Everyone knows that slavery is a terrible thing. Getting into slavery, a person loses freedom, the ability to think and move independently. Why, then, do many Christians proudly call themselves servants of God.

To understand what a servant of God means in Orthodoxy, the Holy Scripture - the Bible - will help us.

The Bible Explains the Term "Servant of God"

Slave or son

According to Jewish concepts, there was nothing derogatory in the word “slave”, as the workers in the house were called, who were sometimes treated as members of the family. If the Roman slave owners did not consider their servants as people, then the Jews treated them completely the opposite. On Saturdays, the slave owner was obliged to release the servant from work, because according to the laws of the Jews, it is a sin to work on this day.

Read about the Orthodox faith:

If only the fear of God lives in a person, then he will do everything well, correctly, but without much joy. This is slavery for the sake of salvation, thank God that in this way many people come to eternal life. The Son of God, whether Orthodox or Catholic, rejoices in fellowship with the Father and the Savior, he hears the Holy Spirit and knows his rights in the spiritual world.

Prayer to God

The Son of God has complete freedom from sin:

• lies and hypocrisy;
• worship of other gods;
• theft;
• parental disrespect.

In a letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul utters a phrase that is contradictory from the point of view of ordinary people, that only by being freed from sin can one become a slave to God. (Rom. 8:22) Paul continues his thought in the epistle to the Corinthians, emphasizing that a huge price has been paid for every Christian, so you should not fall back into the slavery of sin. (1 Corinthians 7:23)

The Ephesian church also received instructions about the slavery of the Lord, which says that the will of the Creator can be done by the servants of Jesus. (Eph. 6:6)

Saint John, after a stay in heavenly kingdom, in "Revelation" (Rev. 19:5) writes a command that all the servants of God can praise Him.

Now we see that being a servant of the Creator, surrendering to Jesus as a slave is a great honor and reward.

Jesus, through the Apostle Paul, says that the time will come when the Holy Spirit will be poured out on the servants of God. (Acts 2:18) Paul did not write that the Holy Spirit would come only to the disciples, he emphasized that this grace would be given to those who gave themselves into spiritual slavery to the Savior, dressed in bright clothes of heavenly purity.

Spiritual slavery in this case implies calmness and confidence in the future, humility and humility. The Holy Spirit will never descend where there is rebellion and impurity.

During a Catholic service, a priest often refers to parishioners as both slaves and children of God.

The Virgin Mary, having heard the news of her pregnancy, called herself a slave, one that surrenders to the power of her master with humility and gratitude. (Luke 1:38)

In the New Testament, all the apostles called themselves the servants of God, so to be in bondage to Jesus is the highest blessing. In the Bible, the word "Doulos" is found, which means:

• servant;
• subject.

Three stages of growth. The servant of our Lord Jesus Christ serves his Lord, fulfilling His commands, becoming a type of His hands, helping people.

Jesus, for the sake of sinful humanity, put on the dirty clothes of sin and slavery, humbled himself for the sake of love, descended into hell, becoming like a man. (Phil. 2:6-8)

The true believing heart will seek to imitate the Savior by honorably being called a servant of God.

There are slaves by law, and there are by love. In the 15th chapter of the gospel of John it is written that Jesus no longer calls the disciples slaves, but treats them as friends, passing on to them everything "that he heard from the Father."

Jesus Christ calls the disciples not slaves, but friends

People who consider themselves Christians, but do not want to be transformed into His image, to know His will, forever remain slaves in spirit, but this is not a slave of His Master, who wants to grow up to the state of a friend, a son, filled with a new degree of relationship.

The son has power in his father's house, he has the right to inherit.

What do the priests say about it?

According to Deacon Mikhail Parshin, the phrase about slavery confuses only those people who have not known the nature of God. It is scary to fall into the hands of a tyrant, but it is a real pleasure to give your life to a loving Creator, the source of all beauty on earth. This includes:

• Love;
• true;
• Truth;
• Adoption;
• forgiveness and other virtues.

Important! In ordinary slavery, a person is obliged to work hard, in cooperation with God, who is self-sufficient in everything, Christians joyfully fulfill the Master's commands. What could be more beautiful than admitting that you are a slave of Love and Truth, Mercy and Wisdom?

Deacon Parshin emphasizes that more people knows God, the more deeply he realizes sinfulness.

An interesting discovery was made by Archpriest A. Glebov, who studied the Old Testament and came to the conclusion that many thousands of years ago only kings, then prophets, had the right to be called servants of God. By this, the chosen persons of Israel showed that there is no other power over them, except God.

In the parable of the evil vinedressers, hired laborers worked, and the king's servants, who were the prototypes of the prophets of Israel, through whom the Creator communicated His will to the people, looked after them.

Calling oneself a servant of God, a person emphasizes his exclusive position, namely, a personal relationship with God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Video about why we call ourselves servants of God

What does Servant of God mean?

Slavery to God is, in a broad sense, fidelity to the Divine will, as opposed to slavery to sin.

In a narrower sense, the state of voluntary submission of one's will to the Divine for the sake of fear of punishment, as the first of the three steps of faith (along with a mercenary and a son). The Holy Fathers distinguish three levels of submission of their will to God - a slave who submits to Him because of the fear of punishment; mercenary working for pay; and a son who is guided by love for the Father. The state of the son is the most perfect. According to St. Apostle John the Theologian: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because in fear there is torment. He who fears is not perfect in love” (1 John 4:18).

Christ does not call us slaves: “You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I called you friends...” (John 15:14-15). But we speak of ourselves in this way, meaning the voluntary agreement of our will with His good will, because we know that the Lord is a stranger to all evil and unrighteousness, and His good will leads us to blessed eternity. That is, the fear of God for Christians is not an animal fear, but a sacred awe before the Creator.

All confusion with this phrase comes from ignorance of God. It is terrible to be a slave of a tyrant, but we have no one closer and dearer to God. God is the source of life, truth, love, righteousness, all virtues. Slavery involves work, work, and in the context of relations with God - co-working, because God is self-sufficient, he does not need our work. Is it humiliating to be in such an understanding a slave of Love, a slave of Truth, a slave of Mercy, a slave of Wisdom; a servant of the One who, for the sake of His Creation, voluntarily ascended the Cross?

The fact is that our spoken language is very different from the language of the Holy Scriptures, and such a concept as “God's servant” came to us from the Bible, moreover, from its most ancient part, which is called the “Old Testament”. In the Old Testament, "Servant of God" is the title of the kings and prophets of Israel. Calling themselves “servants of God,” the kings and prophets of Israel thereby testified that they are no longer subject to anyone, they do not recognize anyone else’s authority over themselves, except for the authority of God - they are His slaves, they have their own special mission in the world. There is such a parable in the Gospel: about the evil vinedressers. It tells about how the master planted a vineyard, called on the workers to work in this vineyard, cultivate it, and every year he sent his slaves to them to look at the work, take accountability. The workers of the vineyard drove these slaves away, then he sent his son to them, they killed their son, and after that the lord of the vineyard already passes his judgment. So - pay attention - not slaves work in the vineyard, but hired workers, and the slaves represent the master - these are his proxies, they communicate the will of the master to the workers. These slaves were the prophets of Israel, who communicated the will of God to the people. God Himself spoke to the people through the prophets. Therefore, “Servant of God” is a very high title, which indicated a special relationship between God and man, a special spiritual status of man.

In the New Testament, the title “servant of God” became more widespread, every Christian, every baptized person began to call himself a servant of God, and many people, indeed, this is shocking. But in our minds, a slave is such a powerless creature, chained, and people say - we do not want to call ourselves slaves, we are free citizens, yes, we are believers, but we do not agree to call ourselves slaves! If you think about it, then it is simply impossible to be a slave of God in the sense in which we imagine slavery, because slavery is violence against a human person, but God does not force anyone to do anything.

After all, the very idea that God can forcibly subjugate someone is absurd, because it would be contrary to God's plan for man. After all, God created man completely free and man wants - believes in God, wants - does not believe in God, wants - loves God, wants - does not love God, wants - does what God tells him, but wants - does not do what God speaks to him. Remember, in the parable of the prodigal son, the son comes up to his father and says to him: “Give me the due part of my inheritance, and I will leave you.” And the father does not interfere, he gives that part of the inheritance that was assigned to the youngest son, and he leaves. And today, as in all times, a mass of people turn away from God and leave him, and God does not force them to be with Himself, He does not punish them in any way for this.

He cares about human freedom, so what kind of slavery can we talk about here? The one who really enslaves a person is the devil. A person is enslaved by sin, and once he has fallen into the orbit of the attraction of evil, it can be difficult for a person to get out of this vicious circle. We know, everyone knows from their own lives, how difficult it is to overcome sin. And you repent of it, you repent, you understand that this sin prevents you from living, that it brings you suffering, but a person does not always succeed in escaping from these claws of the devil. Only with the help of God. Only the mercy of God can wrest a person from the power of sin.

Here I will give an example. Of course, this example is extreme, but it is clear to everyone. Look at a drug addict - he would be glad to become a healthy person, he understands that this disease leads him to suffering, leads him to an imminent death, but he cannot do anything! This is a real slave, chained hand and foot, no longer his will, he fulfills the will of his master, he fulfills the will of his master, he fulfills the will of the devil. And in this sense, look, a person can easily leave God when he wants and God does not prevent him, but it can be very, very difficult to escape from the devil!

Of course, the title “Servant of God” is used only in the sacramental life of the Church, in such simple human communication we do not call each other servants of God. For example, in the service I do not say to my altar boy: “Servant of God Vladimir, give me a censer,” I call him simply by his first name. But when the Church Sacraments are performed, then we add this title “servant of God.” For example, "a servant of God such and such is baptized", "a servant of God such and such is communed". Or a prayer for health, or for peace - the title “servant of God” is also added before the name. And in this case, the servant of God is evidence of this person’s faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and his intention to do what God commands, because without a person’s faith and without his intention to follow what the Lord tells him, any Sacrament will be profaned.

But what else is important to understand - the servant of God - does not reflect the essence of our relationship with God, because through the Incarnation God became a man, He became one of us, He called us his brothers, moreover, He says: “I don’t call you slaves anymore I call you my friends." Christ taught us to address God as the Father - "Our Father", "Our Father" - we say in prayer. And between family members there is an obligation to each other, and as children of God, we show our love for our Heavenly Father by serving Him, fulfilling His commandments. As the Lord Himself said about it: “If you love Me, then you will keep My commandments!” A servant of God means a servant of God. And since in the New Testament God revealed himself as Love, as Truth, as Freedom, then a person who dares to call himself a “servant of God” must understand that this obliges him to be not a servant of the devil, not a slave of sin, but a servant of love, truth and freedom.

Some words in the Church become so familiar that you often forget what they mean. So it is with the expression "Servant of God." It turns out that it cuts the ear for many. One woman asked me just like that: “Why do you call people servants of God at divine services. Are you humiliating them?"

I must admit that I couldn’t immediately find what to answer her, and I decided first to figure it out myself and look in the literature why such a phrase was established in the Christian East.

But first, let's look at what slavery looked like in the ancient world, say, among the Romans, so that we have something to compare.

In ancient times, a slave stood close to his master, was his household, and sometimes an adviser and friend. The slaves who spun, wove, and ground grain near the mistress shared their occupations with her. There was no abyss between masters and subordinates.

But over time, things have changed. Roman law began to consider slaves not persons (personae), but things (res). Masters turned into kings, slaves became pets.

This is what a typical Roman aristocrat's house looked like.

The mistress of the house - the matron - was surrounded by a whole gang of servants. Sometimes there were up to 200 slaves in the house, each of which carried her own special service. One carried a fan for the mistress (flabelliferae) , the other followed her on the heels (pedissquae) , third ahead (anteambulatrices) . There were special slaves for blowing coals (ciniflones) , dressing (ornatrices) , carrying an umbrella for mrs. (umbelliferae) , shoe and wardrobe storage (vestiplices) .

There were also spinners in the house (quasilliriae) , seamstresses (sarcinatrices) , weavers (textrics) , wet nurse (nutrices) , nannies, midwives (obstetrics) . There were also many male servants. Lackeys scurried around the house (cursors) , coachmen (rhedarii) , palanquin bearers (lectarii) , dwarfs, dwarfs (nani, nanae) , fools and fools (moriones, fatui, fatuae) .

There was necessarily a house philosopher, usually a Greek (Graeculus), with whom they chatted for an exercise in Greek.

Outside the gate guarded ostiary, doors - Janitor. He was chained to the shack at the entrance, opposite the chained dog.

But his position was considered quite decent in comparison with the vicar. This one, during a drunken orgy of gentlemen, wiped their vomiting eruptions.

A slave could not marry, he could only have a concubine (contubernium) "for offspring". The slave had no parental rights. The children were the property of the owner.

runaway slave (fugitivus) thrown as food to predatory fish, hung or crucified.

The ancient Jews did not renounce slavery, but their laws were unusual for the ancient world gentleness and humanity. It was impossible to burden the slaves with hard work, they were held accountable in court. On Saturdays and other holidays, they were completely released from work (Ex. 20, 10; Deut. 5. 14.).

Christianity also could not immediately abolish slavery. The Apostle Paul directly says: "Servants, obey your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling, in the simplicity of your heart, as to Christ"(Eph. 6:6).

holy Theophan the Recluse interprets this verse as follows: “Slavery was widespread in the ancient world. St. Paul did not rebuild civil life, but changed people's mores. And so he takes the civil orders as they are, and puts into them a new spirit of life. He leaves the external as it was established, and turns to the internal, and he gives it a new order. The transformation of the external proceeded from within, as a consequence of the free development of the spiritual life. Remake the internal, and the external, if it is absurd, will fall away by itself. .

But if the slave was a disenfranchised and mute working cattle, then why did we still have the term servant of God, although the Greek word doulos can be translated in different ways. He, after all, has three meanings: slave, servant, subject.

In many European languages, when translating the New Testament, they took a milder meaning: a servant. For example, Servant in English, Knecht or Magd in German, Sl`uga in Polish.

The unnamed Slavic translators preferred a sharper version - a slave, from the Proto-Slavic root orb, akin to the Sanskrit arbha - to plow, to work in someone else's house. Hence - a slave, a worker.

Their motives are clear. The Christian East was very fond of the image of the Suffering Christ. The Apostle Paul already spoke of Him: “He (Christ), being in the form of God, humbled Himself, taking the form of a servant (morfe doulou) becoming in the likeness of men, and becoming in appearance like a man” (Philippians 2:6-8).

This means that the Son of God left his stay in glory, taking upon Himself disgrace, dishonor and a curse. He subjected Himself to the conditions of our mortality, and hid His glory in suffering and death. And in His own flesh He showed how man, whom He created in the image of His perfect beauty, disfigured himself by the fall.

Hence - the natural desire of the believing heart to imitate Him, to become a servant of God in gratitude for the fact that for our sake He began to be called a slave.

“All servants of God by nature,” says St. Theophan the Recluse, - for the wicked Nebuchadnezzar God's servant but Abraham, David, Paul and others like them are servants for the love of God.”

In his opinion, the servants of God are God-fearing, God-pleasing people. They live according to the will of God, love the truth, despise lies, and therefore you can rely on them in everything.

And the first to call himself so, most likely, was the apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans: “Paul is the servant of Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1, 1).

Such would be slavery for each of us ....!

“Slavery appears with the development of agriculture about 10,000 years ago. People began to use captives for agricultural work and forced them to work for themselves. In early civilizations, captives were the main source of slavery for a long time. Another source was criminals or people who could not pay their debts.

Slaves as a lower class are first reported in Sumerian and Mesopotamian records about 3,500 years ago. Slavery existed in Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt and the ancient societies of the Middle East. It was also practiced in China and India, as well as among Africans and Indians in America.

The growth of industry and trade contributed to an even more intensive spread of slavery. There was a demand for a labor force that could produce goods for export. And because slavery reached its peak in the Greek states and the Roman Empire. Slaves performed the main work here. Most of them worked in mines, handicrafts or agriculture. Others were used in the household as servants and sometimes as doctors or poets. About 400 BC. Chr. Slaves made up a third of the population of Athens. In Rome, slavery was so widespread that even the common people had slaves.

In the ancient world, slavery was perceived as a natural law of life that has always existed. And only a few writers and influential people saw evil and injustice in him.(The World Book Encyclopedia. London-Sydney-Chicago, 1994. P. 480-481. See for more details the large article "Slavery" in: Brockhaus F. A., Efron I. A.. Encyclopedic Dictionary. T. 51. Terra , 1992. S. 35-51).

Kareev N. I. Educational book ancient history. M., 1997. S. 265. “According to the teachings of ancient Roman law, a slave was not considered a person (person). Slavery removed a person from the circle of eligible beings, made him a thing, like an animal, an object of property and arbitrary disposal of his master. (Nikodim, Bishop of Dalmatia-Istria. Rules of the Orthodox Church with interpretations. T. 2. St. Petersburg: Reprint, 1912. P. 423).

However, the Roman norms on slavery are characterized by internal inconsistency, which affects both the personal and property side of the legal status of slaves.

“The right of a master to a slave is an ordinary right of property - dominum or proprietas. At the same time, the quality of a slave as a thing ... is, as it were, a natural innate property. The slave therefore remains a slave even when for some reason at the moment he does not have a master - for example, the master abandons the slave, refuses him (servus derelictus). In this case, the slave will be servus nullius (no man's), and like any thing will be subject to free occupatio of all comers ... Nevertheless, Roman jurists often speak of persona servi (slaves as persons). Recognizing the right of the master to the slave as ordinary property, they at the same time sometimes call this right potestas (disposal rights), in which expression is the recognition of a certain personal element in the relationship between master and slave.

In practice, the recognition of the human personality of a slave was already reflected in the following provisions.

Already ... from ancient times it was established the rule that although a slave is a thing, along with other animals (cetera animalia), the place of burial of a slave is a locus religious (sacred place), to the same extent as the grave of a free person.

Further, blood kinship of slaves is also recognized - cognationes serviles: in close degrees of kinship they constitute an obstacle to marriage. In classical law, even a prohibition is developed when transferring slaves to separate close relatives from each other - a wife from a husband, children from parents ... The edict of Emperor Claudius announced that an old and sick slave, abandoned by his master to the mercy of fate, becomes free. Two constitutions of the emperor Antoninus Pius were more decisive: one of them subjected the master to the same criminal punishment for the lawful (sine causa) murder of his slave as for the murder of someone else's; and the other instructed the authorities, in cases where cruel treatment had forced a slave to take refuge in a temple or near a statue of the emperor, to investigate the matter and force the master to sell the slave into other hands. To what extent these prescriptions achieved their goal is another question, but legally the power of the master over the personality of the slave is no longer unlimited.

A slave, as a thing, cannot have any of his property, cannot have any rights ... However, the consistent implementation of this principle would be very often not in the interests of the masters themselves ... Since ancient times, the slave has been credited with the ability to acquire - of course, in favor of his Mr. ... He is recognized ... the ability to perform legal acts, that is, legal capacity. At the same time, he is considered as some kind of acquiring organ of the master, as an instrumentum vocale (speaking instrument), and as a result, he borrows the legal capacity necessary for transactions from the master - ex persona domini ... The slave can, therefore, conclude all those transactions that his master is capable of. ; this latter, on the basis of these transactions, can bring all claims in exactly the same way as if he were acting himself.(Pokrovsky I. A. History of Roman law. Petrograd, 1918. S. 218, 219, 220)

“The position of slaves, little known personally to the master, often did not differ much from the position of domestic animals, or, perhaps, was worse. However, the conditions of slavery do not freeze within certain limits, but gradually, through a very long evolution, change for the better. A reasonable view of their own economic benefit forced the masters to a thrifty attitude towards slaves and to mitigate their fate; it was also due to political prudence, when slaves outnumbered the free classes of the population. Religion and custom often exerted the same influence. Finally, the law takes the slave under its protection, which, however, even earlier is used by domestic animals ...

The ancient writers have left us many descriptions of the terrible condition in which the Roman slaves found themselves. Their food was extremely scarce in quantity, and was of no good quality: just enough was given out so as not to die of hunger. Meanwhile, the work was exhausting and continued from morning to evening. The position of slaves in mills and bakeries was especially difficult, where a millstone or a board with a hole in the middle was often tied to the neck of slaves to prevent them from eating flour or dough - and in mines, where sick, maimed, old men and women worked under a whip until fell from exhaustion. In the event of a slave's illness, he was taken to the abandoned "island of Aesculapius", where he was given complete "freedom to die." Cato the Elder advises selling “old bulls, sick cattle, sick sheep, old wagons, scrap iron, an old slave, a sick slave, and in general everything unnecessary. Cruel treatment of slaves was sanctified both by traditions and customs and laws. "(Brockhaus F.A., Efron. I.A. Decree. cit. P. 36, 43-44).

Andreev V. The classical world - Greece and Rome. Historical essays. Kyiv, 1877. S. 279-286.

