Today, 31 May 2015, the Orthodox Christians celebrate the Descent of the Holy Spirit, feast also known as Pentecost. The church history mentions the feast as the time of the Descent of the Holy Spirit as fire tongues over the Saints Apostles, as we learn from the apostolic pericope read today at the Divine Liturgy, Acts 2:1-11. On this great feast His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Cathedral of Bucharest together with His Grace Varlaam Ploiesteanul, Assistant Bishop to the Patriarch, and His Grace Timotei Prahoveanul, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Bucharest, assisted by a group of priests and deacons.
After reading the Evangelical parable of Saint Evangelist John (John 7:37-53; 8:12), the Patriarch of Romania delivered a sermon for all those present. His Beatitude showed that the respective fragment shows three great truths: “Whoever believes in Christ receives the Holy Spirit in him/her called the Living Water in today’s Gospel. Secondly, the Holy Spirit is given to the humans after the Ascension of the Lord in heavenly glory, and this is why the Feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit follows after the feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, our Lord, to Heaven. Thirdly, while the Apostles receive the Holy Spirit as fire tongues the Church is founded by Him – through His Incarnation and through His Saving Work – and extended through the Holy Baptism. These three great truths are the central light of faith for us.”
The Church is the foretaste of the Kingdom of Heaven
The Primate of the Romanian Orthodox emphasised the fact that the Church gathers around those who believe in Christ and love Him and renew their spiritual life through the work of the Holy Spirit.
“This gathering of the people in the communion achieved through their faith in Jesus Christ Crucified, Resurrected and Ascended in glory and through the work of the Holy Spirit is the Church of Christ. Thus, this gathering of the people in the love of the Most Holy Trinity – because we relate ourselves to the persons of the Holy Trinity through the Holy Spirit – is the most wonderful work. The Church is the foretaste, anti-room of the Kingdom of Heaven. It is in the Church that all those who believe in Christ and love Him gather and renew their spiritual life through the work of the Holy Spirit as preparation for the great joy in the Kingdom of Heaven, Kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”, His Beatitude said.
The Holy Spirit comes down in order to raise the faithful in the heavenly love of the Most Holy Trinity
His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel showed that the Holy Spirit comes down in lowliness in order to raise in glory the faithful and devoted in the Church of Christ.
“This feast shows us the relationship between the Christ Ascended to Heaven and the Holy Spirit whom God-the-Father sends into the world at the request of the Son. Thus, the Father, together with Jesus Christ, His Son, sends the Holy Spirit to communicate the whole world with the deified life, the new life, of Jesus Christ, our Saviour. Christ ascends in glory so that the Holy Spirit should come down in lowliness in order to raise in glory the faithful and devoted in the Church of Christ. Thus, Christ ascends and the Holy Spirit comes down in order to raise those who believe in Christ in the heavenly love of the Most Holy Trinity. Saint John Chrysostom says that the iconomy or the saving work of the humankind done by Jesus Christ is ended once the Holy Spirit is sent over His disciples and the Church of Christ is constituted through this work”, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel said.
The life of Christ extended into humanity through the work of the Holy Spirit is the Church of Christ
The Holy Spirit does not give the humans another life but the life of the Christ Crucified, Resurrected and Ascended in glory, His Beatitude underlined: “The life of Christ bestowed over, and extended into humanity through the work of the Holy Spirit is the Church of Christ. Although we speak about the Descent of the Holy Spirit, it shows the relationship between Christ and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has no human image like Christ. Why that? It is because He does not compete against Christ and neither does He completes Him, but confirms Him and communicates Him to the humans; He is not in front of us, but He becomes interior to us, He does not appear in front of us to exert any pressure over us, and neither do we know He is present because we do not see Him, but feel Him because He lives in hearts, souls, and is not exterior to human.”
The Holy Spirit is the One who communicates us the life of Christ and who brings us always back to God
The Patriarch of Romania has also shown that the Holy Spirit is the One Who shapes the human’s life according to the life of Christ.
“The Holy Spirit is the life of our Christian life; He does not have image, but He wants every Christian to be just like the Image of the Most Glorified Christ. This is why the Holy Fathers who prayed a lot could see the bright face, full of light, during the prayer because the Holy Spirit is the One who shapes the human life according to the life of Christ and gives the light of the glory of Christ to the saints who believe in Christ and love Him. This is why a light is seen on the faces of the Saints and a halo around, as this is the presence of the Holy Spirit who communicates the glory of the eternal love of Christ to the humans. The Holy Spirit is inside us, the Holy Spirit can be seen in human when this one has a strong not hesitating faith, the Holy Spirit can be seen in human when he/she does a good deed with joy, not because of fear, but because he/she is a child of God according to the grace, when he/she does a good deed, builds a church, sets up a family, works for spreading faith as child of God according to grace not with the joy of a servant, but of a son”, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel also said.
Pentecost Vespers
After celebrating the Divine Liturgy, a special service was celebrated, called the Pentecost Vespers, when prayers were said in seven languages, four of them in a loud voice just like the fire tongues through which the grace of the Holy Spirit working in the disciples of Christ was shown, over the disciples whom He sent to preach His Gospel in various languages, namely to various peoples, till the end of the earth beginning from Jerusalem. This is the third special Vesper celebrated during the church year. The other two are celebrated on the Holy Friday, when the Holy Epitaph is taken to the middle of the church, and on the Easter Sunday, at noon, named the “Second Resurrection”, according to tradition”.
To end with, the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church gave the faithful small icons of the feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit.
