραχρώμενον τοῖς ἱματίοις ἢ τοῖς ὑποδήμασι πῶς δεῖ μετέρχεσθαι· ἐγκαλούμενος γὰρ, μικρολογίαν τοῦ ἐγκαλοῦντος καὶ γογγυσμὸν ὑποπτεύει. Εἰ δὲ μετὰ τὴν προσήκουσαν δευτέραν καὶ τρίτην παράκλησιν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐπιμένοι, τι χρὴ αὐτῷ ποιεῖν ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Ἐκβάλλει τὴν παράχρησιν ὁ ᾿Απόστολος εἰπών· Ὡς χρώμενοι τῷ κόσμῳ τούτῳ, καὶ μὴ παραχρώμενοι. Τῆς γὰρ χρήσεως τὸ μέτρον ἡ ἀπαραίτητος ἀνάγκη τῆς χρείας· ἡ δὲ ὑπὲρ τὴν χρείαν ἢ πλεονεξίας, ἢ φιληδονίας, ἢ κενοδοξίας ἔχει τὴν νόσον. Ὁ δὲ ἐπιμένων τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἔχει τὸ κρίμα τοῦ μὴ μετανοοῦντος.
Ton parachrōmenon tois himatiois ē tois hypodēmasi pōs dei meterchesthai; enkaloumenos gar, mikrologian tou enkalountos kai gongysmon hypopteuei. Ei de meta tēn prosēkousan deuteran kai tritēn paraklēsin tois autois epimenoi, ti chrē autǭ poiein APOKRISIS. Ekballei tēn parachrēsin ho ᾿Apostolos eipōn; Hōs chrōmenoi tǭ kosmǭ toutǭ, kai mē parachrōmenoi. Tēs gar chrēseōs to metron hē aparaitētos anankē tēs chreias; hē de hyper tēn chreian ē pleonexias, ē philēdonias, ē kenodoxias echei tēn noson. Ho de epimenōn tę̄ hamartią echei to krima tou mē metanoountos.
Question. How should we deal with one who misuses clothing or shoes? For when he is reproached, he suspects the one reproaching him of pettiness and grumbling. And if after the fitting second and third exhortation he persists in the same, what should be done with him?
Answer. The Apostle rules out misuse, saying: “As using this world, and not misusing it.” For the measure of use is the unavoidable necessity of need; use beyond need carries the sickness of covetousness, or love of pleasure, or vainglory. And one who persists in the sin has the judgment of one who does not repent.
1 Cor 7:31 (quotation, high confidence) · Titus 3:10 (allusion, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Using clothes beyond need shows covetousness, love of pleasure, or vainglory, and one who persists after warnings is judged as unrepentant.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (split word): ἀπαραί τητος → ἀπαραίτητος.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 70 (PG 31:1131; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/70). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/70
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 71
71PG 31:1131
Εἰσί τινες οἱ πρὸ πλείονος τὸ ἡδύτερον τῶν ἐδεσμάτων ἐπιζητοῦντες· ἄλλοι δὲ τὸ πλεῖον μᾶλλον ἢ τὸ ἡδὺ διὰ τὸν κόρον θέλουσιν· πᾶς οὖν ἀμφοτέρους πληροφορεῖν χρή. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Αμφότεροι νοσοῦσιν· ὁ μὲν τὴν φιληδονίαν, ὁ δὲ τὴν πλεονεξίαν. Οὔτε δὲ ὁ φιλήδονος οὔτε ὁ πλεονέκτης ἐν οἱῳδήποτε πράγματι ἐκτὸς κατακρίσεώς ἐστιν. Αμφοτέρων οὖν εὐσπλάγχνως ἐπιμεληθῆναι χρὴ πρὸς θεραπείαν τοῦ πάθους. Εἰ δὲ μὴ θεραπεύονται τὴν νόσον, φανερὸν τὸ κρῖμα τῶν μὴ μετανοούντων.
Eisi tines hoi pro pleionos to hēdyteron tōn edesmatōn epizētountes; alloi de to pleion mallon ē to hēdy dia ton koron thelousin; pas oun amphoterous plērophorein chrē. APOKRISIS. Amphoteroi nosousin; ho men tēn philēdonian, ho de tēn pleonexian. Oute de ho philēdonos oute ho pleonektēs en hoiǭdēpote pragmati ektos katakriseōs estin. Amphoterōn oun eusplanchnōs epimelēthēnai chrē pros therapeian tou pathous. Ei de mē therapeuontai tēn noson, phaneron to krima tōn mē metanoountōn.
