On The Holy Spirit
The Spirit of Adoption, Sonship, and Life
The Holy Spirit is God's gift to the Church - He leads and sanctifies the Church and all her mysteries. Through Him we receive the Spirit of adoption and cry out, "Abba, Father."
"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." (Romans 8:14?16)
Who is the Holy Spirit?
He is Lord with God the Father and Christ the Son?eternal, uncreated, and divine; always existing with the Father and the Son.
Lord & God
He is Lord with God the Father and Christ the Son. He is the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. He is the Spirit of divine life and wisdom.
Eternal & Uncreated
He is eternal, uncreated, and divine; always existing with the Father and the Son. He is worshipped and glorified with them in the oneness of the Holy Trinity.
Gift of God
He is the gift of God to the Church: "how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" (Luke 11:13). He leads and sanctifies the Church and all her mysteries.
Christ Secured the Holy Spirit for Us
"It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven, 'You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'" (Mark 1:9?11)
Christ in His Baptism accepted the Holy Spirit on our behalf to open the door for us to accept Him. It is for us, because we were in Him; it represents humanity in Christ.
St. Cyril the Great
"When the Word of God became Man, He received the Spirit from the Father as one of us, not receiving Him for Himself individually, for He is the Giver of the Spirit; but that He might, by receiving Him as Man, He preserves Him to our nature, and might again root in us the grace which had left us."
St. Cyril of Alexandria
"Just as we had become partakers with the first fruits of our race which are the evil and corruption and death, so in Christ, the second Adam, we shall become partakers in the richness of His divine glory."
The Holy Spirit & the Church
The Church is the body of Christ, the new creation?humanity united with God in Christ through the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit Forms the Church
The Church is the body of Christ?"the fullness of Him who fills all in all" (Ephesians 1:23). The mystery of Christ is revealed in the Church; it is the mystery of our unity with God.
The Christian Church is at once a single person and a community of persons. It is the meeting place between us and God.
"Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 2:5)
The New Temple & Family
We are the living stones; we are the NEW Temple, and we are the NEW Family of God!
"So, then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God." (Ephesians 2:19?22)
"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (1 Peter 2:9)
Prayer of the Third Hour (Agpeya)
"O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, who is present in all places and fills all, the treasury of goodness and the Life-Giver, graciously come, and dwell in us and purify us from all defilement, O Good One, and save our souls."
The Holy Spirit & Our Salvation
Manifestation of Christ
He takes what is Christ's and makes it ours
Spirit of Sonship
We become children and heirs of God
Conviction & Repentance
He gently knocks at the door of our heart
The Manifestation of Christ
"Therefore, I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you." (John 16:15)
Declare = manifest, shows = anangelei. To "declare" means He takes what is Mine and makes it yours; He makes and forms you so you can become like Me.
In that process, we are being transformed according to the image of Christ: "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son" (Romans 8:29).
No religion or philosophy spoke of being like God except Christianity! "It is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). It is not merely about being a moral person, but about being Christ-like.
St. Silouan the Athonite
"No matter how much we may study, it is not possible to come to know God, for God is not known by science, but by the Holy Spirit. If someone has come to know God by the Holy Spirit, his soul will burn with love for God, Day and night, and his soul cannot be bound to any earthly thing."
St. John Chrysostom
"What a superb honor! For what the only begotten Son was by nature, we have become by grace."
The Spirit of Sonship
No Longer Orphans
"I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you." (John 14:18)
"But you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." (Romans 8:15?16)
Origen
"The Spirit of adoption? bears witness and assures our spirits that we are children of God after we have passed from the spirit of slavery and come under the Spirit of adoption, when all fear has departed."
We no longer act out of fear of punishment but do everything out of love for the Father.
Children & Heirs
"And if children, then heirs?heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ." (Romans 8:17)
St. John Chrysostom
"Notice how Paul gradually increases the attraction of the gift. For it is quite possible to be a child without being an heir but we are Children and heirs; we are 'fellow heirs with Christ.' See how concerned Paul is to bring us ever nearer to the Son!"
It is tasting the true sonship to God without fear?"Glorious freedom of the children of God" (Romans 8:21). No longer servants, but friends (John 15:15).
St. Irenaeus
"Christ drew those who were slaves to make them children as long as they were subject to Him? 'I will not now call you servants? But I have called you friends'; here He gives us the gift of being the Friends of God Himself."
From the Liturgy of St. Cyril
"O God, who loved us so, and granted us the rank of sonship, so as to be called the sons of God, and as such, we are indeed heirs of You, O God, the Father, and joint heirs of Your Christ?. And cleanse our inner man according to the manner in which Your only-begotten Son is holy. He is the One we intend to partake of, having become partakers of the Body, partakers of the form, and partakers in the succession of Your Christ."
Spirit of Conviction & Repentance
He Knocks at Your Heart
"And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." (John 16:8)
He is the Spirit of repentance. He enlightens the heart and opens the path for you. He comes and knocks at your heart to live in repentance.
He knocks gently without a sense of guilt. He is the friend of our salvation.
St. Athanasius the Apostolic
"The Lord does not only knock at the heart's door only, but also He calls His sheep by name, so that we may hear and open up to let Him into our lives, so He can share with us our tears and pains and we share with Him His Glory. We do not need to go in search of God, as if He is hiding far away; in this way we simply exhaust ourselves in searching, imagining, meditating and reading books. The whole time He is standing before us at the door of our heart, never going away. The knocks of His hand at the door are His words, and He never stops knocking, all the days of our life, so that the spirit may awaken us from slumber to hear the voice of love which is the voice of Christ and the Father."
St. Didymus of Alexandria
The Spirit restores (not fixes) our original beauty and fills us with His grace, leaving no room for anything unworthy of our love. The Spirit frees us from sin and death, and changes us from the earthly humans we were, into spiritual humans, sharers in the divine glory, sons and heirs of God the Father.
St. Seraphim of Sarov
"The true aim of our Christian life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God." There is nothing better than the acquisition of the Holy Spirit.
"And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." (Ephesians 4:30)
Prayer & Communion
"Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." (Romans 8:26)
"And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication." (Zechariah 12:10)
Prayer & Communion
The most important thing is to pray. The Spirit helps us in our weakness and intercedes for us.
St. Clement of Alexandria
"We have received the Spirit to enable us to know the one to whom we pray, our real Father, the one and only Father of all, that is, the one who like a Father educates us for salvation and does away with fear."
St. Basil the Great
"Through the Holy Spirit comes our restoration to paradise, our ascension into the kingdom of heaven, our return to the adoption of sons, our liberty to call God our Father, our being made partakers of the grace of Christ, our being called children of light, our sharing in eternal glory, and, in a word, our being brought into a state of all fullness of blessing."
Summary
On The Holy Spirit: The Gift of God to the Church and to Each Believer
Who He Is
Lord, eternal, uncreated, divine?worshipped and glorified with the Father and the Son. The gift of God to the Church.
He Forms the Church
The Church is the new creation?humanity united with God. We are living stones, the new Temple, the household of God.
He Manifests Christ
He takes what is Christ's and makes it ours, transforming us into the image of the Son?being Christ-like, not merely moral.
Spirit of Sonship
We are no longer orphans but children and heirs?joint heirs with Christ, friends of God, free from fear.
The Work of the Holy Spirit
Manifests Christ
He forms us to become like the Son of God
Grants Sonship
We cry "Abba, Father" and become heirs of God
Convicts & Restores
He gently knocks, leading us to joyful repentance
Forms the Church
We are living stones built into a spiritual house
Enables Prayer
He intercedes for us with groanings beyond words
Restores Beauty
He frees us from sin and makes us sharers in divine glory
"The true aim of our Christian life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. There is nothing better than the acquisition of the Holy Spirit."
- St. Seraphim of Sarov