Слово 5

(1) What is the sovereignty which God gave to man in the beginning? - (2) And after the fall, what remained in man from this autocracy? 1. We see that man, having become corruptible and mortal through the transgression of God’s commandment, naturally hungers, thirsts, wants to sleep, gets tired, feels cold and heat, therefore he involuntarily eats, drinks, sleeps, rests, dresses and undresses, even if he did not want to, and there is not a single person who could endure hunger and thirst, and so on, counted before this, unless with great self-constraint and self-restraint. So a person has a feeling of these needs and their satisfaction is not done by his will, naturally. Something happens here by will, but not repeatedly and not for long. The saints of God, by their will, tormented their nature and humbled their bodies with hardships, fasting, staying awake, being exposed to cold and heat, and tiring themselves willingly, but they were strengthened by the grace of God, and they were strong to cope with this. So, if all this happens involuntarily to a person, as a matter of nature, then in what is man’s autocracy seen? This autocracy is seen in nothing else than in having your mind always exalted and clinging to the one Lord God, our many-merciful Savior. If autocracy is seen in that which is in our power, then, of course, in that which is not our power, autocracy is not seen in that. But will and desire are led by autocracy, as much in relation to what is in our power as in relation to what is not in our power. Only in relation to what is in our power, for success, labor is applied to desire, because in real life nothing that is in our power can be accomplished without labor; and in relation to what is not in our power, the will is limited to one desire, and labor is in vain. (You may wish not to sleep, but no matter how hard you work, you cannot withstand insomnia.) So, since I am autocratic and therefore want to be free, did I autocratically enslave myself to these passions by which we conquer and overcome, as if by our own will, or did I not autocratically enslave ourselves to them, but out of some kind of necessity and violence? There are two kinds of passions: natural (bodily) and mental passions. Natural passions are immutable, and man is enslaved to them out of natural necessity, not willingly. So, I eat because I’m naturally hungry; I drink because I am thirsty; I go to bed because I feel drowsy; I get dressed because I’m cold; I undress because I’m hot, and so on. To do or not to do so does not depend on autocracy. For if it depended on autocracy, then whenever I did not satisfy these needs for a long time, being without food and drink, without sleep and other things, I would not experience exhaustion and disorder in my body. But because I experience it, I satisfy it, even if I don’t want to. So, this part is not in the hands of autocracy, but aren’t spiritual passions in the hands of autocracy? Among all the passions of the soul, the most important passions are anger and lust. If I, being in unreasonable anger and senseless lust, want to overcome anger and lust, and yet I am almost always defeated by them, then obviously I am enslaved by it. But if I am not always and not completely defeated by them, but still sometimes we are victorious, then because I am victorious, it still means that I am enslaved by them. How can one who is enslaved to unreasonable anger and senseless lust say that he is autocratic? If anyone says that, as happens with every person, that he falls and gets up, so it happens with me in relation to passions: sometimes I am overcome by these passions, and sometimes I conquer them, from which it should be concluded that sometimes I am in slavery to them, and sometimes I am free from this slavery; Oh, what a shame for him who says that he is autocratic, and boasts of it, and at the same time admits without shame: today I surrender myself into the slavery of passion, and tomorrow I will show myself free from it, and he suffers for this all his life, so that such is slave-freedom, that is, both free and slave! So, what can we say about autocracy? The fact that man was autocratic when he was free from sin; As soon as he sold his freedom, he lost his autocracy along with his freedom and became a slave of sin. But whoever is a slave is no longer autocratic; let him be free, but as soon as he became enslaved, he became a slave. God did not create anyone a slave, but everyone free. Only in relation to Himself did He create them as slaves, since He gave them existence itself; But even for someone to be His slave, He does not want him to be under coercion and violence, but arbitrarily, just as another poor person who has nothing, when he is worthy to become a royal servant, rejoices and is glad that he is called and is a servant of the king - so God wants a person to be His servant of his own will, and rejoice, and deems it a great glory and honor to be called and to be a servant of God. 2. A slave, as soon as he learns about someone that he can free him, will certainly resort to him, fall at his feet and with tears begin to beg and convince him in every possible way to pay his price for him and free him. And it is obvious that the slave has nothing left from his former autocracy except one desire and the search for freedom. But he will do this only when he is too burdened by the yoke of slavery; If he happens to have peace in slavery and not encounter hardships, then he will not want freedom. Let's apply this to our word. The Lord says in the Holy Gospel: if you continue in My word... you will understand the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:31–32). Three objects are seen in the word of the Lord: abiding in His word, knowledge of the truth, and liberation by the truth, and not by autocracy. This is liberation; where is the slave? Following the above words, the Lord also says: everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin (34). Here is a slave, a real slave, who does not have autocracy, as we said about the slave. A little lower, the Lord says again: if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (36). Since God is true and His lips are not false in uttering this, who will dare to assert that the slave of sin is autocratic, when every slave, while remaining in slavery, has no autocracy? The Lord said this to us, and Paul the Apostle cries out with a great voice to the whole universe: I am wretched... who will deliver me from the body of this death? (Rom.7:24). But it goes without saying that when someone frees someone, he frees, of course, from slavery. Why does the same Apostle say in another place: through the freedom by which Christ freed us stand (Gal. 5:1), which shows that those who were freed were freed from the slavery in which they were not autocratic. What we have said is sufficient to show what kind of autocracy remains in us after we have become slaves of sin, namely, that it is stored only in our desire for liberation, and not in anything more. Why should we bring this desire to Christ, uniting with it spiritual care, heartfelt searching, not through good deeds, but through faith alone, so that Christ, who gave Himself as a ransom for our souls, would see how with all our soul, with all our thoughts and with all our strength we desire and seek to be freed from the evil tyranny of sin, and free us from it by His Divine grace. Among people there is no one free and autocratic, except Christ alone, and He is such because there is God and man. From the time Adam became a slave to sin, all people, until the end of the age, are slaves, except for those who are freed by Christ, as it is written: the first man from the earth had a ring, and further: like one who is touched by the ring, so are the rings. The second man is the Lord from heaven; and then: Yakom is heavenly, and they are also heavenly (1 Cor. 15:47–48). What kind of earthy man is this? This is a fornicator, a liar, an evil, crafty, hypocrite, unloving, vindictive, covetous, predator, unrighteous, vain, proud, self-important, who, being the same as all people, thinks of himself that he does not know how to be superior to them. What kind of heavenly man is this? This is holy, reverend, righteous, like our Lord Jesus Christ. For just as a natural father gives birth to children by himself, so the second Father - Christ by himself - gives birth to children of saints, righteous, free and sovereign, like He Himself, their Father. These are the signs of autocracy, just as what we said about earthly food serves as a sign of non-autocracy. From this the essence is revealed, let’s say in the words of the beloved John the Theologian, a child of God and a child of the devil (1 John 3:10). Since in this way our autocracy was preserved only in our desire, we must, firstly, desire liberation from slavery, then seek our liberator Christ, and when we find Him, fall at His feet and ask Him for freedom, for no one is free except Christ and the freeman of Christ. Christ has mercy on us and saves us from slavery, enlightening our mind so that we can clearly see or know what is right and holy, and equipping us with strength to avoid indecent things and do what is necessary. For even to discern what is right is not in our power; but just as in order for us to see the visible, we need the light of the sun, so in order for us to see the spiritual, we need the light of Christ, which, enlightening us, removes the blindfold of darkness from the eyes of the mind and allows it to clearly see what is right and pleasing to God. And then he fills us with power, with which he frees us from passions and gives us freedom to faithfully follow His known holy will. This is freedom in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever. Amen. You might be interested in: