494. Речь в день Святого Духа, после посвящения Преосвященного Павла, Епископа Костромского

(Spoken in the Assumption Cathedral, May 26th 975). The general triumph of the church for the glory of the Holy Spirit, behold, has become for you in particular the triumph of the Holy Spirit. Now we have not heard a noise from heaven, like the breath of a storm filling a church; they have not seen a tongue like fire that came out for you and sat on you; Is it because our feelings are not sufficiently purified to contemplate the lofty revelations of the Spirit, or because the Spirit, in the continuation of His sanctifying action, has no reason to produce such strong shocks and reveal such striking signs as he used at the beginning, so to speak, to break through into human nature, separated by sin and imprisoned from God. Be that as it may: nevertheless, we know that now, although not openly, something similar to what happened to the Apostles, “when she had finished the days of Pentecost” (Acts 2:1), has now happened to you. For even with them, what at the beginning was accomplished by the miraculous sign of stormy breathing and tongues of fire, was subsequently accomplished by a simple, but nevertheless mysteriously valid laying on of hands. “Then,” says the book of their deeds, about those who believed and were baptized in Samaria, “laying their hands on them, and receiving the Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:17). So now the breath of the Spirit was upon you, in the voice of unanimous prayers, which He breathed into the God-wise secret guides, and in which He still breathes through our faith, even through our unworthiness. The power of the Spirit, which filled the Apostles at the hour of His solemn descent, and which flowed from them through the secret laying on of hands, is the same, and in the same way of its flow, touched your spirit, and placed in it that drop of heavenly peace, that Divine spark, which the Holy Apostle Paul carefully exhorts his ordainer Timothy to cherish and nourish: “I remember you to kindle the gift God who lives in you by the laying on of my hand” (2 Tim. 1:6). What was said to Timothy: let it also be said to you, God-loving Brother: for whether Paul’s or Andrew’s ordination is transmitted in the hierarchy of our fatherland, there is only one, in any case, the Apostolic ordination in the Apostolic Church. So, “let your soul rejoice in the Lord” (Is. 61:10). “Be enabled by grace” (2 Timothy 2:1). “Warm up the gift of God that dwells in you” (2 Tim. 1:6). “Let you fight good war, having faith and a good conscience” (1 Timothy 1:18–19). “Fulfill the gospel of Christ according to the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own offer and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages of eternity” (2 Tim. 1:8-9). But, while celebrating the holiday of the Spirit for yourself, do not fail to turn your thoughts to the days of spiritual activity that follow. Against the weaknesses and shortcomings of nature, approving yourself with the hope of the strength and abundance of grace, temper the boldness of this hope with reverent fear of the difficult duties of the ministry now entrusted to you. Both belong to the laws and requirements of the Spirit. The Prophet Ezekiel, initiated into this ministry by a majestic revelation, felt in extraordinary delight. “The spirit lifted me up,” he tells about himself, “and he took me, and I was lifted up in the striving of my spirit, and the hand of the Lord was strong upon me” (Ezek. 3:14). But what then? Having lifted him up with the spirit of grace, the Lord soon humbles him with the work of service. Having made him feel the power of the Spirit, he soon shows him the sacred burden that he must bear. “And it came to pass,” continues the Prophet, “after seven days the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, I have given thee a guard to the house of Israel” (Ezek. 3:16–17). And in case of the death of a wicked person, or a righteous man who has gone astray, not warned by the negligence of the Spiritual guardian, the Lord adds: “the blood... I will require it at your hand” (Ezek. 3:18). Not being able to foresee or expect whether your spiritual delight will continue until seven days, I do not hesitate to tell you, a participant in the service, just as for me, as for you, terrible, that the Lord has given you a guard for the house of His church; and therefore, if any soul, redeemed by the blood of Christ, does not remain on the path of salvation, and does not turn from the path of destruction, through your negligence, its blood from your hand will be exacted the more severely, since it was redeemed with priceless blood. May this preliminary voice of the impartial judgment of God be for you, the sanctified guardian of the house of God, both the guardian of your conscience and the motivator of your activity. Guard the flock of God with vigilance; guide it actively and faithfully: let not the blood of the Lord’s sheep be required of you, but “deliver your soul” (Ezek. 3:19), and save the souls of many of them. With this desire and hope we entrust to you, after the others, the last sign of shepherding, the shepherd’s rod. Use this, like everything else, according to the law of the spirit, in the image of the kingdom of Christ. The Prophet, contemplating our Chief Shepherd reigning, says: “The Lord will send a rod of power from Zion” (Ps. 109:2); but when he sees Him truly reigning, then he ascribes to him not a power that overthrows or defeats, but a rightness that attracts Him to voluntary obedience: “the rod of righteousness, the rod of Your kingdom” (Ps. 44:7). In this image of the Chief Shepherd, you too, having accepted the rod of authority, strive to act not so much with the rod of power as with the rod of rightness, so that the conviction of the rightness of your intentions, words and deeds will make your power not heavy, but kind; Let your rod, like the rod of the Lord, be a “comfort” (Ps. 22:4) for those who flock. Amen. It is printed from the manuscript, which was necessarily delivered to us by the Priest of the Peter and Paul Women's Monastery in the city of Yuryev, Vladim. Gub., Pavel Nazarevsky. You might be interested in: