26:1
Fuge quaeso privatam vitam; nec velis imitari eas virgines quae in urbibus per cellulas demorantur: quas multimoda cura constringit; prius placendi sæculo, ne foedo prodeant amictu; et domestica oppressae sollicitudine, dum pro vitae subsidio satagunt, minus quae ad Oeum pertinent quærunt. Privatam enim vitam de usu gentilium traxit Ecclesia, quos dum non quiverunt apostoli ad normam suæ vitae traducere, Ecclesiae venienti ex gentibus permiserunt private vivere, propriisque rebus uti. Caeterum qui sub apostolis crediderunt ex Hebræis, eamdem normam, quam nunc tenent monasteria, servaverunt. Quaere quod legitur|in Actibus apostolorum, et verum esse quod dico probabis:
Flee, I pray, the private life; nor wish to imitate those virgins who linger in the cities in little cells: whom a manifold care constrains; first of pleasing the world, lest they go forth in a foul garment; and oppressed by domestic anxiety, while they busy themselves for the support of life, they seek less the things that pertain to God. For the Church drew the private life from the practice of the Gentiles, whom, since the apostles could not bring over to the standard of their own life, they permitted to the Church coming from the Gentiles to live privately, and to use their own goods. But those who believed under the apostles from among the Hebrews kept the same standard which the monasteries now hold. Seek what is read in the Acts of the Apostles, and you will prove that what I say is true:
我求你逃避私人的生活；也不要願意效法那些在城中蝸居於小室裡的童貞女：她們被多方的掛慮所束縛；首先是為著討好世界，免得衣衫襤褸地出去；又被家務的憂慮所壓，當她們為生活所需操勞時，就較少尋求那屬神的事。因為教會是從外邦人的習慣引進了私人的生活，使徒既不能將外邦人帶到他們自己生活的標準，就容許那從外邦人而來歸入教會的人私下度日，並使用自己的財物。但那些在使徒之下從希伯來人中信主的，卻持守了如今修道院所持守的同一標準。你去尋查使徒行傳所記載的，就要證實我所說的是真的：
26:2
Multitudinis, inquit, credentium erat cor unum, et anima una. Nec quisqua n eorum quæ possidebat, suum aliquid esse dicebat, sed quotquot possesores agrorum erant, vendebant, et pretia eorum ponebant ante pedes apostolorum, et distribuebatur prout unicuique opus erat (Act. IV). Vide, quod viventes in monasterio regulariter apostolorum teneant vitam; nec dubitent eorum assequi merita, quorum imitantur exempla.
'The multitude of those who believed,' it says, 'were of one heart and one soul. Neither did anyone say that anything of what he possessed was his own, but as many as were owners of fields sold them, and laid the prices of them before the feet of the apostles, and it was distributed to each as he had need' (Acts 4). See that those who live in a monastery according to rule hold the life of the apostles; nor let them doubt to attain the merits of those whose examples they imitate.
經上說：「那許多信的人都是一心一意的。沒有一人說他所擁有的有一樣是自己的，凡有田產的，都賣了，把賣得的價銀放在使徒腳前，照各人所需用的分給各人」（使徒行傳四章）。你看，那些在修道院中照規範度日的人，乃是持守使徒的生活；他們不必懷疑必得著那些榜樣為他們所效法之人的功德。