Letter 270: I am distressed to find that you are by no means indignant at the sins forbidden, and that you seem incapable of understanding, how this raptus, which has been committed, is an act of unlawfulness and tyranny against society and human nature, and an outrage on free men. I am sure that if you had all been of one mind in this matter, there would h...

I am dismayed to find that you are not the least bit indignant about a crime that is explicitly forbidden, and that you seem incapable of understanding that this abduction is an act of lawlessness and tyranny against society, against human nature, and against the freedom of every person. I am certain that if you had all been of one mind on this matter, this wicked custom would have been driven from your region long ago. Now is the time to show the zeal of a Christian. React as the offense demands. Wherever you find the girl, insist on removing her and restoring her to her parents. Bar the abductor from the prayers of the church and make him excommunicate. His accomplices, in accordance with the canon I have already published, are to be cut off -- together with their entire households -- from the prayers. The village that received the girl after the abduction and kept her, or even resisted her return, is to be shut out with all its inhabitants from the prayers. Let everyone know that we regard the abductor as a common enemy -- like a snake or any other wild beast -- to be hunted down and driven out, and that we stand ready to help those he has wronged.

ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA Without Address. Concerning Raptus. I am distressed to find that you are by no means indignant at the sins forbidden, and that you seem incapable of understanding, how this raptus, which has been committed, is an act of unlawfulness and tyranny against society and human nature, and an outrage on free men. I am sure that if you had all been of one mind in this matter, there would have been nothing to prevent this bad custom from being long ago driven out of your country. Do thou at the present time show the zeal of a Christian man, and be moved as the wrong deserves. Wherever you find the girl, insist on taking her away, and restore her to her parents, shut out the man from the prayers, and make him excommunicate. His accomplices, according to the canon which I have already put forth, cut off, with all their household, from the prayers. The village which received the girl after the abduction, and kept her, or even fought against her restitution, shut out with all its inhabitants from the prayers; to the end that all may know that we regard the ravisher as a common foe, like a snake or any other wild beast, and so hunt him out, and help those whom he has wronged. About this page Source. Translated by Blomfield Jackson. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 8. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1895.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3202270.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.