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Further, if one of them has been suspended from prayer for some fault
which he has committed, no one has any liberty of praying with him before
he performs his penance on the ground, and reconciliation and pardon for
his offence has been publicly granted to him by the Abbot before all the
brethren. For by a plan of this kind they separate and cut themselves off
from fellowship with him in prayer for this reason-- because they believe
that one who is suspended from prayer is, as the Apostle says, "delivered
unto Satan:" and if any one, moved by an ill-considered affection, dares
to hold communion with him in prayer before he has been received by the
Elder, he makes himself partaker of his damnation, and delivers himself up
of his own free will to Satan, to whom the other had been consigned for the
correction of his guilt. And in this he falls into a more grievous offence
because, by uniting with him in fellowship either in talk or in prayer, he
gives him grounds for still greater arrogance, and only encourages and
makes worse the obstinacy of the offender. For, by giving him a consolation
that is only hurtful, he will make his heart still harder, and not let him
humble himself for the fault for which he was excommunicated; and through
this he will make him hold the Elder's rebuke as of no consequence, and
harbour deceitful thoughts about satisfaction and absolution.
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