Question. There are some who seek the tastier among foods rather than more of them; and others want more rather than what is tasty, for the sake of being filled. How, then, should both be brought to full conviction?
Answer. Both are sick: the one with love of pleasure, the other with greed. And neither the lover of pleasure nor the greedy man, in any matter whatever, is outside condemnation. Both, then, must be cared for compassionately, for the healing of the passion. But if they do not let their sickness be healed, the judgment on those who do not repent is plain.
Notes and citation
Summary: Those who seek tastier food suffer from love of pleasure and those who seek more from greed; both are to be cared for compassionately, but if they will not be healed they fall under the judgment of the unrepentant.
- Lines repeating the question of section 71 have run into the middle of the answer in the scan text; they are removed by a logged correction.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR accent; lines of the previous question run into a split word): ἐκτὸς κατακοίγογγυσμὸν ὑποπτέυουσιν... τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐμμένοιεν, τί χρὴ ποιεῖν. Τοὺς παραχρωμένους εχρωμένους τοῖς το ἱματίοις ἢ τοῖς ὑποδήμασι... ἐπιμένοιεν, τί εν, τί χρὴ ποιεῖν. σεώς ἐστιν → ἐκτὸς κατακρίσεώς ἐστιν; ἐπιμελήθῆναι → ἐπιμεληθῆναι.
Topics: Fasting
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 71 (PG 31:1131; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/71). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/71
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 72
72PG 31:1133
Ἐάν τις περὶ τὴν μετάληψιν ἐν ἀδελφότητι ἀσέμνως ἀναστρέφηται λαβρότερον ἐσθίων ἢ πίνων, εἰ δεῖ αὐτὸν ἐλέγχεσθαι. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Ὁ τοιοῦτος οὐ φυλάσσει τὸ παράγγελμα τοῦ ᾿Αποστόλου εἰπόντος· Εἴτε ἐσθίετε, εἴτε πίνετε, εἴτε τι ποιεῖτε, πάντα εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ ποιεῖτε· καὶ πάλιν· Πάντα εὐσχημόνως καὶ κατὰ τάξιν γινέσθω· καὶ χρήζει διορθώσεως, πλὴν εἰ μή τις ἀνάγκη τοῦ κόπου ἢ τοῦ τάχους κατεπείγοι· ἀλλὰ καὶ τότε χρὴ τὸ ἀπρόσκοπον ἐσπουδασμένως φυλάττειν.
Ean tis peri tēn metalēpsin en adelphotēti asemnōs anastrephētai labroteron esthiōn ē pinōn, ei dei auton elenchesthai. APOKRISIS. Ho toioutos ou phylassei to parangelma tou ᾿Apostolou eipontos; Eite esthiete, eite pinete, eite ti poieite, panta eis doxan Theou poieite; kai palin; Panta euschēmonōs kai kata taxin ginesthō; kai chrēzei diorthōseōs, plēn ei mē tis anankē tou kopou ē tou tachous katepeigoi; alla kai tote chrē to aproskopon espoudasmenōs phylattein.
Question. If someone in the brotherhood behaves unbecomingly at meals, eating or drinking too greedily, should he be reproved?
Answer. Such a one does not keep the Apostle's command, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”; and again, “Let all things be done decently and in order”; and he needs correction, unless some necessity of toil or haste presses on him; but even then one must zealously guard against giving offence.
1 Cor 10:31 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 14:40 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: One who eats or drinks greedily at common meals should be corrected, since all must be done decently and to God's glory, unless toil or haste excuses him, and even then he must avoid giving offence.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 72 (PG 31:1133; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/72). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/72
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 73
73PG 31:1133
Τὸν μὴ ἐν ἐπιθυμίᾳ τῆς τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ διορθώσεως ἐλέγχοντα τὸν ἁμαρτάνοντα, ἀλλ' ἐν πάθει τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἐκδικήσεως, πῶς χρὴ διορθοῦσθαι μετά πλείονα παράκλησιν τῷ αὐτῷ ἐπιμένοντα πάθει ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Ὡς φίλαυτος καὶ φίλαρχος γνωριζέσθω ὁ τοιοῦτος· καὶ ὁ τῆς διορθώσεως τρόπος αὐτῷ κατ᾿ ἐπιστήμην τῆς θεοσεβείας φανερούσθω. Εἰ δὲ ἐπιμένοι τῇ κακίᾳ, δῆλον τὸ κρίμα κατὰ τῶν μὴ μετανοούντων.
Ton mē en epithymią tēs tou adelphou diorthōseōs elenchonta ton hamartanonta, all' en pathei tēs heautou ekdikēseōs, pōs chrē diorthousthai meta pleiona paraklēsin tǭ autǭ epimenonta pathei APOKRISIS. Hōs philautos kai philarchos gnōrizesthō ho toioutos; kai ho tēs diorthōseōs tropos autǭ kat᾿ epistēmēn tēs theosebeias phanerousthō. Ei de epimenoi tę̄ kakią, dēlon to krima kata tōn mē metanoountōn.
Question. How should one be corrected who reproves the one who sins not from a desire for his brother's correction but from a passion to avenge himself, and who persists in the same passion after repeated exhortation?
Answer. Let such a one be recognized as a lover of self and a lover of power; and let the manner of correction be made plain to him according to the knowledge of godliness. But if he persists in the vice, the judgment against those who do not repent is clear.
Notes and citation
Summary: One who rebukes out of personal vengeance is a lover of self and of power; he must be shown the right way to correct, and if he persists he falls under the judgment of the unrepentant.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 73 (PG 31:1133; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/73). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/73
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.
Chapter 74
74PG 31:1133
Τοὺς ἐξερχομένους ἐκ τῆς ἀδελφότητος, καὶ βουλομένους μονήρη βίον ζῆν, ἢ μετὰ·, ἢ μετὰ ὀλίγων τῷ αὐτῷ ἕπεσθαι σκοπῷ τῆς εὐσεβείας, εἰ χρὴ ἀφορίζειν, διδαχθῆναι ἀπὸ τῆς Γραφῆς δεόμεθα. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Πολλάκις τοῦ Κυρίου εἰπόντος· ὁ Υἱὸς ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ ποιεῖ οὐδέν· καὶ ὅτι Καταβέβηκα ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, οὐχ ἵνα ποιῶ τὸ θέλημα τὸ ἐμὸν, ἀλλὰ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πέμψαντός με Πατρός· καὶ τοῦ ᾿Αποστόλου μαρτυροῦντος, "Οτι ἡ σάρξ ἐπιθυμεῖ κατὰ τοῦ πνεύματος, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα κατὰ τῆς σαρκός· ταῦτα δὲ ἀντίκεινται ἀλλήλοις, ἵνα μὴ ἃ ἂν θέλωμεν, ταῦτα ποιῶμεν· πᾶν τὸ κατὰ τὸ ἴδιον θέλημα αἱρετὸν ἀλλότριον θεοσεβούντων. Πληρέστερον δὲ περὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἐν τοῖς κατὰ πλάτος εἰρημένοις ἀπεκρινάμεθα.
Tous exerchomenous ek tēs adelphotētos, kai boulomenous monērē bion zēn, ē meta;, ē meta oligōn tǭ autǭ hepesthai skopǭ tēs eusebeias, ei chrē aphorizein, didachthēnai apo tēs Graphēs deometha. APOKRISIS. Pollakis tou Kyriou eipontos; ho Huios aph' heautou poiei ouden; kai hoti Katabebēka ek tou ouranou, ouch hina poiō to thelēma to emon, alla to thelēma tou pempsantos me Patros; kai tou ᾿Apostolou martyrountos, "Oti hē sarx epithymei kata tou pneumatos, to de pneuma kata tēs sarkos; tauta de antikeintai allēlois, hina mē ha an thelōmen, tauta poiōmen; pan to kata to idion thelēma haireton allotrion theosebountōn. Plēresteron de peri tōn toioutōn en tois kata platos eirēmenois apekrinametha.
Question. We need to be taught from Scripture whether those should be excluded who leave the brotherhood and wish to live a solitary life, or with a few others, following the same aim of godliness.
Answer. Since the Lord has often said, “The Son does nothing of himself,” and, “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me,” and the Apostle testifies that “the flesh desires against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that we may not do whatever we wish,” everything chosen according to one's own will is alien to those who are godly. We have answered more fully about such matters in what was said at length.
John 5:19 (quotation, high confidence) · John 6:38 (quotation, high confidence) · Gal 5:17 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Leaving the brotherhood to live alone or with a few by one's own choice is acting on one's own will, which is alien to godliness; the Longer Rules treat this more fully.
- The question is garbled in the scan text (“or with …, or with a few”); translated by sense. “What was said at length”: the Longer Rules (see especially question 7).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (repeated syllables): τῷ αὐτῷ αὐτῷ ῷ ἔπεσ ἔπεσθαι → τῷ αὐτῷ ἕπεσθαι.
Cite (SBL): Basil, Reg. brev. 74 (PG 31:1133; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/74). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/basil-regulae-brevius/74
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-basil-regulae-brevius-74) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 31 (Bavarian State Library OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every sentence was re-read against the Greek in a separate review pass.