Χρόνια Πολλά καί Καλή Εβδομάδα
We wish you and your families a beautiful, transforming Feast Day, enjoyed with family, as we begin a new week, on our path together as one to our true destiny in Christ.
The Feast of the Holy Spirit
Our Orthodox Christian Church is so wise in its use of time and space, and in the use of the Ecclesiastical Calendar. For instance, on the day after the Feast of the Theophany which celebrates the Baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordan River at the hand of John the Forerunner and the manifestation of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we celebrate the Synaxis and Feast of Saint John, for he is intimately connected to the Feast as the Baptizer of the Christ.
Likewise, on the day after the Great Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple (“The Meeting”) on His Fortieth Day to be blessed by the Righteous Elder Priest, Saint Simeon, we have the Synaxis (the Feast) of Saint Simeon the God-receiver and Last Watcher of Israel because he was the one who received the Christ-Child in his hands.
Thus, on the day after we celebrated the Great Feast of Pentecost when God the Father sent down Holy Spirit upon the Holy Disciples and Apostles assembled in Jerusalem in the form of fiery tongues, and Jesus Christ established His Church for the salvation of the world, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Spirit.
Together with the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit is One of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is perfectly and completely God. The Holy Spirit is of One Essence with the Father and the Son (the Eternal Logos). The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit always were, are, and forever shall be.
Like God the Father, and the Son, the Holy Spirit is pre-eternal, uncreated, un-originate. The Three of them always work together mysteriously as One, as they did at the creation of all that exists, and as they have done--and continue to do--for the salvation of the world.
However, just as there was a time when the full Divinity of the Son was questioned, and an Ecumenical Council of 318 Holy Fathers had to be convened by the Emperor Constantine at Nicea in 325 A.D. to combat that pernicious and insidious heresy of the subordination of the Son and declare the Son of the same Essence of the Father and True God of True God, so too, did the Emperor Theodosius have to convene an Ecumenical Council of 150 Holy Fathers at Constantinople in 381 A.D. to combat those who subordinated the Holy Spirit and proclaim the Holy Spirit of One Essence with the Father, and the Son.
These battlers against the full Divinity of the Holy Spirit, led by a certain Macedonius, were called the “Pneumatomachoi.” However, the teachings of Saint Basil the Great on the Divinity of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Fathers carried the day, and the Divinity of Holy Spirit was defended.
Due to the two teachings of the Ecumenical Councils of Nicea and Constantinople that defended and articulated the full Divinity of the Son and the Holy Spirit as coequal and of the same Essence of the Father, we have our Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed that professes the True Faith, forever enshrined in the sanctity of our Divine Liturgy.
The Holy Spirit spoke through the Prophets in the Old Testament, shared in the Fellowship of Abraham and Sarah under the Oak of Mamre, and, in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit was present and revealed with the Father and the Son at the Baptism of Christ, the Transfiguration of Christ, and at the Feast of Pentecost when Christ established His Church in Jerusalem in 33 A.D.
Now, in Christ’s Church, through the Grace of Christ, and the Love of God the Father, the Holy Spirit comes down and changes the offering of man (the bread and the wine) into the Offering of God (The Body and Blood). Holy Communion at every Divine Liturgy is mysteriously offered through the Power of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son.
In the Orthodox Church, the only prayer offered to the Holy Spirit is as follows:
“O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere present and fillest all things, Treasury of Good Things, and Giver of Life, come dwell within us, and save our souls, Good One.”
Indeed, the original Greek is more revealing, for it employs the verb meaning to “tent.” The prayer calls for the Holy Spirit to literally “tent” amongst us, as God tented amongst the People of Israel in their peregrinations for their protection, safety, and deliverance.
This reminds us that, just as the Old Israel journeyed through this world unto the earthly and temporal Promised Land, so too, do we, as the New Israel, journey through this world unto the Heavenly and Eternal Promised Land. It also reminds us that we are “pilgrims in time” not destined for one place and one epoch; but rather, we are destined for the Heavenly, Infinite Promised Land for eternity.
Our destiny is not an earthly Promised Land; it is a Heavenly Promised Land. The “tenting” reminds us that we do belong to this fallen world, and we are not to get too comfortable with this world. We are called to follow Christ, follow in His Path, and follow in His Light, (“Follow Me.”) for indeed, before we were called “Christians,” we were called the “People of the Way.”
And along the way through this life, that we all must pass through, we need the presence, protection, healing, and unifying power of the Holy Spirit—the unifying Power that united the many Holy Disciples as One and caused them to speak with One clarion voice, an unassailable conviction, and a tenacity of purpose, that all could understand and know, each in his own language.
For the Old Israel, the Feast of Pentecost commemorated God giving the Great Prophet Moses the Law fifty days after their deliverance from Pharaoh and Egypt. It also celebrated the harvest, for seven weeks later in the spring was the time of the harvest of the fruits of the earth. (Hence, we emphasize the color green on this Feast.)
For us, the New Israel, the Feast of Pentecost commemorates the Church receiving the Gift of the Holy Spirit. The Old Israel received the Law. The New Israel received Grace. The Old Israel celebrated the fruits of the earth. The New Israel celebrated the fruits of the Spirit--which are myriad and various.
On the Great Feast of Pentecost, the many and unique Disciples came together as One. They were One, but they were also distinct; just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are One and yet Distinct. The Disciples (the Church) did not lose their personhood; just as the Trinity does not lose Its Personhood. We are many persons sharing the same human nature. The Trinity is Three Persons sharing One Divine Nature.
As a Church, as a Chosen and Holy People of God, we are called to reflect the Divine Image of the Trinity in Whose Image we were all uniquely created. The Trinity is Community. For us to be authentic, we must be community.
As the Trinity is in Communion, so we must be in Communion with one another. When we are in Communion with God, we are in Communion with one another. When we are in Communion with one another, we are in Communion with God. This is human reciprocity and, transcendently, Divine Reciprocity Mysteriously as One. This reciprocity is the condition for a miracle.
For us to Be, we must Be God-like. For us to be authentic, we must reflect—as best as we can, by God’s Grace—the Divine Community as an earthly community. In Faith and Love, in One Place, in peace and harmony, of One mind and of One accord, in His Church, we can truly become One in Christ and One another, by the unifying Power of the Holy Spirit that completes in us whatever is lacking.
We mystically experience this at Holy Communion, where we Become One with Christ, and through Him, one with one another and one with all the Saints that ever were, and all the Saints that will ever Be. This is what is called by a great theologian, “Being as Communion,” and this is all made possible by the Holy Spirit Whom we celebrate today.
The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God the Father, and the Communion of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you.” †
By His Grace, in His Love, and with your prayers, I humbly and gratefully remain,
†Father Jim
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