Asceticon 1 part 6/6

Since it often happens, whether through bodily illness, or the necessity of a journey, or some other circumstance, that the superior is separated from the brotherhood, let there also be another, chosen for this purpose after examination both by him and by others capable of judging, so that, in his absence, he may take over the care of the brothers, so that even for those present the exhortations of the word may come from one person alone.

and let not the brotherhood, during the superior's absence, take on some sort of democratic form, to the dissolution of the rule and of the good order handed down;

with all alike leaping in to speak, a cause of tumult, and a sign of disorder;

since the Apostle did not even permit those deemed worthy of the gift of teaching to speak several at once together, in the words where he says:

"But if a revelation is made to another sitting by, let the first be silent."

and again, reproving the absurdity of such disorder, in saying:

"If, then, the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak in tongues, and there come in the unlearned or unbelievers, will they not say that you are mad?" And if, out of ignorance, the visitor brings his questions to another, then even should the one questioned face to face be able to answer without any deficiency, nevertheless, for the sake of good order, let him himself keep silent, and let him point instead to the one entrusted with this office — as the apostles did in the Lord's own presence — so that the use of speech may be orderly and fitting.

For if, in the treatment of bodies, it is not for just anyone to use the knife upon the sick, but only for one who has taken up the art, through long time, and experience, and practice in the works, and the teaching of those who are skilled;

what reason then is there for random persons to leap into the treatment that is through the word? — a treatment in which even the smallest oversight brings the greatest harm.

For among those where not even the distribution of bread is entrusted to just anyone, but such a ministry belongs to the one entrusted with it after examination, how much more, among these, ought the spiritual food to be brought to those who ask — chosen out and carefully watched over — by one of those more capable? Hence it is no trivial self-will, but incurs the judgment of God, when the one who is questioned dares so fearlessly and at random to venture an answer, instead of pointing to the one entrusted with the stewardship of the word — who, precisely because he is altogether faithful and a prudent steward, was chosen to distribute the spiritual food in due season, and to dispense his words with judgment, as it is written.

And if something escapes the notice of the one who is obliged to answer, and another perceives it, let him not immediately leap in with a reproof, but let him privately suggest what has occurred to him.

For from this there arises for the inferiors an occasion of arrogance against their superiors, so that even if one answers usefully, but not fittingly, he is liable to the penalties for disorder.

Concerning not concealing sins, whether of a brother or of oneself.

ANSWER. Every sin must be reported to the superior, either by the one who has sinned himself, or by those who are aware of it, if they themselves are not able to heal it, in accordance with what has been commanded by the Lord.

For an evil passed over in silence is a hidden disease within the soul.

As, then, we would not call a benefactor the one who shuts destructive things up within the body, but rather the one who, through pain and the lancing of the wound, draws them out into the open, so that the harmful thing may be cast out either through vomiting, or, in general, through the manifestation of the affliction, so that the manner of its treatment may become clearly known;

so likewise, evidently, to conceal a sin is to help bring about death for the one who is sick.

"For," it says, "the sting of death is sin."

"Open rebukes are better than love that is hidden."

Let no one, then, conceal a fault for another, lest he become a slayer of the brethren instead of a lover of the brethren; nor let anyone conceal a fault for himself.

"For," it says, "he who does not heal himself in his own works is brother to him who destroys himself."

Concerning those who do not accept what is ordained by the superior.

ANSWER. He who does not accept what has been approved by the superior must, either openly or privately, state his objection to him, provided he has some strong argument in accordance with the intent of the Scriptures; otherwise, he must keep silent and do what has been commanded.

— so that, should the injunction prove ill-considered, he may thereby deliver both himself and the brothers from harm;

but if it should be shown to have been made for a fitting reason, let him likewise free himself from vain and perilous doubt.

"For," it says, "he who doubts is condemned if he eats;"

and let no one, toward the simpler brothers,

give occasion for a slip into disobedience.

"For," says the Lord, "it is better for him that a millstone be hung about his neck, and he be cast into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble."

But if some persist in disobedience, secretly finding fault yet not making their grievance public, since they thereby become a cause of doubt to the brotherhood, unsettle its full assurance concerning the commandments, and become teachers of disobedience and non-compliance, let them be expelled from the brotherhood.

"For," it says, "cast out the pestilent one from the assembly, and strife will go out with him;"

"Put away the evil person from among yourselves."

