Chapter 66
"The abbot should be careful about appointing a "second" or even ar ranging for the appointment of a 'third" in authority" (chap, xcii, RM). Only a few centuries after St. Benedict, the office of prior was an undisputed insti tution. Indeed, Pope Gregory tells of St. Benedict himself appointing a "sec ond" in authority (Dialog. II, xxii). The Man of God seemingly thought that the sovereign authority of the abbot would be imperiled by a prior. As a mat ter of fact, there did exist a certain danger that this "second," who, accord ing to Pakhome's arrangement, was to be appointed by the same abbot-gen eral as the abbot ("second"), might assume a position equal to the abbot who appointed him. It is possible that Pachomius did not adequately subordinate his "second" under the authority of the monk whom he had appointed as the head of a separate cloister. Abbot Theodore (f 368), the talented and favor ite disciple of Pachomius, confessed on one occasion when he was called to ac count by his master for some allegedly ambitious plans: "For seven long years
I have (as the "second") visited the cloisters . . . and the thought never entered my mind that I come right next to you in rank. Now, however, I have been plagued by these thoughts, and I have not yet been able to overcome them"
(First Life cvi). Pachomius removed Theodore from his office and appointed Petronius in his place. Theodore never became the "first" (that is, abbot-gen eral) but was again chosen a "second" under Abbot Horsiesi (f 380). Theodoret of Cyrus (f 460), in his Monchsgeschichle (Monastic History), relates of the saintly Abbot David that he was on one occasion openly rebuked and corrected by his "second," who was a priest, without getting angry over the incident. "That the first superior should meekly accept such abuse from his subordinate" was considered a sign of extraordinary virtue (chap. iv). In the Holy Rule the prior is completely subordinate to the abbot. Any arbitrary as sumption of powers on his part could only be "tyranny," that is a usurpation of authority.
SIXTY-SIXTH CHAPTER
The Porter of the Monastery Let a wise elderly monk be stationed at the portal of the mon astery, one who knows how to receive an (inquiry) and to give an answer—likewise one whose mature age will not permit him to wander about (unnecessarily).1
1 The best manuscrips give the following reading: "Whose maturity does not allow him to be idle." (All the porters whom this translator has known were certainly men of sterling character, lay-Brothers, of course). The porters generally, since they acted as intermediaries between the "world" and the cloister, filled an impor tant position in the monastery. In the monasteries of Pachomius, the care and control of the novices were among the duties of the porter. Rufinus, in his Historia
Monachorum, reports that in the "monastic paradise" of Abbot Isidor, a worthy