From this case it is clearly seen that through sin the devil acquires rights over man, and the more sins we commit, the more rights the devil has. Accordingly, the less freedom we have. Sometimes this is obvious to everyone, when, for example, a person becomes possessed. But this rarely happens, for the most part the devil tries not to show his power for a while. However, sooner or later, there comes a moment (as a rule, when the soul is separated from the body) when this power rises to its full height and asserts its rights to the human soul, and then there is nothing to oppose to it...

A person who has freed himself from the power of sin and the devil receives another, highest freedom – freedom from death. After all, according to the words of the Apostle Paul, the devil has the power of death, and therefore deliverance from the devil is also deliverance from death. St. Silouan the Athonite says that true freedom can only exist where there is immortality, because if there is none, then a person is inevitably a slave to death.

It is to this true, great, and eternal freedom that all Christians are called. And they were redeemed from the slavery of the devil not with money, not with silver and gold, but with the precious Blood of the Most Pure Lamb of Christ. If this is so, if we have been redeemed by the Blood of the Son of God, then, brothers and sisters, let us not again give ourselves over to shameful slavery to sin, let us not voluntarily enslave ourselves to the devil. Let it not happen to us, according to the well-known proverb: a washed pig goes to roll in the mud. On the contrary, let us resist the evil tempter with firmness, let us struggle against sin, and our enemies will not stand, for they have already been overcome by Christ. We only need to assimilate this victory. The weapons by which the enemy is defeated are known: prayer, repentance, Confession, Communion and life according to the Gospel commandments. If we are able to wage such a battle, then little by little we will begin to free ourselves from the bonds of sin and from the power of the bloodsucker of the devil, we will begin to acquire the freedom of the children of God, and in this way in due time we will certainly appear as children of the Resurrection, a holy people, heirs of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

A means of combating despondency and despair

Christians are people who renounce this world and strive to enter the Kingdom of Christ. We do not have a city that abides here, but we seek it that is to come, says the Apostle Paul. This means that on earth Christians are pilgrims, they do not consider the earth their homeland, their permanent place of residence. Christians have a commandment not to be attached to the world, to its riches, fame, and pleasures. "Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world," the Holy Scriptures command us.

In order not to become attached to the world, one must limit oneself in many ways, in that which the people of this world, that is, the pagans, do not deny themselves. When a person converts to faith and ceases to be a pagan, he renounces many of the addictions and pleasures by which he lived before. However, man is made in such a way that he cannot live without joy, without consolation. Leading a church life and renouncing vain worldly pleasures, a Christian acquires another consolation, a spiritual one: the Grace of the Holy Spirit, which gives the soul unearthly joy, heavenly bliss.

The Holy Fathers say that just as fish live in water, so do Christians live in the Grace of God. Fish cannot live without water for a long time, it begins to suffocate. In the same way, the Christian soul begins to suffocate when the Grace of God leaves it. At the beginning of our journey, when we are just beginning to live the life of the Church, the Lord often gives us great Grace, so that we have peace in our souls and constantly rejoice. It is easy for us to stand through long church services, we succeed in prayer, we joyfully observe the fasts, God soon hears our petitions. This happens in the beginning because the Lord, knowing that our faith is still weak, gives His Grace freely in order to strengthen this faith. But after a while, when we become a little stronger in faith, the Lord takes away Grace, so that the soul may struggle and show its faithfulness to God, so that it may manifest its will, so that it may learn spiritual warfare and be cleansed of passions.