Monday, February 12, 2007

Holy Rule Chapter 4 - the instruments of good works

The fourth chapter of the holy rule is entirely different from the previous three. This one is a list of 73 instruments that make the monks do good works. They are 73 rules that each monk follows, which produces good works within the "workshop" of the monastary.

A couple surprising rules are:

#47 - to keep death before one's eyes daily - I wonder why they thought of this, and how they would have hoped it would have helped...

#54 - not to speak useless words and such as provoke laughter & #55 - not to love much or boisterous laughter - Doesn't laughter help people? Maybe they just didn't want the monks to be too happy...

#62 - not to desire to be called holy before one is; but to be holy first, that one may be truly so called - this one is really special to me right now because of my studies in holiness theology. Holiness is not the desire - Christ is!

1 comment:

Chelsea said...

Well, if you're always thinking that death is right around the corner, couldn't it help you to live life to its fullest?