Слово на день Св. Пятидесятницы. Св. Льва Великого, папы римского

The text of the Divine Scriptures, beloved, from which we know that on the fiftieth day, after the Resurrection of the Lord, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples of Christ, fully indicates to us the reason and meaning of the present celebration. But we need to make some application of the word to the newly enlightened 124 sons of the Church (for we are not afraid that the famous spiritual and enlightened ones will become bored, who tend to want as many as possible to be convinced of what they have learned with great benefit). So, let both the learned and the unlearned not despise our words: some to prove their love for what they have learned, others to show their desire to know what they do not know. May this disposition be facilitated by the generosity of Him about whose greatness we want to speak, may He make both you and us sufficient for the benefit of the entire Church. So, straining our minds to understand the dignity of the Holy Spirit, let us not think of anything different from the majesty of the Father and the Son, since the Divine nature is one in everything. Eternal is the Father, the Parent of His own co-eternal Son; eternal is the Son, untimely born of the Father; eternal is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and the Son; and there has never been either the Father without the Son, or the Son without the Father, or the Father and the Son without the Holy Spirit. And, having no degrees of existence, no Person is the first or the last: for the nature of this Divine Trinity and the unchangeable Deity is one, inseparable in action, concordant in will, equal in omnipotence, equal in glory. When Holy Scripture speaks about the Trinity in such a way that, either in deeds or in words, it means something that seems appropriate to each person separately, then the Catholic faith is not overthrown, but is affirmed: for this (is said) in order to instill in us the truth of the Trinity by the separateness of deeds or words, and not so that the mind divides what the ear distinguishes. For this purpose, something is revealed under the name of the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit, so that the confession of believers does not err regarding the Trinity. Since the Trinity is inseparable, one would never understand It as a Trinity if It were always spoken of inseparably. So, beloved, let us confirm in our hearts the saving faith that the whole Trinity is one power, one majesty, one essence, indivisible with love, equal in power, together filling everything, together containing everything (since that there is a Father, there is also a Son, that is, the Holy Spirit. - And the true Divinity in no one can be more or less; and this Divinity must be confessed in three persons, so that the Trinity is not allowed loneliness and equality preserved unity). Having firmly imprinted this faith, we will not doubt that when the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples of the Lord on the day of Pentecost, it was not the beginning of a gift, but an increase in generosity: since the patriarchs and prophets and priests and all the ancient saints were quickened by the sanctification of the same Holy Spirit, and without this grace no sacraments were ever established, since the power of anointing was always the same, although not one measure of gifts. And the blessed apostles themselves, before the suffering of the Lord, were not completely deprived of this power, and the power of this power was not alien to the works of the Savior. And when the Lord gave the disciples the power to heal the sick and cast out demons, He only multiplied the actions of the same Spirit, Whom the wickedness of the Jews denied in Him, commanding unclean spirits and Whose divine benefits were attributed to the devil. Therefore, such blasphemers rightly brought upon themselves such a judgment from the Lord, which says: all sin and blasphemy will be forgiven by man, but even blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven by man. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in the age to come (Matthew 12:31,32). From here it is obvious that without the intercession of the Holy Spirit there can be no remission of sins, and without Him, according to the word of the Apostle, no one will sigh with benefit or pray as they should: for what we will pray as we should, we do not know, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered (Rom. 8:26). And no one can speak of the Lord Jesus except by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3), to be deprived of Whom is extremely disastrous, extremely deadly: for the one who leaves the mediator will never receive forgiveness. So, beloved, all who believed in the Lord had the Holy Spirit within them, and the apostles even then received the power to forgive sins when, after His resurrection, the Lord breathed and said: receive the Holy Spirit. For whose sins you forgive, they will be forgiven them: and whose sins you hold, they hold fast (John 20:22, 23). But to this perfection, already bestowed upon the apostles, was added even greater grace, abundant inspiration, by which they now accepted what they had not yet received, and were better able to retain what they had received. Therefore, the Lord said: The imam has many more words to say to you, but you cannot bear them now; when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth: for it is not of Himself that you should speak, but if anyone hears, you will speak, and the one who comes will tell you. He will glorify Me, because He will receive from Mine, and will proclaim it to you (John 16:13,14). What does it mean that the Lord, having promised the disciples the Holy Spirit, having already said: all that I have heard from My Father, I have told you (John 15:15), says now: the imam has many more words to say to you, but you cannot bear it now: when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth (John 16:12, 13)? Did the Lord really want to show Himself inferior in knowledge, or less than the Holy Spirit, having learned something from the Father, when He Himself is the truth - when the Father cannot say anything, teach anything without the Word, which is why it is said: He will receive from Mine (since what the Spirit receives from the giving Father, the Son gives)? There is no other truth that is instilled in this way, no other teaching is preached; but it was necessary for the ability of the disciples to increase, for the firmness of this love to increase, which would drive out all fear and not be afraid of the rage of the persecutors. Why did the apostles, after they were filled with a new abundance of the Holy Spirit, begin to have a more ardent will and more effective power, moving from knowledge of the commandments to the endurance of suffering, and, no longer fearing any storm, trampled with superior faith the unrest of the age and the arrogance of the world, and, despising death, carried the Gospel of truth to all nations. But let none of you, beloved, think that the Holy Spirit will honor the stubborn wicked with anything. Such a person receives absolutely nothing from this power, which the Lord promised and sent to His Church. According to the word of John: The Holy Spirit was not with him, for Jesus was not glorified (John 7:39), - the ascension of the Lord was the reason for the gift of the Spirit, which He, of necessity, does not give to those who reject in Christ the exaltation of the true man to sit at the right hand of the Father. We, beloved, chosen for a blessed eternity, through regeneration from the Holy Spirit, will honor the day of this celebration with a reasonable disposition of spirit and pure joy, confessing with the blessed Apostle Paul that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended on high and took captivity into captivity and gave giving to man (Eph. 4:8), so that the Gospel of God could be preached in all the languages of the human language, and every tongue would confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. Father (Phil. 2:11). To this triumph we must also add the vow that the fast, which, according to the apostolic tradition, will follow this (triumph) be honored with holy abstinence, since this too should be considered among the greatest gifts of the Holy Spirit, that against the deception of the flesh and the tricks of the devil, we are given protection in fasting, by which, with the help of God, we overcome all temptations. So, let us fast so that we may be worthy in everything to receive the mercy of God through the Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen 125. In the ancient Christian Church, the day of Pentecost was one of the days designated for the baptism of catechumens. A monument to this custom now remains the singing at the Liturgy on this day (“instead of the Holy God”) “Elites were baptized into Christ.” In short. Bibliot. Patr. Concionator. tom. IV, p.p. 536–538; Wed Sunday Read XXII (1858–59), pp. 73–76. You might be interested in: