Chapter 24

1(Vircins) ought not to enter on this service until they prove themselves, and keep them- selves in purity. Thus we command them that they enter not hastily (on it) before their full time come, even as Solomon saith, “It is better not to vow, than to vow and repent.””* Let the virgin, then, be pure in her soul and in her body, that she may be the house of God, and the habitation of Christ, and the tabernacle of the Holy Spirit; and let her walk in the way of the preaching of the Gospel, and in the commandment which is well-pleasing to God, and let not her actions be after the fashion of this world, and let her not go about in the city, nor walk in evil ways, nor be of a double heart; but let her be wise and pure, without blame, and not desirous of praise, nor, above all, of idle talk.