Quality of the abbot of aberbrothol
Answers
1 To be worthy of the task of governing a monastery, the abbot must always remember what his title signifies and act as a superior should.
2 He is believed to hold the place of Christ in the monastery, since he is addressed by a title of Christ,
3 as the Apostle indicates: You have received the spirit of adoption of sons by which we exclaim, abba, father.
4 Therefore, the abbot must never teach or decree or command anything that would deviate from the Lord’s instructions.
5 On the contrary, everything he teaches and commands should, like the leaven of divine justice, permeate the minds of his disciples.
6 Let the abbot always remember that at the fearful judgment of God, not only his teaching but also his disciples’ obedience will come under scrutiny.
7 The abbot must, therefore, be aware that the shepherd will bear the blame wherever the father of the household finds that the sheep have yielded no profit.
8 Still, if he has faithfully shepherded a restive and disobedient flock, always striving to cure their unhealthy ways, it will be otherwise:
9 the shepherd will be acquitted at the Lord’s judgment. Then, like the Prophet, he may say to the Lord: I have not hidden your justice in my heart; I have proclaimed your truth and your salvation, but they spurned and rejected me
10 Then at last the sheep that have rebelled against his care will be punished by the overwhelming power of death.
11 Furthermore, anyone who receives the name of abbot is to lead his disciples by a twofold teaching:
12 he must point out to them all that is good and holy more by example than by words, proposing the commandments of the Lord to receptive disciples with words, but demonstrating God’s instructions to the stubborn and the dull by a living example.