Festive sermon on the day of the Holy Trinity (2016). Sermon of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill on the day of the Holy Trinity in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra

Acts of the Apostles, 2:1-11

When the day of Pentecost arrived they were all with one accord together. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as from a rushing strong wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And cloven tongues as of fire appeared to them, and one rested on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now in Jerusalem there were Jews, pious people, from every nation under heaven. When this noise was made, the people gathered and were in confusion, for everyone heard them speaking in his own dialect. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Are not these all Galileans who speak?” How can we each hear our own dialect in which we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjacent to Cyrene, and those who came from Rome, Jews and proselytes*, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them with ours speaking with tongues about the great works of God?

Today's Sunday is the Feast of the Holy Trinity, or Pentecost, the birthday of the Church. And this event, as being already beyond the earthly life of the Lord Jesus Christ, is described in the fifth book of the New Testament, which is called the Acts of the Apostles. This is a historical book that talks about the early years of the Church. Probably, today is the only day in the church liturgical year when the central part of the service becomes reading not from the Gospel, but from the Apostle.

The verses from the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles that we heard today talk about how on the feast of Pentecost, that is, on the fiftieth day after Easter, the apostles were with one accord together, and suddenly two miraculous events occurred.

First, some noise began in the sky, a strong wind blew, and the whole house was filled with a feeling of the power of God. Let us remember: when we are in a field before a thunderstorm, it suddenly starts to blow strong strong wind, and involuntarily the soul ascends to the beginnings, approaches what this world once was like in its original goodness. Then in the upper room of Zion, that is, in the house where the apostles were, tongues “as if of fire” appeared (Acts 2:2), as the author of Acts, the holy evangelist Luke, says. This indication is very important, because, of course, we are not talking about a physical flame. These tongues rested, that is, they dispersed and reached the heads of everyone who was present in the Upper Room of Zion. This was the first miraculous event.

The second event was that the apostles, according to the text of Acts, “were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4). That is, without having linguistic or philological education, being for the most part simple fishermen, suddenly received the gift of preaching in the languages ​​of those peoples to whom they had yet to go.

Why are these two miraculous events celebrated as the birthday of the Church? The fact is that in the Gospel of John, which is also read at the service today, Christ says that later, when He is ascended after His suffering on the cross, He will send the disciples the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, who will teach them everything. The reception of the Holy Spirit, who, as the Christian Church believes, is the third Person of the Holy Trinity, will be a great joy for them (John 14:26).

The history of mankind is, in a sense, divided into three stages. The Holy Fathers, teachers of the Church, say that the era of the Old Testament was primarily the time of action of God the Father, who was still unknowable to the human race. The focus of human history, the time of the earthly life of the Lord Jesus Christ, described in the New Testament, is the time of the predominant action of the second Person of the Holy Trinity, the incarnate God the Son. And finally, the subsequent history - the implementation of the good news, or Good News, which is brought in the Gospel - is the era of the action of the Holy Spirit.

In one of the very important church hymns the following words are heard: “By the Holy Spirit every soul is alive, and is elevated by purity, illuminated by the Trinity unity.” The fact that the Holy Spirit dwells in the Church determines its nature, which is completely different from the nature of, say, a state, a party, a community of interests. This difference implies that everything essential within the Church is accomplished not by human efforts, not by administrative procedures, by the talent of leaders, and not even by the holiness and piety of those who fill the Church, but by the Holy Spirit, who really abides in it and for a Christian is the eternal source of its holiness.

By the Holy Spirit, the water into which we immerse babies during the Sacrament of Baptism ceases to be just a physical consistency and becomes the water in which a person is born into eternal life. By the Holy Spirit, the words that the priest pronounces in the Sacrament of Repentance (“I forgive and absolve you from your sins...”) over every sincerely repentant person cease to be just words or advice from a psychotherapist, but become a force, after which the person leaves truly freed from the burden of his sins and given the chance to continue to live differently or fight to live differently. By the Holy Spirit, bread and wine, the most important substances of our human existence, at the liturgy cease to be simply bread and wine, but become the Body and Blood of Christ, with whom we are united in Communion. And the beginning of these amazing gifts, much more amazing than the ability to preach in national languages, suddenly given to the apostles, takes place on today’s holiday and is described in the Acts of the Apostles.

