Ascetic regulations for those who labor in the community and in hermitage

“Ascetic Rules for Ascetics in Community and Hermitage,” consisting of 34 chapters, set out in simple speech the rules of monastic life, mainly for hermits. The authorship of St. Basil the Great is questioned. *The title of the work in Greek is ᾿Ασκητικαὶ διατάξεις. *The title of the work in Latin is Constitutiones asceticae. That prayer should be preferred to everything else About vigilance over thoughts and that the body is not evil, as some suggest About the fact that one should not date women without caution About the fact that abstinence should be measured by bodily strength, and that bodily labor is a beautiful and lawful thing About the fact that an ascetic must engage in work suitable to him That an ascetic should not spend time with all sorts of people without caution About what should not be done frequently and imprudently About the fact that one should not give freedom and free access to wandering ascetics, but one must beware of them too That an ascetic should in no way seek an electoral vote or authority over the brethren That one should not be jealous of good deeds out of vanity About the timely use of the word About the fact that an ascetic should not indulge in jokes About meekness and how love appears In how many ways do evil thoughts arise in the soul? To those who observe the ascetic rule in the hostel About the fact that the ascetic must begin the feat with firm determination, and about obedience That one should not solicit conversations with worldly relatives or worry about their affairs About what should not be separated from spiritual brotherhood About the fact that an ascetic must undertake even low tasks with great zeal. That an ascetic should not seek honors and distinctions About simplicity and simplicity in food About the fact that leaving the monastery will not cause any harm to those striving for perfection That an ascetic should not have his own occupations That the abbot must, with paternal benevolence, arrange what is necessary for those who remain in obedience That in a society of ascetics there should be no friendly relations between two or three brethren That an ascetic should not worry about choosing clothes and shoes for himself About the fact that the abbot must conform his orders to the bodily powers of his subordinates, and about those who hide their powers That the brethren should not be upset when the weak are shown mercy That abbots should not give free rein to ascetics who leave their congregation and accept them into the hostel That an ascetic living in a brotherhood should not acquire anything worldly for his own possession Having committed yourself to the wisdom of Christ, having adopted a way of thinking that is above worldly desires, pleasures and worries, and having taken all measures to eliminate and distance your thoughts from carnal passions, you have repeatedly had long conversations with me, asking how you should complete the feat that you have begun, not in the least submitting to carnal lusts that pass through the body and into the soul? What, firstly, is most important and what then should you beware of, and which of the perfections should you be jealous of, in order to avoid incongruous actions with caution, and with jealousy to accustom yourself to doing the beautiful? And then you wanted me to give you a written statement of my opinion about this. For this reason, I myself decided not to neglect your good zeal, but as much as possible with my advice to reinforce and confirm it, not in the thought that the proposed word will satisfy the subject, but so that under silence, as if under some kind of embankment, I do not hide what I can say, and through this avoid the judgment declared on the one who hid the talent in the ground. For people, most often the pretext for lust for worldly pleasures is marriage, because it is impossible to find another lust innate to the bodily nature, stronger and more rapid, like the lust in men for the female sex or in women for the male sex, which should be the case, since it is naturally directed towards the birth of children. Marriage, being one of the main actions of nature, must also involve the strongest desire. And there are no more burdensome worries encountered by people than those that suddenly befall them in marriage, as Paul says: “He who is married cares for the things of the world” (1 Cor. 7:33), being burdened with worries. For a lonely person will care only about himself and his own bodily needs, or perhaps neglect them, easily being able to convince himself to do so. But a man who is married and has children in his care is no longer the master of his own will, but is forced to act to please his wife and, busy taking care of children, endures a whole abyss of worries, which would take more time to list than we have now. Therefore, whoever wants to be free from worldly bonds avoids marriage as a shackle, and having escaped it, devotes his life to God and takes a vow of purity, so as not to have the right to return to marriage, but to fight with all measures against nature and its strongest aspirations, striving to maintain purity. Such a person, having given himself up to the love of God, desiring, albeit to a small extent, to achieve God’s dispassion, desiring to taste spiritual holiness, silence, serenity, meekness and the fun and joy generated by them, tries to keep his thoughts as far as possible from any material and bodily passion that disturbs the soul, while with the pure and undarkened eye of the soul he contemplates the Divine, enjoying the light there without measure. And having brought the soul into a similar disposition and state, through possible likeness it approaches God and becomes beloved and desired by Him, since, having accomplished a great and barely achievable feat, it comes to the state of conversing with God with a thought purified from material dissolution and removed from the admixture of bodily passions. Therefore, it is both decent and reasonable that through the above-mentioned asceticism one who achieves such a skill should not be drawn back again by the irritations of the flesh into the communion of its passions, and that the eye of the soul, having received the breath of these passions, should not be darkened, as it were, by some thick mist, and should not be closed to Divine and spiritual contemplation because the vision of the mind is painfully affected by the smoke of passions. You might be interested in: