An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 38

1 BOOK II — CHAPTER 24: Concerning what is Voluntary and what is Involuntary.

2 The voluntary implies a certain definite action, and so-called involuntariness also implies a certain definite action. Voluntariness, then, is assuredly followed by praise or blame, and renders the action pleasurable and desirable to the actor, either for all time or for the moment of its performance. Involuntariness, on the other hand, brings merited pity or pardon in its train, and renders the act painful and undesirable to the doer.

3 Further, what is involuntary, depends in part on force and in part on ignorance. It depends on force when the creative beginning in cause is from without, that is to say, when one is forced by another without being at all persuaded. All involuntary act depends on ignorance, when one is not the cause of the ignorance one's self, but events just so happen. A voluntary act, then, is one of which the beginning or cause originates in an actor, who knows each individual circumstance through which and in which the action takes place.