An abbot who is worthy to rule a monastery should always remember what he is called and realise in his actions the name of

a superior. For he is believed to be the representative of Christ in the monastery, and for that reason is called by a name of his, according to the words of the Apostle: Ye have received the spirit of the adoption of sons, whereby we cry Abba, Father.¹ Therefore the abbot ought not to teach, or ordain, or command anything that is against the law of the Lord; on the contrary, his commands and teaching should be infused into the minds of his disciples like the leaven of divine justice. Let the abbot remember always that at the dread Judgement of God there will be an examination of both these matters, of his teaching and of the obedience of his disciples. And let the abbot realise that the shepherd will have to answer for any lack of profit which the Father of the family may discover in his sheep. On the other hand, if the shepherd have spent all diligence on an unruly and disobedient flock and devoted his utmost care to the amending of its vicious ways, then he will be acquitted at the Judgement and may say to the Lord with the prophet: I have not hid thy justice within my heart:² I have declared thy truth and thy salvation; but they have despised and rejected me.³ And so at the last, for these sheep disobedient to his care, let death itself bring its penalty.

¹Rom viii, 15
²Ps xxxix, 11
³Is i, 2