That No One Be Loved More Than the Others (12 Jan)
12 Jan. 13 May. 12 Sept.
Let him make no distinction of persons in the monastery. Let not one be loved more than another, unless he be found to excel in good works or in obedience. Let not one of noble birth be put before him that was formerly a slave, unless some other reasonable cause exist for it. But if upon just consideration it should so seem good to the Abbot, let him arrange as he please concerning the place of any one whomsoever; but, otherwise, let them keep their own places; because, whether bond or free, we are all one in Christ, and bear an equal rank in the service of one Lord, “For with God there is no respecting of persons.” Only for one reason are we preferred in His sight, if we be found to surpass others in good works and in humility. Let the Abbot, then, shew equal love to all, and let the same discipline be imposed upon all according to their deserts.
Today’s section introduces the other great theme of Chapter 2: the impartiality that the abbot should show to all purely natural considerations in his love for his sons. The section is again almost identical with that in the Rule of the Master, but here there is a difference we shall note. Structurally, we can observe that the section is arranged as a nearly perfect chiasm:
A1) No distinction of persons.
B1) No one loved more than another except for good works and obedience.
C1) No preference for free men over slaves.
D1) Except for reasonable cause.
D2) For good cause the abbot can arrange as he pleases.
C2) All are one in Christ, whether slave or free.
B2) We are only preferred in God’s sight for good works or humility.
A2) Equal love should be shown to all.
The repetition of the same ideas in inverse order hardly seems coincidental, although it is made less redundant by the fact that the same ideas are stated both negatively and positively at different points.
At the same time, while the section as a whole is found in the Rule of the Master, and while other monastic rules are equally insistent on the principle of equality, it is all the more noteworthy that Saint Benedict adds his own material at several points in this section. First, after the insistence that a freeman should not be preferred to a slave, Saint Benedict adds, nisi alia rationabilis causa exsistat. He proceeds to add the provision that, justitia dictante, the abbot can arrange anyone’s place as he sees fit. The central part of the section, then, is Saint Benedict’s own addition, by which he tempers, as it were, the radical egalitariansim being set forth, acknowledging that the abbot may have good reason for preferring one to another.
Saint Benedict then returns to the text found in the Master, quoting Saint Paul on the equality of slaves and freemen in Christ. He omits, however, another statement of the Master, who, after saying that only for good works are we preferred in God’s sight, goes on to say that ‘to show his loving kindness to all alike, God commands the elements to serve sinners as much as the just.’ (RM 2:21) The statement is based on Our Lord’s words in the Sermon on the Mount. Georg Holzherr, in his commentary, suggests that Saint Benedict thought this statement was ‘too egalitarian’; perhaps it might be better to say that Saint Benedict is concerned that Our Lord’s words, addressed to his disciples about the need to love even our enemies, not be misconstrued by an abbot to mean that he should not be concerned to deal justly with offenders. (Georg Holzherr OSB, The Rule of Benedict: An Invitation to the Christian Life, trans. Mark Tamhert OSB, Collegeville, Liturgical Press, 2016, [hereafter, ‘Holzherr’] p. 69). The same typically Roman concern for justice and good order in the abbot’s governance reappears at the end of the section, for to the Master’s statement one discipline should be shown to all, Saint Benedict adds the important qualifier, secundum merita.
Here then, we have Saint Benedict on the one hand transmitting the monastic tradition with its radical demands, entirely at variance with the social mores of his time. This emerges particularly clearly by comparison with some other contemporary monastic rules or literature in the West, which described rather significant social distinctions being made in communities (see Holzherr, p. 69, notes). At the same time, Saint Benedict wants to ensure, with typical Roman prudence and good sense, that the abbot is allowed to make whatever distinctions are called for by sound reason, and that his equal love for all does not prevent him from acting justly in order to prevent the abuses that can appear in any human community. It is this precisely this balance of Gospel radicalism with Roman prudence and order which would ensure the success of the Holy Rule in guiding the development of the Church in the West throughout the coming centuries.