THE FREE CHOICE IN EARLY EASTERN ORTHODOX ANTHROPOLOGY

Wojciech SŁOMSKI

professor, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw, Okopowa 59, 01-043 Warszawa, Poland, e-mail: slomski@autograf.pl, 0048 609 003 199, ORCID: 0000-0003-1532-0341

Abstract

The article examines the theological concepts of free choice in Eastern Orthodox theology (Irenaeus of Lyon, Clement of Alexandria, Didymus the Blind, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, John Chrysostom, Maximus the Confessor, John of Damascus). The Eastern theology has absorbed the rich Hellenistic intellectual tradition in interpreting the conception of free choice (Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Lycurgus, Isocrates, Hippocrates, Demosthenes, Epictetus). The differences between the Eastern Orthodox and Western Christian teachings on the relationship between free will and predestination in the matter of human salvation are revealed. The Orthodox tradition considers free choice not in the context of soteriology, but of anthropology, as an inalienable property of human being that is preserved, despite the original sin. The contradiction between free choice and predestination is resolved through the concept of synergy – the interaction between God’s grace and human free will. At that, in an individual choice in favor of accepting God’s grace and salvation, the entire person participates – reason, will and emotions, which is also peculiar for Orthodox anthropology.

Keywords

Eastern Orthodox anthropology, free choice, free will, predestination, synergy

SUMMARY

Thus, in early Eastern Orthodox theology, the concept of free choice included the will, reason and emotions of man. Free choice was associated not only with the emergence of sin, but also with the possibility of transformation of man by Divine grace, the beginning of virtue. Free choice characterizes man as a moral person, this is a property of God’s image in man. The action of Divine grace and human free will are equivalent in the matter of his salvation. It is important to note that an intellectual element (γνώμη) is introduced into the process of volitional act. Free choice is determined by the judgment that a person forms in relation to the subject of choice. Free choice is always determined by the decision of the mind, and directs the will of man towards either good or evil, either salvation or perdition. 

However, by no way free choice should be identified with this intellectual element (γνώμη). John Chrysostom, Maximus the Confessor and John of Damascus clearly distinguish between these concepts – rational judgment (γνώμη) precedes individual free choice (προαίρεσις), but are not equivalent to it. Unlike Western Christianity, Eastern Orthodox theology interprets free choice and free will as the most important qualities of a person, making him similar to his Creator. Freedom of choice is not abolished by the original sin, although the insufficiency of human will for the salvation of the soul is recognized. The concept of synergy eliminates the contradiction between the corruption of the human will and the grace of God, which man must voluntarily accept.

(Language: english)

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