Let no virgin possess anything private in the monastery. Private property, which in monasteries is held a great crime, you should hold a grievous contagion of life. It is certainly adultery, because it stains the integrity of conscience by the wickedness of a thing usurped. It is the crime of theft; since, while all things which are held in the monastery are common to all, one presumes to have secretly that which is unknown to the rest, and uses one thing publicly with all, hides another by stealth. It is manifest fraud, because she does not place in common what she possesses, but hides a paltry trifle privately by deceit. One crime, but many contagions. Avoid the evil of so great a wickedness as the precipice of hell, and shun it as a way leading to the underworld.
From this, even to the evil of betrayal and the handing over of the Lord, Judas broke out, who committed the crime of theft, drawn by covetousness. In short, although he had whatever was common to the apostles, he was not content with the sufficiency of the fellowship. But what does the Gospel say of him? 'He was a thief, and having the purse, carried what was put therein' (John 12). Recall also the examples of Ananias and Sapphira; who, offering to the Apostle a part of the price, but concealing a part, were condemned by a present judgment (Acts 5); and for the terror of those who should follow, the punishment of the crime was not deferred. But she who is set apart, with private property, from the fellowship of the monastery, must needs be separated from the fellowship of the heavenly life. Whatever your hand has touched, show to the superior;