The Canonical Epistles of St Basil the Great

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The question concerning the Cathari has already been discussed, and you rightly recalled that the custom of each region must be followed, because those who addressed the matter at the time differed concerning their baptism. The baptism of the Pepuzenes, however, seems to me to have no validity, and I wonder how this escaped the great Dionysius, though he was versed in the canons. The ancients judged that baptism which deviates in no respect from the faith should be received. Accordingly, they named some groups heresies, others schisms, and others unlawful assemblies. Heresies are those wholly broken off and estranged in the faith itself. Schisms are those separated from one another for certain ecclesiastical reasons and questions capable of remedy. Unlawful assemblies are gatherings formed by insubordinate presbyters or bishops and by uninstructed people. For example, if someone examined for a fault was suspended from ministry, did not submit to the canons, but claimed the presidency and ministry for himself, and some departed with him from the catholic Church, this is an unlawful assembly. A schism is a difference with members of the Church concerning repentance. Heresies are such as those of the Manichaeans, Valentinians, Marcionites, and these Pepuzenes themselves, for their difference immediately concerns the faith in God itself. Those from the beginning therefore determined wholly to reject the baptism of heretics; to receive that of schismatics, since they still belong to the Church; and to reunite with the Church those in unlawful assemblies after they have been corrected by worthy repentance and return. Thus even those in orders who departed with the insubordinate are often received back into the same rank when they repent. The Pepuzenes are plainly heretics, for they blasphemed against the Holy Spirit by unlawfully and shamelessly applying the name of the Paraclete to Montanus and Priscilla. Whether they are condemned for making gods of human beings, or are liable to eternal condemnation for insulting the Holy Spirit by comparing Him with human beings, the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit being unforgivable, what reason is there to approve the baptism of those who baptize into the Father, the Son, Montanus, and Priscilla? Those who were not baptized into the terms delivered to us were not baptized. Even if this escaped the great Dionysius, we must not preserve the imitation of an error. The absurdity is self-evident and plain to everyone possessing even a little power of reasoning. The Cathari themselves belong to those who broke away. Yet the ancients—Cyprian and our own Firmilian, I mean—determined by one decision to subject all these groups alike: Cathari, Encratites, Hydroparastatae, and Apotactites. The beginning of the separation arose through schism, but those who withdrew from the Church no longer possessed the grace of the Holy Spirit upon them, for the imparting of grace failed when the succession was interrupted. The first who withdrew had received ordinations from the Fathers and possessed the spiritual gift through the laying on of their hands. But those who broke away, having become laymen, had authority neither to baptize nor to ordain, and could not impart to others the grace of the Holy Spirit from which they themselves had fallen. Therefore the ancients commanded that those baptized by them, as though baptized by laymen, be purified anew by the true baptism of the Church when they came to the Church. Nevertheless, since some in Asia have altogether determined, for the sake of economy toward the many, to receive their baptism, let it be received. We must understand the device of the Encratites. In order to make themselves unacceptable to the Church, they undertook thereafter to anticipate reception by a baptism of their own, and thus falsified even their own custom. Since nothing has been plainly declared concerning them, I think it befits us to reject their baptism and to baptize anyone who received it from them when he approaches the Church. If, however, this would become an obstacle to the general economy, we must again employ custom and follow the Fathers who administered our affairs. I fear that, while wishing to make them reluctant to baptize, we may by the severity of our proposal hinder those being saved. If they preserve our baptism, let that not shame us. We are not obliged to return favor to them, but to serve canonical exactness. By every means let it be prescribed that those coming from their baptism are anointed by the faithful and only then approach the Mysteries. I know that we received the brethren around Zoinus and Saturninus, who belonged to that order, into the episcopal seat. Therefore we can no longer separate from the Church those joined to their group, since through receiving their bishops we have established, as it were, a rule of communion with them.

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A woman who deliberately destroys an unborn child is subject to the penalty for murder. With us there is no exact inquiry as to whether the child was formed or unformed. In this case justice is demanded not only for the child who would have been born, but also for the woman who plotted against herself, since women very often die in such attempts. Added to this is the destruction of the embryo, another murder in the intention of those who dare these things. Their confession must not, however, be prolonged until death. They should be received after the measure of ten years, and the healing should be determined not by time but by the manner of their repentance.

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A deacon who commits fornication after entering the diaconate shall be removed from the diaconate, but after being reduced to the place of the laity he shall not be excluded from communion. For there is an ancient rule that those who fall from a rank are subjected to this one form of punishment alone, those from the beginning following, as I think, the law: “You shall not punish twice for the same thing.” There is another reason also. Laymen who are expelled from the place of the faithful are again restored to the place from which they fell; but the deacon has once for all the enduring penalty of deposition. Since the diaconate is not restored to him, they limited the punishment to this alone. These are the provisions of the formal rules. In general, however, the truest cure is withdrawal from sin. Thus one who rejected grace through bodily pleasure will give us complete proof of his healing by crushing the flesh, bringing it into every subjection through self-restraint, and departing from the pleasures by which he was overthrown. We must therefore know both exactness and custom, while in the case of those who do not accept the highest rigor we follow the form handed down.

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For those married a third time and those married more often, they prescribed proportionately the same rule as for those married twice. For a second marriage, one year is prescribed, though others prescribe two. Those married a third time are often excluded for three or four years. Such a union is no longer called marriage, but polygamy, or rather punished fornication. Therefore the Lord said to the Samaritan woman, who had passed through five husbands, “He whom you now have is not your husband,” since those who have fallen beyond the measure of a second marriage are no longer worthy to be called by the title of husband or wife. For third marriages we have received a custom of five years’ exclusion, not from a rule but from the practice of those before us. They should not be kept wholly outside the Church, but should be deemed worthy to hear for perhaps two or three years; afterward they may be permitted to stand, while abstaining from communion in the Good. When they have shown some fruit of repentance, they are to be restored to the place of communion.

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Heretics who repent at the point of death should be received. Plainly they are not to be received without examination, but only after testing whether they show true repentance and possess fruits that testify to their earnest desire to be saved.

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The fornication of women enrolled among the canonical virgins must not be counted as marriage; rather, their union must be dissolved by every means. This both benefits the security of the Church and gives the heretics no occasion against us, as though we drew people to ourselves by granting permission to sin.

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Those who commit sexual sin with males, those who commit bestiality, murderers, sorcerers, adulterers, and idolaters have been deemed worthy of the same condemnation. Therefore preserve for these the rule you have for the others. We should not hesitate to receive those who have repented for thirty years from uncleanness committed in ignorance. Their ignorance makes them worthy of pardon, as do their voluntary confession and the long duration of their penance; for they have been delivered to Satan for nearly a whole human generation, that they may learn not to behave shamefully. Therefore command that they be received now without delay, especially if they have tears that move your compassion and show a life worthy of mercy.

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The man who in anger used an axe against his own wife is a murderer. You did well, and as befitted your understanding, to remind me to speak more broadly about these matters, because there are many differences between voluntary and involuntary acts. An act is altogether involuntary and remote from the agent’s purpose when, for example, one throws a stone at a dog or a tree and accidentally strikes a man. His impulse was to drive away the animal or shake down fruit, while the person who happened to pass came of his own accord under the blow. Such an act is involuntary. It is also involuntary if someone, wishing to correct another, strikes him with a strap or a rod that is not hard, and the one struck dies; for here the intention is considered: he wished to improve the offender, not to kill him. Likewise numbered among involuntary acts is the case of a man defending himself in a fight who strikes another unsparingly with a stick or his hand on a vital place, intending to injure but not altogether to kill him. This already comes near to the voluntary, for one who used such an instrument in defense or delivered the blow without restraint plainly showed, because he was mastered by passion, that he did not spare the man. Likewise, one who used a heavy club or a stone greater than human strength is numbered among the involuntary, having intended one thing and done another. In anger he delivered a blow capable of killing the one struck, although his effort may have been to crush him, not altogether to put him to death. One who used a sword or any similar thing has no excuse, especially one who threw an axe. He did not strike from the hand, so that the measure of the blow remained within his control, but hurled it, making the blow necessarily deadly through the weight and edge of the iron and its flight over a distance. Again, acts that are altogether voluntary and admit no doubt include those of robbers and attacks in war. The former kill for money and to escape detection, while those in wars come to kill, openly choosing not merely to frighten or discipline but to destroy their opponents. Moreover, if for some other purpose anyone mixes a dangerous drug and it kills, we count this voluntary. Women often do such things, attempting by certain incantations and spells to draw men into love for them and giving them drugs that darken the mind. When such women kill, even if they intended one thing and produced another, they are counted among voluntary murderers because of the dangerous and forbidden character of the practice. Women who give drugs to cause abortion are also murderers, as are those who receive the child-destroying poisons. So much concerning these matters.

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According to the sequence of its meaning, the Lord’s judgment that marriage may not be abandoned except for the cause of fornication applies equally to men and women. Custom, however, is not so. In the case of women we find great exactness: the Apostle says, “He who is joined to a harlot is one body”; Jeremiah says, “If a woman belongs to another man, she shall not return to her husband, but being defiled she shall be defiled”; and again, “He who keeps an adulteress is foolish and ungodly.” Yet custom commands wives to retain husbands even when the men commit adultery and live in fornication. Consequently, I do not know whether a woman living with a man dismissed by his wife can be called an adulteress. The accusation here falls upon the woman who dismissed her husband, according to the reason for which she withdrew from the marriage. If it was because she was beaten and could not bear the blows, she should rather have endured than separated from the man living with her. If she could not bear the loss of property, neither is that pretext worthy of consideration. If it was because he lived in fornication, we do not have this observance in ecclesiastical custom. A wife has not been commanded to separate even from an unbelieving husband, but must remain because the outcome is uncertain: “What do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband?” Therefore a woman who leaves her husband is an adulteress if she comes to another man; but the husband who was left is pardonable, and the woman who lives with such a man is not condemned. If, however, the husband departs from his wife and comes to another woman, he too is an adulterer because he causes her to be subjected to adultery; and the woman living with him is an adulteress because she drew another woman’s husband to herself.

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Those who swear that they will not accept ordination and confirm the refusal with an oath must not be compelled to commit perjury. Even if there seems to be a rule granting permission in such cases, experience has taught us that those who break their oaths do not prosper. The form of the oath, its words, the disposition from which they swore, and the precise qualifications added to the words must be examined. If no relief can be found from any quarter, such persons must be left altogether alone. The case of Severus—or rather of the presbyter ordained by him—seems to me to admit this relief, if it seems so to you also. Command that the rural district subject to Mistheia, to which the man was appointed, be made subject to Massada. Thus he will not break his oath by leaving the place, while Longinus, having Cyriacus with him, will neither leave the Church desolate nor condemn his own soul through idleness. We too shall appear to do nothing contrary to the canons by accommodating Cyriacus, who swore to remain with the people of Mindana but accepted the transfer. His return will preserve his oath. His yielding to the economy will not be reckoned as perjury, since his oath did not add that he would not leave Mindana even briefly, but that he would remain there thereafter. We shall pardon Severus when he pleads forgetfulness, while telling him that the Knower of hidden things will not overlook His own Church when it is injured by such a man: one who at the beginning acted without canonical order, bound with an oath contrary to the Gospels, taught perjury by the transfer he made, and now lies by pretending forgetfulness. Since we are not judges of hearts but judge from what we hear, let us leave vengeance to the Lord and receive the man without further judgment, granting pardon to the human weakness of forgetfulness.

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One who committed involuntary homicide has sufficiently completed the penalty in eleven years. Plainly, in the case of the person struck we shall observe the rule of Moses: if the man was laid up by the blows he received but afterward walked again with his staff, we shall not consider him murdered. If he did not rise after the blows, nevertheless, because the one who struck him did not intend to kill him, he is a murderer but involuntary in intention.

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The rule has wholly excluded those twice married from the ministry.

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Our Fathers did not reckon killings in wars as murders, in my opinion granting pardon to those who defend chastity and piety. Yet perhaps it is well to counsel that, because their hands are not clean, they abstain from communion alone for three years.

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A person who takes interest may be received into the priesthood if he agrees to distribute the unjust gain to the poor and henceforth to be freed from the sickness of love of money.

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I marvel that you demand grammatical exactness from Scripture and reason that the wording of the translation is forced when it conveys its own plain meaning rather than rendering what the Hebrew expression signifies literally. Yet we must not pass idly over a question raised by an inquiring man. The birds of heaven and the fish of the sea received the same origin in the creation of the world, for both kinds were brought forth from the waters. The reason is that each has the same distinguishing characteristic: the one swims through the water, the other swims upon the air. They were therefore mentioned together. The form of the saying is not properly applied to fish alone, but is very fitting when applied to everything that lives in the waters. The birds of heaven were subjected to man, and the fish of the sea—not only these, but also “all that pass through the paths of the seas.” Not everything aquatic is a fish: the cetaceans, whales, hammerheads, dolphins, seals, and also sea-horses, sea-dogs, sawfish, swordfish, and sea-cattle; and, if you wish, anemones, scallops, and every kind of shellfish. None of these is a fish, yet all pass through the paths of the seas. Thus there are three kinds: birds of heaven, fish of the sea, and those aquatic creatures that, being distinguished from fish, likewise pass through the paths of the seas.

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Naaman was not great before the Lord, but before his own lord—that is, he was one of the men powerful with the king of the Syrians. Attend carefully to the Scripture and you will find the solution to the question in the text itself.

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I answered long ago the questions proposed to us by your reverence, but did not send the letter, partly because I was occupied by a long and dangerous illness and partly because of the scarcity of persons able to serve. Among us there are few who both know the road and are prepared for such duties. Knowing the causes of the delay, grant us pardon. We admired both your love of learning and your humility: although entrusted with the rank of teaching, you consent to learn, and to learn from us, who possess nothing great in knowledge. Yet because in the fear of God you consent to do something not easily done by another, we too, even beyond our strength, must assist your readiness and good diligence. You asked us about the presbyter Bianor, whether he may be received into the clergy despite the oath. I know that I have already set forth a common determination concerning all the clerics around Antioch who swore with him: they should abstain from public assemblies but perform the offices of presbyters privately. This same provision gives him permission for his own ministry, because his priesthood is not in Antioch but in Iconium, which, as you yourself wrote to us, he took in exchange for Antioch as his residence. Therefore the man may be received, your reverence requiring him to repent of the ease with which he swore an oath to the unbelieving man because he could not endure the trouble of that slight danger.

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Concerning fallen virgins who confessed to the Lord a life of holiness but then, by succumbing to the passions of the flesh, broke their covenants: our Fathers, treating the weaknesses of those who slip with simplicity and gentleness, legislated that they be received after one year, on the analogy of those twice married. It seems to me, however, that since by the grace of Christ the Church grows stronger as she advances and the order of virgins is now multiplying, we must attend exactly to the true meaning of the matter and to the mind of Scripture, which may be found from the sequence. Widowhood is inferior to virginity; therefore the sin of widows is far secondary to that of virgins. Let us see what Paul wrote to Timothy: “Refuse younger widows; for when they grow wanton against Christ, they desire to marry, having condemnation because they rejected their first faith.” If a widow is subject to the most grievous condemnation for rejecting her faith toward Christ, what must we think of the virgin, who is a bride of Christ and a sacred vessel dedicated to the Master? It is a great sin even for a slave-woman to give herself to a secret marriage, fill the house with corruption, and insult her owner by an evil life. Much more grievous, surely, is it for the bride to become an adulteress, dishonor her union with the Bridegroom, and give herself to unrestrained pleasures. The widow, therefore, is condemned as a corrupted servant, while the virgin is subject to the judgment for an adulteress. Just as we call the man who lives with another man’s wife an adulterer and do not receive him into communion before he ceases from the sin, we shall plainly act in the same way toward the man who possesses the virgin. We must now agree beforehand that a virgin is the woman who voluntarily offered herself to the Lord, renounced marriage, and preferred the life of holiness. We approve professions only from the time when age brings mature reason. We must not regard childhood words as absolutely binding in these matters. A woman over sixteen or seventeen years old, mistress of her own judgment, should be examined over a longer period; and only if she then perseveres and earnestly petitions to be received should she be enrolled among the virgins. Her profession must then be confirmed and its violation punished without exception. Many girls are presented by parents, brothers, or other relatives before they are of age, not because the girls themselves are moved toward celibacy but because their relatives are arranging some worldly matter for themselves. Such girls must not be readily received until we have plainly examined their own intention.

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We know of no professions of men, unless some have enrolled themselves in the order of monastics, who seem by implication to accept celibacy. Yet even in their case I think this must first occur: they must be questioned and an express profession obtained from them, so that if they turn to a flesh-loving and pleasure-seeking life they may be subjected to the penance for fornicators.

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I do not think women who professed virginity while in heresy and afterward chose marriage ought to be condemned. “Whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law.” Those who have not yet come under the yoke of Christ do not know the Master’s legislation. They are therefore received by the Church together with all others and have forgiveness for these things through faith in Christ. In general, deeds committed during the catechumenate are not called to account. Plainly the Church does not receive these persons without baptism; thus the privileges of the new birth are most necessary for them.

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When a man living with a wife is not content with marriage and falls into fornication, we judge him a fornicator and extend his penances further. We have no rule, however, subjecting him to the accusation of adultery if the sin was with a woman free from marriage. For, it says, “The adulteress, being defiled, shall be defiled and shall not return to her husband,” and, “He who keeps an adulteress is foolish and ungodly.” The man who fornicated, however, is not excluded from living with his wife. Thus the wife shall receive her husband when he returns from fornication, but the husband shall send the defiled woman away from his house. The reason for these things is not easily given, but custom has prevailed in this manner.

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As for men who possess wives taken by abduction: if the women were taken after being betrothed to others, the men must not be received before the women are taken from them and placed at the disposal of those first betrothed to them, whether the latter wish to take the women or to release them. If a man takes a woman not betrothed, she must be taken away and restored to her relatives. The decision must be left to the relatives—whether parents, brothers, or any others who are guardians of the young woman. If they choose to give her to him, let the union stand; if they refuse, they must not be forced. A man who possesses a woman after seducing her, whether secretly or by violence, must necessarily undergo the penance for fornication. The penance for fornicators is fixed at four years. In the first year they must be expelled from the prayers and weep at the church door; in the second, received among the hearers; in the third, into repentance; in the fourth, to stand with the people while abstaining from the offering. Afterward they may be permitted communion in the Good.

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Concerning men who marry two sisters, or women who marry two brothers, a short letter has been issued by us, a copy of which we sent to your reverence. A man who takes his own brother’s wife shall not be received until he departs from her.

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The Apostle judged that a widow enrolled in the order of widows—that is, supported in ministry by the Church—should be overlooked if she marries. No law is laid upon a widowed man; the penance for a second marriage is sufficient for him. But if a widow who has reached sixty years chooses again to live with a man, she shall not be deemed worthy of communion in the Good until she ceases from the passion of uncleanness. If we enrolled her before the age of sixty, the fault is ours, not the woman’s.

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A man who retains as his wife the woman whom he himself defiled shall undergo the penance for the defilement, but shall be permitted to keep the woman.

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Fornication is not marriage, nor even the beginning of marriage. Therefore, if it is possible for those joined through fornication to be separated, this is best. But if they insist by every means on living together, let them undergo the penance for fornication and then be left together, lest something worse occur.

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Concerning the presbyter who through ignorance became entangled in an unlawful marriage, I have determined what was necessary: he may share the seat but must abstain from all other functions, for pardon is sufficient for such a man. It is inconsistent for one who ought to tend his own wounds to bless another. Blessing is an imparting of sanctification; but how can one who lacks it through a transgression committed in ignorance impart it to another? Therefore let him bless neither publicly nor privately, distribute neither the Body of Christ to others nor perform any other ministry. Content with the presidency, let him weep with others and before the Lord that the sin committed through ignorance may be forgiven him.

