A Sermon for the Feast of Pentecost
By Metropolitan Moses of Toronto
Today we celebrate the feast of Pentecost, that is, the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and Disciples of Christ. This great day of Pentecost is the culmination of the purpose of the incarnation. The New Adam, The God-Man, Christ, has appeared and changed the world. He has trampled down death by a singular act of self-sacrificing love. He has risen and Ascended in the human nature that He put on for our sake and sat down at the right hand of God the Father. And now our Savior sends the Comforting Spirit.
In the scriptural readings for the feast, the Holy Spirit is described by different and contradictory words, in the Gospel for liturgy His indwelling is described as “rivers of living water” (John 7:38) and in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles the Holy Spirit descends in the form of “tongues of fire” (Acts 2:3-4). This is because the operation and action of the Holy Spirit is diverse: manifesting cooling refreshment in some cases and fiery zeal and enlightenment in others, according to the need of each.
The grace of the Holy Spirit was in the Old Testament, but in a different manner. Our Savior Himself articulated the difference when told the Apostles regarding the Comforter that, “He is with you and shall be in you” (John 14:17) Saint Cyril of Alexandria refers to the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament as “torch illumination” and the dispensation of the New Testament as the indwelling of God. Thus, our Savior became the God-Man in order to make faithful Christians temples of the Holy Spirit and grant members of the Church the spirit of adoption that our first parents lost.
The great day of Pentecost marks the beginning of the Priesthood of the New Testament. It was only after this, that the Apostles began to “break the bread” that is, to offer the Mystery of Holy Communion to the faithful. The priesthood is our God’s chosen method of uniting people to Himself, because, according to His teachings, it is only through the priesthood of the New Testament Church we are baptized and partake of the Body and Blood of our Savior in the Eucharist.
One can see that some of the outward aspects of the organization of the Church are very similar to other human organizations, simply because of the practical considerations of providing for numbers of people. Yet, it is extremely important for our salvation for us to understand that the Church in its essence is not similar to any organization developed by men, but rather, the Church is the embodiment of the mystical reality of the faithful participating in the Body and Blood of Christ.
The Church is simultaneously temporal and eternal, human and Divine. Every service wherein a Mystery of the Church is preformed begins with the words, “Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” In that service we partake of eternity, through the Holy Spirit, the Eternal Source of Life.
The very word “Church,” in the epistles of Saint Paul, refers to those separated out for the Eucharistic gathering in the local city. The Eucharist is central to all.
As it is written in the 6th Chapter of the gospel of Saint John “The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us His flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Amen, amen, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him.” (John 6:52-56)
It is only through partaking of the Eucharist that we “have everlasting life” and “dwell in God and He in us,” to change the above quoted phrase around. It is only through partaking of the Eucharist that we become members of the Body of Christ.
Yet, it is essential to understand that, according to our Savior’s own words, the Eucharist is only performed by the New Testament Priesthood that can be traced back to these same Apostles who received the Descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. It is also essential to understand that the Holy Eucharist is inextricably tied to the teachings of our Savior. When our Savior initiated the first Mystical Supper, the very words He used indicate this, “And taking the cup, He gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matt 26:27-28)
Without the teaching of the New Testament according to Apostolic Tradition, there is no Blood of the New Testament in the chalice, but only wine, no matter what the title is of man who reads the prayers of consecration at the liturgy. Heresy cannot constrain God. We must accept the God-Man Jesus Christ on His terms, not ours. There is no man or any creature in heaven or on earth who can constrain the Eternal Source of life to become indifferent to the distinction between truth and falsehood. Our Savior declared to Saint Photini, the Samaritan woman, and to all of us through the Holy Gospel that, “God is Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24)
We celebrate today the Descent of the Holy Spirit, but we must remember that He descended only on His chosen ones, His faithful Apostles. If we embrace and accept the truth of our Savior’s teachings as given to us by these Holy Apostles, then we can also have the Descent of the Holy Spirit. It is folly for anyone to think that they can reject the teachings of our Savior and at the same time participate in the descent of the Holy Spirit.
It is painful to see the confusion that exists today with the world at large congratulating the betrayal of the truth being perpetrated by the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew and his efforts to unite with the Pope of Rome. Tragically, on this very feast in Rome this year the Pope and Patriarch are uniting in prayer together with Moslems and Jews.
We all would like to unite with the Pope of Rome and all the believers who profess to be with him, but only if they reject all heresy and embrace the Apostolic Traditions. It is especially sad to see all of the well-meaning followers of the false shepherds of our time. The modern ideas of Uniatism, Ecumenism and ultimately politics and humanism are foundations of a man made organizations that have no connection to the Body of Christ.
Beloved Christians, let us pray for all those who are being misled, but let us also attend to ourselves.
There are many false spirits today and many who are being deceived. The spirit of our age is both a common attitude shared by many and the work of demons. There are three prevailing attitudes, erring spirits, that dominate our culture:
1) the spirit of materialism, that is the seeking of fulfillment mostly through acquiring material things,
2) the spirit of hedonism, that is, a life of fulfillment through pleasure and
3) the spirit of nihilism, that is, the rejection of all religious and moral principles, and the belief that life is meaningless.
People who are influenced by these ideas surround us and the media and government schools reflect these principles to one degree or another and teach them to our children.
We are daily faced with the choice to either seek union with the Holy Spirit or the spirit of our age.
What can we do to help us make the right choice and seek union with the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Fathers teach that one must seek the face of God, that is, one must seek spiritual perception, in ones daily life. Remember God and pray for the family, remember God and pray for help in every under taking. Ask God to guide you to His will. The Prophet King David wrote in the 15th Psalm,“I beheld the Lord ever before me, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.” We must seek to do likewise.
Another great help is to establish the habit of a lively heartfelt attention in Church that begins with prayerful converse with the saints who you turn to in your daily life. These practices must be taught to your children at the earliest age possible so that they become part of their daily habits.
Along with prayerful attention it is the virtue of love filled mercy towards all men that unites us to God. We show our love towards God when we show love towards our neighbor. When we show mercy to others, we attract the mercy and grace of God for ourselves.
It is important for us to take the time to practice self-examination and carefully examine how we are directing our lives. Are we seeking the spirit of God or are we allowing the spirit of error and sin to intrude into our lives. One can drive out the Holy Spirit from one’s life simply by ignoring the life of the spirit and doing other things. These other things may not even in and of themselves be sinful, but they can crowd out the life in Christ. For your own sake at the end of the day or at least once a week examine yourself and measure where you have invested your free time and ask yourself if your life is dedicated to the Holy Spirit or is it being directed by the spirit of materialism or the spirit of hedonism or the spirit of nihilism.
In this struggle it is a great help if you keep the Day of the Lord by not scheduling other things to compete with that day. Keep the Day of the Lord and your children will be strengthened in their spiritual lives. By keeping the Day of the Lord you can find blessings for the whole week.
Today we celebrate the granting of the gift of the Holy Spirit and the indwelling of God that is promised to every faithful Christian. May the Comforter give comfort to your hearts and may you all be filled with spiritual joy and discretion and may you, with all of your families, inherit the good things of God both in this life and the age to come. Amen.
Received as an email from Father Panagiotes Carras' Yahoo Orthodox Info