Two preachings on Lazarus Saturday: The moral dimension of friendship according to Saint Justin (Polyansky) and Saint Innocent of Kherson

Abstract

Introduction. The article is devoted to the concept of friendship in Christian ethics. The author analyses the idea of friendship and its moral aspect in two previously underexamined in Russian theology sermons of Saint Justin (Polyansky) and Saint Innocent of Kherson on Lazarus Saturday. Theoretical analysis. The research allows us to make the following conclusions. According to Saint Justin (Polyansky) and Saint Innocent of Kherson, friendship represents: the friendly love of the Lord Jesus Christ for His friends, the ideal of friendship for every Christian in the terms of one’s relations with neighbours; the friendly love of a human for God (sincerity and openness, service), which is impossible without the assistance of Divine grace, and which is rewarded by achieving the Divine friendship in relation to a human (salvation); friendship between a human and God, which is characterized by mutual sincerity and openness, and mutual service; human friendship, which is characterized by mutual sincerity and openness (confession of sins to each other), mutual service of love, patience with shortcomings, and compassion. Conclusion. According to Saint Justin and Saint Innocent, friendship has a moral dimension; it is a part of Christian morality, and the telos of the Christian moral life.