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It appeared ridiculous to me that someone should vow to abstain from pork. Be pleased to teach such persons to refrain from uninstructed prayers and promises, while allowing that its use is a matter of indifference. “For no creature of God is to be rejected if received with thanksgiving.” Thus the vow is laughable; abstinence is not necessary.

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Rulers who swear to harm those under them must most certainly be treated. Their treatment is twofold: first, they must be taught not to swear rashly; second, not to persist in evil decisions. Therefore one bound by an oath to harm another must show repentance for the rash oath, but must not confirm his wickedness under a pretext of reverence. Herod gained no benefit from keeping his oath: so that he might not supposedly commit perjury, he became the Prophet’s murderer. Swearing is forbidden altogether, and an oath made for an evil purpose is much more plainly condemned. The one who swore must therefore change his mind, not labor to confirm his impiety. Examine the absurdity more broadly. If someone swore to gouge out his brother’s eyes, would it be good for him to carry this into action? What if he swore to murder, or by an oath to transgress any commandment? “I have sworn and established”—not sin, but—“that I will keep the judgments of Your righteousness.” As the commandment must be confirmed by unalterable judgments, so sin must by every means be annulled and destroyed.

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We have no ancient rule concerning abductors, but have formed our own judgment that both the abductors and those who assist them in the abduction remain outside the prayers for three years. An act not done by force is without liability when neither defilement nor theft preceded it. A widow has authority over herself and the choice to follow belongs to her; therefore we need not concern ourselves with outward appearances.

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A woman whose husband has departed and disappeared commits adultery if she lives with another man before she is assured of her husband’s death.

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Clerics who commit a sin unto death are reduced from their rank but are not excluded from the communion of the laity. “For you shall not punish twice for the same thing.”

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A woman who gives birth on a journey and neglects the child shall be subject to the accusation of murder.

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Our Fathers forbade making public the cases of women who committed adultery and confessed out of reverence, or were in any way convicted, lest by convicting them we provide a cause for their death. They commanded that the women stand without communion until the time of repentance is completed.

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When a man has been abandoned by his wife, the cause of the abandonment must be examined. If she appears to have departed without reason, he is worthy of pardon and she of penance. The pardon shall be given to him so that he may commune with the Church.

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Soldiers’ wives who marry while their husbands are missing are subject to the same judgment as women who, because their husbands are abroad, do not await their return. The matter here has some pardon, however, because the suspicion of death is greater.

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After another man’s wife has been taken away from him, the man who marries shall be accused of adultery with respect to the first woman, but shall be without liability with respect to the second.

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Young women who follow men contrary to their father’s will commit fornication. When the parents are reconciled, the matter appears to receive a remedy. They are not immediately restored to communion, however, but shall be subjected to penance for three years.

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A woman living with an adulterer is an adulteress for the whole time.

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A woman who gives herself to a man contrary to her master’s will has committed fornication; but if afterward she enters a publicly acknowledged marriage, she has married. The former is therefore fornication, the latter marriage, for covenants made by persons under authority have no validity.

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A woman who in widowhood has authority over herself is without accusation if she lives with a husband, provided no one has authority to dissolve the union. For the Apostle says: “If the husband dies, she is free to marry whom she wills, only in the Lord.”

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Marriages contracted without the consent of those having authority are fornication. Therefore, while a father or master is living, those who unite are not without liability. When those having authority approve the union, it then receives the validity of marriage.

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One who gives his neighbor a mortal blow is a murderer, whether he began the assault or acted in defense.

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A deaconess who commits fornication with a pagan is not to be received into communion; she shall be received to the offering in the seventh year, provided that she lives in purity. A pagan who, after receiving the faith, again approaches sacrilege returns to his vomit. As for the deaconess, we no longer permit her body, which has been consecrated, to be used carnally.

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If anyone, after receiving the name of Christian, insults Christ, he gains nothing from the title.

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A woman who in ignorance marries a man temporarily abandoned by his wife, and is afterward dismissed because the former wife returns to him, committed fornication, but in ignorance. She shall therefore not be prohibited from marriage; yet it is better if she remains as she is.

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Encratites, Saccophori, and Apotactites are subject to the same judgment as Novatians. A rule, though a varying one, was issued concerning the latter, while matters concerning the former were passed over in silence. We, however, rebaptize such persons under one rule. If among you rebaptism is forbidden, as it is also among the Romans for the sake of a certain economy, nevertheless let our reasoning retain its force. Since their heresy is, as it were, an offshoot of the Marcionites—abhorring marriage, turning away from wine, and calling God’s creation defiled—we do not receive them into the Church unless they are baptized with our baptism. Let them not say, “We were baptized into the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” when, in rivalry with Marcion and the other heresies, they suppose God to be the maker of evils. Therefore, if this judgment is approved, more bishops should assemble together and issue the rule, so that the person who carries it out may be free from danger and the one who answers questions concerning such persons may possess credibility.

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In my judgment, a woman abandoned by her husband ought to remain unmarried. If the Lord said that whoever leaves his wife, except for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery, then by calling her an adulteress He excluded her from union with another. For how can the husband be liable as the cause of adultery while the woman is without accusation, when the Lord calls her an adulteress because of union with another man?

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Defilements committed under compulsion shall be without liability. Thus a slave-woman is without liability if she was violated by her own master.

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There is no law for a third marriage; therefore a third marriage is not contracted according to law. We regard such unions as defilements of the Church, but do not subject them to public condemnations because they are preferable to unrestrained fornication.

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The canons set forth the rule concerning clerics without distinction, commanding that one punishment be defined for those who fall: removal from ministry, whether they happen to possess an ordained rank or persevere in a service not conferred by the laying on of hands.

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If a woman who neglected her newborn child on a journey was able to preserve it but disregarded it—whether thinking thereby to conceal her sin, or acting from an altogether brutal and inhuman intention—let her be judged for murder. But if she was unable to protect the child and it died through the isolation and lack of necessities, the mother is pardonable.

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A widowed slave-woman perhaps did not gravely transgress by choosing a second marriage under the appearance of abduction. She need not therefore be accused on this account, for outward appearances are not judged, but intention. Plainly the penance for a second marriage remains for her.

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I know that years ago I wrote to your piety, as far as I was able, about the distinctions among involuntary homicides, and I can say nothing beyond those things. It belongs to your understanding, according to the particular circumstances, either to increase or to lessen the penances.

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Those who go out against robbers, if they are outside the clergy, are barred from communion in the Good; if they are clerics, they are deposed from their rank. “For everyone,” He says, “who takes the sword shall die by the sword.”

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One who commits voluntary murder and afterward repents shall remain without communion in the Holy Gift for twenty years. The twenty years shall be administered for him as follows. For four years he must weep, standing outside the door of the house of prayer, asking the faithful who enter to pray for him and confessing his own lawlessness. After four years he shall be received among the hearers and shall depart with them for five years. For seven years he shall pray and depart with those who fall down. For four years he shall only stand with the faithful and shall not partake of the offering. When these periods are completed, he shall partake of the Holy Gifts.

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One who commits involuntary homicide shall remain without communion in the Holy Gifts for ten years. The ten years shall be administered as follows: two years weeping; three years among the hearers; four years falling down; one year only standing; and in the following year he shall be received into the Holy Gifts.

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An adulterer shall remain without communion in the Holy Gifts for fifteen years. The fifteen years shall be administered as follows: four years weeping, five hearing, four falling down, and two standing without communion.

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A fornicator shall remain without communion in the Holy Gifts for seven years: two weeping, two hearing, two falling down, and one only standing. In the eighth year he shall be received into communion.

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A woman who professed virginity and fell from her promise shall fulfill the period appointed for the sin of adultery, ordering her life by herself. The same applies to those who promised the monastic life and fall.

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If a thief repents of his own accord and accuses himself, he shall be barred only from communion in the Holy Gifts for one year. If he is convicted, for two years. His time shall be divided between falling down and standing, and then he shall be deemed worthy of communion.

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One who practices shameful conduct with males shall be administered the same period as one who transgresses through adultery.

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One who confesses his impiety with irrational animals shall observe in confession the same period.

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A perjurer shall remain without communion for ten years: two years weeping, three hearing, four falling down, and one year only standing; then he shall be deemed worthy of communion.

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One who confesses sorcery or the practice of harmful drugs shall fulfill the period for a murderer, being administered in the same way as one who convicted himself of that sin.

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A grave-robber shall remain without communion for ten years: two weeping, three hearing, four falling down, and one standing; then he shall be received.

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Incest with a sister shall fulfill in confession the period for a murderer.

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If a union in marriage within a forbidden degree of kinship is discovered, since it occurs among human sins, it shall receive the penances for adulterers.

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If a reader has intercourse with his own betrothed before marriage, he shall be suspended for one year and then received again to read, remaining without advancement. If he contracts a secret marriage without betrothal, he shall cease from ministry. The same applies to a server.

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A deacon who has been defiled by the lips and confesses that he sinned only to that extent shall be suspended from ministry but shall be deemed worthy to partake of the Holy Gifts with the deacons. The same applies to a presbyter. If anyone is discovered to have sinned beyond this, whatever rank he holds, he shall be deposed.

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One who knows of another’s commission of any of the foregoing sins and did not confess it, but was convicted, shall himself remain under penance for the same period imposed upon the worker of the evil.

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One who gives himself over to diviners or persons of that sort shall be subjected to the period and penance of murderers.

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One who denied Christ and transgressed against the mystery of salvation must weep and remain in confession throughout the whole time of his life. At the time when he departs this life he shall be deemed worthy of the Holy Gifts, through faith in the loving-kindness of God.

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If any person guilty of the sins written above becomes earnest in confession, the man entrusted by God’s loving-kindness to loose and to bind will not be worthy of condemnation if he acts more mercifully and reduces the period of penances after seeing the surpassing depth of the sinner’s confession. The history in the Scriptures makes known to us that those who confess with greater labor quickly attain the loving-kindness of God.

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One who is defiled with his own sister, whether by the father or by the mother, shall not be permitted to enter a house of prayer until he departs from the lawless and impious act. After coming to awareness of the fearful sin, he shall weep for three years, standing at the door of the houses of prayer and asking the people entering for prayer that each, with compassion, make earnest supplication to the Lord on his behalf. After this he shall for another three years be admitted only to hearing; after hearing the Scriptures and the teaching, he shall be sent out and shall not be deemed worthy of prayer. Then, if he has sought prayer with tears and fallen before the Lord with contrition of heart and profound humility, he shall be granted the stage of falling down for another three years. Thus, when he has shown fruits worthy of repentance, in the tenth year he shall be received to the prayer of the faithful without the offering. After standing in prayer with the faithful for two years, he shall finally be deemed worthy of communion in the Good.

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The same form applies also to those who take their daughters-in-law.

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One who leaves the wife lawfully joined to him and takes another is subject, according to the Lord’s judgment, to the condemnation for adultery. Our Fathers have ruled that such persons weep for one year, hear for two years, fall down for three years, stand with the faithful in the seventh year, and thus be deemed worthy of the offering if they repent with tears.

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The same form shall prevail for those who take two sisters in marriage, even at different times.

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Those who rage after their stepmothers are subject to the same rule as those who rage after their own sisters.

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The Fathers passed over polygamy in silence as bestial and altogether foreign to the human race. The sin appears to us to be something more than fornication. It is therefore reasonable that such persons be subjected to the rules: after weeping for one year and falling down for three years, let them thus be received.

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Since many during the incursion of the barbarians transgressed the faith in God by taking pagan oaths and tasting certain unlawful things offered to them in magical idols, let these persons be administered according to the laws and rules already issued by our Fathers. Those who endured severe constraint through tortures, could not bear the pains, and were dragged into denial shall remain unreceived for three years, hear for two, and fall down for three; then they shall be received into communion. Those who without great necessity betrayed the faith in God, touched the table of demons, and swore pagan oaths shall be cast out for three years, hear for two, pray while falling down for three, and stand with the faithful in supplication for another three; then they shall be received into communion in the Good.

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Concerning those who committed perjury: if they transgressed their oaths through force and necessity, they are subject to lighter penances, so that after six years they may be received. But if without necessity they betrayed their own faith, they shall weep for two years, hear for two, pray while falling down in the fifth, and for another two years be received into communion of prayer without the offering. Finally, after plainly showing worthy repentance, they shall thus be restored to communion in the Body of Christ.

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Those who practice divination, follow pagan customs, or bring persons into their houses to discover sorceries and perform cleansing shall fall under the rule of six years. After weeping for one year, hearing for one, falling down for three, and standing with the faithful for one, they shall thus be received.

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We write all these things so that the fruits of repentance may be tested. We do not judge such matters simply by time, but grant according to the manner of repentance. If they are difficult to separate from their own customs, prefer to serve the pleasures of the flesh rather than the Lord, and do not accept life according to the Gospel, we have no common word with them. For among a disobedient and contradicting people we have been taught to hear: “In saving, save your own soul.”

