Freedom from passions. Servant of God - who is he? Who is a servant of God
Sergey Khudiev
Once there was a story on the Internet from a man who was in Athens and discovered that in the Greek Church parishioners are called “children of God” and not “servants of God”, as in the Russian Church. From here, profound conclusions were drawn about the difference in the mentalities of Russian and Greek churchmen. Of course, this incident itself is a pure misunderstanding; if this person were familiar with the New Testament, he would know that in it the apostles call Christians both servants and children of God, just as both terms are present in both Greek and Greek worship. and the Russian Orthodox Churches.
When I call myself a “slave of Jesus Christ,” I experience some trepidation - this is how the holy Apostle Paul, the holy Apostle Peter, other apostles of Christ, the Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer and many other martyrs, saints, ascetics, fathers and teachers of the Church called themselves.
To stand in this row and say: I, too, like these people, am a “slave of Jesus Christ” would be inappropriate insolence. “The Apostle Paul and I are slaves of Jesus Christ!” But I decide to do this only because Scripture calls all Christians slaves of Jesus Christ. This precious title was bestowed on me in Baptism, and I wear it - not with pride, I did not deserve it and could not - but with amazement that I was given such a great honor.
Moreover, in the Bible Jesus himself is called a servant of God: “Behold, My servant will prosper, and will be exalted and exalted and exalted” (Isa. 52:13).
But the modern world fiercely demands equality
But the very calling of Christians “servants of God” for non-church people serves as some kind of hesitation. This is understandable - the word "slave" in modern language wears sharply negative character. A slave is someone who is perceived as a thing, a "talking tool", whose desires, interests or human dignity are of no interest to anyone. Someone who can be exploited, mistreated - even killed - with impunity. The very institution of slavery is abhorrent, and everyone agrees that it should be eradicated and persecuted.
It's clear; people are sinners, and this manifests itself more noticeably the more power a person has over others. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. The tyrant boss is forced to restrain himself, because there are other employers in the world to which employees can eventually leave. But in a situation where it is impossible to leave, there is no one to complain to, and only such a weak deterrent remains that slaves are still valuable property, human sin comes out in all its naked ugliness.
It is scary to find yourself in the complete, undivided power of your neighbor - because you cannot rely on his good will. This is why we are frightened and outraged by slavery.
We fear and mistrust each other - and with good reason.
The modern world fiercely demands equality - because anyone with a higher status is sure to use it to oppress and oppress his fellow men. Equality, of course, is unattainable - in any corporation, society, state, hierarchies are immediately built, without this it is impossible - but at least one should strive for it.
It is impossible to do without the power of some people over others - but, at the very least, it must be surrounded by checks and balances, laws and job descriptions, so that this power is as far from absolute as possible. The price of freedom is constant vigilance. If you gape, your neighbors will immediately hang a yoke on you.
Not base servility, but heartfelt devotion
But we also know glimpses of some other world. In our world there is not only exploitation - and furious attempts to avoid this exploitation. There is love in our world. As the bride says in the Song of Songs, “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine” (Song of Songs 6:3). Belonging to another person is not always a source of threat. Sometimes - as for lovers - it is a source of deep joy, happiness, fullness of life. The child is at the mercy of his parents - and this (except for a small number of tragic cases) is good and correct, he is loved and cared for.
We cannot imagine a relationship of trust and devotion between servant and master, master and slaves - but this sometimes happened. As, for example, it is narrated in the book of Genesis, “When Abram heard that his relative was taken captive, he armed his servants who were born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued [the enemies] as far as Dan” (Gen. 14:14). Abram armed his slaves, being confident that they would not turn their weapons against him, would not run away, but would fight and put their lives in danger for their master - and this is fully justified.
This happened - not low servility, but heartfelt devotion; not lordly tyranny - but fatherly care. Alas, not too often - we live in a fallen world. But the word “slave” itself could mean something else - and evoke a completely different chain of associations than ours.
It could be an expression of gratitude and devotion - the ruler amazed the people with his magnanimous benefits, and they recognized themselves as his slaves. It could be an expression of belonging - just as people today feel strongly about their belonging to a nationality, to a party or to a country.
Devotion to the individual has almost disappeared from our world. But in the ancient world (as in the medieval world) everyone understood what was going on. A medieval king might exclaim in the thick of battle: “Those who love me are behind me!” - and they followed him.
The word "slave" could mean complete trust - "I belong to you."
The Lord of the Universe took the form of a slave
And in the Christian context, among the apostles, among the holy fathers, “servant of God” is a very warm word. God in Jesus Christ became man, died and rose again, and gave us eternal and blessed life. Now we, the servants of God, belong to Him, we live in His house, hallelujah!
He who possesses absolute power became man and suffered torture and death at the hands of His rebellious creatures for the sake of their salvation.
“Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that those who are considered princes of the nations rule over them, and their nobles rule over them. But let it not be like this among you: but whoever wants to be great among you, let us be your servant; and whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave to all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:42-45).
God gave Himself completely to creation - the Lord of the universe took on the form of a slave in order to raise fallen people to Himself. Faith responds with grateful devotion - now we belong to You. We are God's servants.
04:17 pm - Servant of God or Son of God!? Experience of building Russian Theology of Liberation Part IOriginal taken from iov75 in Servant of God or Son of God!? Experience of building Russian Theology of Liberation Part I
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I. Kramskoy. Christ in the desert. Painting 1872 Oh yeah.
I thought, why, calling ourselves “servants of God,” in the prayer “Our Father,” do we address God as Father?
Strange? So are we slaves of the owner of the world - God, or are we still His...children, in the sacred reality of the Lord's Prayer?
IN ancient Church“already Clement of Alexandria (+215), under the influence of the ideas of the Stoics about universal equality, believed that according to 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 about the equality of all people, demanded that Christian communities recognize marriage among slaves. And the Roman Bishop Calistus the First (+222), who himself came from the class of unfree people, even recognized relationships between high-ranking women - Christians and slaves, freedmen and freeborns as full-fledged marriages. In the Christian environment, since the time of the primacy of the Church, the emancipation of slaves has been practiced, as is clear from the admonition of Ignatius of Antioch (+107) to Christians not to abuse freedom for unworthy purposes.
However, legal and social foundations the division between freemen and slaves remains unshakable. Constantine the Great (+337) does not violate them either, who, undoubtedly, under the influence of Christianity, gives bishops the right to free slaves through the so-called announcement in the church (manumissio in ecclesia) and publishes a number of laws easing the lot of slaves.
In the 4th century, the issue 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 the heavenly reality, where equality reigned, which, as a result of the Fall of Adam... was replaced various forms human addiction. And although these bishops did a lot to ensure that Everyday life to alleviate the lot of slaves, they energetically opposed the general abolition of slavery, which was important for the economic and social structure of the empire.
Theodoret of Cyrus (+466) even argued that slaves have a more guaranteed existence than the father of the family, who is burdened with worries about his family, servants and property. And only Gregory of Nyssa (+395) opposes any form of human enslavement, since it not only tramples 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 accident, are unjustly enslaved, to use their positions to test virtue and faith in God.
Augustine (+430) was also far from the idea of 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 Ham’s personal sin against his father Noah, because of which all of humanity was 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 state, where slavery takes its place and corresponds to the plan of God’s creation, earthly order and natural difference between people" (Theologische Realenzyklopaedie. Band 31. Berlin - New-York, 2000. S. 379-380).
“Slavery appears with the development Agriculture approximately 10,000 years ago. People began to use captives in agricultural work and forced them to work for themselves. In early civilizations, captives long remained the main source of slavery. Another source was criminals or people who could not pay their debts.
Slaves as a lower class were first reported in the written records of the Sumerian civilization and Mesopotamia 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 is a demand for labor, which could produce goods for export. And therefore slavery reached its peak in 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 household as servants, and sometimes as doctors or poets. Around 400 BC. slaves made up a third of the population of Athens. In Rome, slavery became so widespread that even simple people had slaves.
IN 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 it” (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. pp. 35-51).
What does the concept of Servant of God mean in Orthodoxy?
