The border between public and private: what the caesar should not enter into

The article examines the pivotal issue of public-religion relationships: “what is God’s and what is Caesar’s” (Matt. 22:21) and where is the distinction between them. The author tried to show problems and deficits of classical views and offers another perspective: the “God’s things” are forced to belong to Caesar and the “Cae- sar’s” are God’s. The article reviews the problem of correlation between obligations and the freedom from the point of view of religious consciousness: on the one hand, these concepts seem to be diametrically opposed; on the other hand, the Christian call to freedom can be interpreted as the sum of obligations to other people and to God. Being perceived this way, Christian morality becomes similar to a system of social restrictions the violation of which leads to official punishment. Does this mean that state and religion, forcing a person to respect certain norms, is pursuing the same goal, or there is a fundamental difference between the notion of a virtuous Christian and the notion of a virtuous citizen? The author focuses on sincerity and submission issues: orthopraxy is not the “tax” we ought to pay to God. “Heart of ourselves” is the one we expectedly need to pay to the Lord - and to the King.