Pentecost - II

 A message from His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph on the occassion of the Feast of Pentecost, 2021.

Dearest Beloved Fathers and Brethren in the Most Holy Trinity,

On Sunday June 20 and on Monday June 21, 2021, we are keeping the Feasts of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Holy Spirit.  What do we know about the Holy Spirit? We heard wonderful words of prayer about Him on Trinity Sunday, but let us think of Him, of the name He is given in the Gospel, which is translated “The Comforter” in English, in other translations “The Advocate”. He is the One, Who is the Comforter indeed, the One Who consoles us from our separation from Christ our God and Savior, Who promised us to continue His work on earth and He continues to come to us to this very day!

· In the beginning, He hovered over the face of the waters;

· He descended as a cloud and filled the temple of Solomon, thus consecrating it;

· He descended upon a young maiden of Nazareth and she became the Mother of God;

· He descended in the form of a dove and hovered over the head of the Lord at His Baptism, revealing the Triune Godhead;

· He once again appeared as a cloud in the Transfiguration of our Lord upon Mount Tabor;

· He was breathed forth from the Lord Jesus on the night of the Resurrection and He ordained the Apostles;

· He descended as a mighty, rushing wind and appeared as tongues of fire upon the heads of the disciples and apostles on the Pentecost;

· He descended and filled St. John the Forerunner, the righteous Elizabeth and Zachariah, the apostle Peter, the Archdeacon and Proto-martyr Stephen and the other six deacons.

The Holy Spirit continually abides in the Holy Orthodox Church. His presence is renewed in us repeatedly and we experience His descent in so many concrete ways in the various liturgical rites of the Church. The most notable one, of course, is the transformation of ordinary bread and wine into the precious Body and Blood of our Savior.
After a catechumen is newly baptized, the soul and body of that new warrior of Christ is infused with the Holy Spirit, Who descends into him.

An imperfect and sinful man kneels before a bishop of the Church, who calls down the Holy Spirit upon him, and a new priest or deacon is formed for the Church.

Three bishops call down the Holy Spirit upon one who is about to join their rank.

A Patriarch beseeches the Holy Spirit to descent upon the fragrant mixture of olives and rose oil, herbs and spices and it becomes Sacred Chrism.

A bishop uses the same Chrism, and the Holy Spirit changes a printed piece of cloth into an Altar of God, the Holy Antimins.

A bishop appeals to the Holy Spirit of God to come down upon a building constructed by men and makes it a House of God, just as He descended in the days of Solomon and at your Church if it is consecrated.

A priest invokes the descent of Holy Spirit upon the Theophany water and it transformed into healing water that has power.

Ecumenical councils of the Holy Church, Sobors and all meetings were and are led by the Holy Spirit.
Just as the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is not merely a historic fact but more importantly, an eternal reality, so also is the Descent of the Holy Spirit not merely a historic fact, but an ongoing, continues reality at works in His Church.  He is constantly guiding and governing the Church. He is invoked at the beginning of every Divine Service outside of Pascha. Without the Holy Spirit, neither the Faith nor the Church would exist.  

The Holy Apostle Paul goes further telling us that “no once can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit”(1 Cor. 12:3). Thus it is, without Him, we would flounder on the sea of life, struggling to make sense of God, the Holy Scriptures, and the Faith itself.

In this time of COVID-19 I would like to ask you to beseech the Holy Spirit to infuse all of us with His power from on high and to renew our faith and our baptismal vows.

In all humility, let us declare our dependence upon Him and our devotion on Him. He is not a forgotten Person. His role is vital to the Church of Christ and especially to all our Diocesan churches, missions and monasteries, because He, the Giver of Life, vitalizes them.

My prayers in these blessed Feasts for each of you are that you may experience His presence once again in your own personal life and faith.

Also, I invoke the Comforter and the Spirit of Truth to descend upon your heart, soul, and body, and even though you will not see a tongue of fire above your head, may you be set on fire to preach, through word and deed, the Faith of Christ that is so sorely needed by a desperate world. Amen.

With love in the Most Holy Trinity, + Metropolitan JOSEPH