My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
THE ORTHODOX HOLY FATHERS OF THE CHURCH AND
THEIR TEACHINGS ON THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF
SPIRITUAL SLAVERY.
The Orthodox Church and the Holy Fathers view spiritual slavery not merely as a metaphor, but as areal, internal condition where the human will will and soul are held captive away from God.
I. Enslavement to Sin
and the Passions
The Holy Fathers teach that habitual sin sets as a tyrant or shackle over human freedom. When a person repeatedly chooses a lower, fleshly desire over the higher will of God, the soul forms a “second nature” of corrupt habits. Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov famously taught that immoral habits are like shackles that strip a person of moral freedom and drag them into the stinking swamp of the passions.” When a person repeatedly yields to a passion (such AS ANGER,LUST, GREED, OR PRIDE), the free will becomes compromised and groans under a self-forged tyranny.
Drawing heavily on the Holy Apostle’s Paul (especially Romans 7) the Holy Church Fathers describe an internal civil war within the fallen human psyche (soul): a battle between a lower will (which chases fleeting, freshly, and ego-driven impulses) and a higher will (which yearns for God and the Kingdom of Heaven). Sadly, the majority of people, the lower will–egged on by worldly attractions, fantasies, and demonic influence–takes the upper hand.
True spiritual freedom requires that the lower will be willingly brought into captivity to the higher will, and in turn, the higher will must surrender entirely to the grace and guidance of the Holy Spirit. External greed and the desire to dominate others are seen as manifestations of a distorted enslaved soul. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, one of the great Fathers of the Church, launched scathing entiques against those who treat fellow image bearers of God as property. He classed lavish displays–such as expensive homes, sprawling vineyards, private staff, and grand possessions–as vanities that stem form a puffed up, false sense of lordship.
The Holy Fathers of the Church and ascetic writers are against being bound to human praise, social status, fear of men, or excessive anxiety over material security (homes, car, career, or status symbols). To be spiritually free means severing the invisible ropes that tie one’s identity to how the fallen world perceives them, approaching God instead with radical simplicity, honesty, and inner poverty (the spirit of the Beatitudes).
The true antidote of course is voluntary slavery to God. Paradoxically, Orthodox Christian theology teaches that man is never truly “autonomous”; he is either a slave (Gr. sklavos) to corruption/passions or a SERVANT (Gr. Doulos) of GOD. Choosing voluntarily to become a willing slave to Christ–operating in synergy with Divine Grace–is the sole path that shatters all other internal and external chains, restoring human nature to the regal freedom for which it was originally created.
The Orthodox Church teaching is very straightforward, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in ” (Revelation 3:20). Our Almighty God knocks, but waits for man to open the door—He does NOT break it down. The grace of God invites all BUT COMPELS NONE. In the words of Saint John Chrysostom: “God never draws anyone to Himself by force and violence. He wishes all men to be saved, but forces no one.”
According to Orthodox theology God gave Adam FREE WILL–the power to choose between good and evil–and it therefore rested with Adam either to accept the vocation set before him or to refuse it. By choosing to not obey his Creator, Adam, by his own act separated himself from God. As a result, a new form of existence appeared on earth–that is disease and death. Man must protect and preserve God’s gift to him and must not squander it because his salvation depends on it. The great holy Father of the Church, Saint Athanasius stated,”God does not save us without us.” Our Merciful God does not force salvation on anyone.
_____________
“Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!”
+ Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +
With sincere agape in Christ’s Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry)
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