What is the meaning of the concept “Servant of God” in Christianity? Why do they say the servant of God, as the church explains, “Slavery” to the Lord three meanings of the concept Servant of God
What is the meaning of the concept “Servant of God” in Christianity?
In Christian culture, there are a large number of traditions and rituals that we encounter quite often, and they do not cause us bewilderment.
The same applies to special biblical phrases that have become firmly entrenched in our lives and have become so commonplace for us that we don’t even know what they really mean. That is why there are diverse opinions regarding the interpretation and use of such a church phrase as “servant of God.”
Many people think that such treatment is humiliating for a person. However, you should not immediately think that this is so. First, we need to study this phrase in more detail and understand why believers are called God’s servants.
Why do they say servant of God
To understand the true meaning of these words, it is necessary to abstract from other areas of life where the word slave is used, then misunderstandings and empty insults will not arise, since in religion the meaning of this phrase is completely different. Our spiritual thinking should not depend on the ordinary understanding of the word "slave".
Because the most important desire of the Almighty is for every person to achieve eternal existence. In the case when people are mired in sins, they are simply obliged not only to believe in the Lord, but also to unquestioningly and humbly submit to the Almighty good will.
Indeed, the Bible itself says about such people that in cases where they decided to change their lives and stopped committing sins and got rid of unclean thoughts and decided to follow the good command of the Almighty, then such people are called “servants of God.” In church usage, this phrase denotes an honorary title.
There are a couple of interpretations of the phrase servant of God or servant of God:
Among the Jews, the phrase “slave” was not used at all as something offensive. This word was simply used to describe hard workers.
The main desire of the Almighty is to give people various gifts and show us the way to the ideal. Therefore, humbly following the good intentions of the Almighty has nothing offensive.
The sensual connotation of this phrase is designed to draw our attention to how we trust the Almighty and how faithful we are to Him. You must not only turn to the Lord with a request for help in difficult situations, but also thank him for all the blessings that you have.
It is also necessary to mention characteristic features the era in which there was a slave system. There were only slaves and their owners. However, in this situation, "slave" does not imply a person without rights.
But the question arises: why exactly the servant of God, and not the servant of the Lord? It is believed that the relationship between the Almighty and people includes three stages of relationship: slave, worker and youth. This division is mentioned in the legend of the wandering youth.
As the church explains
Most reverend fathers believe that the second phrase in the phrase “servant of God” should be emphasized. In the case when you belong to the Almighty, this means that you cannot belong to anyone else.
Belonging to the Lord is a unique freedom. Being a “slave” of God is considered greater freedom than being a slave to your preferences and patterns.
Therefore, there is no need to try to find a relationship between the interpretation of this concept in worldly life and in spiritual life. After all, the main thing in Christianity is faith in the Almighty and adherence to the canons of God.
"Slavery" to the Lord
Belonging to the Lord in a general understanding means humble submission to the Almighty and is contrasted with another understanding as belonging to sinful behavior.
However, in a more specialized interpretation, this means voluntarily following the Lord’s will while suppressing one’s own based on fear of retribution; this is considered the first stage of a relationship with the Lord (the second and third are the mercenary and the youth).
Priests divide the relationship with the Lord into three stages:
The first is the slave who follows God because of fear of retribution;
a worker who obeys for money;
and the boy who submits out of love for the Father.
It is the son stage that is considered the highest stage of development of relations with the Lord. As St. John the Theologian said: “Love excludes fear, and ideal love eliminates fear, because in fear there is suffering. He who is afraid does not know perfect love."
I AM THE SON OF GOD! I AM NOT A SLAVE!
How is the temple of God compatible with idols?
For you are the temple of the living God, as God said:
"I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will
Their God and they will be my people.
Therefore, come out from among them and be separate,
says the Lord, and do not touch
unclean; and I will receive you. And I will to you
Father and you will be My sons and
daughters, says the Lord Almighty"
Now the time has come for this book to appear. I wrote it for those people who are tired of lies, who want to hear not the truth, but the truth. The truth is different for everyone, but the truth is the same for everyone. I am writing what has accumulated in my soul in the short period of time that I managed to live. I don’t consider myself a writer, so I’ll try to present my thoughts as accessible and simple as possible. spoken language which is used by ordinary people. I will decipher difficult terms and complex names so that both an engineer and a housewife can understand them. Simply put, you won’t find anything difficult to understand here. But a lot will have to be comprehended, and some will even have to reconsider their views on their lives. Seeing the truth is much more bitter and it is difficult to realize that for so many years you have been fed slop, seasoned with religion and ideology. Eastern sages they say that we live in a world of illusions that we have invented for ourselves. We didn’t even invent it for ourselves, but other people who consider themselves gods came up with it for us. I think that this book will make your life happier, more interesting, richer spiritually and materially. Therefore, with God!
As a seer, I will try to show how we mostly live. Clear vision is seeing the truth without lies, as everything really is. We do not live, but exist. Knowledge limits our mind and our life. What is real for us is only what we can see and touch, and we are not given anything further than our nose. We limit our world to fragmentary knowledge received from other people, we limit ourselves to scientific data, to the material world. After all, our life can be expressed in one line: home - work - sleep. Now many people are trying to take care of themselves and their soul, but there are still very few such people. Rare people, in addition to this, do something else useful for themselves, their spiritual development. But still, most of them remain slaves to their knowledge, invested in them by other people. We have been raised as slaves for centuries. In the church they call me a servant, albeit God's. At home I am a slave to my wife and children. At work I am a slave to my boss. At school, he is a slave to the teachers. Not all of us understand the word “slave”; it is understood by the beautifully formulated expression “you must, you are needed, you are obliged.” The priests say and write that the word slave comes from the word worker of God. When Adam and Eve sinned, God exiled them to earth, cursed them and said that by the sweat of our brow we would earn our daily bread. “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in sorrow you will eat of it all the days of your life.... by the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground from which you were taken, for dust you are and to dust you will return”? But why not a worker of God? Everyone needed me as a slave, and when I tried to become at least a little myself, to do what I needed, what my soul desired, I was immediately put in my place. In place of an obedient slave who should not and has no right to have his own thoughts and views on his personal life. I had to live in a world that was invented for me first by the communists, then by the democrats, before that by the kings and, as Christ says, by the Pharisees and scribes. We still live in a time when other people think for us and decide for us: bosses, party workers, parents, neighbors. Therefore, many people still do not have their own thoughts, not to mention their own outlook on life. For your own thoughts common man they can be put in prison, deprived of bonuses, excommunicated from a profitable position, or even simply killed, as happens with honest people. As soon as we began to get rid of fear, after Stalin's repressions. Only, only, we began to breathe and think more or less freely, to live as we want. Only there are still many Stalinist shepherd dogs left who would sell both a friend and a brother for a piece of “bread” or a warm place. They are slaves, they don’t know how to build their lives, they want to be given an apartment, doctors to treat them for free, their parents to feed them while they run around discos. It’s easier and more profitable, you don’t have to answer for anything. A slave is not responsible for anything other than performing his duties. Therefore, he is deaf and blind and cannot make any important decisions, even for himself. Everything was decided for him. He is not to blame for anything, no matter what happens in his life. Blame: the Tsar, Lenin, Stalin, mom and dad, neighbors, bosses, and so on. I’ll try to tell you a little about our dissolute dark life using my own example. Everyone is to blame, there are only enemies around. Not life, but the struggle for survival, for a piece of bread, for love... you can continue it yourself. All this is covered with the words art, culture, idea. Whose culture? Whose art? Whose ideas should we implement? We smile politely, speak politely to each other, but we ourselves are ready to tear each other apart, curse, and destroy each other for the best piece of bread. They are restrained only by laws given by the authorities, and not from above. That we are dumber than animals, that we ourselves cannot figure out what we need, how we want to live? We were originally born idiots, although the Bible says that God created man in his own image and likeness. Then the question arises, since we are created in the image and likeness of God, why from childhood they try to turn us into stupid and blind slaves who do not have their own mind?
I was born into a simple working-class family. Father and mother worked at the factory from morning to evening, so they had very little time left to raise their children. There were almost no kindergartens or nurseries at that time, so I received my main education on the street. This is where there was real freedom for children. We were left, albeit temporarily, to ourselves. What we can only dream about now. It is not for nothing that the New Testament says that we should become like little children, and the kingdom of God will be revealed to us. On the street and in courtyard groups, sincerity was always valued, but for deception and cunning they could be severely punished, even beaten. Children are always honest, they will call a greedy person a greedy person, a suck-up - a sycophant. Everyone could quickly be given a nickname or nickname, which could then stick for the rest of their lives if they did not try to change their attitude towards themselves and life. Those who remained slaves were severely beaten there, and they gathered in flocks, or each began to look for his own path, his own destiny. From childhood they knew who they would be and what they wanted in life, but such people are in the minority. Those who remained in the pack later in life tried to hide in the crowd and not stick out, and this crowd even in our time tries to determine our life, the life of the majority. This is the path of the Bolsheviks, which led us to the final moral decline. Those who found their way and their place in life boldly moved on. It’s the same for me, living in a crowd like everyone else seemed safer, and my parents always taught me to keep my head down. Therefore, my life flowed like most: school, army, work, family. Like everyone else, I was raised in the spirit of atheism: an October child, a Komsomol member, a communist. We were always taught to think about the Motherland, parents, wife, children, and then about ourselves. They brought us up, taught us to be needed, no matter who, but not ourselves. We were taught and raised to be cogs in society, cannon fodder during the war, work animals for the more cunning and intelligent. But there was practically no time left to think about ourselves, except perhaps over a glass of beer or a bottle of vodka, when we, poor and unfortunate, opened our souls to each other. Therefore, by the age of 40, I had six chronic diseases. I was fired from my job due to health reasons and was offered group III disability. With this money I could not support my family, even myself, so I unwittingly became a parasite of my family. The attitude of all family members towards me changed dramatically. Now they had to feed and water me. I found myself on the sidelines of life and lost the respect of my children and relatives. It’s good that by this time “perestroika” had begun, and I went into business. Five years of hellish work in conditions of fierce competition and complete chaos completely undermined my health. But this time was the most productive in my life in the sense that I had to think for myself and solve the most important problems for me, and not only that, since a team, albeit a small one, had gathered under my leadership. We had a cooperative, and it was joint thinking that ultimately led to discord in the team and the ruin of the enterprise. After the bankruptcy, after analyzing the situation, I finally realized that important issues need to be decided not collectively, but only personally, since in the team no one is responsible for anything except the workers, because we left them unemployed, and they then reproached me for a long time this.
The naming of believers as servants of God dates back to the time of the exodus from Egypt. In Leviticus 25:55 the Lord says of the children of Israel: “They are my servants, whom I brought up out of the land of Egypt.” Here we are talking not only about dependence on God, but also about liberation from human slavery: they were slaves of the Egyptians - now only My slaves. The prophet Nehemiah calls the Israelites servants of God in his prayer (Neh. 1:10), which again is dedicated to liberation - this time from the Babylonian captivity. Prophets are also called servants of God (2 Kings 24:2), and from the context it is clear that this emphasizes their independence from secular authority. The psalmist repeatedly calls himself a servant of God (Ps. 116:7, 118, 134). In the book of the prophet Isaiah, the Lord says to Israel: “You are My servant. I have chosen you and will not reject you” (Isaiah 41:9).
The apostles call themselves servants of God (or servants of Christ) (Rom. 1:1, 2 Peter 1:1, James 1:1, Jude 1:1), and this sounds like an honorary title, a sign of election and apostolic authority. The Apostle Paul calls all Christian believers servants of God. Christians have been “freed from sin and become slaves of God” (Rom. 6:22), with “freedom of glory” (Rom. 8:21) and “eternal life” (Rom. 6:22) awaiting them. For the Apostle Paul, slavery to God is synonymous with liberation from the power of sin and death.
We often perceive the phrase “servant of God” as a sign of exaggerated self-deprecation, although it is easy to see that this very aspect is absent from biblical usage. What's the matter? The fact is that in the old days, when this terminology arose, the word “slave” simply did not have the negative connotation that it has acquired over the last 2-3 centuries. The slave-master relationship was mutual. The slave was not free and was completely dependent on the will of the owner, but the owner was obliged to support, feed, and clothe him. For a good owner, the fate of a slave was quite decent - the slave felt safe and was provided with everything necessary for life. God is a good master and a powerful master. Calling a person a servant of God is precise definition his actual position, and does not at all mean artificial self-deprecation, as many people think.
Indeed, a slave is simply a worker who cannot change his owner and is completely dependent on him. For a slave, the master is a king and a god; he judges the slave at his own discretion and is free to reward or punish. The relationship between slave and master is eternal, unchangeable and unconditional. A slave must love his master simply because this is the only reasonable option for him. Not loving your master and not trying for him for a slave is stupid and pointless. We have approximately the same degree of freedom. Since we live in a world created by God and are forced to put up with the laws and restrictions appointed by Him, then we are slaves of this world and slaves of the owner of this world, i.e. God. We are completely dependent on him and cannot change the owner in any way. He is free to punish or reward us, and no law is written to Him. Therefore, we are God’s servants, and there is nothing particularly new in this for us. In any case, we are His slaves, but we can choose how we treat our master and how conscientiously we do our work.
The modern expression “slave labor,” which has a negative connotation, does not at all reflect the point of view of those times when slavery was a common everyday phenomenon, and slaves could be used in any job. In the well-known Gospel parable of the talents (Matthew 25: 14-30), three slaves receive a very significant amount of money for a year: one - 5 talents, another - two, and the third - one. The first and second slaves double their amount, and the owner, returning, praises them and gives them what they earned. The third slave, who buried his talent and returned to the owner only what he received, will be punished for laziness. Here it is worth paying attention to the following: (1) slaves receive huge amounts of money at their full disposal for a long period of time: (talent is about 40 kg of silver); (2) slaves are expected to have initiative and intelligence very similar to what is required of today's businessmen; (3) the owner rewards and punishes slaves at his own discretion - that’s why he is the owner. The incredible amounts of money entrusted to the slaves indicate the allegorical nature of the parable, which is an accurate illustration of our relationship with God. We also receive very valuable gifts for temporary use (primarily our own life), i.e. We dispose of enormous values that do not belong to us. We are expected to take creative initiative in the wise management of what is entrusted to us. God, our master, will judge us according to his master's will.
The solution to the problem is not to come to terms with the “unpleasant” title “servant of God” and perceive it as a sign of increased humility, but to think carefully and understand that this title expresses the actual essence of the real relationship of any person with God.
It is interesting that if Russian Orthodox Christians call themselves “servant of God”, “servant of God”, then European Christians prefer to use self-designations that are more pleasant to the modern ear, which are essentially less accurate. English-speaking Orthodox Christians, for example, call themselves “servant of the Lord” and “handmaid of the Lord.” This sounds more pleasant, but a servant or maid can change his master, but a slave cannot. But we obviously cannot change God, since there is simply no other.
Reviews
Servant of God... Who can be called that, if this phrase has a certain meaning - unquestioning submission to the will of the Lord, which means life in Christ: life without sins, in love for one's neighbor? Even holy people considered themselves sinners, therefore, in an ideal understanding, one cannot call anyone on Earth a servant of God. Or all people, as part of this world that God created, are His slaves, some of whom are closer to Him, say, by one percent, and others by ninety-nine. Or maybe a servant of God is one who, being a great sinner, realized his sinfulness and, stumbling and falling, slowly approaches the Almighty?
Among Orthodox Christians there are a lot of people who are similar to the Pharisees, there are those who come to church by chance, and those who read the Bible, attend church, confess, but steal every day and become a multimillionaire. How to be? Should they also be considered servants of God just because they once underwent the rite of baptism? Or maybe the true servant of God is Solzhenitsyn’s superstitious pagan Matryona, who “had fewer sins than a cat”? A pagan, but “a righteous man, without whom neither a village, nor a city, nor our whole land stands.”