The Rule Of Pachomius, Part 2
Translated by Esmeralda Ramirez de Jennings
Edited by Rev. Daniel R. Jennings
The trustee-economist should take care of not losing any object in the monastery, nor any object in any of the
offices where the brothers work. If they lose or destroy something by negligence, the father of the monastery will
reprimand the one responsible for that service, who at the same time, will reprimand the one who lost the object in
question, but this will be done only by the will and determination of his superior, because without his order, no one
will have the power to reprimand a brother.
If they find a piece of clothing exposed to the sun for three days, the one who was using that piece of clothing will
be reprimanded, and will make public penance during the sinaxis and will remain standing in the refectory.
(...) If anyone looses a skin of goat, or shoes or a belt, or another effect, he will be reprimanded.
If anyone took something that is not their own, they will put it on his back, he will make penance publicly in the
sinaxis and will remain standing in the refectory.
If they find anyone that is doing anything whispering or is against the order of a superior, will be lectured
according to the measure of his sin.
If it is stated that a brother lies or hates someone, or it is proved that he is disobedient, that he is given to telling
jokes more than what convenient, that he is lazy, or that he has hard words or the habit of whispering about his
brothers or strangers -things absolutely contrary to the rule of Scripture and to the monastic discipline -, the father of
the monastery will judge him and will punish him according to the gravity and the kind of the sin that he has
committed.
When an item has been lost on the way, in the fields or in the monastery, the chief of the house will be
responsible of that fault and put under reprimand if during three days he did not inform the father of the monastery.
He will make public penance according to the established way.
If a brother flees and his chairman does not let the father of the monastery know til after three hours, the
chairman will be considered as guilty of the lost, unless he finds him.
This will be the punishment that the person who lost one of the brothers will suffer: during three days he will
make penance publicly. But if he came up to the father of the monastery when this brother fled, he will not be
responsible for that.
If a chairman, having stated about a loss in the house, did not admonish the guilty one and did not come up to
the father of the monastery, he will be put under the expected penance.
In the afternoon, they will pray in each house the six prayers and the six psalms, according to the rite of the
sinaxis that all of the brothers celebrate in common.
The chairmen will give two conferences each week.
Do not let anyone at the house do anything without the order of the chairman.
If the brothers of the same house state that their chairman is very negligent, that he reprimands the brothers with
hardness, exceeding the measure observed in the monastery, they will tell the father of the monastery who will
reprimand him.
In principle, the chairman will not do anything but what the father of the monastery has told him to do, mainly in
the area of the innovations, because, for the habitual matters, will be rely on the rules of the monastery.
The chairman is not supposed to get drunk (Eph. 5,18)
He cannot sit in the most humble places, close to where they place the supplies of the monastery.
He cannot break the bonds that God created in heaven so that they are respected upon the earth.
He cannot be sad on the day when the Lord saves.
He is supposed to control his flesh like the rule of the saints (Rom. 8:13)
He cannot sit in the most honorable seats, as it is habitual among the gentiles. (Lk. 14:8).
His faith should be without fluctuation.
He should not follow the thoughts of his heart but the law of God.
He should not oppose the superior authorities with a prideful spirit (Rom. 13:2)
He should not get angry or impatient with the weakest.
He should not cross over the limits (Dt. 27:17)
He should not feed his spirit with fraudulent-deceitful thoughts.
He should not neglect the sin of his soul.
He should not let himself be overcome by the lust of the flesh (Gal. 5:19)
He should not walk in laziness.
He should not hurry to pronounce idle words (Mt. 12:36).
He should not put bows on the feet of the blind (Lev. 19:14)
He should not teach his soul voluptuousness.
He should not let himself be dissipated by the laughter of the fool or by joking.
He should not let anyone influence his heart by using flattering words and sugar coating the truth.
He should not let people win him over by gifts (Ex. 23:8)
He should not allow himself to be seduced by the word of children.
He should not be troubled by trials (2 Cor. 4:8)
He should not fear death, but God (Mt. 10:28)
The fear of an imminent danger should not make him sin.
He should not abandon the true light for a little bit of food.
He should not hesitate or be undecided in his actions.
He should not be versatile in his language; his decisions should be firm and founded; he should be just, cautious,
one that judges according to the truth without expecting his glory, he should show before God and men just as he is,
moved away from all fraud.
He should not ignore the conduct of the saints and should not be blind before their science.
He should not hurt anyone by selfishness.
He should not let himself be carried away by the concupiscence of the eyes.
He should not be dominated by the ardor of the vices.
He should never walk ahead of the truth.
He should hate injustice.
He should not show preferential treatment in his judgments, because of the gifts that they may give him.
He should not condemn pride an innocent out of pride.
He should not have fun with children.
He should not abandon the truth under the empire of fear.
He should not eat bread that he has obtained by lying.
He should not covet other peoples' land.
He should not put pressure over a soul to undress others.
He should not look away from the one who has need of mercy.
He should not give false testimony, seduced by the profit. (Ex. 20:16)
He should not lie because of pride.
He should not sustain anything that is contrary to the truth by exaltation of his heart.
He should not abandon justice by fatigue, he should not lose his soul for human respect.
He should not put his attention in the delicacies of a sumptuous table.
He should not desire beautiful clothing.
He should not neglect to always consult the elders to be able to discern his thoughts.
He should not get drunk with wine, he should put humbleness together with the truth.
When he judges he should follow the precepts of the elders and the law of God, preached in the whole world.
If the chief of the house violates one of this precepts, they will use him the measure that he used (Mt. 7:2) and he
will be repaid according to his deeds, because he committed adultery with the log and the stone (Jn. 3:9), because
the shine of the gold and the gloss of silver made him abandon his duties of administrating justice, and the desire of
a temporary profit made him fall in the trap of the wicked.
The punishment of Heli and his descendants will reach that man (Samuel 4:8), the curse of Doeg (Psalm 51) he
implored against David; he will take the sign with which Cain was marked (Gen. 4:15), he will have the funeral worthy
of a donkey, as Jeremiah says (22:19), that because of the perdition he will deserve the fate of the sinners (the ones
who were swallowed by the earth); he would be broken by the fountain of waters like a pitcher (Ecl. 12:6), and will be
beaten like the sands of the coast, beaten by the brackish waves, he will be broken by the dominating scepter that
Isaiah talks about (14:5) and he will stay blind, obligated to estimate the walls with his hand (Is. 59:10)
All of these calamities will come upon him if he does not observe the truth of his judgments and if he builds with
iniquity in everything that constitutes the work he received [from the elders to work on].
End of the second part.