My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE. Ο ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΜΕΣΩ ΗΜΩΝ! ΚΑΙ ΗΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΑΙ.
[June 5th -THE FEAST OF GOD THE ALL- HOLY SPIRIT - As it is the Tradition of the Holy Orthodox Church, on the day after every great Feast, to honor those through whom it came to pass: our Lady on the day after the Lord's Nativity, Joachim and Anna after our Lady's Nativity, the holy Baptist the day after Theophany, and so forth, on this day we honor Our God the All-Holy Spirit, the Comforter promised by Our Savior to His Disciples (St. John 14:16), Who descended upon them at Holy Pentecost and guided them "into all Truth" (ibid. 16:13), and through them, us.]
Apolytikion of the Feast. Plagal Fourth Mode
Blessed are You, O Christ our God, Who made fishermen all-wise, sending upon them the Holy Spirit and, through them, netting the world. O Loving One, glory to You.
Kontakion Hymn of the Feast. Plagal Fourth Mode
When the Most High came down and confounded tongues of men (Babel), He divided the Nations. When He dispersed the Tongues of Fire, He called all to unity, and with one voice we glorify the Most Holy Spirit.
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ON HOW THE HOLY SPIRIT WAS MANIFEST AND SHARED OUT AT PENTECOST (Part II)
ALSO, ABOUT REPENTANCE
He is not just everywhere, but also above all, not just in every age and time, but before them all. And, according to the promise, the Holy Spirit will not just be with us until the end of the age, but rather will stay with those who are worthy in the age to come, making them immortal and filling their bodies as well with eternal glory, as the Lord indicated by telling His Disciples, "I will pray to the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever" (St. John 14:16). "It is sown", says the Apostle (meaning buried and committed to the earth), "a dead natural body", that is to say, an ordinary created body with a created soul, stable and capable of movement. "It is raised" (that is, comes back to life), "a spiritual body" (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:44), which means a supernatural body, framed and ordered by the Holy Spirit, and clothed in immortality, glory and incorruption by the Spirit's power (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:53). "The first man, Adam", he says, "was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthly, such are they also that are earthly: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly" (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:45, 47-48).
Who are these heavenly people? Those who are steadfast and immovable in their faith, who always abound in the Lord's work and bear the image of the heavenly Adam through their obedience to Him. "He that obeyeth not the Son", says Saint John, the Lord's Forerunner, through St. John the Evangelist, "shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" (St. John 3:36). Who can endure God's wrath? "It is a fearful thing", brethren, "to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). If we fear the hands of our enemies, even though the Lord says, "fear not them which kill the body" (St. Matthew 10:28)), who in his right mind will not fear God's hands raised in anger against the disobedient? For the wrath of God will be revealed against everyone who lives impurely and unjustly without repenting and holds the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18).
Let us flee from wrath and hasten through repentance to obtain the kindness and compassion of the Divine Spirit. If anyone feels hatred towards another, let him be reconciled with him and restore love, lest his hatred an conflict with his brother should bear witness against him that he does not love God. "For if you do not love your brother whom you have seen, how can you love God whom you have not seen?" (cf. 1 John 4:20). When we love one another, let our love be unfeigned, and let us show it in deeds, by neither saying nor doing, nor even enduring to hear, anything insulting or harmful to our brethren. As Christ's beloved theologian taught us, "Brethren, do not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth" (cf. 1 John 3:18).
Anyone who has fallen into fornication, adultery or any other such bodily impurity, should desist from this revolting filth and cleanse himself through confession, tears, fasting and the like. For God judges unrepentant fornicators and adulterers. He condemns them, dismisses them and consigns them to hell, unquenchable fire and other never-ending punishments, saying, "Let the impure and accursed be taken away, lest they see and enjoy the glory of the Lord" (cf. Isaiah 26:10). Let thieves and all who are openly grasping and greedy stop stealing, defrauding and seizing what belongs to others, but also share their own possessions with those in need. In a word, if you desire life, to see good days, to be rescued from enemies both visible and invisible, the barbarians currently threatening us, and those punishments reserved for the price of evil and his angels, depart from all evil and do good (Psalm 34:12, 14). "Be not deceived", the Apostle tells the Corinthians, "neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, nor covetous, neither drunkards nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the Kingdom of God" (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10). If someone has no inheritance with God he neither belongs to God nor has God as his Father.
But let us, brethren, I beseech you, abstain from deeds and words hateful to God, that we may boldly call God our Father. Let us truly return to Him, that He too may turn back to us, cleanse us from all sin and make us worthy of His Divine grace. Then shall we keep festival both now and forever, and celebrate in a godly and spiritual way the accomplishments of God's promise, the coming of the All-Holy Spirit among men and His resting upon them; the fulfillment and perfection of the blessed hope in Christ Himself our Lord.
For to Him belong glory, honor and worship, with His Father without beginning and the All-Holy, Good and Life-Giving Spirit, now and forever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
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Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"--Saint John Chrysostom
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George