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Greek Orthodox Catechism
Constantine Callinicos, London, 1926
Part II. Ethical, 19. The Innate Moral Law
Whence do we receive knowledge of the moral law?
We first receive an elementary knowledge of the moral law from the conscience. We call conscience that innate faculty, through which we are aware of our own moral worth or worthlessness by comparing every act of ours with the sense of right and wrong we naturally bear in the depths of our bosom. To explain: As the religious idea is natural in us, and as from birth we all turn instinctively towards a Higher Being, so also the divine law is innate in our souls; in which, as in a mirror, we behold our moral beauty or moral ugliness. The word of God, which defines what we should do and what we should not do, “is not far off,” says the Bible. “It is not in Heaven, that thou shouldest say: who shall go up for us to Heaven, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say: who shall go over the sea, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.” (Deut. xxx. 11—14.) Conscience is not a product of personal experience nor of human legislature, which in reality drew from the conscience its validity and its rules. Conscience hides its roots in the remoteness of the first appearance of man, having a superhuman origin, for it is the voice of God in us. Thanks to the conscience, the moral idea has never been altogether extinguished. If among the heathen virtuous men arise, rarely, but still occasionally, carrying out the divine law, although they are strangers otherwise to the divine revelations given by God through the Prophets and the Apostles, this happens because, as St. Paul explains, although they do not possess the revealed law, nevertheless they carry out the commandments of the law by intuition, being thus “a law unto themselves, in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing them.” (Rom. ii. 14—15.)
How does the conscience work?
When we are going to perform any act, the conscience, if our act is in agreement with the will of God, persistently and imperatively orders us to proceed to the act; while, if the act is contrary to the will of God, conscience dissuades us from it, as if crying to us:—“It is not lawful for thee.” (Matt. xiv. 4.) Afterwards, if the act committed was in agreement with the divine will, the conscience begets in us what may be called moral satisfaction, which is followed by an inner peace, joy and happiness, more valuable than many treasures; if, on the contrary, the act committed was not in agreement with the divine will, the rejected voice of conscience raises in us reproaches and remorse, with which it scourges us unpityingly. The innocent Joseph in prison offers us, from the pages of the Holy Scriptures, an example of a good and calm conscience. The traitor Judas, hanging himself after his Master’s death, is another biblical illustration which shows us the opposite side, conscience’s unbearable remorse. Secular history also mentions many cases, in which miscreants eluding human justice, have been so tormented by inner pangs, that they have surrendered themselves to the authorities, preferring death at the hands of men, rather than the inward Hell of a bad conscience.:
Is the conscience always in a healthy condition?
Unfortunately not. As the original sin shook all the other spiritual capabilities, so also it shook the conscience, which very often, being neglected or influenced by evil, is easily weakened or injured. Hence there exist, besides the healthy conscience, many other unhealthy and unsatisfactory kinds, of which the most characteristic are:—(1) The lenient conscience, which condemns us for great sins, but overlooks minor offences; (2) the hardened conscience, which has lost its sensibility and cannot discriminate between good and evil; (3) the perverted or lying conscience, which presents evil as good. Such conscience was that of the Pharisees, who thought that, by persecuting our Lord and the Apostles, they were doing service to God. (John xvi. 1); and (4) the branded conscience, upon which sin has branded its image as by a hot iron, and like a tyrant leads it hither and thither. The ease with which conscience is damaged, and the difficulty of keeping it safe and whole, obliged God to come to its assistance with a revelation of His moral law more positive, more imperative and more external. So there came to light, at first and in an elementary form, the Written Moral Law revealed by God to Moses, and, afterwards in all its perfection, the Written Moral Law, called Evangelical, revealed through our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospels.