Orthodox Sermons & Articles

There are different names for this particular feast day of the Church as they define different aspects of it. In Church practice this day is called "Holy Trinity Day" because on this day the Third Person of the Holy Trinity (The Holy Spirit) was revealed to us. We knew God the Father since the creation of the world. The Holy Scripture informed us about God the Son and about the Holy Spirit, but actually, humankind never witnessed their appearances to the world until the incarnation of the Son of God. Therefore, with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity has been revealed to us. The Son of God fully accepted our human nature as His own and has proven that it can be deified if we follow God’s teaching permanently. In His Ascension, Jesus took our human nature up into heaven and sat on the right side of God the Father, which confirms God’s unprecedented love for us humans.

 

Finally, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, which is the Holy Spirit, was revealed to us on the day of Pentecost. We call this day "Pentecost" because the event happened on the fiftieth day (which is the meaning of the word "Pentecost") after Christ’s Resurrection. Therefore, today we celebrate the accomplishment of all God’s prophecies and His revelation to the world about Himself. We have received from God perfect knowledge about His nature so that we could use it as a tool to work towards building our eternal salvation. We have also received something new and unique as a gift, the "Life-giving Holy Spirit" which helps us to use the tools of knowledge about God correctly, inspires us to follow Jesus Christ and guides us to the right choice in times of making the important decisions. Therefore, we are called today to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit, Who is the Spirit of Truth and enlightenment, and to allow Him to do His precious work within us.

 

As we heard from the Epistle reading today, strange things were happening in Jerusalem in those days. Only in the short term of fifty days, the Disciples and the believers had witnessed the Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension and the Descending of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. These events had a huge impact on almost everybody at the time: some started to believe that Jesus was the Messiah and converted to Christianity, some were wondering if this was not a trick or magic, and some became even more intolerant as they were at risk of loosing popularity among the people of Israel. Even amongst the eyewitnesses of the Descending of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in the divided tongues of fire, there were some who thought that the Apostles were drunk and could not speak clearly. What was unknown to these people was that the presence of the Holy Spirit enabled them to speak in different languages. St. Peter the Apostle later explained that these languages were understandable by the people who spoke them. Now some people claim that they can speak "in tongues" in modern times, but nobody can understand them. At the time of Pentecost in Jerusalem, the Apostles of Christ spoke real languages, which were needed to spread the Good News of salvation to the rest of the world.

 

As I mentioned above, today is the birthday of our Church. Therefore, I would like to say a few words about the Church. The Church is a group of people who share the same beliefs and teachings, accept the same Sacraments and recognize the same church authorities. However, this definition of the Church would not be complete without saying that the Church is a spiritual organism or the mystical body of Jesus Christ, as is taught to us by St. Paul the Apostle (1Cor.12: 12-31). We are the members of the Church or members of Christ’s mystical body. Therefore, the Church is not a building, but a group of people. When these people (us) come together on Sunday morning, we form the Church. We call a building a "church" only because the Church (people) gather within it. In modern times, more and more people start to look at the Church as an organization, which is a great mistake. Yes, externally it looks like an organization with all the authorities and lay people in the structure, but today’s celebration rejects this mistaken comprehension completely. The descending of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles was an act of actualizing the newly formed Church of Christ. If the Church was just an organization, then there was no need for the Apostles to wait in Jerusalem another ten days before starting their preaching. They could have done so immediately after the Ascension.

 

What are the benefits of this knowledge about the Church as the whole spiritual organism or mystical body? Primarily, as any organism it is alive. This means that by hurting one member of the church we hurt the entire Church just as any ill member of our body makes the whole body ill. Therefore, we have to pursue love and understanding in order not to hurt each other. However, unfortunately, we can find many cases between the members of the Church when they cannot express love towards one other. How does it affect us, the rest of the Church members? Presumably, like any wound, it affects our entire body. When our knee, or finger, or any other part of the body is sore, the entire body feels uncomfortable. Moreover, if one of the members of our body is decaying or becomes a threat to the other parts of the body, we go for surgery to remove it and in this way save the rest of the members. Dear brothers and sisters, this can happen in the Church as well! Those members of the Church who unrepentantly continue to distract the Church from within, can be removed from the Church, unless they repent and fully recover from their spiritual illness in the Sacrament of Penitence. Can a member of the Church take him or herself outside of the Church? Without question! We all do it when we commit sins. In the sacrament of Penitence, the Priest says in the prayer: "Reconcile and unite them unto Thy Holy Church." Therefore, by committing sins we cut ourselves off the Church, this in turn means that we find ourselves outside of the mystical body of Christ. But if we think of the Church as of an organization, then there is no problem: we can easily commit sins, hurt each other, leave one church and go to another. Is the purpose of the Church to not care for one another or in being ignorant? Definitely not! The purpose of the Church is for salvation of all its members. Knowing the Scripture, we can conclude that in order to become better and as perfect as our Heavenly Father, we need to build our relationship with anyone on earth on the basis of love, respect and self-sacrifice for one another. This is possible only if we deeply consider the Church as the mystical body of Christ with the Life-giving Holy Spirit within of it. We will not do harm to the rest of the Church members because we in turn do not want to be hurt by someone else.

 

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, on the day of Pentecost when we so solemnly celebrate the birthday of the Church, let’s start to think of the Church as of the mystical body of Jesus Christ. Let us put aside all our misunderstandings and form the unity in a like manner to our bodies. Let us open our hearts to the Holy Spirit and He will comfort us and will guide us to our personal salvation through the stormy sea of our life. Let us proclaim the truth about the Holy Trinity, our God, Who has so wisely brought us back to the Doors of Paradise. Let us make the effort and help each other to enter these doors by accepting Jesus as our Savior and our Lord. May the name of the Holy Trinity – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – be glorified unto ages of ages. Amen.