46 Chapter 1 of others as well, the individual can and should leave. According to Basil, he would not leave his brothers, but he would leave them as strangers (ἀλλοτρίων), who are likened to ‘pagans and tax-collectors’ (ὁ ἐθνικὸς καὶ ὁ τελώνης). Apart from noting that the advice and procedure on how to deal with discord closely follows Matthew 18:15-17, and therefore uses the Gospel as inspiration and authority for his advice, it can be noted that Basil’s concern is not so much to restrict movement, nor to keep all members within the community, but to maintain a community that is pious and strives to correct sin(ners). The mechanism that Basil promotes to this end is mutual control: a brother should correct his fellow brother. If this fails to achieve the desired end, however, the brother who was harmed should not see himself as part of the community anymore, for he would leave them as strangers. The community in such case fails to be a righteous, pious and ascetic one, for they are like pagans and tax-collectors, disqualifying them to be Christians and people removed from worldly affairs. The second difficulty Basil addresses is irresolution. He stresses the individual responsibility for one’s own resolution to live a communal life of piety. In case of irresolution as reason for leaving the community (‘unsteadiness of resolution’ and ‘by reason of the fickleness of his nature, he leaves the society of his brethren’) the individual should ‘cure his own weakness’.158 However, if the person does not do that, then the ‘brotherhoods’ (ταῖς ἀδελφότησιν) should not accept him. Similar to the advice on discord, Basil propagates an ideal of a community solely comprised of pious members with a common purpose. The members do not have to be perfect ascetics without any (moral or spiritual) fault, but they should correct their own faults or irresolution and in addition should correct others to do so. However, without restoring his resolution or fault, there is no place for such a person in the community, according to Basil. And vice versa, if members in the community do not want to restore their fault, then one should leave the community, for the community ceases to be a righteous one. Hence only if mutual control and individual responsibility for one’s own perseverance fail to ensure the righteousness of the community, a member should leave the community. The one exception to this rule is God’s will, which stands above individual (human) responsibility, and which may be a reason for a member to go from one community to another. According to Basil, there is no other reason that legits a member to leave the brotherhood. Apart from dishonouring Christ in whose name they form a brotherhood, as Basil sees it, the reason for not legitimising withdrawal from the community has to do with avoiding friction and 158 Translation by Wagner (1950), p. 305.
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