"The concept of freedom has several dimensions. Here we will note three of them as being the most relevant to the question of a Christian's freedom.
The first is the metaphysical. By freedom in this case is understood one of the most fundamental qualities of human nature - free will, expressed first of all by a person's moral self-determination in the face of good and evil.
Saint Macarius of Egypt said: 'You are created in the image and likeness of God; therefore, just as God is free and creates what He wants ... so are you free. Therefore, our nature is well capable of accepting both good and evil; both God's grace, and the enemy's powers. But it cannot be forced.'
The second is spiritual freedom. Unlike outward freedom it signifies man's authority over his own egoism, his own passions, sinful feelings, desires - over his own self.
The apostle Paul describes (the) state of spiritual slavery as the antithesis to true freedom in the following very expressive words: I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do ... For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing ... but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members (Rom 7:15, 19, 23)
The third aspect is social freedom. It indicates the sum of specific personal rights in a state or society. Most of the difficult questions arise in this realm, inasmuch as in society a multitude of different individuals come into mutual contact, all having their own free will.
On societal freedom St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), put it thus: 'As long as mankind is subject to the influence of sin and the passions, rule and submission are necessary. They will inevitably exist throughout the course of the life of the world; only they may appear, do appear, and will appear in various forms... Neither equality, nor complete freedom, nor earthly welfare to the degree that (the world) wish it and promise it, can ever be... The relationship of rule and submission will perish when the world perishes -then will rule and submission cease (cf. 1 Cor 15:24); then will there be brotherhood, equality, and freedom; then will the reason for unity, rule and submission be not fear, but love.'"
A. I. Osipov from his book "The search for Truth on the Path of Reason"
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