And one more important note related specifically to preaching in tongues. This covenant, this instruction was given by God Himself. Christianity does not imply the creation of a mystical atmosphere, not the darkness and twilight of experiences without awareness by the mind, but the preaching of the Word, the Word with a capital “W,” which resonates in the heart and gives rise to a response in it that unites both the mind and the will for a person to completely follow Christ.

Archpriest Maxim Kozlov

My dear fathers, brothers and sisters! Your Eminences! I cordially congratulate you all on the great world-saving feast of the Holy Trinity, Holy Pentecost.

We are celebrating a special event in the life of the world. Through the birth of the Lord and Savior, through His life, through His teaching, through His suffering, through His death, through His resurrection, something very special was given to people, which truly changed the course of history. We call the time after the birth of Christ the Savior new era. And not at all because people automatically became better after the Savior came into the world, not because they became better public relations, there is less evil in personal, family, public life. Not at all! We know: just as there were robbers before the Savior, so they exist after; just as there were wars before, so they exist after; just as there were civil conflicts, clashes, contradictions, deceit, deceit, lies, envy, so all this exists after Christ. Savior.

What then appeared? Why did the Lord suffer and give His life? It is precisely for the sake of what we are so solemnly celebrating today. He wanted the Divine presence to constantly dwell in the life of the human race. On the 50th day after the resurrection, the Lord gives His Spirit to the apostles. He pours out this Spirit as His energy, His grace, His power on the holy apostles. On simple fishermen - the very same ones who cowardly fled at the moment of the arrest of Christ the Savior, when terrible torture fell upon Him, the very same disciples, one of whom betrayed and the other refused, the very same disciples who were not on Calvary, the very same disciples who bore the imprint of all the limitations and sinfulness of human life - He pours out His grace on them, and by Divine power they cease to be cowardly and fearful. They become courageous and strong, acquiring that Divine gift that immediately set them apart from the entire human race. Their word was filled with wisdom and power, and thousands of people began to respond to their preaching - no less than to the preaching of Christ the Savior Himself.

Moreover, inspired by the Divine power poured out on them on the day of Pentecost, moved by the Holy Spirit, they went to different countries, preaching Christ crucified and risen. It was they who created a community of people, within which this gift of the Holy Spirit lives - we call this community the Church of God. You and I are all the Church, the Holy Spirit lives among us and in us, whose power everyone receives at the moment of baptism and confirmation, whose power is renewed in us every time we, bringing repentance, partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. In a sea of ​​lawlessness, no different from what was before Christ the Savior, His Church lives as the bearer of the grace of the Holy Spirit. It is in the Church that the salvation of people takes place, their living contact with God, new life in Christ.

The Church exists to call on the Holy Spirit. The most important mission of the Church is the invocation of the Holy Spirit, epiclesis, as we say using the Greek word. Epiclesis is not only a prayer of invoking the Holy Spirit - it is life in Christ, it is a heart open to Him, it is a courageous and honest confession of faith in Christ the Savior and the Holy Trinity. And in response to the life of the Church, God sends the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit lives and works in us. Some may say, “What does all this mean for the world? So, is the world on its own, and the Church on its own?” Not at all. After all, each of us, belonging to the Church, also belongs to the world, through each of us the power of Divine grace must be poured out on the human race, but in a special way it is poured out through the mission of the Church in the world. This is the mission of salvation, this is the mission of turning people to God, this is the mission of transforming the human personality and the entire human race.

We celebrate all this with you today on the day of the Holy Trinity, because from that very day of Pentecost this saving mission of the Church began. What about us, Christians? And we must realize the greatest responsibility before God for the gift that we received in baptism, the greatest responsibility before God for the grace that we receive in the sacrament of holy communion, in prayer. This is God's gift, and you and I are the owners of this gift. And in order for the power of grace not to leave us, so that we do not turn into empty vessels, we must constantly acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit - through prayer, good deeds, participation in the sacraments of the Church; and share this grace, again, through good deeds and through good words with the entire human race. As the clergyman says, celebrating the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist: “both for everyone and for everything.” The Lord suffered for everyone and for everything, the grace of the Holy Spirit is poured out on everyone and everything through the Church. And, realizing the importance of the service of a Christian, we must constantly kindle in ourselves the power of the Holy Spirit through prayer, good deeds and participation in the sacraments.

