LXXVII.  He who abandons the wife, lawfully united to him, is subject by the sentence of the Lord to the penalty of adultery.  But it has been laid down as a canon by our Fathers that such sinners should weep for a year, be hearers for two years, in kneeling for three years, stand with the faithful in the seventh; and thus be deemed worthy of the oblation, if they have repented with tears. The Ben. note points out the St. Basil refers to the repudiation of a lawful wife from some other cause than adultery.  It remarks that though Basil does not order it to be punished as severely as adultery there is no doubt that he would not allow communion before the dismissal of the unlawful wife.  It proceeds “illud autem difficilius est statuere, quid de matrimonio post ejectam uxorem adulteram contracto senserit.  Ratum a Basilio habitum fuisse ejusmodi matrimonium pronuntiat Aristentus.  Atque id quidem Basilius, conceptis verbis non declarat; sed tamen videtur hac in re a saniori ac meliori sententia discessisse.  Nam 1o maritum injuste dimissum ab alio matrimonio non excludit, ut vidimus in canonibus 9 et 35.  Porro non videtur jure dimittenti denegasse, quod injuste dimisso concedebat.  2o  Cum jubeat uxorem adulteram ejici, vix dubium est quin matrimonium adulterio uxoris fuisset mariti, ac multo durior, quam uxoris conditio, si nec adulteram retinere, necaliam ducere integrum fuisset.