Dr Augustin Sokolovski
In the Orthodox Church Holy Spirit Day is the Monday after Pentecost, a feast especially dedicated to the Holy Spirit.
For the Russian ear, the very expression “Day of the Holy Spirit” may sound somewhat antiquated, recalling the era of Soviet atheism, when Orthodox church life in Russia was marginalized and much of the traditional religious vocabulary had become unfamiliar to the wider public. It also calls to mind The Summer of the Lord by Ivan Shmelev, in which the liturgical year, being the last one shared with the writer’s father, became, through that sorrowful circumstance, endless and unforgettable.
Among Orthodox churches and chapels some dedicated to the Holy Spirit. One of them stands in Clamart, near Paris, in the house-museum of Shmelev’s contemporary, the philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev. Such a literary and artistic understanding of the Holy Spirit serves as a natural introduction to the dogmatic doctrine concerning him.
The New Testament bears witness that the Son of God, revealed in Jesus Christ, fully makes known God the Father to humanity. No one has ever seen God. In Old Testament times, there existed a conviction that anyone who beheld God would die, or else, like Enoch and Elijah, depart from the earth and be taken up into heaven. Christ revealed the Heavenly Father to the world. The Holy Spirit, who descended on the day of Pentecost, revealed the Son of God to the Apostles and to the Church. He reveals Him even now and will continue to reveal Him until the end of the age.
The Holy Spirit is invoked by the Church day and night throughout the entire cycle of Orthodox worship. The prayer “O Heavenly King” is a continual invocation of the Holy Spirit and introduces most church services and prayers. The Great Epiclesis of the Eucharistic Prayer calls down the Holy Spirit upon the bread and wine offered by the Church, which become the Body and Blood of the Lord.
In the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, the epiclesis has a twofold focus: through the lips of the priest, the Church asks the Father to send down the Holy Spirit not only upon the Holy Gifts but also “upon us.” Here we enter the realm of profound dogmatic theology. Let us recall the words of St. Augustine: “Receive what He is—the Body of Christ—in order to become what you are—the Body of Christ.”
Finally, the Apostle Paul teaches that no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. Without the action of the Holy Spirit, neither true confession of faith nor Christian life itself is possible. Among the Fathers of the Church, St. Basil the Great (330–379) stands out as the true poet of the Holy Spirit. His theological writings, letters, and liturgical prayers reveal with striking clarity that the Holy Spirit is not only to be invoked, but also glorified, contemplated, and loved.