Today we celebrate the patronal feast of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, because main temple The laurels were consecrated in honor of the Holy Trinity. And I congratulate all of you, my dears, on this event and rejoice that you have gathered in such large numbers today for our common prayer. May the grace of the Holy Spirit be with all of you, helping you on the paths of your life, helping you overcome untruth, evil, iniquities of your own person and around you, helping us all to grow from strength to strength. I invoke God’s blessing on all of our historical Rus', united by the Kyiv baptismal font, on all of our Orthodox people. I invoke God’s blessing also on the Russian state, so that God’s grace truly strengthens all of us, and through us contributes to the transformation of the life of the human race. Happy holiday! God bless you.

The word of God always sounds in church, starting with the blessing - “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” We, Orthodox Christians, begin every work by blessing ourselves with the holy name. Now, on the day of the Holy Trinity, these words today sound in a completely special way, and we also experience and understand their meaning in a completely special way. Even during the times of the Old Testament, the Merciful Lord, through His prophet Moses, gave a temporary law to the people of Israel. In particular, it contained the celebration of holidays and instructions, one of which is the holiday of Pentecost. It was previously celebrated in Israel and is still celebrated today. During the celebration of this day, the people go to live in tents, huts, which are decorated in a special way, which are the dwellings of the people of God these days. This is a kind of memory when they and their ancestors were slaves, but the Lord with His hand brought them out of the slavery of Egypt, and they spent forty years on the road in tents and huts, finding the promised land, the land that the Lord gave through Abraham, and into which the Savior must come.

During these fifty days from Passover to Pentecost, the Jews read the law of God (the first 5 books of the law of Moses). And so from year to year they repeated the commandments of God to themselves, their children and grandchildren. The Law of Moses simply commands, but from the heights of the New Testament we understand why this is necessary. One who does not live according to the laws of God and His commandments cannot understand God, cannot understand His holy will, cannot receive the Holy Spirit! In order to live according to God’s commandments, you must, at a minimum, at least know them. Therefore, for fifty days all Israel studied the Holy Scriptures, and on the last day, that is, the fiftieth, special worship and special sacrifices were performed.

Moses himself spoke about Christ the Savior: “After me, God will give you another!” But Israel, besides Moses, did not know anyone great. And now if you ask a Jew which of the prophets is the highest, he will immediately say that Moses. We see that the word of Moses was fulfilled in Christ, who is not only the anointed Prophet, High Priest and King of Israel, but also God who came into the world - the God-man.

When the Savior came into the world, He did what Adam could not do, what no one did, and what is necessary for each of us. Having removed ourselves from God, the source of life and happiness, by sins, we found ourselves outside of life and outside of happiness. These are not just words, because they are easily verified by life. He who does not live with God has neither happiness, nor life, nor meaning. Some, of course, deceive themselves, invent meanings for themselves and fantasize happiness for themselves - this is visible in everything. For example, now many people are suffering from headaches, deeply infected with the infection of this century, and they believe that the meaning in life can be a career and wealth. But we know that this infection is an infection. Those who have achieved great heights in career and money, unlike you and me who only dream about it, have long understood that neither positions and fame, nor money and position make people any happier. Yes, pride and vanity amuse and create an illusion for a short time. Agree that what more money, the authorities, the more grief “so as not to lose them, so as not to be snatched, no matter how to strangle and bite a neighbor or sibling, so long as he is not a competitor and does not become a dangerous enemy to me.” No! These are either mentally disabled or without money and wealth, and consider this to be their goal and meaning. But whoever lives in a family knows that in order for the family to have, I say, not the fullness of perfection, but at least peace, you need to be able to learn to break your pride through the knee, with a crunch. Those who have broken themselves know what kind of happiness this is! What a joy the crunch is. Some people think that family happiness children appear, then this is not at all like an adult and not like a human being. Children cannot be the goal of life. How will my life end? The worms will eat it. What about children and grandchildren? Worms will eat them too. What could be the purpose and meaning of this? Therefore, having lost God, man in Adam, all of humanity as a whole, each of us loses everything: meaning, goals, joy, life, appearance and human appearance.

