Archpriest Vitalian (Drobotun)

Glory to Jesus Christ, dear brothers and sisters!

I congratulate you with the great feast- the Descent of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost.

We read in the Gospel the story about the coming of Our Savior Jesus Christ on the Earth two thousand years ago. He taught people, He promised Apostles, that the Holy Spirit would descent on them after His left. “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

And we see that God kept His word. The Holy Spirit descended on the fifth day after God’s Resurrection. That is why this feast is called Pentecost. There is one of the movements of the Christianity and it is called “Pentecostalism.”

But we can think over this: “The Holy Spirit descended and Apostles started to talk on different languages.” And we can imagine another situation – some Apostles stopped at this point, stayed at home, went fishing, did other normal things. They did not preach God’s word, did not fulfill God’s task. And there is a question: “Would the Holy Spirit stay with them or not?”

I think it would not stay. Because the Holy Spirit should move all the time, the energy can’t just stand. And the Holy Spirit leaves people that do bad things or do nothing.

We remember the Gospel, when God wanted people to be hot or cold, not warm. Because “warm people” means that they are not with God and not with evil. Today they do good, tomorrow – bad and the day after tomorrow they are passive. God does not understand such people; it is difficult for Him to save such people. But when He sees that a person is hot and follows Him, it is easier for Him to work with such person.

That is why we understand that Apostles were hot, because the Holy Spirit descended upon them. But they could become warm, if they did not work in the name of God. The Holy Spirit descended upon the disciplines and gave them the gift of knowledge of different languages. But it wasn’t the only gift. There were also the gift of bravery, the gift to preach and the gift to serve.

We can think that Apostles were superheroes. But it is not true. We know their history. But if God blesses with His gifts, a person will start to preach, even if he did not do it before. If you are afraid of something, you will not anymore, because the nature of your soul changes, God changes you.

And we, dear brothers and sisters, came today to the Temple to pray in this great feast and we want the Holy Spirit to descend upon us. And maybe some people think: “Did the Holy Spirit descend upon us or not?” We did not see fire tongues; we did not hear the noise of the earthquake or something else. But we feel with all our heart, with all our soul that the Holy Spirit descended upon us, because we feel very good, we feel gladness, we love God, we love people around us. This is the evidence that God is with us, that the Holy Spirit descended upon us and we did not waste our time when we came to the Temple to pray.

Will the Holy Spirit descend upon us tomorrow? Will the power of the Holy Spirit stay with us tomorrow? It is a question…Everything depends on us, dear brothers and sisters, because God loves us and gives a free choice. Will we pray to God tomorrow and ask Him to leave the Holy Spirit with us for our spiritual and physical healing. Everything depends on us.

That is why, dear brothers and sisters, I appeal to you - always ask God that He descends the Holy Spirit upon your heart; that He did not leave you. Even if it is difficult for us we still have to ask God that He work through us and to save us.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Яндекс.Метрика