This is a day of great joy, the birthday of the Church. All that Christ imparted to us through His saving incarnation, defeat of sin and death, resurrection and glorious ascension, has its fulfillment this day: On this day, the disciples, who were formally confused and fearful, who continuously struggled to understand Christ’s resurrection, are now made bold and given understanding by the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them “as tongues of fire.” In an instant, all is changed: the disciples speak with boldness, with power—the Holy Spirit has come upon them and replaced their heart of fear with God’s love and power from on high.
No longer are the disciples huddled together in an upper room for fear of the Jewish authorities, as they were when Jesus visited them and granted them His peace after His resurrection. Now, we see the Apostles, sent by Christ, in the streets, united, preaching to the people with one voice and great courage the truth of new life in Christ Jesus, the fulfillment of all that God had promised Israel and the world in His great love and mercy.
Mankind’s efforts at unity without God are prideful, seeking to take the place of God, as we see in the Tower of Babel. To humble man and teach him to follow Him and His way that is life for us, God divided the tongues. But now, at Pentecost, God offers us again a way to unity with Him and each other through new birth by water and the spirit, Baptism and Chrismation, as we saw manifest this day in the life of little Simeon Mihai, and without which, Christ says to Nicodemus, we may not enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:5).
The Holy Spirit leads us to unity in the faith of Christ’s holy Church, to know the truth just as Christ promised before His ascension: Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away; for… when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:7, 13).
By the Holy Spirit we are indeed led “into all truth.’”. And what is truth? Jesus Christ says “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father, except by Me” (John 14:6). This revelation of Christ’s is manifested through His fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets and by His power over death and to give life. Indeed, this is what it means to be an Orthodox Christian: We receive Him who is the Truth by being “born again,”
St. John the Baptist prepares the way, saying, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I…. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matt. 3:11). This is the baptism and chrismation, i.e., ‘the sealing,’ of which St. Paul speaks and which he himself received from Ananias, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise (Eph. 1:13). We shouted those same words, “Sphragidzo!” (Sealed!) as Mihai received the sealing of the Holy Spirit in Chrismation. For this reason, we sing today in place of the usual Trisagion, “As many as have been baptized, have put on Christ,” in the language of Galatians (Gal. 3:27).
For all of us, Pentecost is an opportunity for renewal of our own baptism into Christ and sealing by the Holy Spirit. On this day, all is made new; we’re refreshed and empowered to struggle through repentance, to thirst more after God, making spiritual progress by the work of the Holy Spirit in us and through us, to advance in God’s Kingdom because of the testimony of power from on high that’s manifested this day, when all is fulfilled and the life in Christ is made accessible by all through the descent of the Holy Spirit—Christ’s abiding presence with us.
Pentecost is the fulfillment of God’s promise to Israel that through Messiah He would “pour out His Spirit on all flesh,” as we heard at Vespers from the Prophet Joel. Those present at Pentecost from all nations heard the good news of salvation in their own tongue: They all hear in their own language, the one thing that can unite all mankind together in a community, not based on prideful human ambitions, not grounded in humanism, our modern “tower of Babel,” but on communion with Almighty God, Him who is Life itself—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Life in the Spirit after Pentecost is manifested then not in chaos or confusion but always in order, as St. Luke relates in Acts 2, “… they continued steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of the (Eucharistic) bread, and in the prayers” (as it is written in the original Greek). This same order continues at the heart of Orthodox worship to this day! And despite differences in language, culture, geography, time, the same message of “good news,” of healing and salvation, of life in communion with God in accord with His commandments, that is, the life-giving way, is proclaimed with the same power to change lives, my life, your life.
This life in unity in the Spirit, is depicted in the icon of Pentecost before us. In it, we see the heavenly reality of the descent, what it means for us, for the faithful in the Church. The unity of common Orthodox (i.e., ‘right-believing’) faith is seen in the Apostles’ communal gathering. The diversity of gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, teaching, prophecy, language (I Cor. 12), are depicted in their differing gestures, the Gospel writers are shown Gospel in hand, others with scrolls, showing their gift of teaching and preaching. The space at the top is left vacant, signifying that Christ has ascended and is now invisibly present with us through the Holy Spirit, whom God the Father has sent to empower them to minister in Christ’s name, to be “everywhere present and filling all things” (Hymn of the Holy Spirit).
The Holy Spirit is here represented by tongues of fire. Why tongues, of fire? Because God spoke creation and life into being by His Word, Who then became incarnate to enter and redeem our human nature. God has sent us His Holy Spirit just so—to give us new life in Him and empower our speech and actions to proclaim to the world around us the Good News of salvation in Him. Today, God is proclaimed and manifested as Holy Trinity, a relationship of truth in perfect unity and love (homoousios) that you and I are invited to join in by communion. The fire testifies to the truth that God is “a consuming fire,” who offers us healing by “burning up all the thorns of our offenses,” our passions (as we recite in the post-communion prayer of St. Simeon).
To all who are wearied by sin, grudges, lack of faith, whatever passions, here represented in the holy icon as the old man, ‘the cosmos,’ ruled by sin and darkness, Christ proclaims today in His Gospel, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12). The Apostles and their successors in Christ’s holy Church today, proclaim this same truth: there’s freedom from enslavement to this world, there’s fulfillment and enlightenment in Christ, there’s healing from sin-sickness, there’s new life in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit working in us and through us. Renew your baptism into Christ this day, be filled with the same Holy Spirit who filled the Apostles and our Orthodox forefathers with Apostolic zeal, conviction, and boldness for the sake of the Gospel. Be strong in faith and in zeal for the Truth that is Christ and others will strengthened in faith through you.
Beseeching God, we begin praying again today: “O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, who art everywhere and fillest all things, treasury of blessings and giver of life, come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One!”
Fr. Robert Miclean
Holy Archangels Orthodox Church
Pentecost/Trinity Sunday
June 8, 2014