God, who desires happiness and our salvation, Himself - the High, humiliating Himself, the Great, humbling Himself, enters our lives and our world, taking on the image and likeness of a person - a slave in relation to Himself, as stated in Holy Scripture. Living on earth, in Christ, God, having become man, accomplished what should have been accomplished in Adam, what we did not do: by the power of the Divinity in Himself, He transforms human nature; by birth he unites the incompatible - eternity and time, divine and human; with His teaching he illuminates our path and sets an example; through the feat of sacrifice and His love, the human in Himself, transforming through suffering, makes it impassive, immortal through death; By His resurrection He raises us to eternal life, and by Ascension He lifts human nature into the depths of the divine nature. This is all accomplished in one Man, in one person - Jesus of Nazareth! And we? Yes, God came into the world. It is written in the Gospel that we will say that we celebrated deaths, we sing about the killing at Easter, but death still triumphs. Christ came to save us from sin, and sin creates, He brought us forgiveness - and how much evil and unforgiven is there in this world?! New eras are counted from the Nativity of Christ, but the question is: what has changed? Nothing! Why then did God come into the world? He came to conquer sin, the power of hell and death within himself. In Him, divinity, eternity, joy and paradise triumph. And we? So that His gift eternal life and salvation was not His and not in Him only, but became the property of everyone who desires it, of course. For this, He told His disciples, as He ascended, that they needed to stay in Jerusalem, not to leave until He sent them what was promised - the Holy Spirit, who would descend on them. We know that the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles in the form of fire! Having already brought to everyone that leaven of deification that was perfected in Him, the Holy Spirit is now implanted in everyone who desires this transformation, purification, and heavenly state. Therefore, the Holy Spirit, descending on the apostles, gave them the gift of language and each of them began to speak and preach in a language that they did not know. After all, the apostles were mostly illiterate fishermen from Galilee. They only knew their own language, but they had to preach all over the world. But how? Hire a translator?! Then where can I get the money? Learn on your own? (for example, Peter at 50 years old is not serious). It was the Holy Spirit who gave them this opportunity. Everyone, speaking in a different language, understood what language he was speaking, for example, the language of the Parthians, which means he needed to go to preach in Parthia; in the language of Egypt, it means the Lord gives the way and indicates where to be a preacher; in the language of Pontus, Asi or Cappadocia - to Asia Minor. But going to preach in a place given and appointed by God, each of the apostles, carrying the gift of the Holy Spirit and preaching, baptized. During Baptism, we know that the Holy Spirit descends. This sacrament is so called because the Holy Spirit is infused into those who with faith wish to accept the gift of deification in Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit.

By that time, communities of the first Christians were founded, in which special prayer, unlike others. This is a prayer during which we take bread and wine and ask that the Holy Spirit apply and transform them into the Body and Blood of Christ, by accepting which we accept the gift of deification in Christ, the seed of heaven. What is accomplished in Christ is accomplished in us—by His grace for our faith.

Today we celebrate not only the descent of the Holy Spirit in general, but also the birthday of the Church, the opportunity for each of us to become the bearer of the gift of transformation in God, which was accomplished in Christ and which is now given to everyone. This is done for our faith, at will, but by the power, grace, holiness of the Holy Spirit!

I would like to say important! Today we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit, we clearly see a divine being. Our God is an incomprehensible Trinity! One in essence, and three in personalities. But how? No way! It's unexplainable. If we explain it only with the naked human mind, short, imperfect and not transformed in the Holy Spirit, then this cannot be explained, just as much else in our daily life cannot be explained.

For example, a woman gave birth to a child, she is bleeding all over, she has stitches across and along her body, she walks along the wall, breastfeeds, does not sleep at night, and suffers. I had only rested a little when the thought came running: “We want to give birth to a second child.” That there wasn't enough torture? You can’t understand this with your mind, for this you just need to be a mother and just love. I remember the words of one mother who says: as soon as the last one grows up, there is such longing in my soul, I want true love. I tell my husband: “We’ll give birth!” She told me this when they gave birth to their seventh child, she was almost 40 years old. I asked her how long it would take to tell my husband this way, to which she replied: “As long as I have the opportunity to give birth.” It was not very clear to me with a man’s mind, but she worried about women’s motherhood in her heart. Therefore, God and His depth cannot be understood if we approach him with the crooked human standard of our untruth - God is immeasurable by the measurable!

What conclusion can we draw from celebrating and celebrating the triumph of our Triune God? Two very important practical conclusions that are necessary for our lives. First, God is inexplicable, great and incomprehensible because He is All-perfect. How to empty a bottomless well with a short scoop? How can a person who has boundaries embrace the limitless? The heart asks for reverence and gratitude, to stand in joy and fear of God before the greatness of our God and Creator. Scripture says that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. Fear is not in the sense of “panic”, but in the sense of “amazement”, “shock”, “awe”. Secondly, God is one, but not alone - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Let's talk about our human nature, even three people can live under the same roof with the same nature and under the same surname, for example, dad, mother and child, it is also fashionable in Rus' - grandmother, mother and daughter. A family will be a family when it is not called a family, but appears when the only thing between them that will make them a family is love. Without love there may be a name, but the essence will disappear. Even in the earthly understanding, love is necessary for there to be unity, joy, and completeness.