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Let us therefore not consent to perish together with such persons. Fearing the heavy judgment and keeping before our eyes the fearful day of the Lord’s recompense, let us not choose to perish through the sins of others. If the Lord’s terrors have not instructed us, and if such great blows have not brought us to perceive that because of our lawlessness the Lord abandoned us and delivered us into the hands of barbarians; that the people were led captive to the enemies and given over to dispersion because those bearing the name of Christ dared such things; if they neither knew nor understood that the wrath of God came upon us because of these deeds—what common word have we with them? We must testify to them night and day, publicly and privately, but must not consent to be carried along with their wickedness. Above all let us pray that we may gain them and rescue them from the evil one’s snare. If we cannot do this, let us strive at least to preserve our own souls from eternal condemnation.

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To the clever Encratites, in answer to their solemn question why we too do not eat everything, let this be said: we also abhor our own excrements. In respect of value, meats are to us as the green plants; but in discerning what is beneficial, just as among plants we distinguish the harmful from the suitable, so among meats we distinguish the harmful from the useful. Hemlock is a plant, and vulture is meat; nevertheless no one with understanding would eat henbane or touch dog’s meat unless driven by great necessity. Thus one who ate it did not transgress the law. From Basil the Great, to Diodorus of Tarsus, concerning the man who takes two sisters in marriage. A letter reached us bearing the name of Diodorus as its heading, but what followed seemed more fitting for someone other than Diodorus. It appears to me that some artful person assumed your identity and wished thereby to make himself credible to his hearers. Asked by someone whether, after his wife had died, it was lawful for him to take her sister in marriage, he did not shudder at the question. Instead he heard it calmly and most boldly and vigorously assisted the man’s wanton desire. If the letter were still with me, I would have sent it to you, and you would have been sufficient to defend both yourself and the truth. But the person who showed it took it back and carried it about like a trophy against us, who from the beginning forbade the act, saying that he possessed written authority. I have therefore now written to you so that we may attack that spurious argument with both hands and leave it no force, lest it easily harm those who encounter it.

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First and greatest in such matters is the custom among us, which we can set forward with the force of law because holy men handed its enactments down to us. It is this: if anyone, once overcome by a passion of uncleanness, falls into an unlawful union with two sisters, it must not be regarded as marriage, nor must the persons be received at all into the fullness of the Church before they separate from one another. Even if nothing else could be said, custom would suffice to guard against the evil. But since the writer of the letter attempted through a counterfeit argument to introduce so great an evil into life, we too must not refrain from the aid of reasoning, although in matters so evident the common preconception of every person is stronger than argument. He says it is written in Leviticus: “You shall not take a woman together with her sister as a rival, to uncover her nakedness beside her while she is still living.” From this, he says, it is plain that taking the sister is permitted after the wife has died. To this I shall first say: “Whatever the law says, it says to those under the law”; otherwise we too shall be subject to circumcision, the Sabbath, and abstinence from foods. We cannot place ourselves under the yoke of the law’s slavery whenever we find something agreeing with our pleasures and then flee to freedom in Christ whenever something lawful appears burdensome. We were asked whether it is written that a man may take a wife’s sister. We gave the safe and true answer: it is not written. To infer from what follows a provision concerning what was left unsaid is the act of one who makes law, not one who declares what the law says. By the same reasoning, anyone who dared could take the sister even while his wife still lives. The same sophism fits that case, for, he might say, it is written, “You shall not take her as a rival,” as though taking her where there is no rivalry were not forbidden. The advocate of passion will declare that the sisters are not jealous in disposition. Once the cause for which their joint cohabitation was forbidden is removed, what prevents taking the sisters? We shall say that these things are not written—but neither was the other conclusion determined. The implied reasoning grants permission equally to both. A brief return to what precedes the legislation would have removed the difficulty. The lawgiver does not appear to include every kind of sin, but especially forbids the practices of the Egyptians, from whom Israel departed, and the Canaanites, to whom Israel was going. The wording is: “You shall not do according to the practices of Egypt, in which you dwelt, nor according to the practices of Canaan, into which I am bringing you; and you shall not walk in their ordinances.” It may be that this form of sin did not then prevail among those nations, so the lawgiver did not need to guard against it, but relied upon an untaught custom to reject the abomination. Why, then, did he forbid the greater and remain silent about the lesser? Because the example of the Patriarch appeared likely to harm many flesh-loving persons with respect to living with sisters while both were alive. What must we do—say what is written, or pry into what was left unsaid? In these laws it is not written that a father and son must not use the same prostitute, yet the Prophet deemed it worthy of the gravest accusation: “A son and father went in to the same young woman.” How many other forms of unclean passion the school of demons has invented while divine Scripture kept silence, not choosing to soil its own dignity by naming shameful things, but denouncing uncleanness by general terms. Thus the Apostle Paul says, “Let fornication and every uncleanness not even be named among you, as befits saints,” including under “uncleanness” the unspeakable deeds of both males and females. Silence therefore does not necessarily bring permission to lovers of pleasure. I maintain that this matter has not been passed over in silence, but was very strongly forbidden by the lawgiver: “You shall not approach any relative of your flesh to uncover their nakedness.” This includes this kind of relationship. What could be more closely related to a man than his own wife, or rather than his own flesh? “For they are no longer two but one flesh.” Through the wife, therefore, her sister passes into kinship with the husband. Just as he may not take his wife’s mother or his wife’s daughter, so neither may he take his own sister; and conversely, a wife may not live with her husband’s relatives, for the rights of kinship are common to both. I testify to everyone considering marriage that “the form of this world is passing away” and “the time has been shortened, so that even those who have wives should be as though they had none.” If anyone reads to me, “Increase and multiply,” I laugh at the man who does not distinguish the times of the enactments. A second marriage is a remedy against fornication, not a provision for wantonness. “If they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry,” he says—not, “while marrying, let them transgress the law.” Those whose souls are inflamed by the passion of dishonor do not even consider nature, which long ago distinguished the names of kinship. By what relationship will they name the children born? Will they call them siblings of one another or cousins? Through the confusion, both names will apply. Man, do not make the aunt the infants’ stepmother. Do not arm the woman who ought to nurture them in the place of a mother with relentless jealousies; only the hatred of stepmothers pursues enmity even after death. Other enemies make peace with the dead; stepmothers begin their hatred after death. The sum of what has been said is this. If anyone approaches marriage lawfully, the whole inhabited world is open to him. But if his effort is governed by passion, for that very reason let him be excluded all the more, that he may learn “to possess his own vessel in holiness and honor, not in the passion of desire.” The measure of a letter restrains me though I am moved to say more. I pray either that our exhortation prove stronger than the passion, or that this defilement not enter our region but remain in the places where it was dared.