Hypocrisy was the most characteristic feature of these accustomed:

Nikifor, archimandrite. Bible Encyclopedia. M., 1990. Reprint, 1891. S. 592-593.

“In Israel, people captured in hostilities fell into slavery (Deut. 20, 10-18) ... If an Israeli was sold into slavery for special needs (Ex. 21, 4, 6), then after 6 years he was released (Ex. 21, 2) with the payment of the due bribe (Deut. 15, 13), but only if he did not want to voluntarily remain in the family to which he belonged. The law also protected slave women (Ex. 21, 7-11; Lev. 19, 20-22) ... Sometimes there were violations of the law on the release of slaves (Jer. 34, 8), there are cases of ransoming slaves during captivity (Neh. 5, 8 ). As household members, slaves could take part in religious holidays (Deut. 12, 18), and through circumcision (Gen. 17, 12) they were accepted into the community "(Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Auflage 3. Band 6. Tuebingen, 1986. S. 101).

« New Testament reflects contemporary views on slavery, for example, in parables (Matt. 18:23-35; 25:14-30; Luke 12:35-48) and norms of behavior (Luke 17:7-10). Terms borrowed from slavery and captive-taking? Paul describes the necessity of man's deliverance and the economy of salvation (eg, Rom. 6:15-23). At the same time, he equalizes the state of a free person and a slave - through baptism both become one in Christ (Gal. 3, 28), and, expecting the near coming of the Savior (parousia), he calls on new converts from slaves to remain in their rank and obey their masters now according to religious motives, the master obliges to treat slaves moderately and fraternally (1. Cor. 7, 20-24) ... Thus, he seeks not to overcome slavery, but to make it more humane "(Lexikon fuer Theologie und Kirche. Band 9. Freiburg - Basel - Rom - Wien, 2000. S. 656-657).

Saint Theophan the Recluse. Interpretation of the message of St. Apostle Paul to the Ephesians. M., 1893. S. 444-445.

In the ancient church “already Clement of Alexandria (+215), under the influence of the ideas of the Stoics about universal equality, believed that in his virtues and appearance Slaves are no different from their masters. From this he concluded that Christians should reduce the number of their slaves and do some work themselves. Lactantius (+320), who formulated the thesis of the equality of all people, demanded from Christian communities the recognition of marriage among slaves. And the Roman Bishop Calistus the First (+222), who himself came out of the class of not free people, even recognized the relationship between high-ranking women - Christians and slaves, freedmen and freeborn as full-fledged marriages. In the Christian environment, already from the time of the primordial Church, the emancipation of slaves was practiced, as is clear from the exhortation of Ignatius of Antioch (+107) to Christians not to abuse freedom for unworthy purposes.

However, the legal and social foundations of the division into free and slaves remain unshakable. Constantine the Great (+337) does not violate them either, who, undoubtedly, under the influence of Christianity, gives the bishops the right to free slaves by means of the so-called announcement in the church (manumissio in ecclesia) and publishes a number of laws that alleviate the lot of slaves.

... In the 4th century, the problem of bondage was actively discussed among Christian theologians. So the Cappadocians - Basil, Archbishop of Caesarea (+379), Gregory of Nazianzus (+389), and later John Chrysostom (+407), relying on the Bible, and perhaps on the teaching of the Stoics about natural law, express an opinion about a paradisiacal reality, where equality reigned, which, due to the fall of Adam ... was replaced by various forms of human dependence. And although these bishops did much to ensure that in Everyday life to alleviate the fate of the slaves, they vigorously opposed the general elimination of slavery, which was important for the economic and social order of the empire.

Theodoret of Cyrus (+466) even argued that slaves have a more secure existence than the father of the family, who is burdened with cares for the family, servants and property. And only Gregory of Nyssa (+395) opposes any form of enslavement of a person, since it not only violates the natural freedom of all people, but also ignores the saving work of the Son of God...

In the West, under the influence of Aristotle, Bishop Ambrose of Milan (+397), justifies legitimate slavery by emphasizing the intellectual superiority of the masters, and advises those who, as a result of war or chance, have unjustly fallen into slavery, use their position to test virtue and faith in God.

Augustine (+430) was also far from challenging the legitimacy of slavery, for God does not free slaves, but makes bad slaves good. He sees the biblical and theological justification for his views in the personal sin of Ham against his father Noah, because of which all mankind is condemned to slavery, but this punishment is also a healing remedy. At the same time, Augustine also refers to the teaching of the Apostle Paul about sin, to which everyone is subject. In the 19th book of his treatise “On the City of God”, he draws an ideal image of human coexistence in the family and the state, where slavery takes its place and corresponds to the plan of God’s creation, earthly order and the natural difference between people”(Theologische Realenzyklopaedie. Band 31. Berlin - New-York, 2000. S. 379-380).

See more: Lopukhin A.P.. Biblical history of the New Testament. Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, 1998. S. 707-708.

A Patristic Greek Lexicon edited by G. W. H. Lampe. Oxford University Press, 1989. P. 385.

Langscheidts Taschenwoerterbuch Altgrieschisch. Berlin-Muenchen-Zuerich, 1976. S. 119.

The Greek of the New Testament used another word for slave, oiketes (Phil. 10-18), even more ambiguous than doulos. This is a slave, household, servant, worker. (Nikodim, Bishop of Dalmatia-Istria. Decree. Op. P. 165-167.)

