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| Chapter III. Of the observance of one uniform rule throughout the whole of Egypt, and of the election of those who are set over the brethren.
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Chapter III.
Of the observance of one uniform rule throughout the
whole of Egypt, and of the election of those who are set over the
brethren.
And so throughout the whole of
Egypt and the Thebaid, where monasteries are not founded at the fancy
of every man who renounces
the world, but through a succession of
fathers and their traditions last even to the present day, or are
founded so to last, in these we have noticed that a prescribed system
of prayers is observed in their evening assemblies and nocturnal
vigils. For no one is allowed to preside over the assembly of the
brethren, or even over himself, before he has not only deprived himself
of all his property but has also learnt the fact that he is not his own
maker and has no authority over his own actions. For one who renounces
the world, whatever property or riches he may possess, must seek the
common dwelling of a Cœnobium, that he may not flatter himself in
any way with what he has forsaken or what he has brought into the
monastery. He must also be obedient to all, so as to learn that he
must, as the Lord says,679
become again a
little child, arrogating nothing to himself on the score of his age and
the number of the years which he now counts as lost while they were
spent to no purpose in the world and, as he is only a beginner, and
because of the novelty of the apprenticeship, which he knows he is
serving in Christ’s service, he should not hesitate to submit
himself even to his juniors. Further, he is obliged to habituate
himself to work and toil, so as to prepare with his own hands, in
accordance with the Apostle’s command,680
daily supply of food, either for his own use or for the wants of
strangers; and that he may also forget the pride and luxury of his past
life, and gain by grinding toil humility of heart. And so no one is
chosen to be set over a congregation of brethren before that he who is
to be placed in authority has learnt by obedience what he ought to
enjoin on those who are to submit to him, and has discovered from the
rules of the Elders what he ought to teach to his juniors. For they say
that to rule or to be ruled well needs a wise man, and they call it the
greatest gift and grace of the Holy Spirit, since no one can enjoin
salutary precepts on those who submit to him but one who has previously
been trained in all the rules of virtue; nor can any one obey an Elder
but one who has been filled with the love of God and perfected in the
virtue of humility. And so we see that there is a variety of rules and
regulations in use throughout other districts, because we often have
the audacity to preside over a monastery without even having learnt the
system of the Elders, and appoint ourselves Abbots before we have, as
we ought, professed ourselves disciples, and are readier to require the
observance of our own inventions than to preserve the well-tried
teaching of our predecessors. But, while we meant to explain the best
system of prayers to be observed, we have in our eagerness for the
institutions of the fathers anticipated by a hasty digression the
account which we were keeping back for its proper place. And so let us
now return to the subject before us.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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