2009年5月9日 星期六

The Rule of St. Benedict - Chapter 1. The Kinds Of Monks

(1) There are clearly four kinds of monks.
(2) First, there are the cenobites, that is to say, those who belong to a monastery, where they serve under a rule and an abbot.

(3) Second, there are the anchorites or hermits, who have come through the test of living in a monastery for a long time, and have passed beyond the first fervor of monastic life.
(4) Thanks to the help and guidance of many, they are now trained to fight against the devil.
(5) They have built up their strength and go from the battle line in the ranks of their brothers to the single combat of the desert. Self-reliant now, without the support of another, they are ready with God’s help to grapple single-handed with the vices of body and mind.

(6) Third, there are the sarabites, the most detestable kind of monks, who with no experience to guide them, no rule to try them, "as gold is tried in a furnace," (Prov 27:21), have a character as soft as lead.
(7) Still loyal to the world by their actions, they clearly lie to God by their tonsure.
(8) Two or three together, or even alone, without a shepherd, they pen themselves up in their own sheepfolds, not the Lordss. Their law is what they like to do, whatever strikes their fancy.
(9) Anything they believe in and chose, they call holy; anything they dislike, they consider forbidden.

(10) Fourth and finally, there are the monks called gyrovagues, who spend their entire lives drifting from region to region, staying as guests for three or four days in different monasteries.
(11) Always on the move, they never settle down, and are slaves to their own wills and gross appetites. In every way they are worse than sarabites.

(12) It is better to keep silent than to speak of all these and their disgraceful way of life.
(13) Let us pass them by, then and with the help of the Lord, proceed to draw up a plan for the strong kind, the cenobites.

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