About the Law given by Moses, and about the Grace and Truth revealed by Jesus Christ, and how the Law passed, and Grace and Truth filled the whole earth, and faith spread throughout all peoples up to our Russian people; and praise to our great prince Vladimir, with whom we were baptized; and prayer to God from all our land
The monument is a speech, a festive sermon. The main themes of the work are indicated in the title. This is the superiority of “grace” over “law”, which in the sermon is interpreted as the New and Old Testaments, or Christianity and Judaism; the spread of Christian doctrine among the "new" peoples, including the Russian; praise to the baptizer of Rus, Prince Vladimir.
After a rhetorical introduction, where Hilarion says that he is not referring to the ignorant, but to the "satiated sweetness of the book" and, accordingly, to like-minded people, the Russian speaker begins to directly unfold parallel images from the Scriptures and interpret them in the context of his topic. The author calls Hagar and Sarah the image of the Law and Grace.
According to Genesis, Abraham and Sarah did not have children. Then Sarah invites Abraham to “enter” the slave Hagar and give birth to her. Retelling the biblical story, Hilarion continues from himself: Grace also tells God that it is not yet time for her to descend to earth and save the world, let the Law be laid down first. Abraham gives birth to the son of Ishmael from Hagar, and God descends on Sinai and gives Moses the Law, which the author calls "shadow, not truth." Once at noon, God appears to Abraham, and Abraham receives Him. Hilarion also connects others with this image: the Lord descended into the womb of the Maiden, and she received Him. God “opened the womb” of Sarah, and she gives birth to a son, Isaac. A free woman gives birth to a free child. This is a type of grace. Grace is already truth, not Law, not shadow. After a while, Sarah notices that Ishmael offends Isaac. She asked Abraham to drive away Hagar and her son. So the Jews were expelled from their country, the light of the moon gave way to sunlight, and the Law receded before Grace.
Further, Hilarion, using biblical and gospel images, conducts another important idea about the entry of Russia into the family of Christian peoples, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. The final part of the "Word" is devoted to praise to Prince Vladimir. Vladimir, according to Hilarion, himself miraculously came to Christianity and brought all his people to it.