That one must not pry curiously into the administration of the superior, but attend to one's own work.

So that no one may easily fall, through this affliction of judging and doubting, into harm both to himself and to others, this must altogether be guarded against in the brotherhood: that, from the outset, no one pry curiously into the administration of the superior, nor meddle in what is done, except those who are nearer to the superior both in rank and in understanding;

whom he will also necessarily take into counsel and deliberation concerning common affairs, obeying the exhortation of him who said:

For if we have entrusted to him the stewardship of our souls, as to one who will give an account to God, it is altogether unreasonable to distrust him even in the most trifling matters, filling ourselves with improper suspicions against the brother, and furnishing others as well with an occasion for the same.

and, giving himself wholly to the care of what falls to him, let him not pry curiously into other administrations at all, imitating the holy disciples of the Lord, concerning whom — although the matter of the Samaritan woman was capable of arousing suspicion — nevertheless, it says, no one said:

"What do you seek?" or "Why do you speak with her?" QUESTION 49.

Concerning matters disputed within the brotherhood.

Concerning matters disputed in the brotherhood: when some are in disagreement about some matter, they must not contend against one another out of love of strife, but must reserve the decision for those who are more capable.

So that order may not be thrown into confusion by everyone asking questions, and at all times, and so that an occasion for wrangling and idle talk may not arise, there must be some one tested person who has the capacity either to set before the brotherhood, for common consideration, the matters disputed by some, or to refer them to the one who presides.

For in this way the deliberation concerning the matters sought will be more coherent and more expert.

For if every matter has need of knowledge and experience, much more so in matters such as these.

And if no one would entrust the use of tools to the inexperienced, much more must the handling of words be granted to those who are capable;

who will also be capable of discerning the place, the time, and the manner of the questions, replying without contentiousness and with prudence, and, listening with understanding, will accurately preserve the solutions to what has been sought, for the edification of the community.

How the superior ought to administer rebuke.

But let the superior also administer rebukes to those who have sinned, not with passion,

but reckoning that he himself might well be clothed with faults,

"instructing with gentleness those who oppose themselves;"

nor let him be vehement in matters where he himself has been slighted, while, in matters where he sees another treated with contempt, show kindness toward the one who has sinned;

but rather let him be the more displeased at the evil in that case,

for thus he will escape the suspicion of self-love, and will give proof that he does not hate the one who has sinned but turns away from the sin itself, by the difference between his own conduct in the one case and in the other.

For it is necessary, on the one hand, to display zeal for the glory of God

when it is dishonored by the transgression of the commandment; and, on the other hand, to have the compassion of brotherly love for the salvation of the brother who is imperiled in his sin (since "the soul that sins, it shall die"), being moved against every sin as against sin itself, and showing, by the vehemence of his correction, the fervor of his own disposition.

In what manner one must correct the fault of the one who has sinned.

And let him administer corrections to those who are afflicted by passions according to the principle of medical treatment: not being angry at the sick, but doing battle with the disease; standing in opposition to the passions, yet, if need be, healing the sickness of the soul through a more laborious regimen;

as, for instance, vainglory, by the injunction of practices belonging to humility;

idle talk, by silence;

excessive sleep, through vigilance in prayers;

bodily idleness, through labors;

unseemly eating, through fasting;

murmuring, through exclusion — so that no one of the brothers should choose to work together with him, nor should his work be mingled with that of the others, as has been said before — unless, indeed, he should be shown, through unashamed repentance, to have been freed from this affliction.

And then let the work done during the time of his murmuring be accepted;

yet even then not applying it to the service and use of the brothers, but employing it for some other need.

And the reasoning for these things has been sufficiently demonstrated beforehand.

With what disposition one must receive penances.

ANSWER. But just as we have said that the superior must administer treatments to the sick without passion, so again those who are being treated must not receive their penances with hostility, nor consider as tyranny the care applied to them out of compassion for the salvation of the soul.

For it is shameful that those who are sick in body trust their physicians so much that, even if they cut, even if they cauterize, and cause them distress with bitter medicines, they still consider them benefactors;

yet we, toward those who treat our souls, when through a laborious regimen they work out our salvation for us, do not have the same disposition — while the Apostle says:

And who is it that gladdens me, if not the one grieved by me? And again:

For behold, this very thing—that you were grieved according to God—what earnestness it produced in you!

So that, looking to the end in view, it is fitting to judge as a benefactor the one who produces in us grief according to God.

