Dear brothers and sisters,
The Holy Church celebrates the Feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples and apostles of Christ with prayer for three days. Everything in the Church is in the sign of the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is, therefore, One (Unity), but in Three Persons (Community, Communion). It is this Mystery that the Church prayerfully celebrates during these days.
Why is this important for the faithful? Because we see that it is one and the same Holy Spirit who breathes in God and in the Church. The Spirit of the Living God, therefore, descends upon the disciples and apostles and He is the source of blessing and strengthening grace. The Holy Spirit is the source of ever-new and strengthening grace that dwells in the Church of Christ through the holy people of God: “Know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:20-21). And immediately, filled with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Apostle adds with authority: “But there were also false prophets, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their uncleanness, speaking evil of the way of truth” (2 Pet. 2:1-2).
And, the task of the Church filled with the Holy Spirit is to transform the world and society and call everyone into communion, unity, because the Spirit is one in God who is Communion: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Salvation, therefore, is nothing less than participation in this Communion through the Lord Christ. Therefore, the Church Communion (Community) is the Body of Christ, because life in the Church Communion (Community) is life in the Divine Communion. And every schism and division of the communion (community) and refusal to participate in the community of the Body of Christ represents the tragedy of separation from the communion with God.
In his high priestly prayer, the Lord prays for unity so that all may be one as the Father and the Son (John 17:11-12; 17:20-21). That is why the Apostle Paul asks the divided Corinthians: “Is Christ divided?” (1 Cor. 1:13) and leaves no alternative to the unity of the Church of Christ (Eph. 4:4-6).
On the other side stands the diabolical spirit. The word diabolical itself has its root in the Greek language for devil διαβάλειν (dia-ballein) dia-ballo, and means to slander, misrepresent, gossip, but also to split, interrupt the path, separate.
The Lord said to the apostle Peter, “Get behind me, Satan,” when he said that his Savior would not die on the cross (Matt. 16:22-23). Why would the Lord say this to Peter, who claimed that He would never allow His Savior to suffer? Because Peter saw the cross as an obstacle. He misunderstood the cross. He misunderstood the suffering. And Satan is essentially opposed to the cross of Christ. Therefore, Satan (the Devil) does not want the Cross because he does not want the Blood and Body of Christ (John 6:53-54), which is the New Testament, and therefore the Holy Mystery of the Church.
But, by approaching the Holy Mysteries, we overcome Satan’s deception, because he does not want us to participate in God Himself through the Lord Christ. By participating in one Holy Mysteries of one Church in one Spirit, we not only obey the Lord’s commandment (John 6:53-58), but already here and now we participate in the Divine community for which we were created.
In addition to partaking in the Holy Mysteries, prayerful veneration of the Most Holy Theotokos is a powerful weapon against the devil and his spirit. The devil cannot stand the one who gave birth to the Savior of the world and therefore tries in every possible way to separate the faithful from her. Furthermore, she is the new Eve whom Satan did not succeed in deceiving like the first Eve, because the new Eve obeyed the word of God (Luke 1:38). The devil cannot stand all this and in every possible way he tries to deceive those who are weak in faith and character.
And yet, the devil sows fear, chaos and confusion, because he knows that in such an environment a weak person is most easily overcome by his weaknesses. That is why the Lord, after the Resurrection, therefore, in the Easter reality, greets his disciples with: Peace be with you! He sends the Spirit of God who is the Comforter and establishes order and discipline in His Church.
And in the same Spirit, the Church also calls the faithful to prayer always in the spirit of peace, order and discipline. We hear prayerful petitions that direct us to the highest peace, order and discipline, therefore to the Easter reality, at every divine service: In peace let us pray to the Lord, for the peace from above and the salvation of our souls let us pray to the Lord, for the peace of the whole world and the steadfastness of the holy churches of God, Peace to all…
On the feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples and apostles of Christ, we are reminded that two spirits are essentially opposed to each other: the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of life, the Spirit of freedom, the Spirit of unity, the Spirit of peace, the Spirit of fellowship, the Spirit of order and discipline) and on the other hand the diabolical spirit (the unholy spirit, the spirit of disorder, the spirit of death, the spirit of enslavement, the spirit of discord and disunity, the spirit of deception).
The Lord, gave us His Church like Noah’s ark for the sake of salvation. The stay and journey in the ark filled with various creatures during the flood, from a human perspective, were not a pleasant experience. However, the one who was in the ark certainly did not perish. So too, in the Church, like the New Testament ark, from a human perspective it is not always pleasant, but whoever wants to be saved does well not to jump out of it as soon as some inconvenience arises.
May the upcoming Feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles be a blessing for all of us. Amen.
Your prayerful intercessor before the Throne of God,
Protopresbyter Vladimir Vranić
