Holy Spirit
The coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Church at Pentecost is the purpose and intended fruit of the incarnation and the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. St. John the Forerunner told his followers and questioners:
I indeed baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:8).
Our Lord Jesus Christ told his disciples:
You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses . . . . (Acts 1:8).
And in the 14th century St. Nicholas Cabasilas says of the outcome of Christ’s life and work:
What is the effect and the result of the sufferings and works and teaching of Christ? Considered in relation to ourselves, it is nothing other than the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Church.
However it is not only the Church as the Body of Christ or only her hierarchy which receives the Holy Spirit, but all of its members personally, and it is indeed Orthodox to desire the experience of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. In the first century the promise of the restoration of the Holy Spirit as a gift to believers in Christ was announced by the apostle St. Peter to the crowds after the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost:
Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you, and to your children and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call (Acts 2:38-9).
In the fourth century St. Athanasius the Great speaks similarly:
. . . the Word took on flesh so that we might receive the Holy Spirit.
St. Symeon the New Theologian, a 10th century saint, reminds us of
the same truth:
. . . the goal and purpose of all of Christ’s work of salvation for us
was that believers should receive the Holy Spirit.
In the 19th century, St. Seraphim of Sarov spoke of the acquisition of
the Holy Spirit as the goal of the Christian life:
Prayer, fasting, works of mercy – all this is very good, but it
represents only the means, not the end of the Christian life. The
true end is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit.
St. Theophan the Recluse says,
. . . to ‘be filled with the Spirit’ is simply an injunction to behave and act in such a manner as to cooperate with or allow free scope to the Holy Spirit, to make it possible for the Holy Spirit to manifest Himself by perceptibly touching the heart.
It is important to make clear that St. Theophan is not suggesting that we seek experiences or feelings related to the presence of the Holy Spirit, as has often become the focus in the modern “charismatic” movements. Rather, he is telling us that when one co-operates with the grace of the Holy Spirit through overcoming the passions, through obeying the injunctions of life in Christ, and through prayer, one becomes consciously aware of the fruit of the Spirit’s presence, in a deep peace, quietude of the powers of the heart, an overflowing love for others, patience, kindness, and so on.
As one consciously seeks to co-operate with grace, and remains watchful as to how sin occurs in his or her life, and how it affects one’s feelings and spirit within, one becomes aware of the quiet and constructive presence of the Spirit at work within oneself, and also becomes aware of the noisy, confusing, and tumultuous effects of sin
on one’s inner being, and on people around one.
The great saints and teachers of the Orthodox Christian faith make clear to us that it is the conscious awareness and continuous presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives which is the goal of the Christian life, and at the same time the means for new life in Christ
being possible and for Christ being fully formed in us. We must cooperate with the grace of the Holy Spirit given in Baptism and sealed in Chrismation and renewed through participation in the Eucharist. The more we do so, the more we shall become aware of the presence and fruit of the Holy Spirit and the more life in Christ becomes a joy and the burden light, as our Lord says. At the same time, the saints remind us that prayer is a struggle until we die and that the more progress we make in the spiritual life the more temptations, and fierce attacks we can expect from the evil one). However, when we do not co-operate with, and stir up, the Holy Spirit’s working within us, the more we live according to the “flesh,” according to ungodly ways and patterns of behavior, the more the Spirit withdraws, and does not return until we show repentance and sorrow, and seek His return with our whole heart. According to the fathers and saints, the major means by which we co-operate with the Holy Spirit in our lives are prayer and obedience to the way of Christ set out in the New Testament, that is, the way of humility, continual repentance, and love of neighbor. But the saints and Fathers who teach us this, also assume as a matter of course, as St. Innocent of Alaska states very clearly, regular participation in the whole life of the Church, and most importantly, regular participation in the Eucharistic offering and communion in the Body and Blood of Christ, for apart from Christ living in us, we cannot become like Him.
Of course the Holy Spirit cannot be forced or commanded to be active in us simply by our efforts. The Holy Spirit always comes as gift and ‘blows where it will,” but He will come to comfort us when we make a sincere and sustained effort to acquire conscious co-operation with Him in making our lives holy, as God is holy.
Excerpts taken from Acquisition of the Holy Spirit as the Goal of the Christian Life by Spencer Estabrooks in The Canadian Journal of Orthodox Christianity Volume II, No 1, Winter 2007
Other articles on the Holy Spirit
Saint Seraphim of Sarov - On Acquisition of the Holy Spirit
On the Holy Spirit, St. Basil the Great
The Holy Spirit by Demetrios Constantelos
St. Leo the Great - Sermons 75 and 78 on the Holy Spirit
St. Gregory of Nyssa - Glory of the Holy Spirit
St. Gregory of Nanzianzen - The Fifth Theological Oration (Oration 31) - On the Holy Spirit.
Doctrine of the Holy Trinity from Living the Orthodox Life, the catechism book of the Saint George Cathedral.
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