How do the teachers of the crafts correct their pupils when they err

in their work? So too, whoever is guilty of idle talk, or falsehood, or anything else of this kind forbidden to the devout, must be brought before the overseer of the community's good order to be examined, so that the measure and the manner of the healing of sins may be devised by him.

For if reproof is a medicine for the soul, it does not belong to everyone to administer reproof, just as it does not belong to everyone to heal—unless the superior himself, after ample testing, permits it to someone.

It is also good, at times, for a council to be held, at certain fixed times and places, among those set over the brotherhoods;

at which they shall lay before one another the matters that have occurred contrary to reason, and the dispositions that are difficult to manage, and how each has treated every case; so that whatever was once done in error by anyone may be trustworthily disclosed by the judgment of the many, and whatever was rightly done may be confirmed by the testimony of the majority. QUESTION 55

Whether making use of the resources of medicine is in accordance with the aim of piety

Just as each of the arts has been granted to us by God as a help for the weakness of our nature—agriculture, for instance, because what grows spontaneously from the earth does not suffice for the relief of our needs;

and weaving, because the covering of garments... is confirmed by the testimony of the majority. QUESTION 56

Whether making use of the resources of medicine is in accordance with the aim of piety

Just as each of the arts has been granted to us by God as a help for the weakness of our nature—agriculture, for instance, because what grows spontaneously from the earth does not suffice for the relief of our needs;

and weaving, because the need of coverings is necessary both for propriety and against the harms arising from the weather; and building likewise;

since our passible body is subject to various harms, both those befalling it from without and those arising from within through foods, and is afflicted by both excess and deficiency, the art of medicine—proposing, as a pattern for the therapy of the soul, the removal of what is superfluous and the addition of what is lacking—has been permitted by God, who administers our whole life.

For just as, if we were in the paradise of delight, we would have needed no ingenuity or labor of agriculture;

so also, if we were in that state of passionlessness which was granted as a gift in creation before the transgression, we would have needed nothing from medicine for our relief.

But just as, after being exiled into this place, and hearing the word, 'In the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread,' we then, through long experience and toil upon the earth, established the art of agriculture as a relief for the griefs arising from the curse—God having granted us the understanding and mastery of this art;

so also, since we were commanded to return again to the earth from which we were taken, and were yoked to a suffering flesh condemned to corruption because of sin, and for this reason subjected to these passions, there has likewise been granted to us—at least in some measure—the help which medicine brings to the sick.

For the herbs proper to each of the ailments did not spring up spontaneously from the earth;

but, clearly, they were brought forth by the will of the Creator with a view to our benefit.

But that which is over-elaborate and excessively curious, and which produces much distraction, and which turns, as it were, our whole life toward the care of the flesh—this Christians must refuse;

and one must take care to use the art in such a way, whenever it is needed, as not to place in it the whole cause of health or sickness, but rather to receive what benefits come from it unto the glory of God and as a pattern for the care of souls.

And when the resources of medicine are unavailable, one must not place all one's hope for the relief of afflictions in this art, but must know that either God will not allow us to be tried beyond what we are able to bear, or, just as the Lord did then—at one time making clay, anointing with it, and commanding the man to wash in Siloam, and at another time being content with the will alone, saying, 'I will; be clean'—

while others he left to contend with their hardships, preparing them through this trial to become more approved;

so also in our case, God at one time touches us invisibly, from the unseen, whenever he perceives this to be advantageous for our souls; and at another time is well pleased for us to make use of material remedies for our ailments, thereby, through the prolongation of the treatment, producing in us an abiding memory of his grace, or also, as I said, furnishing a certain pattern for the care of the soul.

For just as, in the case of the flesh, both the removal of what is foreign is necessary, and the addition of what is lacking;

so also, in the case of our soul, what is foreign must be put away, while what is fitting according to nature must be taken up.

That God made man upright;

and he created us for good works, that we should walk in them.

And just as, in that realm, we endure incisions, cauterizations, and the taking of bitter medicines for the healing of the body;

so also here, one must accept the cutting words of reproving speech, and the bitter medicines of rebukes, for the healing that concerns the soul.

This is what the prophetic word says, reproaching those who have not accepted discipline:

Therefore, it is not the case that, because some make bad use of the art of medicine, we must shun every benefit derived from it.

For neither, because those who are intemperate about pleasures make use of the culinary art for the contrivance of luxury, or of bread-making, or of weaving, exceeding the limit of what is necessary, must we for that reason reject all these arts together;

on the contrary, rather, by the right use of these arts we ought to expose what has been corrupted by those who misuse them.

So too, in the case of medicine, it is not reasonable to slander the grace that comes from God on account of its evil use.

For to place the hope of one's own health in the hands of physicians is brutish;

which we see certain wretched persons suffering—who do not refrain even from calling them their saviors;

while to shun altogether the benefits derived from it is contentious.

But just as Hezekiah did not regard the cake of figs as the primary cause of his health, nor reckoned it the cause of the healing of his body, but added, along with the glory of God, thanksgiving also for the creation of the figs;

so also we, receiving our afflictions from God, who governs our life well and wisely, ask from him first the knowledge of the reason for which he brings on the scourges, and then both deliverance from our sufferings and endurance—that, together with the trial, he would also provide the way of escape, so that we may be able to bear it.

And it will make no difference to us whether the care of God comes to us from the unseen, or through some bodily means;

yet it leads us more effectively into an awareness of the grace that comes from the Lord.

Often, too, having fallen into sicknesses for our discipline, we have been condemned to undergo, as part of that discipline, treatment by means of what is laborious.

Right reason, therefore, does not dictate that we refuse incisions, nor cauterizations, nor the pains caused by sharp and painful medicines, nor fasting, nor the exact measures of diet, nor abstinence from things that corrupt;

provided always—I say again—that the aim of the soul's benefit is preserved, the soul thereby being instructed, as it were by way of example, in the care proper to itself.

But it is no small danger for the mind to fall into a state of restless preoccupation, as though every ailment stood in need of the resources of medicine.

For not all illnesses are natural, nor do they all arise for us from faulty diet or from certain other bodily causes—the kind of illnesses for which we sometimes see medicine to be of use.

For often illnesses are also scourges for sins, brought upon us to bring about our conversion.

For, it says, 'whom the Lord loves, he disciplines;'

For if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged.

But being judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

Such persons, therefore, must remain quiet, refraining from the practices of medicine, and must endure what is brought upon them, once we have recognized our own faults, according to the one who said:

'I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against him;'

and must show forth their amendment by producing fruits worthy of repentance, and must remember the Lord who said:

'Sin no more, lest something worse befall you;'

which we have learned came to pass in the case of Job.

Or else, those who are able to endure their sufferings steadfastly even unto death are brought forward by God as an example for those who cannot bear pain;

as was Lazarus, who, though afflicted with such sores, is nowhere recorded either to have asked anything of the rich man, or to have been displeased with his circumstances;

for which reason he also obtained rest in the bosom of Abraham, as one who had already received his evils during his lifetime.

We also find another cause of illnesses befalling the saints, as in the case of the Apostle;

for lest he should seem to transcend the bounds of human nature, and lest anyone should suppose that he possessed something extraordinary in his natural constitution (which is what the Lycaonians experienced, when they brought garlands and bulls to offer to him), he was continually accompanied by illness, as a demonstration of his human nature.

What benefit, then, could such persons gain from medicine? Would it not rather be a danger, distracting them from right reason toward the care of the body? For those, however, who have brought illness upon themselves through a bad regimen, the treatment of the body must be used as a kind of pattern and model for the care of the soul, just as has been said before.

For the abstinence from things that harm, according to the principle of medicine, is also beneficial to us—as is the choosing of what is useful, and the keeping of the precepts given.

And let even this change of the flesh from sickness to good health become for us a source of comfort, so that we do not despair concerning the soul, as though it were unable, through repentance, to return again from its sins to its own wholeness.

Therefore, one must neither shun this art altogether, nor is it fitting to place all one's hopes upon it.

But just as we make use of agriculture, yet ask for the fruits from God;

and just as we entrust the helm to the pilot, yet pray to God to be brought safely out of the deep—so also, when we call in a physician, whenever reason permits it, we do not thereby abandon our hope in God.

To me, moreover, this art appears to contribute no small amount toward self-control as well.

And, in sum, she calls want the mother of health, so that in this respect too her counsel is not without profit for us.

Whether, then, we at any time make use of the precepts of medicine, or decline them, in accordance with one of the reasons already given, let the aim of pleasing God be preserved, and let the benefit of the soul be provided for, and let the command of the Apostle be fulfilled, who said:

"Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."