“Some
people by the word freedom understand the ability to do whatever one wants …
People who have the more allowed themselves to come into slavery to sins,
passions, and defilements more often than others appear as zealots of external
freedom, wanting to broaden the laws as much as possible. But such a man uses
external freedom only to more severely burden himself with inner slavery. True
freedom is the active ability of a man who is not enslaved to sin, who is not
pricked by a condemning conscience, to choose the better in the light of God’s
truth, and to bring it into actuality with the help of the gracious power of
God. This is the freedom of which neither heaven nor earth are restrict.”
+ St. Philaret of Moscow, Sermon on the Birthday of Emperor Nicholas
I, 1851
Source:
http://www.orthodoxchurchquotes.com/tag/overcoming-sinpassions/page/2/
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