If we try to describe our perception and experience of the Holy Spirit, we will quickly realize that human words are not enough for this. All attempts at verbal systematization run the risk of locking us in an abstract and conceptual world that has little to do with living spiritual life. This is the disadvantage of academic theology, which does not allow us to be inspired by the spirit of asceticism and prayer. That is why the Russian theologian Vladimir Lossky said that theological concepts about God are certainly important, but after familiarizing ourselves with them we should put them aside so as not to lock God into mental constructs: For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life (2 Cor. 3:6). We also know that The wind bloweth where it listeth (Jn. 3:8), and no one can set boundaries for the Spirit.
I would like to say a few words about the work of the Holy Spirit in the Orthodox Church and in the lives of the faithful. It is so important that one of the greatest Russian saints, St. Seraphim of Sarov, taught: “The true purpose of Christian life is acquiring the Holy Spirit.” Nicholas Afanasiev, one of the greatest theologians of the Russian diaspora, Professor of Theology at St. Sergius Institute in Paris († 1966), summarized the results of his research in ecclesiology in a book entitled, Église du Saint Esprit (from French: “The Church of the Holy Spirit”). I think it would have been impossible to find a better title to express this fundamental truth of Orthodoxy in one word: our Church is that of the Holy Spirit.
The author came to this title because the early Church saw itself as a Eucharistic community headed by a bishop, through which the Universal Church was constantly being renewed. The Church celebrates the Eucharist as a gathering of the faithful, and Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ transforms believers into the Church, which is the Body of Christ. This mystical transformation is accomplished by the Holy Spirit. The whole Eucharist is full of fire and Spirit, as St. Ephraim the Syrian (fourth century) wrote. Eastern Christians attach great importance to the Epiclesis—that is, the invocation of the Holy Spirit over the faithful and the Eucharistic Gifts in the form of bread and wine so that they can become the Body and Blood of Christ.
In the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, the Epiclesis reads as follows: “Again we offer unto Thee this reasonable and bloodless worship, and we ask Thee, and pray Thee, and supplicate Thee: Send down Thy Holy Spirit upon us and upon these gifts here offered. And make this bread the precious Body of Thy Christ. And that which is in this cup, the precious Blood of Thy Christ. Making the change by the Holy Spirit.” In fact, the entire Eucharist is a continuous Epiclesis, which ends with the consecration of the Gifts and adding of warm water into the Holy Chalice before Communion. In this case water symbolizes grace-filled faith.
St. Ephraim the Syrian says, “Henceforth you will eat a pure and immaculate Pascha—perfect bread, kneaded and baked by the Holy Spirit, and wine mixed with fire and the Spirit.” The Orthodox Church is filled with the Holy Spirit, Who fills everything in it with His presence. The Church sacraments, services, daily prayers, and Church activities are inspired by the Holy Spirit. He works in everything in the Church. Thus, in the Orthodox tradition, both church and private prayer of the faithful always begins with the invocation of the Holy Spirit, and then the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered (Rom. 8:26). The tradition of the Eastern Church has never exaggerated the role of the Son of God to the detriment of the Holy Spirit, but has always considered the joint work of the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity. Almost all church prayers, whether they are addressed to the Father, to the Son, to the Holy Spirit, to the Mother of God or the saints, end with a Trinitarian Doxology: “For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Forever. Amen.” The Liturgy also begins with the following words: “Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.”
St. Basil the Great said: “The path to the knowledge of God leads from the knowledge of the Holy Spirit, through the Son of God to God the Father. Goodness, holiness, and royal dignity come from the Father through the Son and reach the Spirit.” And the Spirit communicates all this to the faithful. The Holy Spirit is the Bearer of the Threefold grace that sanctifies all Creation. The Orthodox tradition calls the Father the Creator, the Son the Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit the Comforter. The Holy Spirit is the most mysterious Person of the Holy Trinity. If the Father revealed Himself through the Son Who became a man visible to people: He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father (Jn. 14:9), then the Holy Spirit did not reveal His Face.
As we know, in the New Testament the Holy Spirit appeared at the Baptism of the Lord in the form of a dove, and at Pentecost—in the form of tongues of fire. The theologian Vladimir Lossky stated that the Face of the Spirit is reflected on the faces of believers striving for holiness. The face of a holy man is that of the Spirit, because it is the Holy Spirit Who sanctifies the believer and imprints His Face on him. But even if someone’s sanctification is solely a gift from the Holy Spirit, He expects our cooperation through our faith, striving for virtue, and fighting sin and passions. It is about the mysterious synergy between the Spirit and the believer’s will throughout his life: For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building (1 Cor. 3:9).
Here we should recall the maxim of the ascetic tradition: “Give blood and receive the Spirit.” These words can only be grasped through faith, since here we are speaking about death and resurrection in the case of each one of us, about a change of mind. The Apostle Paul says: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8); For it is God Which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). In the prayer, “O Heavenly King,” the Holy Spirit is referred to as “the Giver of life” because life comes from Him, and it is He Who guides us on an unfathomable path to perfection. The believer gradually begins to realize the effect of grace in all events of his life, both major and minor, positive and negative. He can also grasp the work of the Holy Spirit in retrospect, looking back at his life events whose significance he had not previously realized.
Besides, the Spirit works even when a person is in a state of sin or passion, inspiring him to repent, awakening in him the awareness of sin. This is how the believer comes to understand that God is present in his life through the mysterious work of the Spirit. Nevertheless, the work of the Holy Spirit in the human soul and in the world is incomprehensible. God does not impose Himself on us so as not to violate our freedom. We ourselves must make efforts to come to realize that nothing in our lives is accidental, but Divine Providence controls everything. It is vital to fight sin on our part, because sin drives grace away from our hearts.
Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin (Heb. 12:4). The Holy Fathers strongly emphasize the importance of ascetic life in the process of salvation, sanctification or deification of people. No one can be saved without their own contribution to this mysterious process, in which the grace of God works in synergy with the will of the believer. It awakens in him the awareness of the importance of fulfilling the commandments; however, grace works only to the extent that we fulfil these commandments.
St. Mark the Ascetic (fourth century) wrote: “Grace works insofar as we fulfil the commandments. Grace never ceases to support us secretly, but it depends on us whether we do the good we have the strength to do.”
St. Simeon the New Theologian taught that we are Christians to the extent that we facilitate the work of Baptismal grace in us by living according to the commandments of God. In each sacrament of the Church we receive a special grace that must be used to serve the Church. This is how we live: by grace and through grace, which awakens in us the strength to devote ourselves more and more to combating sin, which obscures the Face of God in us, leading us to insensitivity and spiritual death.
Sin is the most tragic reality in human life and in the whole universe. The fall of our ancestors Adam and Eve had cosmic implications that will last until the end of time. This is felt in everybody’s life and in the world around us as the destruction of the harmony that God put into the nature of people and things. The Greek word “cosmos” (“κόσμος”) means harmony. The Apostle Paul wrote: For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God (Rom. 8:19). The Holy Fathers call Christ the New Adam, because, being sinless, He repeated all of humanity in His human essence, renewing and restoring the original harmony. The essence of Christ is the seed from which the leaven of the human race rises. All who unite with Christ can rise above sin, thereby restoring harmony lost through sin.
A Christian’s sanctification occurs through the grace of the Holy Spirit working in his soul, which he received in Baptism and continues to receive in the Church sacraments. But, as I have already said, grace does not work in us without our cooperatopm through our faith and ascetic life within our powers. The human heart is an unfathomable depth, the innermost place of the human being. The grace of God works mysteriously in it. Therefore, Orthodox spirituality is aimed at sanctifying the heart, since through the heart the whole person is sanctified. Our prayer is a journey to the heart. The mind is the energy of the heart. In prayer it must constantly go down into the heart. This is the only way to keep thoughts from scattering so that later we can feel peace and joy as the fruits of grace.
Of course, at first attention and concentrating the mind in the heart are not easy, especially if a person has not been taught the practice of long prayer. Our mind gets used to being constantly preoccupied with external things of the world. And when a person stands to pray, it is hard for him to focus his mind on his heart. So, we must force ourselves to pray. The Holy Fathers, who were experienced in prayer, noted that the devil hates prayer the most and does everything to prevent us from praying with a pure heart. Each one of us can imagine how hard it is sometimes to stand to pray, and how easily our mind is distracted by extraneous thoughts. It happens that we feel no peace of mind and joy from prayer. The holy ascetics are aware of this and accurately describe mental struggles as demonic work in a person that confuses him all the time. The Greek word “diabolos” means “divider”—the one who destroys integrity and harmony through confusion and hatred. If the work of the enemy of mankind is division, then the Holy Spirit brings harmony and unity.
Prayer should be combined with moderation in everything, especially in eating and drinking. Fasting is an ancient practice that is present in various forms in all world religions. The Orthodox Church has preserved the tradition of fasting since the first centuries of Christianity, adding fasting periods throughout the year. …Your whole spirit and soul and body (1 Thess. 5:23) presuppose the participation of the body in all spiritual practices, just as the soul and the spirit are involved in all actions of the body. The faithful are called to spiritualize their flesh. According to the Holy Fathers, the passion of gluttony is the “mother of lust”. A life that is too comfortable weakens the soul, arousing sensuality and carnal desires. That is why the Holy Fathers insist that no one can pray on a full stomach, and the Holy Spirit cannot dwell in a heart burdened by bodily desires. Without strict abstinence in food and drink and without other feats we cannot overcome the lustful impulses of the flesh.
St. John Climacus instructs: “He who imagines that he can conquer the demon of lust with gluttony is like someone who quenches fire with oil.” He wrote about fasting that it casts out evil thoughts, frees you from fantasies, gives you bodily health, forgiveness of sins and joy. As opposed to it, gluttony gives rise to a sea of thoughts and waves of impure passions. The Orthodox spiritual tradition in no way neglects the body: Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (1 Cor. 6:19) and does not contrast the soul and the body, since both are called to sanctification. When a person is in a state of sin, his flesh rebels against the spirit, as though there were two “laws” in us—physical and spiritual—fighting against each other. But the grace of God, as a result of prayer and ascetic labors, gets over this duality and spiritualizes the flesh. In this way, a carnal person becomes more and more spiritual; his transformation is taking place, which is the ultimate goal.
Christian life, like the life of our Savior, is bearing the cross continually: If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me (Lk. 9:23). In order to follow Christ and bear your cross daily you need to show strong will and courage; you also need to be sure that your resurrection is mysteriously hidden in this cross. The Cross and the Resurrection are so closely related that they cannot be separated. For a believer there is no cross that does not include the resurrection, just as there is no resurrection without the cross. Bearing his cross faithfully and voluntarily every day, a believer gradually dies to sin and gains an ever-increasing taste for eternal life. The purpose of bearing the cross is for us to get rid of the passions and sinful desires that bind us to this world and ensure that longing for the Kingdom of God awakens in us. Thus, when experiencing the sufferings and hardships of life, we feel our weakness and powerlessness and surrender ourselves in everything to God our Savior. “The cross itself is theology,” the Holy Fathers maintain. This is a fundamental truth of faith.
In reality, only the cross—that is, suffering endured with faith—unites the believer with Christ. In suffering, a person discovers God’s infinite love for him and for the world. Suffering fills a person with compunction, and he begins to pray with tears of remorse for his sins. God rewards us with His Divine consolation, which is sweeter than all the delights of this world. It gives us peace of heart and the courage to continue our spiritual struggle. Thus, suffering makes us turn to God, deepening our spiritual feeling, and this ultimately leads to salvation.
But if a person has no faith, he perceives suffering as meaningless and not saving. Few people understand the mystery of suffering. Most people reject it, perceiving it with chagrin and even rebellion against God. And yet the grace of God does not cease to work in incomprehensible ways even in the lives of such people. No one can be saved without suffering. If it is borne with faith and hope, it proves to be God’s greatest blessing in your life.
Walter Langley. Morning Brings Wisdom, But Some Hearts Are Broken. 1882
Prayer, ascetic life and, above all, the patient bearing of your cross of suffering and trials of life help you acquire a “compassionate heart”, as St. Isaac the Syrian used to say. A compassionate, loving, and merciful heart is a sign of restoration of human nature to its original integrity. Such a heart bears the unity of all humanity and the cosmos. Everything lives in a compassionate heart—people, animals, plants, and all organic and inorganic matter. Thus, the believer becomes like God. Like Christ, he is no longer separated from anything or anyone, because he bears all things within himself. Nothing is external and alien to him anymore, and he is not indifferent to anything anymore. He feels responsible for everyone and for everything that happens in humanity and in the universe. Such a person begins to perceive his neighbors through the words of the Apostle Paul: For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body (1 Cor. 12:12). A believer who has acquired a compassionate heart resolutely sets himself up to serve his neighbors, with whom Christ identifies Himself.
At the Last Judgment, our lives will be judged by the criterion of service to others. It’s impossible to share in someone’s pain unless you have a kind and compassionate heart. Such a state of the heart is attained, among other things, through serving others. Because the more we give ourselves to serving others and the more we do good, the more love we have inside us. Serving our neighbors means always being with them, helping them where they need it, praying for them, and advising them on the path to goodness. The anchorite fathers withdrew from the world in order to attain a holy life, but they valued service to others, especially the sick, more than prayer and fasting. In the collection entitled, Apophthegmata Patrum (chapter 5, On Love), there is this saying:
“A monk asked an elder brother, ‘Father, if one of the two brethren stays in his cell silently, fasts all week long and works hard every day, and the other takes care of the sick with zeal and devotion, which of them will be more loved by God?’
“The brother replied, ‘He who stays in his cell, prays much and fasts six days a week, but lacks love and compassion for his brethren, will never be able to be like someone who serves the sick.’”
Some Christians who are zealous in prayer are incapable of charity and good works. This means that their prayer has not yet come down into the heart to transform it. There is a real danger that we might get used to formal and superficial prayer, which neither transforms the heart, nor penetrates it, but remains only on the lips or in the mind. And we must try to avoid this. The Orthodox Church is rightly called the Church of the Holy Spirit. Genuine spiritual life is inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Church cannot exist without rules and canons, but we must never forget that they were given to us in order to help the Spirit work. And this is a challenge for every believer. The Holy Spirit is so tender and timid that, out of respect for human freedom, He moves away from our slightest resistance. But He returns if we repent and humble ourselves. Amen.
