The Sabbath And Freedom

Τὸ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ εἰρημένον, οὐκ ἔστιν ἁπλοῦν, ἀλλ' ἔχει τινὰ διπλόην τοῖς· παχέσι κεκαλυμμένην, τοῖς δὲ λεπτοῖς γεγυμνωμένην. Ἡ ἡμέρα, φησὶν, ἡ ἐβδόμη, κλητὴ ἁγία ἔσται ὑμῖν. Πᾶν ἔργον λατρευτὸν οὐ ποιήσετε ἐν αὐτῇ, πλὴν ὅσα ποιηθήσεται πάσῃ ψυχῇ. Λατρείαν ἐνταῦθα τὴν δουλείαν καλεῖ. Οὐδὲν οὖν, φησὶ τῶν δουλοπρεπῶν, καὶ οἰονεὶ ἀνδραποδιζόντων ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ τῆς πρὸς Θεὸν σχολῆς, ἐργάσεσθε ἐν Σαββάτῳ, ὃ καταφορτίζει ὑμᾶς βάρει ἁμαρτημάτων· ἀνέσεως γὰρ καὶ ἀφέσεώς ἐστιν ἡ ἡμέρα· κὰι οὐ χρὴ συνδέσμοις κακῶν τὸ ἀξίωμα αὐτῆς ἐνυβρίζεσθαι· τὸ δὲ, ὅσα ποιηθήσεται πάσῃ ψυχῇ, χρῆναι ἐργάζεσθαι, ὅσα τῇ ψυχῇ φέρει τὸ κέρδος, ταῦτα πληροῦν ἐνομοθέτησεν, εὐχὴν, προσευχὴν, ἡσυχίαν, νουθεσίαν, εὐποιίαν, σωφροσύνην, ἐγκράρειαν, ἀλήθειαν, ἀγνείαν, καὶ ὅσα τούτοις ὑπὸ πόδας εἴρηται, ἅπερ εἰς τὸν ἔσθω διαβαίνοντα ἄνθρωπον, τῶν ἔξω ἐλευθεροῖ σκανδάλων καὶ περιστάσεων, ἐκνικῶντος τοῦ κρείττονος Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΟΑ´ Ἡλιωνι Μοναχῳ Source: Migne PG 78.232a-b

That which is spoken of in the Law does not have a single meaning but a twofold one, and the more weighty part is hidden and the lighter is obvious. It says, 'You shall call the seventh day holy and you shall do no servile work on it.' 1 that is, as much as it shall touch any part of the soul. The servile here is what is slavish. Let there be nothing, then, befitting slavishness. And judge this to be whatever enslaves you apart from leisure for God, putting you to work on the Sabbath, burdening you with the weight of sin. For it is a day of leisure and of freedom, and one must not insult the dignity of it by being bound up in evils, but it commands that one should attend to whatever benefits the whole soul completely, that is, preaching, contemplation, exhortation, good deeds, modesty, continence, truth, chastity, and whatever is said below, which things passing into the inner man delivers him from scandals and trials, since what is better prevails. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 71, to Helion the Monk 1 Levit 23.3