What is evidenced when the Lord reveals to us that He is triune, but His will is one and indivisible. This speaks of the power of love in God: the Father for the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Son for the Father and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit for the Father and the Son, if we are talking about one will. In light of what has been said, with what power do the words of John the Theologian sound, who says that God is love. Love that erases interpersonal boundaries, love in which the personality does not dissolve, but is amazingly manifested in the inexpressible language of unity that we desire and strive for.

Why do we triumph today, having God the Trinity? The incomprehensibility of His greatness and the boundless greatness of His love! Even in the Old Testament, the Lord says: “Be holy, for I am holy” (see Lev. 11:44). If we reduce the phrase to a minimum, then what remains is “Be like Me.” To strive for heights that are lost in infinity, to strive for the fullness of God-like love. The Holy Spirit is poured out for each of us, which gives strength to these heights.

With all my heart I am glad to congratulate everyone that today we are experiencing a holiday that reveals to us the human heights and depth of divine love. Happy holiday!

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
Today we have gathered in a church decorated with greenery to prayerfully remember an event that happened about 2000 years ago - the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. Jesus Christ, as promised, sent to His disciples the “Comforter Spirit from the Father.” The Feast of the Holy Trinity was established by the apostles. After the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit, they began to annually celebrate the Day of Pentecost and commanded all Christians to remember this event (1 Cor. 16:8), (Acts 20:16). The Holy Church offers general praise Holy Trinity and inspires us to chant “the Father without beginning, and the Son without beginning, and the co-essential and most holy Spirit” - “the Trinity of the same essence, coequal and without beginning.”
In the 4th century, Saint Basil the Great compiled kneeling prayers, which are read to this day at festive vespers. In order to preserve the faithful in a reverent state and make them capable, following the example of the apostles, of the most chaste genuflection and prayers in honor of the Holy Spirit, and of worthy acceptance of the priceless gifts of God’s grace, Vespers is supposed to be held after the liturgy.
This event can be contrasted with the Old Testament “confusion of languages,” when the Lord, for the unbelief of people, deprived them of the opportunity to communicate with each other by “dividing” languages, that is, by establishing a language barrier, when people, rebelling against their Creator, decided to build the Tower of Babel. And on the day of Pentecost in the New Testament, the apostles get the opportunity to communicate in different languages, and, therefore, they can preach the Gospel to the whole world. That is, the merciful Heavenly Father extends the hand of salvation to every person living on earth, without exception. But at the same time, He does not take away free will, does not force one to honor Himself, leaving the right of choice to the person himself.
We must thank God that we were lucky enough to be born into the original Orthodox tradition. But, alas, not every resident of our Motherland considers himself a believer; and does the one who still considers himself Orthodox live according to the canons of the Holy Church and keep the commandments of God? Not always, unfortunately! And this happens because there is no faith: a person who believes in the omnipresence of God will not be able to commit any bad or illegal acts. For faith to appear, each individual person needs a personal meeting with God.
Someone is born into a believing family, someone into an unbeliever - but a child, even having received the foundations of faith from childhood, must himself come to God, personally realize that there is an Almighty God, Who is Love.
This meeting happens differently for everyone. Our ancestors said: “whoever did not sail on the sea did not pray to God.” Unfortunately, most often a person acquires true faith through many sorrows and illnesses. Then, when he realizes that no one and nothing on earth can help him. It is at such moments that we begin to sincerely believe and turn to the last and only true Hope - to God, Who is just waiting for a request to provide help.
Today is the birthday of the Church - “today the grace of the Holy Spirit has gathered us together” - is sung in festive chants. Today we remember the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and call this day the birth of the Church. Because this is exactly how it is – in the totality of like-mindedness and unanimity, in the totality of the Church, we all find, we can gain, the God-given fullness of life. And everything that the Church lives by in its unchanging foundations - all this is the path of transformation, the path of purification and sanctification of our life. What the Holy Fathers call deification.
This is not some kind of one-time act, like the Buddhist “enlightenment” - this is precisely the path in which an attentive and sensitive human conscience is guided by the grace of the Holy Spirit. And this path begins in earthly human life. In this path, in this transformation and ascent to God lies our main meaning... and grief if we deprive ourselves of this meaning. Because it is impossible to replace it with anything!

The Holy Trinity revealed itself in all its fullness accessible to our perception on the day of Pentecost. And until now and to the end of the age, this completeness is open to us. What an indescribable and greatest gift! So let us remember this gift, seek its acquisition, regretting, crying and lamenting about our wretchedness and asking again and again that the Lord would cleanse us, to enlighten us on the paths, to teach us what we should “do and speak” in order to become partakers of true life, beauty, love and perfection. Let us with all our might seek unity with the Holy Trinity, remembering at what immeasurable price this indescribable and most joyful opportunity was purchased for us - to be with God!

June 3, 2012, on the day of the Holy Trinity (Pentecost), His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' Divine Liturgy in the Assumption Cathedral. At the end of the service, the Primate of the Russian Church addressed the believers with a sermon.

Your Eminences and Graces! Venerable fathers, brothers and sisters!

I cordially congratulate you all on the great holiday - Holy Pentecost, Trinity. On this day we remember in a special way the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles. This story is well known to everyone who has at least once read the Gospel and the Acts of the Holy Apostles, who studied the law of God in Sunday school. This story is in a series of other stories, and the holiday established in honor of Pentecost is called the Twelfth - as if in a series of other great holidays. But in fact, what happened on this day, in its consequences, is comparable only to the incarnation of the Son of God and His Resurrection.

The holy apostles, frightened by the execution of their Teacher, hid in their homes. It seemed to them that here or there persecution would be raised against them. They are almost never present in public space; they gather behind closed doors. Fear and confusion are what suppressed their souls. And what a great and joyful event the appearance of the Risen Savior was for them! But even then, not possessing sufficient power of spiritual vision, they did not always recognize their Teacher in the One who appeared. Only at certain moments, when the Lord wanted to reveal himself to them, did they see their Teacher in Him, but almost nothing has been written about this period of Gospel history. As if the Lord met with his disciples only a few times, it is known that it was at this time that He taught them the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but we do not know the details. None of the apostles described - apparently by the will of the Lord and Savior Himself - what happened from Easter, from the Resurrection to the day that we celebrate today.

There was one bright and powerful event - the Ascension of the Savior. When the disciples on the Mount of Olives saw Him ascending into heaven and heard the voice of the inhabitants of heaven: “Why, you men of Galilee, stand and look - behold, Jesus, who ascends from you into heaven, will come in the same way,” these words, of course, filled holy apostles with the joy of hope. They descended from the Mount of Olives in anticipation of the soon coming of the Savior, but again almost nothing is said about their deeds and words during this period of time.

And suddenly an event occurs about which the Lord Himself mysteriously prophesied - that through His death and Resurrection they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is unlikely that the apostles had any idea what all this meant. But when, having gathered in the upper room of Zion, they heard, as it were, the sound of the wind and saw tongues of fire descending on them, they, of course, realized that something amazing was happening. And then, having received the gift of speaking convincingly to any person, no matter what language he spoke, they really felt the power of God. It was from this moment that they ceased to be frightened disciples who, of course, rejoiced at the appearance of the Savior, but they did not have enough strength to go and preach. After all, even when they received the promise of the soon coming of the Savior, they lacked either strength or understanding; and only on that day when God rested on them with the Holy Spirit did they become different.

Outwardly these were the same Galilean fishermen who were well known in Jerusalem, but internally they were completely different people. And the first appeal of the Apostle Peter to those who doubted the descent of the Holy Spirit already testifies to a certain power. After all, someone thought that, having begun to speak in other tongues, the disciples might have become drunk from drinking wine. But the Apostle Peter firmly says that they are sober, because it is still three o’clock, that is, nine o’clock in the morning, and no one took any meal, but that a miracle of God happened - the descent of the Holy Spirit on them. From then on, the holy apostles ceased to be just a group of like-minded people who remembered their Teacher - they became preachers of everything that He taught them and about which the Holy Spirit taught them. And the word gains great power, and converts thousands of people almost every day, and even the shadow of Peter passing by heals people - that same Peter who, together with the other apostles, during the life of the Savior, could not heal the demoniac.

What happened? What is this change? After all, the apostles did not change their appearance and did not receive any special knowledge - they already knew a lot; they did not receive any special education, they did not climb the social ladder - they still remained outcasts of the society of that time. What happened? What happened was that the grace of God, the power of God, the Holy Spirit, through the redemptive merits of the Savior, through His death and Resurrection, according to His promise, touched them and filled the apostles with such power, which the Magi later dreamed of, so that they were even willing to pay money, so that the apostles would share with them the secret of their power - because the Holy Spirit began to act in these weak and weak people.

And it is surprising that this descent of the Holy Spirit, which transformed a group of like-minded fishermen into a special congregation, into the Church of God, where the Holy Spirit lives and acts, did not cease with the cessation of their physical life, but, according to the promise of God, the same Spirit who rested on the apostles , abides in the Church, rests on the clergy and on all the faithful who pass through the font of Baptism and who are grafted into this Divine and grace-filled trunk through the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Therefore, each of us can say: “I also have the Holy Spirit, and I have the same power, and the Holy Spirit lives and works in me.” But not every person feels this: sometimes even clergy go through periods of life when it seems to them that the Holy Spirit has departed from them; and the laity do not always have a clear understanding and sense of the presence of Divine power in them. What's the matter? Something is not happening the way it should be happening - but what exactly is going wrong? Saint John Chrysostom wonderfully teaches us that for all those who are possessed by passion and unbelief, the power of the Holy Spirit becomes unapproachable and invisible. The great saint did not say that the one who is subject to passion or who has lost faith after being baptized has forever lost the gift of the Holy Spirit, that he has lost it. He says something different - that for one who has passion and unbelief, the power of the Holy Spirit becomes impregnable and invisible.

And if a person does not feel the presence of the Holy Spirit, if this power is unapproachable and invisible to him, then this means that this power does not exist for him. And we know that sometimes, while continuing to fulfill church instructions, we cease to really believe in the Lord; we rely on the prince, on the son of man. We rely on human power, on money, on protection, we sometimes dodge and commit sins in order to gain some kind of mercy from people and thereby receive what we want and ask for, and very rarely we turn to God, as if anticipating His refusal. And this happens for the reason that St. John Chrysostom said: “For those who have passion and unbelief, the power of the Holy Spirit becomes unapproachable and invisible.”

What does it mean to renew our religious life? We talk about this a lot now. Some believe that this is the opening of churches, the opening of church schools, the development of social and educational programs, repair, restoration... And one, and the other, and the third, and the fourth are signs of renewal, but one, and the other, and the third, and the fourth will be fruitless if, possessing passion and unbelief, we do not receive the gift of the Holy Spirit .

Often baptized people treat the Church with contempt, allow insults, and ridicule the Church. Why does this happen - after all, they received the gift of the Holy Spirit at baptism? But this is what happens - because of passion and unbelief, the grace of God is cut off, and a person does not feel God, does not feel an answer to his prayers, for him coming to church is like coming to a museum, his heart does not beat joyfully during worship, it is dead because it is enslaved by passions and unbelief.

In order for the Church of God to be renewed following the example of the original apostolic community, we must use all our strength to fight passions, to arouse faith in ourselves through constant prayer, through repentance, through the acceptance of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, through a critical, strict attitude towards ourselves. to yourself, through constant self-reproach, through control over your thoughts, deeds, movements of the heart. Because as soon as we remove this control, passions will crawl like snakes into the inner sanctuary of the soul, and then we will not feel any grace of the Holy Spirit.

That is why the main ministry to which the Church devotes itself is the ministry of the grace of God. Having received it from the Lord Himself on the day of Pentecost, she is called to distribute it to people and perform such actions, pronounce such words, build such relationships with the outside world, so that everything is aimed at ensuring that passions are driven out of human hearts and ardent faith comes into the heart and along with it - the power of God's grace, which from illiterate fishermen made powerful preachers who conquered the universe, which from numerous ascetics formed a host of holy wonderworkers, from ordinary people - martyrs, from ordinary bishops and priests - saints and saints.

We believe that even today the power of God’s grace is capable of transforming every person, and through a person, the whole world. We celebrate today the birthday of the Holy Church, the acceptance by all of us of the grace of the Holy Spirit. And may the Lord help you to keep this sign God's presence in the world, given to us through the cross of Christ and the Resurrection, until the end of the age. Amen.

Press service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'