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Unity in the Holy Spirit by Fr. Jonathan "And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh." Joel 2:28 In our small parish of the Holy and Life Giving Cross in Lancaster meeting in an upper room that serves as our chapel we have Orthodox Christians form Greece Cyprus, Bulgaria, Germany, Byelo-Russia, Russia, Kazekistan and England. It is a microcosm of the Orthodox world and a little Pentecost. I remember being at the Holy Liturgy in the Church of the Dormition of God, Pisculesti in Romania last year. I was serving the Divine Mysteries with Father Bogdan and hearing the Romanian language sound like English. The power of Pentecost is the explosion of God's Love that fills us with joy in worship and prayer. That which is unfamiliar becomes known and that which is strange becomes close and familiar through the bond of fellowship in the Holy Spirit. "Where there is great humility there comes the Holy Spirit; when the grace of the worshipful Spirit comes, the man under His influence is filled with all purity. Then he sees God and God too looks on him." St. Simeon the New Theologian The tongues of fire at Pentecost, illuminate, purify and warm the heart of those that receive God in humility. The action of kneeling for the prayers at Great Vespers symbolises our reception and attendance on the Comforter. Pentecost is truly a reversal of the Tower of Babel when man in his ignorance, sin and coldness of heart wanted to grasp at God's power. Instead, what we see at Pentecost is an outpouring of God's power upon us. In the place of confusion of language we have the language of love. Acts 2:7,8" Then they were all amazed and marvelled, saying to one another, "Look are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear each in our own language in which we were born." St. John Chrysostom in his fourth homily on the Acts of the Apostles invites us to note how "they (the apostles) were all filled with the Holy Spirit. They did not merely receive the grace of the Holy Spirit, they were filled. This overwhelming sense of God's generosity is echoed in Christ's own words recorded in John's Gospel: "He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. "John 7:38 There is a two- way movement in this divine dialogue. St. John Chrysostom writes: "Observe, how when one is continuing in prayer, when one is in charity, then it is that the Holy Spirit draws near." Homily IV Acts of the Apostles. In His " farewell discourses," Our Lord prays to the Father for unity amongst His disciples.(John 17:11) This is quickly followed by a demand to the Father "Sanctify them by Your Truth. Your word is Truth." St. John Chrysostom interprets this verse thus: " Make them holy through the gift of the Holy Spirit and by correct doctrine." Our unity in Christ depends upon these twin pillars of the Holy Spirit's charisms and our obedience to apostolic teaching. What in past times was reserved for prophets, sages, kings and judges is now to be poured out upon all flesh. Pentecost is not only a birthday celebration of the Church it is the beginning of the New Age of prophecy and revelation. Fishermen and tax-collectors, gentiles and jews, slaves and freemen, men and women were to receive a new direction, a fresh purpose and commission to fulfil their God-given tasks, to live and witness for Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. In the Holy Liturgy, the priest calls down the Holy Spirit: "We ask Thee, we pray Thee and supplicate Thee send down Thy Holy Spirit upon us and upon these gifts here spread forth." Father Lev Gillet remarks upon the order of this request. "The priest does not ask that the Spirit come first upon the gifts but that He comes upon us." This fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel means that the Spirit descends into our hearts to prepare our bodies as living temples for Christ. The purpose of the Holy Liturgy therefore is to lead us into the Pentecostal life, life in the Holy Spirit. Every Liturgy therefore is another Pentecost. Even before the Divine services the faithful invite the presence of the Holy Spirit. O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth who art everywhere present and fillest all things, the Treasury of good things and the Giver of life, come and abide in us, cleanse us from every stain and save our souls, O good One. We offer all of our being and our whole life unto Christ Our God, not in part, but wholly and fully in the divine work set before us. At the Liturgy also the priest requests the communion of the Holy Spirit together with the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father. The union of the Holy Spirit with our immortal souls knit together in peace is for the purification of our souls, the forgiveness of sins and for growth into the likeness of Christ unto life everlasting. In this bond of peace and through the gifts of the All Holy Spirit as the body of Christ we build one another up into the fullness of faith, speaking many languages but with one voice, using our own tongue but interpreted by Love. Father Jonathan |
