But, O Theodoulos, another question opens up before us in connection with this wonderful book. This is a question that some philosophers and theologians have mistakenly called the question of man's free will. And why not the question of free thought? And the question of free feeling and free willing? Why is only the will taken into account? I think it is best to say: the question of human freedom in general. In the West, this issue was much more debated than in the East. Fate and the free will of man in the East do not fight one against the other, but are peacefully united. The invisible book of the living is not a kind of fate that prevails over angels and men – and over the gods, as the polytheistic Greeks and Indians fabulously said – but God's providential plan for the salvation of people, for it is said that God wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.815 The same is said in Christ's parable about the lost hundredth sheep, which the owner is carefully looking for in order to save. And it is also said of the Word of God, of the Logos: "The true Light, which enlightens every man who comes into the world."816 And if God desires salvation for all men, and if by His light He enlightens every man whom He sends into the world, then it is clear that all men are originally written in the book of life, but the names of some or many are blotted out of this book because of their sin against God or against their neighbors, and are inscribed again after they have repented and returned to the right path.

According to Eastern concepts, man is both free and unfree: he is free to decide whether to follow God or Satan, to the right or to the left. As long as he chooses and hesitates, he acts on his own, according to his free will and reason. And as soon as he decides, he is no longer free. And this lack of freedom, which a person has once decided on, is not always permanent, unchangeable: one is demonodulia, and the other is theodulia; one is to serve Satan, the other is to serve the Heavenly Father. It is one thing to be in bitter slavery to a tyrant, and another to be in sweet obedience to the Parent. One is slavery, and the other is sonship. One is darkness, and the other is light. One is gnashing of teeth, and the other is singing and joyful rejoicing.

Let's take the Apostle Peter as an example. How much he, following his will and reason, wavered here and there, until at last he completely cleaved to the Lord! Significant are the words spoken to him at the end by the resurrected Lord: Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou didst gird thyself and went whithersoever thou wouldst; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you up and lead you whither you do not want to.817 Freedom and non-freedom; Peter chose a sweet and blessed lack of freedom within the boundaries of God's will. And Peter's name was written in the book of the living.

The opposite example is Judas the traitor. And he must have hesitated for a long time, until his passion for money completely removed him from the Lord. And after this morsel Satan entered into him,818 and thus ended his hesitation and his freedom. He became a slave to Satan and went to do the will of his master. And the name of Judas is blotted out of the book of the living. So it was with the names of all those sons of darkness who killed Christ the Savior, taking His innocent blood on themselves and on their children. Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.819

Unfreedom with complete devotion to the will of God is in reality the only true and radiant freedom. In this state, a person feels like a child led by a parent by the hand. That is why the child feels free.

The most magnificent example of perfect devotion to the will of His Father was shown to us by the Lord Jesus Himself. And His heart, and thoughts, and words, and deeds, and His life, and His messianic deeds – all He ascribed to His Heavenly Father, from beginning to end.

What I have heard from Him (the Father), I say to the world.820

My teaching is not mine, but Him who sent Me.821

My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.822

Не ищу Моей воли, но воли пославшего Меня Отца823.

Я всегда делаю то, что Ему угодно824.

Сын ничего не может творить Сам от Себя, если не увидит Отца творящего825.

Я живу Отцем826.

Ты можешь сказать, что при такой несвободе исчезает личность человека. Не исчезает, но приобретается, ибо говорит Господь Иисус: Все, что имеет Отец, есть Мое827. Это свобода не по законническим дефинициям828, а свобода сына в единстве любви с Отцом.