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, 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.

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 attributed to His Heavenly Father, from beginning to end.

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

My teaching is not Mine, but Him who sent Me.

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

I do not seek My will, but the will of the Father who sent Me.

I always do what pleases Him.

The Son can do nothing of Himself unless He sees the Father creating.

I live by the Father.

You can say that with such a lack of freedom, a person's personality disappears. It does not disappear, but is gained, for the Lord Jesus says: "All that the Father has is mine." This is freedom not according to legalistic definitions, but the freedom of the son in the unity of love with the Father.

All this I remind you, Theodoulos, in connection with the mysterious book. After all, Christ Himself is connected with it. After His glorious resurrection, the Lord said to His disciples: "Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead on the third day" (Luke 24:46; cf. Matt. 26:24).

Thus it is written in the law, in the prophets, and in the Psalms. But before that, this was undoubtedly written in the mysterious book in heaven, which is called after Him: the book of life of the Lamb. On both the first and last pages of this book is written the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. After all, He is the Alpha and the Omega. The Alpha of the creation of the world and the Omega of the salvation of the human race. And again, in every human name in this book, His name shines through, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

Lamb of God! A mysterious book, therefore His book. He compiled it before the creation of the world and promised to sign it with His innocent Blood. This is a book of the fate of the entire human race and His fate. Thus it pleased the Lamb of God, in accordance with the desire of His beloved Father and the Holy Spirit: to confuse His own fate as a Man with the fate of mankind. What horror of humiliation, and what glory of love, which surpasses reason!