On Sinful Slavery

"If ye abide in My word," says Christ in the Gospel, "then ye are truly My disciples, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." The people who listened to these words thought that the Lord was speaking to them about external or political freedom. "We are the seed of Abraham," they answered Christ, "and we have never been slaves to anyone; And then Christ explains to people about what freedom and about what slavery He says: "Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin... therefore, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

Thus, we are talking here about inner slavery and inner freedom. A person almost always looks at the external, at external freedom, at independence from people, from enslavers and oppressors, but it is much more important to have internal freedom, that is, to be free from slavery to sin. For everything external is temporary: both external freedom and external slavery inevitably pass away and cease with death. Both the free master and the slave enslaved by him will die in the same way, the death of the body will put an end to the freedom of the one and the slavery of the other. While slavery to sin is eternal, it does not end with death, but goes beyond the grave, where it becomes incomparably more bitter and grievous. Therefore, it can be said that earthly freedom or non-freedom are temporary and accidental signs, because they cease to operate beyond the boundaries of transient earthly life. It is about this relative significance of earthly freedom that the Apostle Paul wrote: "The servant who is called in the Lord is the free of the Lord; in the same way, he who is called free is a servant of Christ."

Thus, according to Christian teaching, there is only one true freedom – freedom from sin and only one true slavery – slavery to sin and through sin to the devil. What is sin? St. Macarius of Egypt says that sin is a certain immaterial force of Satan, through which he takes possession of man and enslaves him. Just as through a holy and righteous life we draw closer to God, unite with Him and receive freedom in Him, so through sin we unite with the devil and fall into slavery to him. According to the words of St. Macarius, when we commit a sin, we become one with the devil, we unite with him as one. And we should not think that only grave sins, such as murder, adultery, theft, fornication, and the like, unite us with the devil. No, all other sins work in the same way. If we condemn, envy, swear, get angry, greedy, or tell lies, then we also give ourselves over to the power of the devil, we become enslaved to him. That is why he always tries to incline us to sin, because through sin we fall under his power.

The devil is very cunning and has many thousands of years of experience in seducing people into sin. He knows well the individual characteristics and weaknesses of each person, he knows who, when and to what sin can be persuaded. In the Otechnik it is described how the Monk Macarius, who lived in the wilderness, once saw the devil going to a monastery. He was in human form, dressed in a long linen robe that was full of holes. A variety of vessels hung in these holes. The great elder asked him: "Where are you going?" Satan answered: "I am going to visit the brethren." "What do you have these vessels for?" the elder asked again. He answered: "I bring food for the brethren." The elder asked: "And all this with food?" "Yes," answered Satan, "if anyone does not like one, I will give another, if not this, then he will receive a third. Some, of course, will be liked." Having said this, he went.

From this it can be seen that the demon always adapts to a person, tries to find a loophole in his soul, a weak point. If, for example, a person has a tendency to pride, then it is with these thoughts that the enemy will tempt him. If someone is unstable in relation to fornication, then the enemy will try with all his might to plunge him into the sin of fornication or adultery.

In the spiritual war that the devil wages against man, he uses thoughts as a weapon, that is, he brings into our minds and hearts certain thoughts, feelings, and movements, and he does it so subtly that we take them for our own. The mind of man is the source from which all his activity flows. According to St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, everything good is born from right and good thoughts, and everything evil is born from evil and false thoughts. Any sin, any crime always begins with a thought, with a small imperceptible thought that "comes from nowhere" to a person. The Holy Fathers distinguish several stages through which a person passes from the initial thought to the commission of a sin in deed. The first of them is called a "preposition". At this stage, a person has a certain idea that is not yet very clear on the horizon of his consciousness. If a person does not pay attention to it, then the thought will disappear and will not have any consequences. If he pays attention to it and becomes interested in it, then the second stage begins, the so-called "combination" or "conversation": a person begins to understand the thought and think about it. If we do not stop here, then the process passes into the third stage, which is called "conjunction" or "convolution" – a person begins to agree with the thought. If even then he does not find the strength to stop, then the fourth stage begins, which the Fathers call "captivity." Here the thought already takes possession of a person, and he begins to look for a way and think over a plan on how to commit a sin by his own deed. And finally, having found a way, he really does it – this is the last, fifth stage.