03-05# The Rule of our Holy Father Benedict. Chapter 28: Concerning Those Who Shall Not Have Amended Though Somewhat Often Corrected
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If any brother shall not have amended though frequently corrected for some fault and even excommunicated, let a sharper correction befall him, namely, that the punishment of stripes accrue to him. But if even so he have not amended, or even, which be far from him, carried away by pride he have desired actually to justify his acts, then let the abbot proceed as a wise physician: if he has applied fomentations, if the unguents of exhortation, if the medicaments of divine Scripture, if at last the cauterization of excommunication, or stripes with the rod; and if he still see that his perseverance prevail nothing, let him further add what is still greater, namely, his own prayer for him and the prayer of all the brethren that the Lord, Who is omnipotent, effect deliverance for the sick brother. But if even by this means he have not been healed, then at last let the abbot make use of the blade that cutteth off, as says the Apostle: “Take away the evil from your midst”: and again: “If the unfaithful go away, let him go away”: lest one diseased sheep contaminate the whole flock.
