Послание Василия Великого к подчиненным ему епископам Правило 90 Василия Великого

The absurdity of the matter about which I am writing, having generally become the subject of suspicion and rumor, filled my soul with sadness: however, it seemed incredible to me. And so let the guilty one take this writing about him as medicine, the innocent one as a warning, and the one indifferent to good and evil, which I would not want to find in you, as evidence against him. What is it that I am talking about? Some people say that some of you take money from those ordained by them, and cover it up with the name of piety, which is even worse. For if anyone does evil under the guise of good, he is worthy of severe punishment: both because he does evil and because he uses good, so we say, he is an accomplice to committing sin. If this is so: let it not be from now on, but let it be corrected. For he who heeds silver must say what was said by the apostles to him who wanted to give it, in order to purchase the teaching of the Holy Spirit: let your money perish with you (Acts 8:20). For he who foolishly wants to buy the gift of God sins less than he who sells it, because this is a sale: and if you sell what you have received, as if sold to Satan, then the gift will be taken away from you. For you are introducing corruption into spiritual affairs and into the church, in which we have been entrusted with the body and blood of Christ. It’s not appropriate for things like this to happen. What is the trick, I’ll tell you. They think that they are not sinning when they take not at the ordination, but after: to take, no matter when, is to take. And so I pray, leave this income, or even more so this entrance to Gehenna, and do not make yourself unworthy to perform the sacred sacraments, desecrating your hands with such extortion. Forgive me, because at first I didn’t believe you, but then, just like I believed you, I threaten you. If anyone, after this message of mine, does anything like this: let him retreat from the local altars, and let him look for where he could buy and sell the gift of God. For we and the churches of God do not have such a custom (1 Cor. 11:16). Having added one thing, I will cease. This happens from the love of money: the root of all evil is the love of money (1 Tim. 6:10), and is called idolatry (Col. 3:5). And so do not prefer idols to Christ for little money, but imitate Judas again, for covetousness again betraying Him who was once crucified for us: for both the villages and the hands of those who harvest such fruits will be called Akeldam. (Ap. 29; IV Om. 2; Trul. 22; VII Om. 19; Gennady last; Tarasiya last). And this rule is compiled from the message of Basil the Great, sent in the first year of his episcopal service to the bishops subordinate to him (πρός τούς ύφ' εαυτόν επισκόπους) 116. In the second half of the 4th century, simony, apparently, not only became widespread in the church, but many also looked for arguments to justify it. The bishops to whom this epistle was sent made the excuse that they do not take money during ordination, and after it (μετά τήν χειροτονίαν), and therefore they do not sin. To this Saint Basil replies that to take at any time still means to take, he strictly condemns them for this and threatens the perpetrators with deprivation of the right to perform sacred rites, and let them look for places where they could buy and sell the gift of God for money. Simony has its source in the love of money - the root of all evil (1 Tim. 6:10), and the love of money is idolatry (Col. 3:5), and therefore, whoever, for the sake of the love of money, sells the gift of God, shows that he worships idols more willingly than God, and, therefore, is like Judas, for just as Judas betrayed Christ for the sake of silver, so the Simonite sells Christ a second time, crucified for us. What a Simonite received for ordaining someone should be called akeldama (land of blood, χωρίον αίματος, Acts. 1:19), for just as the land purchased with the money received by Judas for betraying Christ was called the price of blood, so the money received by the Simonites for selling the gifts of God should be called, likewise the places to which those who pay the money are ordained should be called the price of blood. The present rule of St. Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople, also cites Basil (see below) in his epistle about simony. This message of Basil the Great (ep. LIII, al. ep. LXXXVI) in the edition of Migne, s. g., t. 32, col. 395–6 is entitled: χωρεπισχόποις, chorepiscopis. You might be interested in: