On the question of the relationship of the conscience and free will

Abstract

The article talks about two related questions, whose key point is the fact that there exists a conscience within the framework of an individual’s free will. The first problem rises because of the fact that the conscience, although it be part of the human constitution, according to the opinion of Blessed Jerome of Strido and Macarius the Great, rises over all the other powers of the soul, controlling and directing the person. Moreover, often the conscience is understood to be an external unquestionable witness, the commanding tone of whose imperative is perceived as a infringement of free will. At the same time, restraining the person from that which is bad, the conscience in in accordance with true freedom, as a life in harmony with the logos of existence, which, according to St. Maximus the Confessor, exists and existed eternally in God. The second problem arises in connection with the possibility of man’s being able to choose a life in contrast to that which is witnessed for by the soul, to ignore it’s precepts and even render it utterly mute. The extant consensus partum, according to which the conscience is indestructible and always suggests good, is contrasted with the fact that there exist contradicting moral norms in various non-Christian cultures. From this the conclusion is made, that it is necessary to cleanse the soul in baptism and at the same time that is dependent of the external surrounding, which might influence its behavior to make mistakes, take what is bad for what is good inadvertently.