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I read your letter with all patience and wondered why, when you could answer us briefly and easily through deeds, you choose to persist in the things charged against you and attempt through long arguments to heal what cannot be healed. Gregory, we were neither the first nor the only persons to legislate that women must not live with men. Read the rule issued by our holy Fathers at the Synod of Nicaea, which expressly prohibited the presence of women introduced into the household. Celibacy possesses its dignity in separation from life with women. If someone professes it in name but in deed acts as those who live with women, he plainly pursues the dignity of virginity in title while not departing from the impropriety associated with pleasure. You ought all the more readily to have yielded to our demand inasmuch as you say you are free from every bodily passion. I do not believe that a man of seventy lives passionately with a woman, nor did we determine what we determined because some improper act had occurred. We learned from the Apostle, however, not to place a stumbling block or scandal before a brother, and we know that something done soundly by certain persons may become an occasion of sin for others. For this reason, following the ordinance of the holy Fathers, we commanded you to be separated from the woman. Why then do you accuse the rural bishop and recall an old enmity? Why blame us as ready to admit slanders, rather than yourself for refusing to depart from familiarity with the woman? Send her away from your house and establish her in a monastery. Let her be with virgins and you be served by men, so that the name of God may not be blasphemed because of you. Until you do these things, the countless arguments you write in letters will profit you nothing. You will die without ministry and give account to the Lord for your idleness. If you dare to retain the priesthood without correcting yourself, you shall be anathema to all the people, and those who receive you shall be proclaimed excluded throughout every church.

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It greatly grieves me that the canons of the Fathers have now been abandoned and all exactness driven from the churches. I fear that, as this indifference advances little by little, the affairs of the Church will come into complete confusion. The custom that formerly prevailed in the churches of God received those serving the Church only after examining them with all exactness. Their entire conduct was investigated: whether they were revilers or drunkards, whether they were quick to quarrel, and whether they disciplined their youth so as to be able to attain the holiness without which no one shall see the Lord. The presbyters and deacons living with them examined this and reported to the rural bishops. Having received the votes of truthful witnesses and informed the bishop, the rural bishops then enrolled the servant among those in sacred service. Now, first setting us aside and not even consenting to report to us, you have concentrated the whole authority in yourselves. Then, becoming careless about the matter, you permitted presbyters and deacons to introduce into the Church unworthy persons of unexamined life, choosing whomever they wished through partiality arising from kinship or some other friendship. Thus many servants are counted in every village, but not one is worthy of service at the altar—as you yourselves testify when you lack men in elections. Since I see the matter already advancing toward an incurable state, especially now that most persons are inserting themselves into service from fear of military enrollment, I have necessarily come to renew the canons of the Fathers. I write to command you to send me a register from every village of those who serve, by whom each was introduced, and what kind of life he leads. Keep a register with yourselves also, so that yours may be compared with the documents preserved here and no one may add his own name whenever he wishes. Accordingly, after the first registration, if any persons were introduced by a presbyter, let them be reduced to the laity and examined anew by you. If they are worthy, let them be received by your vote, after you have cleansed the Church by driving the unworthy from her. Henceforth examine and receive the worthy, but do not enroll them before reporting to us; otherwise know that one received into service without our judgment shall remain a layman.

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The absurdity of the matter about which I write filled my soul with pain when it was even suspected and spoken of, though until now it seemed incredible to me. Let the person who knows himself guilty receive this letter as a remedy; the person not guilty, as a safeguard; and the indifferent person—whom I pray not to find among you—as a solemn warning. What do I mean? It is said that some of you receive money from those being ordained and then cover this with a name of piety, which is worse. If anyone does evil under the appearance of good, he is worthy of double punishment, because he both does what is not good and uses the good, so to speak, as an accomplice in accomplishing the sin. If this is so, let it happen no more, but be corrected. To the person receiving the money must be said what the Apostles said to the man who wished to pay so that he might purchase participation in the Holy Spirit: “May your silver perish with you.” The one who through inexperience wishes to purchase is less guilty than the one who sells the gift of God. A sale has occurred; and if you sell what you received freely, you shall be deprived of the gift as one sold to Satan, for you introduce commerce into spiritual things and into the Church, where we have been entrusted with the Body and Blood of Christ. These things must not occur. I shall state the device: they suppose they do not sin because they do not receive the money at the same time, but receive it after the ordination. Yet receiving is receiving, whenever it occurs. I therefore entreat you: put away this revenue—or rather this approach leading to Gehenna—and do not defile your hands with such receipts and make yourselves unworthy to celebrate the holy Mysteries. Pardon me that at first, as disbelieving it, and then as persuaded, I make this threat: if after this letter of mine anyone does such a thing, he shall withdraw from the altars here and seek a place where he can buy and resell the gift of God. We and the churches of God have no such custom. I shall add one thing and stop. These things happen through love of money. Love of money is both a root of all evils and is called idolatry. Do not prefer idols to Christ for a little silver. Do not imitate Judas again, betraying for gain a second time Him who was once crucified for us; otherwise both the lands and the hands of those who receive these fruits shall be called Akeldama.

