It is less
easy to find explicit Scriptural sanction even for such a modified
rule of silence as is here given by St. Basil. St. Paul can
only be quoted for the “silence” of the woman. But
even St. Basil’s “silence” with a view to
preserving his cœnobium from vain conversation, is a long way
off the “silence” of St. Bruno’s
Carthusians.