On Weightier Faults
Mar. 2—July 2—Nov. 1
Let the brother who is guilty of a weightier fault be excluded both from
the table and from the oratory. Let none of the brethren join him either
for company or for conversation. Let him be alone at the work assigned
him, abiding in penitential sorrow and pondering that terrible sentence
of the Apostle where he says that a man of that kind is handed over for
the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of
the Lord. Let him take his meals alone in the measure and at the hour
which the Abbot shall consider suitable for him. He shall not be blessed
by those who pass by, nor shall the food that is given him be blessed.