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Of the doctrines and proclamations preserved in the Church, some we possess from written teaching, while others, delivered to us from the tradition of the Apostles, we received in mystery. Both have the same force with respect to piety, and no one with even a little experience of ecclesiastical institutions will contradict this. For if we attempted to reject unwritten customs as possessing no great force, we would unwittingly injure the Gospel in its most vital parts—or rather reduce the proclamation to a bare name. To mention first the first and most common example: who taught in writing that those who hope in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ are to be marked with the sign of the Cross? What writing taught us to turn toward the east in prayer? Which of the saints left us in writing the words of the invocation at the consecration of the bread of thanksgiving and the cup of blessing? We are not content with the words recalled by the Apostle or the Gospel; before and after them we say other things received from unwritten teaching as having great force for the Mystery. From what writings do we bless the water of Baptism, the oil of anointing, and the person being baptized? Is it not from the silent and mystical tradition? What written word taught the anointing with oil itself? Whence comes the threefold immersion of a person? And the other things surrounding Baptism—the renunciation of Satan and his angels—from what Scripture do they come? Is it not from this unpublished and secret teaching, which our Fathers preserved in silence free from meddling and curiosity, having been well taught that the dignity of the Mysteries is preserved by silence? How could it be fitting to parade in writing the teaching concerning things that the uninitiated are not even permitted to behold? [And after other things:] This is the reason for the tradition of unwritten matters: that knowledge of the doctrines, by becoming familiar through common use, should not through habit become easily despised by the many. Doctrine is one thing and proclamation another. Doctrines are kept silent; proclamations are made public. The obscurity employed by Scripture is also a form of silence, making the meaning of doctrines difficult to perceive for the benefit of readers. For this reason we all look toward the east during prayers, but few know that we seek our ancient fatherland, Paradise, which God planted in Eden toward the east. On the first day of the week we fulfill our prayers standing, but not all know the reason. It is not only that, as persons raised together with Christ and obliged to seek the things above, we remind ourselves by standing in prayer on the day of Resurrection of the grace given to us. The day also appears in some manner to be an image of the age we expect. Therefore, although it is the beginning of days, Moses named it not “first” but “one”: “There was evening and there was morning, one day,” as though the same day often returned in a circle. Thus the same day is both one and eighth, manifesting through itself that truly one and genuine eighth day mentioned by the Psalmist in certain titles of the Psalms: the condition after this time, the unceasing day without evening or successor, that endless and ageless age. The Church therefore necessarily trains her children to fulfill their prayers standing on that day, so that by continually remembering unending life we may not neglect the provisions for that departure. The whole of Pentecost is likewise a reminder of the resurrection expected in the age to come. That one and first day, multiplied seven times seven, completes the seven weeks of holy Pentecost. Beginning from the first, it ends with the same, unfolding fifty times through like days in between. By this likeness it imitates the age, beginning from the same points as in a circular movement and ending at the same. During it the institutions of the Church have trained us to prefer the upright posture of prayer, by the plain reminder as though moving our mind from present things to those to come. By every bending of the knee and rising again we show in deed that through sin we fell to the earth and through the loving-kindness of Him who created us were called back to heaven. The day would fail me if I recounted the unwritten Mysteries of the Church. I leave the others aside. From what writings do we possess the very confession of faith—to believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? If it is from the tradition of Baptism, in accordance with the sequence of piety, because as we are baptized so we ought also to believe, and we set down a confession corresponding to Baptism, then let them permit us by the same sequence to render glory corresponding to the faith. But if they reject the manner of doxology as unwritten, let them give us written proofs both of the confession of faith and of the other matters we have enumerated. When so many unwritten things possess such force in the Mystery of piety, will they not permit us one word that came to us from the Fathers, which we found remaining through unaffected custom in the uncorrupted churches—a word possessing no small reason and contributing no slight strength to the power of the Mystery?

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To the claim that the doxology “with the Spirit” is unattested and unwritten, we say this: if nothing else unwritten is received, neither let this be received; but if most of the Mysteries have their place among us without writing, let us receive this too together with the many others. I think it is Apostolic to remain with unwritten traditions: “I praise you,” he says, “because you remember me in everything and hold the traditions just as I delivered them to you”; and, “Hold the traditions that you received, whether by word or by letter.” One of these is especially the present tradition. Those who first established it delivered it to those after them, and as its use always advanced with time they rooted it in the churches through long custom. If, then, as though in a court, lacking proof by documents, we presented to you a multitude of witnesses, would we not obtain from you a verdict of acquittal? I think so, for “every word shall be established by the mouth of two or three witnesses.” If we also plainly showed that the great length of time is on our side, would we not appear to you to speak reasonably in saying that this suit against us cannot be admitted? Ancient doctrines command reverence, possessing dignity as though through the gray hair of antiquity. From Basil the Great, from the letter to the people of Nicopolis. What terrible thing have we suffered, except perhaps this sorrowful thing: that we have suffered nothing and were not judged worthy of sufferings for Christ? If it grieves us that terrible men occupy the house of prayer while you worship the Maker of heaven and earth in the open air, remember that the eleven disciples were shut in the upper room while those who crucified the Lord fulfilled Jewish worship in the celebrated temple. Judas, who preferred death by hanging to living in disgrace, perhaps showed himself preferable to those who today have cast off all shame before human condemnation and therefore behave shamelessly toward disgraceful things. Only do not be deceived by their false statements promising soundness of faith. Such persons are traders in Christ, not Christians, preferring whatever is always advantageous to them in life over living according to truth. When they thought they could obtain this empty authority, they joined the enemies of God; when they saw the peoples growing fierce, they again put on the appearance of soundness. I do not know whether they are bishops, nor would I count among the priests of Christ a man put forward to the leadership by profane hands for the overthrow of the faith. This is my judgment. If you have any share with us, you will plainly think the same as we do. If you decide by yourselves, each person is master of his own judgment; we are innocent of this blood. From Basil the Great, from the letter to Caesaria Patricia. To commune every day and partake of the divine Mysteries is good and beneficial, since Christ Himself says: “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life.” We nevertheless commune four times in each week: on the Lord’s Day, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, and on other days when there is a commemoration of a saint. It is unnecessary to prove that in times of persecution, when neither priest nor minister is present, there is nothing grave in a person being compelled to receive communion by his own hand, because long custom has confirmed this by the facts themselves. All who live in solitude in the deserts where there is no priest keep communion at home and partake by themselves. In Alexandria and Egypt, as a general rule, each of the laity also keeps communion in his house and partakes by himself whenever he wishes. Once the priest has completed and given the sacrifice, the person who has received it and partakes must believe that he partakes from the priest. Even now in the church, the priest gives the portion, and the recipient holds it with full authority and thus brings it to his mouth with his own hand. It is therefore the same in effect whether someone receives one portion from the priest or many portions together. From Basil the Great, to the Priest, concerning divine grace. Strive, priest, to present yourself as a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Never stand in the assembly while bearing enmity against anyone, lest you drive away the Paraclete on the day of assembly. Do not litigate; do not quarrel. Remain in the church, praying and reading until the hour when you must celebrate the divine Mystagogy. Then stand at the holy altar with compunction and a pure heart, not looking this way and that, but standing with trembling and fear before the heavenly King. Do not hurry or shorten the prayers for human favor. Do not show partiality to any person, but look only toward the King set before you and the Powers standing round about. Make yourself worthy of the sacred canons. Do not concelebrate with those forbidden to do so. See before whom you stand, how you perform the sacred service, and to whom you impart. Do not forget the Master’s command and that of the holy Apostles: “Do not give what is holy to dogs, nor cast pearls before swine.” “Beware of the dogs,” and what follows. Take care not to be frightened by a man to your own fall. Do not deliver the Son of God into unworthy hands. At that hour be ashamed before none of the glorious persons of earth, not even the one wearing the diadem. Give divine communion freely to those worthy of it, as you yourself received freely. Do not give it to those whom the divine canons do not permit; they are reckoned as pagans, and unless they return, woe both to them and to those who communicate them. Take care—I have no part in the matter; you shall answer—that through your negligence no mouse or other thing touch the divine Mysteries, nor they become damp, smoky, or handled by profane and unworthy persons. By guarding these and like things, you shall save both yourself and those who hear you.