4. Благочестие и добродетель – свидетельство присутствия в нас Св. Духа

The Holy Spirit, having descended on the Divine Disciples and Apostles, was no longer withdrawn from them, but remained in them, and through them in all believers in words for their sake. According to the promise of the Lord, it is fitting for Him to remain with us forever, as the Spirit of truth, enlightening us with knowledge, and the Spirit of holiness, strengthening us for all good. Therefore, He is poured out abundantly on every believing soul, through the Divine Sacraments, both upon entry into the number of believers and throughout the entire time of living and acting among them; so that spirituality and spirituality constitute the distinguishing characteristic of Christians. That is why the Apostle Paul calls all believers those who have received the betrothal of the Spirit (2 Cor. 1:22), and bearers of the Spirit, saying: “Or do you not know that you are the church of God, and that the Spirit of God lives in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16). We have a great advantage in this, brothers, over all those who do not know the Lord: not having the Spirit is the same as being dead, but having the Spirit means being alive. – We are alive from the dead; for we, who were dead in sins, are revived by the merciful God in Christ by giving us the Holy Spirit. - Glory to Thee, Lord who loves mankind! But take into account, brothers, the other side of this great advantage! – The Spirit of life cannot remain untested, and even more so the Spirit of life, which is given to us in Christ Jesus as the Divine Spirit. Whether we have the Spirit should not be confirmed by word; our whole being, our gaze, movement, deed, thought, feeling must speak about this without words. I will explain it to you like this. “Whether, for example, there is silver in a copper bell” is determined by the sound, and the seller does not need to talk about this: the sound itself confirms this. Likewise, if the sound did not let one know that there was silver, no one would believe it, no matter how much the seller assured it. So it is with us. The evidence of our spirituality should not be external, but our internal, reflected in the external. This is why the Apostle commands: “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Gal.5:25). Look how it is written about this: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23). If we have such fruits of the Spirit, then the Spirit also dwells in us and acts in us. If this does not exist, but, on the contrary, there is “adultery, fornication, uncleanness, adultery, enmity, zeal, envy, rage, strife, drunkenness, disorderly cries and the like” (Gal. 5:19-21); then there is no place in us for the Holy Spirit. - We extinguished Him. Here is the first evidence of our spirituality - the totality of good feelings and dispositions! The Apostle further says: he is not Christ’s who does not have the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9). Christ is the one who crucifies his flesh with passions and lusts. “They who are Christ's are the flesh crucified with passions and lusts” (Gal.5:24). Crucifixion of the flesh means all the feats of self-sacrifice and self-mortification and all the labors undertaken to please God. He who lives in such cramped conditions and walks this cramped and sorrowful path has the Spirit, putting to death the deeds of the flesh within himself through the Spirit - (Rom. 8:13). Here is the second evidence of our spirituality - feats of self-mortification and self-sacrifice! The third evidence of this is the renunciation of everything earthly and the aspiration to heaven and the heavenly. If we have the Spirit from heaven in us, then it is natural for us to have all our desires and thoughts in heaven and in the spiritual, and not on earth and in the flesh. “If the Spirit of the Lord is in you,” says the Apostle, then you should no longer live according to the flesh (Rom. 8:12–13). You are the church of God, and the Spirit of God lives in you, says the same Apostle, and leads from this in another place: “Seek the things on high... Be wise on things above, not on earth” (Col. 3:1-2). I will not collect new evidence: I will shorten the ones mentioned! “So, if someone, having stopped loving earthly things and loving heavenly things, condemns himself to labors of self-denial for the mortification of the flesh and everything carnal, and through this cultivates in his heart all the variety of good feelings of love and piety, he is undoubtedly a spirit-bearer. And who lives only for the earth and earthly things, who does not like not only to strive, but also to deny himself anything, and does not care about the well-being of his heartfelt feelings; Whether the Spirit is in it, judge for yourself. I bring this to you as a reminder, either to please you or to arouse sleepy concern for yourself and your soul. For what the Apostle says: “Whoever sows to his flesh, from the flesh he will reap corruption; but whoever sows to the Spirit, from the Spirit he will reap eternal life” (Gal. 6:8). Choose the best for yourself. “I think you yourself understand all this and preach to yourself about it: for what does a bunch of flowers in our hands mean? – By this we testify to others and remind ourselves that the Spirit of God breathed in us, renewed the field of our heart, and it grew pleasant flowers of good feelings and dispositions... Let us do so, so that, as we show, it will be so. If there is a forget-me-not in our bunch of flowers, we show others that we remember God and heavenly things, saying to ourselves: if I forget you, Jerusalem, my right hand will be forgotten. - Make sure it happens that way. If we have a lily, we show by this that we remember the commandment of the Lord about not worrying about clothes and keeping our heart pure from all vanity and all uncleanness. - Make sure it stays that way. If we have cornflowers, by this we show that we reign over our flesh and all our passions and do not allow sin to reign in our dead flesh. - Make sure it stays that way. Think the same about other colors. - Each of them means some kind of virtue. By holding this color, we show that we have that virtue and love it. We will do so, as we show, so that there is no hypocrisy in our actions. By doing this, we will testify before heaven and earth that we live by the Spirit; for we also walk by the Spirit. So let it be in us, and so let God be glorified by us, worshiped in the Trinity. Amen. On the day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. You might be interested in: