About real and imaginary freedom. Patriarch Kirill: Freedom from Righteousness is Death

THE MYSTERY OF DEATH. FREEDOM FROM SIN AND FREEDOM FROM FEAR OF DEATH

"... People are supposed to die once, and then the court ..."

"... You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (Bible).

A spiritually disoriented person superstitiously tries not to talk about death. However, questions about her sit deep in his mind: How to understand death? What is it? Is it right not to be afraid of death? Will Christ's disciple not be afraid of death? And if he is afraid, how much? Why is death a "gain" for one, but a catastrophe for another? ..

Difficult questions! Probably, authoritative answers to them could be given by one who himself went through death. But, since there has not yet been a resurrection from the dead, it does not seem realistic to wait for an answer from an “eyewitness”. One can only reason approximately. At the same time, one must beware of the danger of falling into pagan ideas and human philosophies that have nothing to do with the truth.

Conceding to the requests of some readers to express their opinion on this topic, I want to emphasize that out of the entire colossal volume of information about death, for me personally the one that is contained in the Holy Scriptures, in the Bible is acceptable. The correct answer to the question of what death is, can only be given by the One who created life. Only God can reveal the mystery of death to man.

"Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." So said the dying Christ to the dying robber. (Luke 23:43).

How to understand these words, if it is known for sure that “now,” on the same day Christ Himself was not in paradise, but was in the tomb?

Many religious teachers found a way out by proposing to move the comma in these words of the Lord one word further. As a result of such manipulation, it turned out that Christ allegedly promised the repentant robber paradise, so to speak, in principle, without specifying the time of its receipt.

To me personally, this answer seems lightweight. The truth of God cannot depend on one comma. Wherever scholars put a comma, or remove it altogether, the spirit and meaning of the Lord's words does not change.

There is also a religious theory that Christ seemed to escort the dead robber to paradise, and He Himself returned to earth, to the tomb. This theory is pure invention, critically contrary to both the Holy Scriptures and common sense.

So, what did the Lord say to the thief on the cross?

First, it must be emphasized that Christ told the truth to the robber. It could not be otherwise! God doesn't tell lies. The robber actually went to heaven on the same day. It is to heaven with Christ.

With these words, Christ not only answered the thief's request for mercy, but, which is very important for all other people, answered the question of what death is.

CHRIST DISCOVERED THE MYSTERY OF DEATH WITH THESE WORDS

A righteous person, dying, immediately finds himself in the Kingdom of God. But, not in this time, but in the future. A deceased person does not look from the sky, or from somewhere else, at his dead body and at the sad vanity of relatives and friends at his funeral. No, this is not the case.

A deceased person immediately passes into the future, either to God's Judgment, or to the Kingdom of Christ, depending on what he aspired to in this life. The deceased person immediately finds himself in the general resurrection of the dead, which is predicted in Scripture. "All who are in the coffins will go out ...".

This is the secret of death. She - stops time for the deceased. The deceased immediately passes into the future. This is how Enoch was “translated”. Death is not an entrance to a certain "corridor" leading to the light, but an instant, immediate entrance to the Light, into the presence of God, into the resurrection of the dead.

This is why God's people viewed death as a desirable event that would place them next to Christ. The apostle wrote:

“For for me life is Christ, and death is an acquisition ... I am attracted by both: I have the desire to be resolved and to be with Christ, because this is incomparably better ...” (Philip 1:21, 23).

This can only be said by a person who has learned the secret of death. The Apostle knew perfectly well that the resurrection from the dead would be in the distant future. And he wrote: "... be resolved and be with Christ ...". He clearly understood that he would immediately go to Christ, regardless of the thousands of years that would pass on earth from the time of his death to his resurrection.

Death is an instantaneous transition into the future. Abel died six thousand years ago. And I immediately got into the future, into the Kingdom of God. Now the righteous person dies and immediately goes to the future, to the Kingdom of God. But, these two dead righteous men, Abel, and the present brother in Christ, do not fall into the future separately, but simultaneously.

No matter how long a dead person lies in the grave, this time does not exist for him. Everything, many thousands of years in death, is an instant for the dead. Literally - turned off, and immediately turned on.

Like in cut-out frames from film. Something, maybe very large in volume, was cut out of the film, and then the film was glued. The viewer does not notice anything. For him, the plot is one, whole. So the Lord stops time for the deceased, and starts it again by resurrecting the person. And a person perceives everything as one moment.

When you die, you will not languish and wait for the resurrection. You will instantly be resurrected. Died - resurrected! He closed his eyes - and immediately opened! And only having resurrected, and looking around, you are surprised to ascertain that you are in another world, in another time.

That is why questions like, “Where is God looking? Why does He endure evil for so long? Why hasn't he intervened and put things in order on the earth until now? " And other similar questions do not make sense at all.

For the righteous, time does not drag on. The only one for whom time is running out is for Satan and the demons. For them, time is really long and painfully dragging on. For them, time does not stop. They know what awaits them — the lake of fire — and they suffer, "tremble." And time for them, in fact, is a time of eternal torment.

“This one thing must not be hidden from you, beloved, that the Lord has one day as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord does not hesitate in fulfilling the promise, as some consider it to be slow; but is longsuffering to us, not wishing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance. " (2 Peter 3: 8.9).

God created time in such a way that it can turn from a second into millennia, and millennia can pass in a second. For a deceased person, the millennium turns into an instant. He died and was immediately resurrected! Thank God!

“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are living, remaining before the coming of the Lord, will not warn the dead ...” (1 Thess. 4:15).

Those who live to see the Second Coming of Christ will not enter the Kingdom of God before their distant ancestors. And those who died thousands of years ago will not be late for God's Kingdom. Everyone will come in together.

Therefore, there is no need to look at this wonderful world with longing and doomedly think that you will never see it again. There is no need to think that "the world will be, but I will not be." The merciful and Almighty Lord God has arranged everything so wonderfully in His creation that no one is offended by Him. He who dies in God loses nothing. Remaining alive has no advantages over the deceased. God has everything in balance. With God, everyone is alive.

Christianity is not a fear of death. The disciple of Christ is not afraid of death. He is afraid of God. Death is terrible for the sinner.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." (John 5:24).

For a Christian, death is not.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will not see death forever." (John 8:51).

EUTHANASIA - THE DOOR TO GENNA, OR A DESIRED ANSWER FROM GOD? (asked a question).

"Why did he give light to the sufferer, and life to the grieved soul, who are waiting for death, and there is none who would dig it more willingly than the treasure, would be delighted with delight, admire that they have found the coffin?" - Job. (Job 3: 20-22)

“And my soul desires better the cessation of breathing, better death, than the saving of my bones. I'm sick of life ... ”- Job. (Job 7: 15,16).

… “He sat down under a juniper bush, and asked for death for himself, and said: Enough already, Lord; take my soul, for I am no better than my fathers ... ”- Elijah the prophet. (1 Kings 19: 4).

So spoke the great, the greatest righteous of the human race. Physical or emotional torment can really lead a person to a state where death seems to him preferable to life.

A merciful God deeply understands the feelings of a suffering person, and sees nothing sinful in when a terribly tormented person asks for death.

And God comes to the aid of such people. Moreover, not only relieves them of torment, heals them, but, which seems paradoxical, fulfills the request of the suffering person, and sends him death. “The righteous one dies, and no one takes it to heart; and pious men delight from the earth, and no one can imagine that the righteous delights in evil. They retreat to the world; those who walk the straight path will rest on their couches. " (Isaiah 57: 1,2)

The Bible tells about at least several righteous people whom God, in order to save them from torment and dangers, Himself put to sleep with death. The first such person is Enoch. What the Lord did to Enoch, in fact, when speaking in modern parlance, was an ordinary euthanasia performed by the Spirit of God. “And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, because God took him. " (Genesis 5:24).

The fact that Enoch died is directly stated in the Bible. (Read the Epistle to Hebrews 11: 5,13,39). However, for Enoch himself, there was no death. It is written: "... did not see death ..." (fifth text). And in the thirteenth text, "the transmigrated, who did not see death" Enoch is among the dead: "all these died in faith, not having received the promises ...". The same idea is repeated in the 39th text ...

Yes, Enoch died, but without torment, without fear, but calmly, pleasantly, just fell asleep. And he woke up in the Kingdom of God, at the same moment as he migrated. (We have already talked about how the dead instantly move into the future).

Roughly the same thing happened with the prophet Elijah, who "ascended into heaven." He, like Enoch, not seeing death, not realizing that he had died, immediately passed into the Kingdom of God.

Jesus Christ, when he was on earth, clearly and unequivocally explained that before Him, before Christ, no one ascended to heaven. He is the first to ascend to heaven. For people, the resurrected righteous, the entrance to heaven was opened only after the ascension of Christ. With these words, the Lord explained that the prophet Elijah did not ascend to heaven, but sleeps, waiting for the resurrection of the dead, like all the righteous, like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, like all the prophets, like the Apostles and other disciples of Christ. "No one ascended into heaven, but only the Son of man who came down from heaven, which is in heaven." (John 3:13).

Using modern terminology, it is permissible to say that the Lord applied "euthanasia" to the prophet Elijah, as to Enoch. The same can be said about Moses ...

By euthanasia, religious people often mean nothing more than suicide. Religious attitudes towards suicide are well known. This is considered a grave sin. And that is sin. However, there is one peculiarity in this issue. In the presence of the commandment “Thou shalt not kill,” under which religions bring suicides down, the Bible repeatedly speaks of the correctness, even of the feat of such an act as giving one's life for one's neighbor. But what does it mean to give your life for your neighbor? This is the deliberate deprivation of life for the sake of the benefit and good of another person. But, isn't that suicide?

When a person voluntarily gives himself up to death, isn't that suicide? No, many people say. This is not suicide, it is self-sacrifice. But what's the difference? Death, moreover, at the initiative of the dying person, occurs in both cases. Why, in the first case, such an act is a crime, and in the second - a feat?

The reason is probably implied in motivation. A suicide is perceived by society as an evil person acting out of evil. A self-sacrificer is perceived as a kind, noble person who gives his life out of love for his neighbor, wishing him well and good. He decides on torment and death in order only to save others from torment or death.

In this context, we can consider the case when a terminally ill person, terribly tormented by his illness, not only suffers himself, but also delivers tremendous emotional torment to his loved ones, who have been caring for him for years, and who, because of him, actually no longer live a normal life. ... What would Love for your fellow man have done? If this patient made a decision for euthanasia, in order not only to get rid of the torment himself, which he passionately desires, but, first of all, to fall asleep in death, and save his dear loved ones from the torment, to whom his illness really poisoned their lives, it would be is it a sin? Or would that be a feat? Would it be suicide, or a sacrifice for the good of others? There is something to think about for a reasonable person ...

It is necessary to clarify that we are considering this issue strictly within the framework of the Biblical understanding of good and evil. In no case are we talking about daily “reality” when legalized euthanasia, especially in a godless state, will inevitably lead to monstrous atrocities and numerous murders committed under the guise of such a law ...

What is suicide? If you look at it from a certain angle, then Christ went on a clear suicide. "... I give my life ... no one takes it away from me, but I myself give it ..." (John 10: 17,18).

Three of the four Evangelists wrote down the words of Christ's last prayer, which He prayed before His arrest. What did Christ pray for? Here's what: “My Father! if possible, let this cup pass from me ... ”(Matt. 26:39). What does this request of Christ indicate? Is it that Christ did not want to die? But, after all, He came to die! It seems logical that Christ asked for an easier death, which is natural for any normal person ...

Euthanasia is not a matter of choosing life or death. It is a matter of death. Life is over, death comes. You are dying. But there is a choice: either die in agony, or quietly fall asleep. Which one to prefer?

… So, is euthanasia permissible for a disciple of Christ? I think that everyone should answer this question for himself. Any dictation or imposition of any understanding of this issue is completely unacceptable. Everyone will give an account of himself to God.

If it is possible for a doomed patient to inject "atomic" drugs in order to relieve him of terrible pain for a short time, immersing him in sleep, then why cannot his tearful request be satisfied and not given one injection so that he does not suffer anymore, but falls asleep in peace and immediately Would you wake up in God's Kingdom? .. Tough question! Complex issue! Perhaps I do not know the answer to it. But, nevertheless, this question, apparently, has a right to exist ...

Righteous Job, being terribly tormented by his illness, said to God: “Oh, if you hid me in hell ... and then remembered me ...” (Job 14:13).

Job believed in the resurrection of the dead. Therefore, for him, "euthanasia" from God would become nothing more than a desired dream, relieving him of torment.

But it is also true that Job did not try to commit “euthanasia” for himself, but asked God to do it ... Also, nowhere in the Scriptures do we find an example for a righteous person to end his life in any way. Unless, of course, we do not talk about cases of self-sacrifice, when a person voluntarily gives his life for the benefit and good of others.

Thus, it seems that the issue of euthanasia is a matter of every person's conscience. "Everyone will give an account of himself to God."

“The wise will listen and increase knowledge. And the reasonable will find wise advice to understand the parable and the intricate speech, the words of the wise men and their riddles. " (Proverbs 1: 5.6)

Understanding the essence of death is very liberating for the disciple of Christ. The fear of death is giving way to common sense. Calmness and peace in the heart comes. The meaning of Christ's words is revealed: "He who believes in Me will not die forever."

On the other hand, understanding the essence of death is very sobering. The words of the Bible become clear:

“For if, having received the knowledge of the truth, we sin arbitrarily, then there is no longer a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and the fury of fire, ready to devour opponents. If the one who rejected the Law of Moses, with two or three witnesses, is punished with death without mercy, then how much heaviest punishment do you think will be guilty of the one who tramples on the Son of God and does not hold the Blood of the covenant, by which he is sanctified, and offends the Spirit of grace? You know the One who said, "I have vengeance, I will repay, says the Lord." And again: "The Lord will judge His people." It is terrible to fall into the hands of the living God! " (Heb. 10: 26-31).

Without any pagan tales about the death throes of sinners, with terrible devils, pitchforks rolling sinners boiling in pitch, it becomes clear that the Lord can really severely punish willful sinners. If He, the Creator of the Universe, who created time, determined that millennia for the deceased fly by like an instant, then why can't He make it so that for a perishing sinner condemned by God, for an outside observer, there will be no instant death last long, long?

"And the devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." (Revelation 20:10).

There is no doubt that the Lord will fully take revenge on those who have brought so much evil and grief to humanity! "... Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord ..."

(I ask you not to exclaim and not to raise their heads to those who adhere to the pagan teachings about the eternal afterlife tortures that have penetrated into Christianity. Here we are talking about something completely different. About the fact that it is really "scary to fall into the hands of the living God!").

… People try not to think about death. This is a great evil for them. People are not ready for it.

Wisdom always remembers death. Even human sages say that every day you need to live as if it were the last day, meaning that you do not need to do evil, you do not need to sin, because at any moment you can die and you will not have time to repent ...

“Beloved! I ask you, as strangers and strangers, to move away from the carnal lusts that rise up against the soul, and to lead a virtuous life among the Gentiles ... ”(1 Peter 2: 11,12).

“How from His Divine power has been given to us everything that is necessary for life and piety, through the knowledge of Him who has called you with glory and goodness, by which great and precious promises have been given to us, so that through them you may become partakers of the Divine nature, moving away from the corruption of lust that reigns in the world, then You, exerting every effort to this, show in your faith virtue, in virtue prudence, in prudence, abstinence, in temperance, patience, in patience, piety, in piety, brotherly love, in brotherly love.

If this is in you and is multiplying, then you will not be left without success and fruit in the knowledge of Our Lord Jesus Christ. " (2 Peter 1: 3-8).

Question: "Please tell me what freedom from sin is? How to understand this in a broad concept, as well as in various everyday situations? For example, if I am in a company where they drink, swear, fornicate, provoke a fight. Being in this company I don’t do this, but I’m still with them! Am I committing a sin? And in general, what kind of society do I need to be in in order not to be in the center of sin? "

Freedom from sin is when you hate sin so much that it is better to die than to allow it to you even in its initial stage, which is called temptation.

This is when, looking at a cigarette, you feel nothing but aversion to this path of slow self-destruction, when in any alcoholic drink you see only Satan's desire to take possession of your mind in order to take you out of communion with God, or when your gaze falls on a frank picture and you feel bad and want to cry from the knowledge that the woman or the man from this picture is a person with a ruined life, ruined self-awareness, that her (his) feet are directed to the abyss of eternal death and most likely no one even tried to tell her (he ) that she (he) is a child of God, that the purpose of her (his) existence is far from turning her flesh inside out and being worse than an animal.

Freedom from sin is the desire for clean air and bright sunlight for yourself and other people, when you go to the company of the wicked not to be with them, watching their fornication, listening to their obscene speeches and attempts to provoke a fight, but only for in order to help at least one of them get out of this suffocating darkness into the fresh air and bright light of the warmth of God's love. Otherwise, you cannot go, because it will be dangerous for your own soul, which very easily absorbs the seeds of evil.

But in order to plunge into darkness for the sake of saving a person and at the same time not be filled with it, not get dirty about it, it is necessary ...

1) constantly be in the company of Christ Jesus and
2) have fellowship with His disciples.

Otherwise, the person will not have enough strength not only for the preaching of the Truth, but even for elementary resistance to the ugliness that one has to look at.

Communication with Christ is regular reading of the Bible and prayer meditation on what has been read. Communication with His disciples is belonging to His church, listening to sermons, real communication with people, sharing bread, joint ministries, prayers for each other, mutual assistance with both physical and spiritual needs ... ()

Look for a church that preaches the purity and holiness of life, pointing to Christ as the Source of purity and holiness, and in which people have fellowship with each other in order to grow in the knowledge of their Lord and through this resist sin. And enter into their midst, separating from your past life. And so you will be safe.

Sincerely,

Sasha.

Read more on the topic "Miscellaneous":

Excerpt from the book
"Live contact.
The secret of a victorious life "
Gloria Copeland

Freedom from sin

Plus, living contact with God will give you the strength to control yourself, be self-controlled, and keep your body in subjection to your spirit so that your body does what it should. Living contact with God will enable you to overcome the strongholds of sin that may have been victorious over you for years.

Some expect to be freed from these strongholds as soon as they are born again. But, in most cases, gaining this freedom is a process that takes a certain amount of time. And all because being born again takes place in our spirit. We become new on the inside, but on the outside we have the same body (and usually the same habits) as before.

The challenge of the Christian life is to allow the salvation that has happened within us to manifest outside. We need to follow the guidance given in Ephesians 4: 22-24:

Rip off your old nature - put aside and discard your old unreproduced nature - that characterized your former way of life and decays in seductive lusts and desires ... And constantly renew yourself with the spirit of your mind - having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude. And put on a new nature (spiritually reborn nature), in a new man, created in the image of God, (like God) in true righteousness and holiness (Expanded Bible translation).

We must learn, as the apostle Paul said, to pacify and enslave our bodies to obey our regenerated spirit (1 Corinthians 9:27). We must strengthen our spirit so that it can take power over the body and tell it what to do.

Living contact with God in prayer and the written Word of God helps us in this. When we spend time meditating on the Word, it works like spiritual food, strengthening our inner man so that we rise within ourselves and take power over those fleshly sins and weaknesses that interfere with our life in God. It cleanses us of wicked thoughts, wrong attitudes and behavior, and helps us to continue to abide in Him. It helps us keep thinking right. As Jesus said in John 15:

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away; and every one that bears fruit, he purifies, that it may bear more fruit. You are already cleansed through the word that I have preached to you (verses 2-3).
Being in contact with God through His Word cleanses you from sin in two ways. First, by nourishing your spirit, and secondly, the seas are starving your carnal nature.

You see, the principle of living contact works in both directions. Just as the power and fruit of the spirit withers when you lose fellowship with God, the power of sin withers when you maintain fellowship with Him.

As I said before, withering means withering away, losing energy, strength or freshness. When you maintain a union with God, sin fades in your life. Nothing feeds him and he dries up and dies.

Therefore, if you are struggling with sin, cut off the devil's influence in your life by shifting your focus from worldly things to the Lord. Spend time each day fellowshiping with God in His Word. Spend time each day praying and worshiping in God's presence.

Do what Colossians 3: 2 says: "Set your mind on things above, and not on earthly things." When you do this, sin will lose its appeal and power. You won't even be tempted to do some of the things that you are used to doing. And if you are tempted to do some things, then you will have the strength to resist it. Spiritual power will flow through you to follow the instructions given in Romans 6:

Likewise, consider yourself dead to sin, having lost touch with it, but alive to God - living in continuous communion with Him - in Christ Jesus. Therefore, let not sin reign as king in your mortal bodies, forcing you to submit to their lusts and be subject to their lusts and evil passions. Do not continue to betray, or subjugate, your bodily members [and abilities] to sin as instruments of sinfulness. But surrender and submit yourself to God as alive from the dead to [eternal] life, and your bodily members [and abilities] to God, presenting them as instruments of righteousness. Because sin will not [any more] dominate you ... (verses 11-14. AMP).
Constant communication with God and a living connection with Him will make you able to control your body, so that sin will have nothing to cling to in your life.

Source (entire book) http://udovichenko.ucoz.ru

FREEDOM FROM SIN
Charles Dirks (2006)
http://asweetsavor.info/ecd/sin.html

I hope not to be intrusive, but I have some thoughts on the question you asked. I know that after a question it is normal for you to expect an answer, and I also know that I can hang around for a long time and never come to conclusions.
You asked about the reality of freedom from sin. Many pseudo-Christian groups and movements today are developing a grandiose system of exhortations and exhortations, promising to give "victory over sin" and thus the opportunity to live a "victorious Christian life." Frankly, I would not want to dig into this rubbish. I think you know that no such concept appears anywhere in Scripture. However, like the old Egyptian overseers, you are haunted by the Juggernauts of the carnal religion, who suggest that you make bricks without straw and not suffer. Human nature is akin to this and persecutes the thinking of the righteous. Note also that the first thing Adam did after he had eaten the fruit and received the knowledge of good and evil was to start doing something. He began by making coverings for himself and Eve, and then disappeared. Adam's nature was dead in transgressions and sins from day one.
Sin, by definition, is the inability to achieve a goal or to hit a goal (as any Hebrew dictionary says). The actions described in the Holy Scriptures, such as lewdness, lust, idolatry, adultery, murder, temptations, strife, heresies - are evidence of sin, but sin as an inability to fulfill the requirements of God's holy law, and not only the Sinai stone tablets, was transferred together with this inability. Note also that after Moses gave the law, he broke the tablets, thus proving that man can never keep it, for by the works of the law no flesh can be justified. Anything that is not by faith and does not contain the Spirit of life cannot even measure the holiness of God's law. Adam was created with this incapacity. I know this is hard to take, but I believe that if Adam had the ability to obey God, free will would reign. For Adam, without the knowledge of good and evil, choosing of free will meant going against the intention with which God created him. If God created him with the ability to obey, which he said was good, Adam demonstrated essentially power over God by doing what was evil. Such reasoning undermines the integrity of the sovereign being of the All-Holy. If this teaching is correct, then why was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world? Because God looked down and saw that Adam would obey and make his plans this way? No! For then it is not the Word of God that stands eternally, but the deeds of man, dictated by his reason. God does not call those things that will not appear, as if they already were, if they are dictated by the free will of man, and if it should be, then God lied, claiming that He has all the power and law. And if this were so, what kind of God is it that could have stopped Adam, but did not do this, but allowed meanness and corruption to enter this world, which He created, in order to execute judgment on His Only Begotten Son? This blasphemous delicacy, alas, is readily available in any religious organization.
No, God created Adam to be unable to keep His Law, so that no flesh would boast of Adam's deeds before Him. Sin entered the world and is passed on to all the descendants of Adam, because all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. Thus, sin rules and dominates all flesh. A person lies in a cesspool of evil, and believes that nothing bad has happened to him, and by his nature he even likes it (Jer. 5:31). Only the precious Blood of the Lamb of God can redeem His elect from the judgment and curse of sin, which is death, and grace them in the Beloved. Thus, when someone awakens to righteousness - no, not yet by a new birth, but, as Paul put it, “when God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, revealed His Son to me,” then and only then is it given to him understanding what is sin and what is sinful. The law, which is spiritual, is revealed to him, and he who already has an ear to hear will know how vile and corrupted he is, for good does not live in his flesh, in the light of the pure holiness of God. Even with an uncircumcised heart, he feels his unworthiness and truly groans: I am a poor man! Then he sees within himself a conflict, a war and a contradiction between sin against the Holy One, who is the seed in him, and Christ, the hope of his glory. And why does it happen this way? Since you are not your own, and you were bought at a dear price, not by corruptible things, not by human silver and gold, but by the precious Blood of Jesus Christ, the pure Lamb of God. Thus, sin no longer dominates you. He does not rule over the flesh that knows the Spirit. This is the reality of freedom from sin. This is the cry of a child, "Abba, Father," the prayer of the tax collector: "Be merciful to me, a sinner," these are the words of Isaiah: "Get away from me, for I am a man with unclean lips," Job's torment: "I am abominable," Peter's words: " Help me, for I am drowning! " Only a living soul knows such things, and this understanding of it testifies to reality. If we were still in the abyss of the dominion of sin, would we be so disgusted with it? Will we be gnawed every day by the knowledge that we cannot do what we want to praise the Heavenly Father? Those who live peacefully under the dominion of sin are not like that. They sleep well in their bed of evil. But the child of grace cannot find peace for herself in this deceitful age and wants to leave this dead world and return home. This world is not his home. She is a wanderer and a stranger, and does not find communion with the sons of opposition, just as she does not find pleasure in trinkets in the market. Solomon says that everything is vanity, and this torments his soul. He knew it was better to live in a house of mourning than to rejoice in this world. The Lord leaves among this world the poor and suffering people, who have already suffered because of this body of death, in order to cleanse them in the crucible of suffering, in the smelting furnace, which cleans them of slags and melts a precious stone. We live in a desert where there is no water to quench our thirst, and therefore we yearn for the truth. Water for us flows only from the throne of our God in New Jerusalem, for it is living water. We hate this world, because his father is the devil, and he comes to an end. We also loved darkness until we were led into the Kingdom of Light. You will never find fleshly and material evidence that sin no longer reigns and dwells in your members. But you can know with all wisdom and spiritual understanding that you have died to sin. We can be obedient because He was obedient. We can be faithful, because before He was faithful, and cannot deny Himself. We are righteous because His righteousness is imputed to His children, making them heirs and joint heirs with Him. We die daily to sin, lust and desire by His grace, because we live by faith in the Son of God. What is a Sunammite wife to us? What is the body of death and what is a treasure that is without blemish? Those who remain sons of opposition, without hope, dead in trespasses and sins, cannot see such things.
I know I'm hanging around the bush. I pray that the Lord will give you insight to cast out the wisdom of the flesh and rejoice in the truth of His Word.

Translation (C) Inquisitor Eisenhorn

He Himself creates only the highest good and good, which excludes all evil, just as light excludes darkness.

Man created in the Image of God also has the gift of free will. “If man is created in the Image of the blessed and most essential Deity, and the Divine is free and has a will by nature, then man, as the Image of the Divine, is free by nature and has a will” (St.).

Being like God, man is called to do one good and to grow in constant union with God as the Archetype and Source of Good. Through such a union, his freedom must constantly increase, for God Himself is completely free.

However, after the Fall, man took the path. The fall came from the abuse of the freedom of rational creatures, which God created with good, and, having given them, no longer wants to violate. After the Fall, man rose to the lowest degree of freedom - the freedom to choose between good and evil. Choosing good, man fights against sin and grows in freedom. Choosing evil, a person is enslaved to sin - to his vicious passions, liberation from which requires no small feat with the assistance of the Divine.

In textbooks of dogmatic theology, among the properties of the human soul, such a property as freedom is usually indicated. However, freedom cannot be regarded as a property of the soul alone. If, for example, rationality is a property that belongs only to the soul, has its basis in the soul, but not in the body, then freedom is something that belongs not only to the soul, but to man as such. This is rather a characteristic not of the soul, but of the personality, consisting of soul and body.

One can speak of freedom in two senses: on the one hand, about formal or psychological freedom, and about moral or spiritual freedom, on the other. Orthodox anthropology distinguishes two wills in a person: physical will as the ability to desire and act for the sake of satisfying desire, and gnomish will as the ability to self-determine in relation to the desires of one's nature, that is, to choose some desires and reject others.

Formal (psychological) freedom is the ability to direct one's will, activity to certain objects, to choose one way or another, to give preference to one or another motivation for activity. Many of the commandments of Svsch are based on this human ability. Scriptures. Deut. 30:15: "Behold, today I have offered you life and good, death and evil." And then it says about the need to make a choice between these proposed principles. Q -20: “If you want and listen, you will taste the good of the earth. If you renounce and persist, the sword will devour you. " This formal freedom is preserved in man even after the Fall, it is preserved even in hell. By itself, formal freedom is not at all a sign of perfection. Rather, on the contrary, it testifies to some imperfection, since God does not have a gnomish will, since he does not have the need to choose from various possibilities. Any choice is always associated with some imperfection: ignorance, doubt, hesitation, and God always perfectly knows His goals, and the means to achieve them. Therefore, God is a completely free Being. He is free in the sense that He is always what He wants to be and always acts the way He wants; nothing hinders Him, no necessity, neither internal nor external, dominates Him. Such freedom is called moral, spiritual freedom. The ability to choose in itself does not yet make a person free, because a person's desires and his capabilities do not always coincide. A person often desires what he cannot accomplish, and, on the contrary, is often forced to do what he does not want to do. Most vividly in Svsch. Scripture expresses this thought in -23: "The good that I want, I do not do, the evil that I do not want, I do." Therefore, the path to true freedom lies through liberation from the tyranny of sin and from the power of natural limitation, which, in itself is not a sin, is a consequence of the Fall. The need to strive for such freedom is much spoken of in the New Testament. The Savior says: "If you abide in My word, then you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (). "Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin ... If the Son sets you free, you will truly be free" (). The Apostle Paul says: "The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus freed me from the law of sin and death" () and exclaims: "Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom!" (). In other words, through communion with the Divine, through union with God, a person participates in the freedom that God possesses, and he himself acquires freedom, freeing himself from the power of sin and from natural necessity.

About freedom

prof. A. I. Osipov

The problem of freedom is one of the most important problems included in the range of topics in anthropology. What can we say on this issue from a Christian point of view, and what should we pay attention to in this connection? First, I must say that the concept of freedom is very ambiguous: the word is one, but the content behind it may be different. I will draw your attention to at least three different meanings of this concept.

The first of these, I would call the metaphysical understanding of freedom. We are talking here about simple things, or rather, about a simple thing - about the free will of a person as an image of God, about freedom, characterized by the presence in a person of the ability to choose, an inner choice, between good and evil. It's not about whether he chooses right or wrong, wrong or not, it's about a fundamental property of human nature - free will. This freedom, from the Christian point of view, is that personality trait, the loss of which leads to the complete degradation of the personality. According to Christian teaching, no one has power over this freedom - neither people, nor society, nor demons, nor God Himself. Especially, of course, the last one sounds scary: how is it that God Himself has no power over the freedom of man? Yes, and this is one of the serious and important truths of Christianity. If it were not so, then in this case both salvation and death of a person would be conditioned by God. And Christianity says: God cannot save us without us, that is, precisely without our freedom, without our will. This possibility of internal self-determination of a person in the face of good and evil is one of the most fundamental properties of the human person. So, the first understanding of freedom is metaphysical freedom, free will.

There is a second understanding of freedom. It is associated with the possibility of realizing an individual in the conditions of his life in society, in social conditions, in the world around him. Here we are already talking about the freedom of human action. You can call this freedom external freedom. If we touch on a narrower spectrum, touch on the social side of human life, then we can talk about human rights or - human freedoms. But you yourself understand that this external freedom is not limited to rights only. Rights in each state or society are guaranteed their own, but external freedom is broader: it manifests itself in a person in relation to things, to nature, if you like - to himself. So external freedom is a fairly broad concept, but in it the most, so to speak, topical issue of our time is precisely the question of human rights, or freedoms.

These two types of freedom, in general, are clear to everyone: everyone knows about them, everyone talks about them. Christianity points to the third kind of freedom, from the Christian point of view - the most important. It's about spiritual freedom. This third category - spiritual freedom - means nothing more than the power of man over his passions, or - the domination of the mind over the heart; over all passions, both unashamed and reproachful (all the more so!). But not just the dominance of the mind. The dominance of the mind can also be of a different nature: we, for example, can see a certain dominance of the mind among ascetics and other religions. In Christianity, this domination has a special sound, a special content. Christianity, speaking about the domination of the individual over the passions, first of all, if you will, speaks of the greatest passion, about the root of all passions - about pride. This is precisely the element we do not find, for example, among Buddhist ascetics, among Vedanta ascetics, among ascetics of the Hindu trend in general, as well as among ascetics of other faiths and religions. Here we, however, enter a very subtle area, and I must tell you that ascetics of other faiths also speak about the struggle with pride, but, unfortunately, the very understanding of pride and humility in other religions has a different character than in Christianity, in Orthodoxy.

How is this spiritual freedom acquired? It is acquired by the right life. This correct life connects a person to God, makes him in tune with God, like God, reverend God. And the Apostle Paul says: "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." Therefore, the Apostle Paul calls a free man "new", in contrast to a "old" man (you know this terminology), who lives sinfully calls a "slave." A slave to what? Passion. When the mind, although it can speak to the heart, but, being already a slave to lust, does not rule over feeling, it becomes the executor of passions. A person who is in bondage to passions is already really a slave. Do you remember how the Apostle Paul describes this slavery (I will quote to you): “... for I do not understand what I am doing. Because I do not do what I want, but what I hate. The good that I want I don’t do, but the evil that I don’t want I do. In my members I see another law, opposing the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin. " This idea, in my opinion, is clear to everyone and does not require comment.

I would like to point out to you another obvious difference between spiritual freedom and free will. In this regard, I would like to draw your attention to a very interesting idea of ​​Kant, a well-known philosopher to all of you. I will quote him: “By freedom in the cosmological (he is so expressed, but, in fact, in the metaphysical) sense, I mean the ability to spontaneously begin a state. Freedom in the practical (that is, moral, spiritual) sense is the independence of the will from the compulsion of sensuality. "So, he rightly notes, calling cosmological freedom what we called metaphysical freedom, that it is" the ability to spontaneously begin a state. " A very important thought! They constantly ask the question: “What is freedom? Why does a person do this and not otherwise? ”- forgetting about a simple thing: as soon as you said“ why? ”, You have already ruled out freedom. Freedom consists in the fact that a person does not act why, but from himself begins a series of actions, as Kant writes: "to begin a state": metaphysical freedom is the ability to start a series of actions not due to some external, external influences, namely, because I so want! Therefore, in the same situation, different people can make completely different decisions, although they are affected by the same external factors.

These three categories of freedom allow us to talk about what is the goal of a person. Free will is an innate property. External freedoms, from the Christian point of view, although they are very desirable, but since they are always conditional and relative, they cannot be a goal in and of themselves. Of course, the highest goal for a person (and a Christian understands this) is spiritual freedom, for only it really gives a person the opportunity to behave correctly, to live right, and only it makes this life the least sorrowful, or unforgiving. By the way, there is an interesting saying of the monk, which speaks directly about spiritual freedom: "The law of freedom is read by the true mind, it is understood - by making the commandments." This is from "", from the first volume.

Since, as you yourself understand, the question of freedom is very big, I will now dwell on a question that, perhaps, is of particular importance to you and me: it is about the freedom of the Church. We will not cover everything, but the freedom of the Church is a question that should interest us. First, I will say a few words about understanding the essence of the Church. there is a God-human organism. I draw your attention - the God-human, or the body of Christ. The Church is the unity of the Holy Spirit dwelling in those and only those Christians who in their lives strive to fulfill the Gospel. This is what the Church is: this is the body of Christ, which is the unity of the Holy Spirit dwelling in those Christians who strive to fulfill the Gospel; they are performed in different proportions - thirty, sixty, one hundred times, as the Lord said in the parable, but this also determines the degree of participation of each person in the body of Christ. This is very important to understand: this is who is a member of the Church.

This definition, so to speak, in essence, since there is another - another picture, another side of the understanding of the Church. I remind you: always an imperfect expression of this organism of Christ is a concrete community headed by a bishop. This community can be called in different ways: it is local, it is a diocese, it is, if you like, the worldwide Church, or, as we say, the Universal Church, that is, it is a Christian community headed by a bishop or bishops - it does not matter. This is a visible expression, human, it is always imperfect. Imperfect in what respect? The fact that in her, in this Church, are Christians who, to varying degrees, share in the Spirit of God. Who is a member of this Church? All baptized: a person was baptized - he is a member of the Church, regardless of the righteousness or depravity of a person's life. This is what is especially tragic: if a person is not canonically excluded from the Church, not anathematized, he is a member of this visible Church.

You now understand that a person, being a member of the Church, can have different participation in the life of this Church: he can be a theologian, he can be a priest, he can be a hierarch. and accordingly influence the life of the whole Church, make decisions, etc. What follows from this? You know the history of the Church: tragic things have often flowed from here. As a result of the fact that the visible Church contains all the baptized, and these baptized people can occupy various responsible places and positions in the Church, in this external Church there is always the possibility of degradation up to its complete transformation into a pagan organization, even if it retains all religious attributes. ... Such processes were in the history of Christianity, and now they are taking place most intensively in the Christian world. The example of Western Christian churches is, in this case, a very clear and vivid illustration of what any local church, that is, a community headed by a bishop, can become, when, ultimately, not life according to the Spirit of God, but pagan life begins to prevail in it. Therefore, the goal and task of every local church is to strive to fulfill in its members the fullness of the Christian life. As long as the local church contains intact dogmatic faith, the foundations of spiritual life and the canonical structure, the Spirit of God dwells in it, and it is able to give birth to a Christian and lead him along the path of salvation. But this ability - I repeat once again - can increase or decrease depending on the extent to which a given church retains a true understanding of Christianity, that is, the foundations of spiritual life, the foundations of faith, the foundations of the canonical structure. This is a very serious question, my friends!

So, the Church is in its essence divine-human, and from here, by virtue of its two nature, we can talk about two completely different freedoms of the Church. It is very important. The Church as the invisible unity of the Spirit of God in those who have the commandments of Christ and keep them, this Church is always free, no matter what conditions it is in. Christians - to the lions - how was the Church free or not? Yes! All these Christians struck the torturers themselves with what? With your freedom! This Church, understood as the invisible unity of the Spirit of God, does not depend on external freedoms; for her, all the rights and all the privileges that Christians could have mean nothing: whether they have these privileges and rights or not, they are internally free. This Church is not afraid of any persecution. Moreover - these persecutions serve to her even greater glory. Balzac has a wonderful saying, he says: "Of all the crops entrusted to the earth, the blood of the martyrs has brought the greatest harvest." Very nicely said, strong.

So, even these very persecutions of the Church, her lack of rights serve her even greater glory. The Church has always been like that. However, my friends, if we talk about the Church as a human reality, as a visible organization and community, then naturally you and I can immediately talk about external freedoms for her. These freedoms in this case cannot be any different from the freedom that any human organization can seek. These freedoms are regulated by the state and are called religious freedoms. What is religious freedom? It is the freedom, or right, to openly practice one's faith, openly worship, both individually and collectively. This freedom of open practical implementation of one's religious convictions in this case does not differ in any way from the most important social freedoms or human rights, which in the modern world, as I have already told you, are given exceptional importance, I would say - of paramount importance. There are very good reasons for this.

In this regard, I would like to draw your attention to two features of these external freedoms. The first of them is this: any right that a person or this or that organization possesses is bilateral. In what respect? It can be used for both good and evil purposes. For example, information or defamation: you can inform about the events that occur, or you can misinform. You know this very well: you can present facts in such a way that people will have a completely wrong idea about this or that event. And we know that this art is excellently possessed by "specialists": they have received freedom - free access to information, and they are engaged in freedom - they are engaged in disinformation.

So, any right is bilateral. This is the first thing. The second thing I draw your attention to is that rights in this legal sense do not in themselves say anything about the most important thing for a person and, of course, for a Christian - about spiritual freedom. Legal rights are completely beside the point; for the law it is indifferent, it sets only the norms for the manifestation of a person's personality in society and nothing else. Moreover, it is worth paying attention to the following fact: the catastrophic moral and spiritual degradation, which is now a fact of life in modern civilized societies - I'm talking about Europe, about America - directly testifies that one of the main reasons for this demoralization is actually unlimited human freedom.

The question is sometimes asked: what is the most negative thing about the past century? What are we entering the third millennium with? I would answer as follows: the most disturbing, the most negative of what we have come to the third millennium with is the identification of human freedom with his political rights and freedoms, prevailing in the minds of modern people. This false understanding of freedom has become the dominant, one might even say - the only understanding of freedom. Freedom is understood only as these boundaries of human self-manifestation. And this became the main one. Therefore, we see a lot of negative phenomena associated with the fact that this freedom is considered as a primary and necessary condition for a proper human life.

These two points to which I draw your attention - firstly, that every right is bilateral, and secondly, that legal freedoms do not at all relate to issues of spiritual freedom - indicate one significant conclusion: external freedoms cannot be considered as unconditional and self-sufficient value. It is very important. By the way, this conclusion directly stems from the Christian understanding of man and the meaning of his life. We have just said that Christian anthropology is based on two seemingly symmetrical or formally opposite statements: on the given godlike greatness of man and this, alas, such deep damage to him that God Himself had to come to “resurrect the fallen before the Image ".

These considerations, it seems to me, make it possible for you and me to understand the principled Christian position in relation to freedoms, that is, to human rights that should be provided by society to each person. This position in its essence lies in the fact that all conditions of human social existence, including, first of all, freedom, can never be considered as an end in itself: they are only a means, not an end. I draw your attention, my friends, to this. I repeat to you once again: now these freedoms are viewed everywhere as an end in themselves, we are talking only about human rights and freedoms. For example, now in connection with the Chechen war, when Western emissaries come to us, what is their first concern? Is human freedom not being violated? When you grab a criminal, then you, it turns out, violate his freedom! At the same time, they are not worried about what state a person is in, what he can do, what harm to other people - all this is secondary! These rights, external freedoms are primary.

You now see that Christianity in this matter takes a completely different position: external freedoms and rights are considered only as conditions, and not at all the most important, not at all the most important, but only one of the conditions that are desirable, but not necessary, for the acquisition of spiritual human freedom. Here Christianity and the world decisively diverge from each other: for Christianity, spiritual freedom is primary, for the world - external freedoms. For the world, spiritual freedom in general, if you like, is an unnecessary concept, for Christianity it is the only valuable one. The Christian slave can be spiritually free; the world does not understand this.

Now I would like to talk about this: what is the goal that is the most important for Christianity, as we should understand it. What does an understanding of the new man about whom the apostle Paul writes about presupposes? How this teaching should correct our understanding of the meaning of external freedoms and rights. Here we come to the most important things that we need to evaluate.

In Christianity, all questions are assessed in terms of one criterion. This criterion is that God is love. As soon as we said: “God is love,” we thereby expressed the following deepest truth that the main and even, more precisely, the only unconditional and absolute law of our being is love. The more a person in his life approaches the fulfillment of this law, the implementation of it, the more free and good and new he is. The more he departs from this law, violates this law, the less free he is, the more he suffers, and the more evil he experiences on himself. Sometimes we simply do not attach importance to this greatest truth, which the world did not know and does not know. Christianity has revealed this great truth to us.

So, proceeding from the aforementioned law, we can conclude that only those rights and only within those limits are worthy of public recognition and approval, from a Christian point of view, that contribute to the education of true love in a person. Here is the criterion that we should be guided by when assessing certain rights: do they contribute to the education in a person of love for the people around him? If yes, then these rights are good, within these limits they are good. If, on the contrary, they are too easily distorted, if they are too easy to distort, then, consequently, they are thin. What, from the point of view of Christianity, most actively destroys the spirit of love in a person? Development of passions. What is their root? I remind you three "s": popularity, avarice, voluptuousness. This is from the teachings. Here it is, this three-horned ... dragon, which, it turns out, generates the whole amount of evil and suffering that is in our world. These three passions in their development, giving rise to many others, kill (hear - kill!) In a person that is called love. Love is impossible where these passions are cultivated: where the passion for fame, the passion for profit, the passion for pleasure prevails, there cannot be love. Please remember this! We are sometimes asked: what bad thing do you see in what is happening? We answer: the law (law!) Is that where the cult of these passions is, there cannot be love. And where there is no love, what is there, therefore? The opposite! Love is life. There is no love - there is death. Where there is no love, there is potential death, which becomes real, inevitably becomes real.

So, the criterion for the Christian understanding of freedom is this great principle of love, by which we can evaluate, if you like, all the phenomena of the surrounding life. From here we can again turn to the dogmatic formulation of the question: who has absolute freedom? The God. This is perfectly clear. He is also absolute love. Absolute spiritual freedom is a property of God. Which mortal attained spiritual freedom? Saints, reverends, cleansed of the passions. By the way, he expressed very well the ratio of holiness and freedom. "Great freedom is to be able not to sin, but the greatest freedom is not to be able to sin." Interesting idea.

So, we are talking about religious freedom. In formal terms, religious freedom is no different from other freedoms. This freedom lies in the right to openly confess and practice one's religious beliefs, both individually and collectively. We talked about this; they also said that external freedoms themselves, including these religious freedoms, cannot be regarded as an unconditional and self-sufficient value. In this regard, we drew attention to the fact that the value for a person is the re-creation of the "previously fallen Image", and freedom can only be considered as a positive phenomenon of our life, when it creates conditions and contributes precisely to this reconstruction of the Image in a person, then there is the creation, if you will, of a "new man." At the same time, we drew attention to the fact that the fundamental principle in understanding this new person and, hence, the fundamental principle in understanding under what condition freedom is positive, is nothing more than love: it ultimately gives that a sense of freedom that the Christian consciousness can accept and accept. You and I have also noted that freedom in itself can be qualitatively different in its manifestations, that, ultimately, only God Himself possesses absolute freedom, that every person possesses relative freedom; the saints achieved great freedom, but at the same time I gave you a very interesting idea of ​​bl. Augustine that there is great freedom to be able not to sin, but the greatest freedom is not to be able to sin.

So, we came to the idea that freedom is then great and is a truly positive phenomenon when it is realized “within the boundaries” of love. Where there is no love, there freedom turns, as we see, into a caricature, into arbitrariness - inevitably! Only within the boundaries of love does it become that positive property, which is considered by Christianity as a precious property, as a property that raises a person to the level of the true image of God. This, my friends, is very important: freedom, not limited by love, is terrible. Why is it scary? Because where there is no love, there, then, is the dominance of passions. These are very important points, my friends, to which you need to pay attention: where there is no love - Christian love, of course - that is, where there is no self-giving, where there is no victory over egoism, there, therefore, we find the cult of passions, the cult of the ego. And passions are always insane, they always destroy a person, cripple him, destroy him, bring him suffering and, ultimately, death. This is an extremely important thought that is not understood by the worldly, non-Christian consciousness. Only where there is love - and love is possible only where there is purity of heart, for love is born gradually, as a person is cleansed of passions - where there is love, there freedom becomes just freedom. Where this is not, there we see violence.

By the way, in this regard, I would like to draw your attention to a very interesting book by I. Shafarevich - "Socialism as a Phenomenon of World History." What has socialism been talking about throughout its history? On freedom: "freedom, equality, brotherhood." Socialist ideas have been present in history for a very, very long time, and only in the era of the French Revolution did they crystallize into this formula. So, Shafarevich shows on the history of socialism, to which, in the final analysis, socialism has always led. He states simply a historical fact: socialism has always led to a totalitarian regime. This is an amazing thing! Shafarevich, of course, is not familiar, unfortunately, with the Christian idea of ​​spiritual freedom, otherwise he would have shown the reason for this, but the reason is still the same - where there is no struggle with passions (in the secular language - with his egoism), there inevitably the dominance of passions turns a person into a monster.

So, it turns out that only he is truly free, from the Christian point of view, who has acquired freedom within himself, who is free in soul, even if he is not free in body. Freedom of the body (by which I mean the entire totality of external freedoms) is a secondary phenomenon and in this sense, if you will, even secondary. The primary task of man and what makes a man a man is his inner freedom, freedom from all kinds of evil, from the domination of passions. Now, if you like, this is our Christian fundamental thesis, without which we cannot properly speak with representatives of other worldviews.

Replacing the idea of ​​spiritual freedom with the idea of ​​freedom of lusts is murderous, but we see that this substitution is truly the banner of our time. Moreover, we can say straightforwardly: the cause of all those disorders that exist now in the social reality of every state, every society and in the world as a whole is precisely this greatest deception. I run the risk of saying this because there are ideologists who perfectly understand this and consciously introduce this idea of ​​freedom of lusts, freedom of passions into human consciousness. The triumph (literally - triumph!) Of this idea of ​​false freedom in the modern world is the saddest thing with which mankind came to the beginning of the third millennium. This deception, this distortion, this distortion of the great value - freedom, triumphs. A certain caricature has been declared freedom, and this, I repeat, is the banner of our era. Devilish, I would say, freedom, substitution of freedom - this is what we have come to the third millennium with.

What I am telling you now, mind you, my friends, completely contradicts the idea of ​​the modern world. Look at what freedom is directed now, what is everyone demanding? Freedom of passion, freedom of lust! Even legal restrictions are removed: what was previously considered a crime, now - please, freedom of debauchery, freedom of perversion. Moreover, this false idea of ​​freedom is penetrating into the Christian world: now some Christian churches are already speaking out in favor of recognizing the rights of the so-called sexual minorities, that is, persons of non-traditional sexual orientation, or, simply put, perverts. Recently at a conference in Australia, a whole plenary session was devoted to these persons, who sat and complained for an hour and a half that many churches did not accept them, did not recognize them, did not allow them to be ordained, did not marry them, etc. Shame! Almost the entire assembly stood up and applauded at the end of this vile scene. This is what humanity has sunk to!

To a very large extent, by the way, the problem of false interpretation of freedom concerns the sphere of information and, in particular, the press. All of you have heard, of course, about freedom of the press, freedom of information, etc. Look at what this so-called freedom is turning into! Here's just one example for you: in America by the age of eighteen a person can see more than 150 thousand crimes - murder, violence, etc. What is this freedom? The cult of freedom so understood is nothing more than the real implementation, if you will, of Satanism in the modern world: he - Evil - demands freedom for itself and achieves success in this.

Now let's talk about the ideas of equality and equity. This question is directly related to the problem of religious freedom and the freedoms associated with it. To help you understand what this is about, I will give you two examples. In a democratic state, all people are equal before the law, everyone has equal rights, that is, equal freedoms: everyone is free, everyone can be elected and can elect others, etc. All this, it would seem, is part of the very concept of a democratic state. But, pay attention, the person for whom the majority of voters voted and who, thus, will express the point of view of this majority, receives significantly greater freedoms than all others. The president has been elected - he now has immeasurably greater rights than everyone else: he has the right to appoint a prime minister, he carries with him this notorious suitcase with a nuclear button, etc. Thus, he has rights that no other person has. From a formal point of view, we must be indignant: violation of human rights! Why is it Putin who has more rights than me? I answer: the majority of voters voted for him to have these rights. It turns out that the obvious inequality in a democratic state is due to the fact that the majority grants a certain person these priority rights. Formal inequality, it turns out, corresponds to the essence of equality in the state that is called democratic.

Why am I saying this, my friends? This statement of fact is of great importance in the matter that is connected with religious freedom. Here is a group of believers, in which there are, say, a hundred people. And here is another group of believers, which has ten million people. Are they equal? Oh sure. Should they have equal freedoms? Undoubtedly. Let's think about what this should mean practically. We have just figured out what this should mean in a democratic state: the majority (majority!) In a democratic society, in order for the state to be integral, united and structurally organized, must have great rights, although everyone is equally free. That is, I want to say that ten million believers can and should have more rights than a hundred people. Take parliament, for example. Sometimes, victory is ensured with one extra vote: fifty “for” and forty-nine “against”, and forty-nine must accept - the law is passed. And no one says that there is inequality here, that there is a violation of the freedoms of citizens and so on - this is a democratic principle. So it is here: when we talk about the equality of freedoms, it is clear that everyone is free in the same way; when we talk about rights, we must immediately correlate these rights with where the majority and where the minority.

Why am I talking about this now. The fact is that in all democracies - except, perhaps, America - individual churches have more rights, with equal freedoms, than others. In Austria, if I am not mistaken, six churches have these priority rights, in Finland, for example, there are two churches - Lutheran and Orthodox, although there are as many religious sects as you like - and this does not cause any bewilderment to anyone. Does not cause bewilderment anywhere! The American Senate and Congress are silent! However, as soon as this issue concerns Russia, where tens of millions of Orthodox Christians and hundreds of people belonging to some sect, a clamor and clamor rises: violation of freedoms! Nothing of the kind - what kind of violation? Yes, Orthodoxy can rightfully claim if the state is democratic - it has every right to claim more rights for itself than those enjoyed by other, smaller religions. For example, what rights are we talking about here? About the right to teach the basics of Orthodoxy in schools, universities, about great rights when using the media, etc. All these rights should naturally belong to the church, the faith of which is professed by the overwhelming majority of citizens of the state, if this state in fact, and not only declaratively, adheres to democratic principles.

In itself, this point is very important and interesting: the will of the majority determines the distribution, if you like, right. This is the principle of a democratic society. Here is another example, which, perhaps, will clarify the situation even more. Imagine that some very rich sect, having bought up all the media in a democratic country N, would begin to freely propagate ideas, moral principles, convictions that are completely alien to the people of this country. Why could she do it? Because it would take advantage of this deceitful principle of democracy, according to which everyone is equal. This sect may only have a hundred members, but it has billions. What would it be from the point of view of democracy, that is, the power of the people? Implementing Democracy? When some group of invaders, having bought up all the media, begins to pour out on the whole people what is contrary to their beliefs, what is contrary to their religion, their views! What would it be? Here is not the power of the demos, but the power of money! It was not the people who chose these hundred people to broadcast to the whole country - not the people, but money! It is quite obvious that the power of the people is not here. And here, my friends, you see the key that opens the casket of modern false freedom. Do you see, for example, what is happening in our state? Who has the greatest freedom to broadcast? Those who have money! Money! You see what a perversion of the democratic principle! Now there is no democracy in the world, but there is plutocracy (pluto means wealth). They very cleverly substituted plutocracy for democracy, and declared it a democracy.

This idea of ​​the difference between freedoms and rights is very important, my friends. In this regard, it is interesting to note the remark of a very famous public and church figure of the beginning of the 20th century - General Kireev. By the way, he took an active part in the dialogue with the Old Catholics. Speaking about the tsarist manifestos of 1905, which guaranteed complete equality of rights for all heterodox and heterodox in Russia, General Kireev wrote: “The Tsar does not see, does not understand the profound change that his laws on equality in faith have brought into our life. He confused equality with freedom. Nobody objects to freedom, but equality in propaganda is a different matter. “Do you understand the full force of his remark? If a small handful of believers have the same rights as a gigantic mass of the population, it will be gross injustice. Imagine that this handful of one hundred people and one hundred million would be given the same amount of food: you will be given equal shares, please, a bag for you and a bag for you. Equal? No! This is just a violation of equality! You see, my friends, I keep emphasizing this idea: under the guise of democracy, deception reigns in the modern civilized world. And especially great pressure is being exerted on our country: religious pluralism, everyone should have equal rights ...

Let's continue talking about religious freedom and its Christian understanding. I will remind you of the wonderful words of the Apostle Peter, who denounced these preachers of external freedom, who had forgotten about internal freedom: “For, uttering inflated idle talk, they catch in fleshly lusts and debauchery those who barely lagged behind those in error; They promise them freedom, being themselves slaves of corruption; for whoever is defeated by whom is also his slave. ”(). You can turn out to be a slave of freedom - a slave of God, a slave of love (you understand what kind of slavery it is: this is slavery only in a figurative sense), or you can be, indeed, a slave of evil lusts, and then trouble comes for man. It is no coincidence that the Apostle Paul writes: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked” - what a man sows, that will also reap.

In the end, the understanding of freedom is guided, of course, for the good. Why are we talking about freedoms? Because we are talking about the good of man. We are looking for the good, and freedom is seen as one of the primary necessary conditions for the achievement of this good. The whole point, therefore, is how to understand the good. From a pagan point of view, good is "bread and circuses", and we know where this "good" leads. From the Christian point of view, everything that makes a person like God, makes him like Christ, is good. That is, the commandments are good, not in the sense of prescriptions, but commandments as properties of a healthy person, a new person. By the way, in fact, everyone agrees with this idea, even if in its most elementary form. There is not a single state where, for example, murder, robbery, violence, theft, bribery is not prohibited. It is forbidden everywhere, that is, everyone understands that this is not good. However, what is the mistake of the worldly consciousness? The fact that they, while forbidding these gross things, do not at all see what gives rise to them in a person. After all, all these evil deeds do not fall from heaven; why does a person commit them? They don't think about it. Look what is happening in stadiums or at rock concerts, to what it comes to there - to fights, murders. And all this is cultivated, declared by culture, declared by spirituality! This is amazing blindness! The worldly do not understand that they are cutting the tops and watering and fertilizing the roots abundantly. How can you effectively fight weeds here when you fertilize and water them abundantly, cultivate them. They cannot look into the essence of things, they do not understand that idols, which are, in fact, popularity, love of money and lust, being cultivated, cannot but lead to any kind of crime.

There are only two ways in which the evil tendencies of human nature can be overcome. The first way is the one offered by Christianity: turning to the inner man, to the correct Christian life. Another way is a harsh totalitarian regime, in which a discipline is established that can be characterized as absolute slavery. The first path is the path of Christ, the second is the path of the Antichrist. Modern European civilization - in the West and in the East - with tremendous consistency and straightforwardness asserting and cultivating freedom of the flesh, freedom of lust, in fact completely ignores the freedom of the human soul. All attention is on the flesh. Openly proclaiming freedom of passions and resolutely rejecting the idea of ​​Christian love, this civilization more and more obviously introduces modern peoples into the last circle of death. Precisely death, because in the final analysis all modern crises, including environmental ones, have their source precisely in absolute external freedom, when the concept of sin is completely lost. And where there is no concept of sin, arbitrariness is born and the most ruthless attitude towards everything - towards another person, towards other peoples, towards the surrounding nature. Hence - a complete disregard for moral laws and moral principles. Ultimately, this is the freedom of permissiveness. And this freedom of permissiveness inexorably leads humanity to absolute slavery, into the arms of the Antichrist.

By the way, it should be borne in mind that external freedom is easily sold for the most basic comfort. One of the modern writers very rightly wrote, I will quote to you: “Everywhere in the world freedom is dying - political, economic and personal. It's easier to live without freedom. More and more people willingly give up their freedom in exchange for a comfortable and quiet life. There is no need to make any decisions, less responsibility. “For some reason, I am most moved by the words“ you don’t need to make any decisions ”- and indeed, many people are looking for someone who would make decisions for them. This position is very widespread in our religious reality: look, on what principle are all sects organized? That is why: there is someone who makes a decision for you. Pseudo-aging, which, alas, takes place in our Orthodox environment, what is it based on? On the same principle.

The denial of freedom, which we are talking about, is quite natural, because the passions released to freedom enslave a person, and an enslaved person - who is he? This, for example, is a voluptuous person, and a voluptuous person will very easily sell his birthright for a lentil stew - this is a trivial psychological fact. Therefore, John the Theologian foreshadows this universal and voluntary slavery, he writes: “And all who dwell on earth will bow down to him, whose names are not written in the book of life. “The famous Russian thinker Ivan Aksakov, assessing the development of Europe, wrote prophetically in his time:“ Progress, ”he wrote,“ that denies God and Christ, in the end becomes a regression. Civilization ends in savagery, freedom - in despotism and slavery. Having taken off the image of God, a person will inevitably take off, he is already taking off from himself the human image and will be jealous of the beastly image. “It seems to me that modernity is the best confirmation of the truth of his words. What to talk about if Satanism is declared permissible - a worldview that openly declares that the principle of his faith is to do evil.

The modern world must finally understand that external freedoms cannot be an end in itself. From the point of view of an Orthodox person, they are only one of the possible, but not at all obligatory, conditions for achieving the main goal of Christian life - spiritual freedom. These external freedoms must always be limited in order to be truly useful. However, we already know very well that these external freedoms are never unlimited. The dominant principle in the modern world "freedom for the sake of freedom", that is, the priority of freedom over all other values ​​of the human person and, first of all, priority over love, turns out to be a kind of drug that is destroying an increasing number of people.

Without the Christian spiritual and moral criterion, there is no real possibility to correctly resolve the issue of external freedoms. This Christian criterion is the primacy of love, sacrificial love, over all other values ​​of human life. Therefore, it is only in the key of love that the optimal realization of all those rights that are necessary for human society is possible.

Berdyaev, in my deep conviction, was deeply wrong when he proclaimed the primacy of freedom over being. What is "the primacy of freedom over being"? When he says "over being", it is not about existence, but it is about the fundamental truth: "I am," said God; and the primacy of freedom in this sphere means nothing more than the primacy of freedom over the highest value of the One who is “that one”, over the highest property of the One who is He - over Love. This is the fundamental and, I would say, fatal mistake of Berdyaev. That is why Berdyaev became for the West a kind of spokesman for Orthodoxy, an ideologist, a genius: this is what most captivates the Western person, who, unfortunately, does not at all understand the Orthodox attitudes that we talked about. For the West, there are no these ideas, there are no these attitudes, there is no supremacy of the idea of ​​Love. And this is very sad. You yourself understand how strong Western propaganda is now, and we can and must oppose this ideological onslaught with the great idea of ​​Love, which is above all. Only in love is true freedom possible. No love - no freedom.

"Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who offend you and persecute you" (). Such love liberates and leads out of the endless causal vicious circle, where measure is rewarded for measure, eye for eye and tooth for tooth. And the person himself here can come from the lowest kind of freedom, "freedom FROM", to its highest form, "freedom FOR" or "freedom B". From the point of view of ordinary everyday logic, such love is impossible. But - "the impossible for men is possible for God." “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed and say to this mountain:“ go from here to there, ”and it will go; and nothing will be impossible for you ”(), while such love works wonders much more significant than a simple rearrangement of mountains, and mountains in this case are rather petrified human hearts-blocks. On the contrary, whenever we rely solely on our natural forces, our logic, no transformation occurs either within us or around us - at best, laws, principles, Kantian “categorical imperatives” prevail, where there is no place for living faith and love.
Priest Philip Parfyonov