Further to what I wrote earlier, I’ve come to a bit of a conclusion about what not ducking will look like.

Obviously much will depend on the detail (wherein the devil doth dwell) but it seems to me now that if some members of our Body are excluded on the grounds of their sinful proclivities, my place is with those who are excluded. Because I too am a sinner.

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A brother in Scetis committed a fault. A council was called to which abba Moses was invited, but he refused to go to it. Then the priest sent someone to him, saying, ‘Come, for everyone is waiting for you’. So he got up and went. He took a leaking jug and filled it with water and carried it with him. The others came out to meet him and said, ‘What is this, father?’ The old man said to them, ‘My sins run out behind me, and I do not see them, and today I am coming to judge the sins of another.’ When they heard that, they said no more to the brother but forgave him.

A brother asked abba Poemen, ‘If I see my brother sin, is it right to say nothing about it?’ The old man replied, ‘Whenever we cover our brother’s sin, God will cover ours; whenever we tell people about our brother’s guilt, God will do the same about ours.’

A brother sinned and the priest ordered him to go out of the church; abba Bessarion got up and went out with him, saying ‘I, too, am a sinner.’

(From ‘Daily Readings with the Desert Fathers’, ed Benedicta Ward)