The aim of the article is to discuss the written legacy of Philaret Drozdov, the Orthodox Metropolitan of Moscow (lived 1782–1867), in the context of human freedom and the freedom of the imperial Russia’s system – the autocracy. The basic research material constitutes of four homilies by Philaret Drozdov written in the years 1849–1856. To present a certain evolution of the Russian thought the author of the article also cites works which were created in earlier periods, i.e.: in the Moscow Russia time and in the time of Peter I. First, the author presents the orthodox anthropology as the ideological base for Philaret Drozdov’s considerations of freedom and power. Then, individual texts are discussed in detail in order to define the view of the Metropolitan of Moscow on the foregoing issues. At the end, the author sums up the carried out analysis and presents conclusions.

The aim of this article is to answer the question, “How Philaret Drozdov understood God’s holiness and human holiness and how both the ideas were displayed in his writings?” The research material constitutes selected homilies and a catechism. In the first place, the author discusses the definition of holiness and its understanding by the Orthodox Church with regard to the issue of deification. Also, he familiarizes the reader with the concept of holiness in its various aspects. Subsequently, the homilies and the catechism of Philaret Drozdov are analysed. The article shows the Moscow Metropolitan’s beliefs about the essence of human holiness as well as about the eschatological dimension of temporality and the pneumatological aspect of holiness, the issue of grace and a human seen as a vessel of God’s energy. The author proves that the Moscow Metropolitan continued in his works the traditions of the Church Fathers and creatively developed the most important assumptions of Orthodox anthropology and soteriology and, hence enriching Russian spiritual thought.