The Holy Scriptures also speak of the necessity of man's own efforts to be freed from sin: "Stand therefore in the freedom which Christ has given us, and do not again be subjected to the yoke of slavery" (Gal. 5:1). The same is evidenced by the practical experience of the great host of holy men and women, who struggled in spiritual podvig and confirmed the possibility of transforming the life of each person. However, the fruits of man's spiritual efforts will be fully manifested only in the universal resurrection, when "our humiliated body" is conformed to "His glorious body" (Phil. 3:21).

2.2. The Lord Jesus Christ says: "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. whosoever commits sin is a slave of sin" (John 8:32, 34). This means that the one who walks the path of righteous life and seeks communion with God, the source of absolute truth, is truly free. On the contrary, the abuse of freedom, the choice of a false, immoral way of life, ultimately destroys the very freedom of choice, since it leads the will to enslavement to sin. Only God, being the source of freedom, can maintain it in man. Those who do not want to part with sin give up their freedom to the devil – the opponent of God, the father of evil and unfreedom. Recognizing the value of freedom of choice, the Church asserts that it inevitably disappears when the choice is made in favor of evil. Evil and freedom are incompatible.

In human history, the choice of people and societies in favor of evil has led to the loss of freedom and enormous loss of life. And today humanity can take the same path if such absolutely vicious phenomena as abortion, suicide, debauchery, perversion, the destruction of the family, the cult of rudeness and violence cease to receive a proper moral assessment and are justified on the basis of a distorted understanding of human freedom.

The weakness of the institution of human rights lies in the fact that, while defending freedom of choice, it takes less and less account of the moral dimension of life and freedom from sin. The social order should be oriented towards both freedoms, harmonizing their implementation in the public sphere. You cannot defend one freedom while forgetting about the other. Free standing in goodness and truth is impossible without freedom of choice. Likewise, free choice loses its value and meaning if it turns to evil.

3. Human rights in the Christian

worldview and in the life of society

3.1. Every person is endowed with dignity and freedom by God. However, the use of freedom for evil inevitably entails the depreciation of one's own dignity and the humiliation of the dignity of other people. Society must create mechanisms that restore the harmony of human dignity and freedom. In public life, the concept of human rights and morality can and should serve this purpose. At the same time, they are connected at least by the fact that morality, that is, the ideas of sin and virtue, always precedes the law, which arose from these ideas. That is why the erosion of morality always leads in the end to the destruction of legality.

Ideas about human rights have undergone a long historical evolution and therefore cannot be absolutized in their current understanding. It is necessary to clearly define Christian values, with which human rights must be harmonized.

3.3. The development and application of the concept of human rights must be coordinated with the norms of morality, with the moral principle laid down by God in human nature and recognized in the voice of conscience.

Human rights cannot be the basis for forcing Christians to violate God's commandments. The Orthodox Church considers inadmissible attempts to subordinate the view of believers to the individual, family, community life and church practice to a non-religious understanding of human rights. To this, Christians should follow the Apostles Peter and John in declaring: "Is it right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God?" (Acts 4:19).

It is inadmissible to introduce into the field of human rights norms that dilute or abolish both evangelical and natural morality. The Church sees a great danger in legislative and public support for various vices, for example, sexual promiscuity and perversion, the cult of profit and violence. It is equally unacceptable to normalize immoral and inhumane actions in relation to a person, such as abortion, euthanasia, the use of human embryos in medicine, experiments that change human nature, and the like.

Unfortunately, legislative norms and political practices appear in society that not only allow such actions, but also create prerequisites for their imposition on the entire society through the media, education and health care systems, advertising, trade and services. Moreover, believers who consider these phenomena to be sinful are forced to recognize the permissibility of sin or are subjected to discrimination and persecution.

Under the laws of many countries, actions that cause harm to another person are punishable. However, life experience shows that the harm inflicted by a person on himself extends to those around him, to those who are connected with him by ties of kinship, friendship, neighborhood, joint activity, citizenship. Man is responsible for the consequences of sin, since his choice in favor of evil has a detrimental effect on his neighbors and on the entire creation of God.