For the Slavs, the origin of the Latin word sclavus is not without interest, from which - German. Sklave, English. Slave, fr. Esclave. It arose from the tribal name of the Slavs (ethnonym), and was then used in Latin to refer to slaves or slaves. (Lexikon fuer Theologie und Kirche, op. cit. p. 656).

Let's give some examples.

"Daniel, servant of the living God!" (Dan. 6:20).

"O Daniel, servant of the living God!" (Dan. 6, 20). Servant - servant, servant, servant (Muller V.K. English-Russian Dictionary. M., 1971. S. 687)

"Daniel, du Diener des lebendigen Gottes" (Dan. 6.21). Diener - servant, servant (Langenscheidts Grosswoerterbuch. Deutsch-Russisch. Band 1. Berlin - Muenchen, 1997. S. 408)

"Danielu, slugo zyjacego Boga!" (Dn. 6, 21). Sluga - (bookish) servant. Sluga Bozy - servant of God (Gessen D., Stypula R. Large Polish-Russian Dictionary. Moscow - Warsaw, 1967. S. 978

"James, servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ" (James 1:1).

"James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" (Jas. 1, 1).

"Jakobus, Knecht Gottes und Jesu Christi, des Herrn" (Jak. 1, 1). Knecht - servant, worker. Knecht Gottes - servant of God, servant of God

"Jakub, sluga Boga i Pana Jezusa Chrystusa" (Jk. 1, 1)

"Paul is a servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ" (Tit. 1, 1).

"Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ" (Tit. 1, 1).

"Paulus, Knecht Gottes and Apostel Jesu Christi" (Tit. 1, 1).

"Pawel, sluga Boga I apostol Jezusa Chrystusa" (Tt. 1, 1).

Or a well-known verse from the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary:

"Then Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord" (Luke 1b 38).

"And Mary said, behold the handmaid of the Lord" (Lk. 1, 38). Handmaid - (mouth) servant (Müller V.K. Decree op. C. 352).

"Da sagte Maria: Ich bin die Magd des Herrn" (Lk. 1, 38).

Na to rzekla Maryja: "Oto ja sluzebnica Panska" (Lk. 1, 38). Sluzebnica - servant, maid. (Gessen D., Stypula R. op. op. P. 978)

The Bible, the books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Brussels, 1989, pp. 1286, 1801, 1694,1575.

The Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testament. (King James version). New York, b. R. 2166, (New Test.) 631, 586, 162.

Die Bibel. Einheitsuebersetzung der Heiligen Schrift. Stuttgart, 1999. S. 1004, 1142, 1352, 1334.

Pismo Swiete Starego i Nowego Testamentu. Poznan - Warszawa, 1987. S. 1041, 1372, 1356, 1181.

Note that in the Great Concordance to Luther's Bible, the word Sklave (slave) is used about 60 times, Skavin (slave) - about 10 times, while Knecht (servant) - appears in different meanings and forms of unity. and sets. numbers - about 500 times, and Magd (servant) - about 150 times (Grosse Konkordanz zur Lutherbibel. Stuttgart, 1979. S. 841-844; 975-976; 1301).

In the Symphony for the Old and New Testament in Russian, in which the dictionary entries are not developed in as much detail as in the Concordance, the word slave in various forms is noted in approximately 400 cases, and the words slave, slave - more than 50 times. The words Servant and servant in different case forms and numbers (singular and plural) - about 120 times, maid, servants - about 40 times (Symphony. Old and New Testament. Harvest, 2001. S. 638-641, 642, 643 , 729, 730, 731).

Preobrazhensky A. Etymological dictionary of the Russian language. M., 1910-1914. pp. 169-170. The original Russian form "rob" means a servant, a slave, respectively, a robe - a servant, a slave. (Fasmer M. Etymological dictionary of the Russian language. T. 3. M., 1987. S. 487.)

Lossky V. Dogmatic theology. Theological Works, No. 8. M., 1972. S. 172-173.

Saint John of Damascus. Exact presentation of the Orthodox faith. Book 3. Chapter 21. About ignorance and slavery. Complete collection of creations. T. 1. St. Petersburg: Reprint, 1913. S. 287.

Saint Theophan the Recluse. Interpretation of the Pastoral Epistles of St. apostle Paul. M.: Reprint, 1894. S. 435, 29.

“We choose not between freedom from God and slavery to God, but between slavery to people and slavery to God, between people and God. Moreover: not even about yourself, but about others, it is more important to learn to say: "God's servant." Whoever sees in another a servant of God, he will not command his neighbor as his slave, judge him as his own serf, rage at him as at his servant. “Who are you, condemning another's slave? Before his Lord he stands or falls. And he will be raised up: for God is able to raise him up” (Rom 14:4).

To say "servant of God" means to humiliate not one's neighbor before oneself, but oneself before one's neighbor, means to renounce the rights to another, to respect his autonomy, to communicate with him only through God. When we get used to the position of slaves, then we can begin the ascent to the position of a mercenary - and after that, to the sonship of God. But the feeling of being a servant of God will not disappear.

Message from Luke

The path of the Christian is the path from God's servant to God's sonship. The slave has no will of his own. he gives it to the Lord. But this must be done voluntarily, as Christ gave His will to the Father. “Luke 22:42 saying: Father! Oh, that You would deign to carry this cup past Me! however, not my will, but yours be done.”
But son God's man he cannot become of his own free will, but the Heavenly Father recognizes him as such.

Jesus said I no longer call you slaves.

But, if you look at where ALL the Apostles began their epistles, you will see that to give oneself into “slavery” to the teachings of Christ is the greatest HONOR.
The apostles also call believers SAINTS, all in the general mass, try to find where SOMEONE PERSONALLY CALLED SAINTS in the New Testament during their lifetime.

Therefore, the experiences of the topikstarter about who he is “son” or “slave” are understandable, this is infantile.

Why do we call ourselves servants of God? Not children, not disciples, but slaves? Actually, we should call ourselves both children, and disciples, and servants of God. If we truly give our heart to Him, then we become all of the above. Using these words familiar to all of us, God is trying to convey to us the whole figurative meaning (all its nuances) of what the relationship between Him and us is. Therefore, we must concentrate not on the words themselves, but on their inner meaning.

Student - learning (comprehending)
Slave - performs (performing)
Child - inherits the father's fortune (inheriting)

And all this is impossible to separate, because how can you, for example, be a good slave if you do not learn to serve the master? Or how can you become a real child of God if you are unwilling to learn from Him what it means to be His child or unwilling to do what you are taught?

Why is an Orthodox “servant of God” and a Catholic “son of God”?

Why is an Orthodox “servant of God” and a Catholic “son of God”?

Question: Why in Orthodoxy the parishioners are called "God's servant" and in Catholicism "God's son"?

Answer: This statement is not true. Catholics in their prayers also refer to themselves as servants of God. Let us turn to the main service of Catholics - the Mass. “The priest, having removed the cover from the bowl, raises bread on a diskos, saying: Receive, Holy Father, Almighty Eternal God, this immaculate sacrifice, which I, Your unworthy servant, offer to Thee, my living and true God, for my countless sins, insults and negligence of mine , and for all those present here, and for all faithful Christians living and dead. With the beginning of the Eucharistic Prayer (I), the priest asks for the living: “Remember, Lord, Thy servants and handmaids…. all those present whose faith is known to You and whose piety is known to You…” During the canon of the Liturgy, the priest says: “Therefore we, Lord, are Your servants.

Some words in the Church become so familiar that you often forget what they mean. So it is with the expression "Servant of God." It turns out that it cuts the ear for many. One woman asked me just like that: “Why do you call people servants of God at divine services. Are you humiliating them?"

I must admit that I couldn’t immediately find what to answer her, and I decided first to figure it out myself and look in the literature why such a phrase was established in the Christian East.

But first, let's look at what slavery looked like in the ancient world, say, among the Romans, so that we have something to compare.

In ancient times, a slave stood close to his master, was his household, and sometimes an adviser and friend. The slaves who spun, wove, and ground grain near the mistress shared their occupations with her. There was no abyss between masters and subordinates.

But over time, things have changed. Roman law began to consider slaves not as persons (personae), but as things.

All messages When comparing some verses from the Russian and English Bibles, I realized that in the English Bible, unlike the Russian Bible, they try to avoid the word SLAVED, replacing it with the word SERVANT only in order to fulfill TOLERANCE, despite the fact that that violates the Christian meaning of the word. So in Russia there are believers who are offended by the Word of God and they are looking for a replacement for it according to their human concepts.

On the concept of "slave" in Orthodox Christianity

Dear Sergei Nikolaevich!

I have been reading your books for 20 years, starting with the first. I enjoy watching your recordings. It helps a lot to better understand ourselves and the situation in which we find ourselves.

You rightly criticize Orthodoxy and Christianity in its present guise. But at the same time, you make, it seems to me, annoying mistakes that make the value of your criticism less than it is worth.

I offer two comments and I hope that you will take them into account, and your work for the benefit of mankind will become even better.

The concept of "slave" in Christianity.

You say that "God's servant" is a wrong expression, and you explain that God is in us. Therefore, we cannot be slaves of God, that this understanding of ourselves as a slave assumes that there is no god in us. The idea is clear, isn't it? Then why is this expression so common among us? Is it possible that everyone who says and said so is mistaken and mistaken?

Egor Koshenkov

It seems to me that these are stages of spiritual ascent. In the beginning we are slaves, i.e. a person takes on the yoke of heaven, being unable to understand the Higher will on his own. Then, as a person grows spiritually, he himself comprehends the will of Heaven and acts on the basis of the thought of the Highest, thereby becoming a son, that is, a conscious person.

Evgeny Obukhov

Yes, Yegor, the way out of spiritual slavery is hard. The steps are not easy, and everyone goes through them independently. There is such a thing as obedience. They even say: “Obedience is more important than fasting and prayer.” Yes, but sometimes they forget to explain to whom obedience, to God, or to the church priest?

I do not believe in the "yoke of heaven." And it is not “obedience” to whom it is not clear, but Hearing the Will of God and not only Hearing, but also the fullness of the work according to the Will of the Most High on earth…. If you start with a yoke, then you can go nowhere further than slavery.

On the meaning of the concept "Servant of God"

Throughout the 2,000 year history of the Church, Christians have referred to themselves as "God's servants." There are many parables in the Gospel where Christ calls His followers this way, and they themselves are not in the least indignant at such a humiliating name. So why does the religion of love preach slavery?

Letter to the editor

Hello! I have a question that makes it hard for me to accept Orthodox Church. Why do Orthodox people call themselves "God's servants"? How can a normal, sane person be so humiliated, consider himself a slave? And how do you order to treat God, who needs slaves? From history we know what disgusting forms slavery took, how much cruelty, meanness, bestial attitude towards people, for whom no one recognized any rights, any dignity. I understand that Christianity originated in a slave-owning society and naturally inherited all of its "attributes".

If we consider such a question from the standpoint of the 21st century and from the Roman-Greek culture, then the entire text of Scripture looks indigestible.
Well, if you try to switch to Jewish positions, and their culture at the time of writing these texts, then many question marks removed from the agenda.
The word "slave" in Judaism of that time, in relation to his fellows, is not the same as a Roman slave.
He did not lose any civil, religious, and other rights of members of the Jewish society.
The same applies to how the Lord addresses his creation.
David calls himself a servant of God, although the Creator calls him a son:
7 I will proclaim the decree: The Lord said to me: You are my Son; I have now begotten you; (Ps. 2:7)
So there is no contradiction in these words.
There is only a problem in how a person considers himself, in relation to the One Who gives him the breath of life.
If a person says that he is the son of God in order to glorify Him, then there is no problem.

I thought, why calling ourselves “servants of God”, in the prayer “Our Father”, we turn to God as to the Father?

Strange? So we are the slaves of the master of the world — God, or are we still His…children, in the sacred reality of the Lord's Prayer?

Ecology of knowledge: Many even sincerely believing Christians are sometimes jarred by the word "slave", which they call them in the church. Someone does not pay attention to this, others consider it a reason to get rid of pride, others ask questions to the priests. What does this concept really mean?

Green willow over the swamp

A rope is tied to the willow,

Rope morning and evening

A learned boar walks in a circle.

(translation into Russian of the Polish version of the poem by A.S. Pushkin “At the Lukomorye there is a green oak ...”)

Many even sincerely believing Christians are sometimes jarred by the word "slave", which they call them in the church. Someone does not pay attention to this, others consider it a reason to get rid of pride, others ask questions to the priests. What does this concept really mean? Maybe there is nothing offensive in it at all?

About the meaning of the word "slave"

Of course, the Bible was written at a time when the language and meanings of words were completely different, and besides, it was translated many times from one language to another. It is not surprising if the meaning of the texts has been distorted beyond recognition. Maybe the word "slave" had a completely different meaning?

According to the Church Slavonic Dictionary of Prot. G. Dyachenko the concept of "slave" has several meanings: inhabitant, inhabitant, servant, slave, slave, son, daughter, boy, young man, young slave, servant, student. Thus, this interpretation alone gives hope to the “servants of God” in preserving human dignity in their Christian virtue: after all, they are also a son or daughter, and a disciple, and simply an inhabitant of the world created by God.

Let us also recall the social structure of those times: the slaves and children of the owner of the house lived, by and large, in equal conditions. The children also could not argue with their father in anything, while the slaves were, in fact, members of the family. The student was in the same position if the master of some craft took him into service.

Or maybe "rob"?

According to Agafya Logofetova, referring to Vasmer's etymological dictionary, the word "slave" is borrowed from Church Slavonic and in Old Russian it had the form “robe”, “robya”, from which the plural form “robyata” is still found in some dialects. In the future, the root "rob" turned into "reb", from where the modern "child", "guys", etc. came from.

Thus, again, we return to the fact that an orthodox Christian is a child of God, and not a slave in the modern sense of the word.

Or "raab"?

The already mentioned Dyachenko dictionary includes another meaning: “Raab or slave is the name of Jewish teachers, the same as a rabbi.” "Rabbi" comes from the Hebrew "rabbi", which, according to Collier's dictionary, means "my master" or "my teacher" (from "rab" - "great", "lord" - and the pronominal suffix "-and" - " my").

Unexpected rise, right? Perhaps the "servant of God" is a teacher, a bearer of spiritual knowledge, called to convey it to people? In this case, it remains only to agree with the phrase of Hieromonk Job, in the world of Athanasius Gumerov (said, however, initially in a slightly different context): “The right to be called a servant of God must be earned.”

Modern language

One thing is certain: the way of life and the mentality of the people of that time was too different from ours. The language was different, of course. Therefore, it was not a moral problem for a Christian of that era to call himself a “servant of God,” nor was it an exercise in getting rid of the sin of pride.

Sometimes parishioners on the forums suggest: "... if the Bible has been translated many times, and the meaning of the word "slave" has changed during this time, why not replace it with a more appropriate value?" For example, such an option as “servant” was voiced. But, in my opinion, the word "son" or "daughter" or "disciple of God" is much better suited. In addition, according to the Church Slavonic dictionary, these are also the meanings of the word "slave".

instead of a conclusion. A bit of humor about the metamorphoses of concepts

The young monk was given the task of helping the rest of the ministers of the church rewrite sacred texts. After working like this for a week, the newcomer noticed that copying was not done from the original, but from another copy. He expressed his surprise to the father rector: “Padre, if someone made a mistake, it will be repeated after that in all copies!”. The abbot, thinking, went down to the dungeons where the primary sources were kept and ... disappeared. When almost a day had passed since his disappearance, the worried monks went down after him. They found him right away: he was banging his head against the sharp stones of the walls and shouting insanely: “Celebrate!! The word was “celebrate”! Not “celibate”!”.

(Note: celebrate (eng.) - celebrate, glorify, glorify; celibate (eng.) - vowed celibacy; celibacy) published