On Holy Pentecost.

Every day brightened, bringing a ray of sunshine, and clothed in the general light: thus the Lord, who adorned the creation, presented (it) to us; but there is even more joy in the solemn and all-festive day of the holiday, when it is honored by the word and service of God. He, expressing with the color of nature and the beauty of piety, reveals a double beauty. Such is today’s holiday, illuminating the sensual eyes of the body, but illuminating the mental eyes of the spirit with the rays of words. Today is one of three famous (days) preached in the law and sung according to the grace of the Gospel. According to the Old Testament, on this day the law was given according to new grace, on this (day) the visitation of the Spirit was given; on this day Moses received the tablets of the law, on this day the choir of the apostles received the descent of the Spirit, instead of the tablets given through Moses. Blessed Paul says, writing in his letter to the Corinthians: “You are our letter, written... not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of flesh of the heart” (2 Cor. 3:2-3). Investigate, then, whether the law was truly given on this day? It was obscurely recorded in the Old Testament that the law was given on the fiftieth day; but the treasure of knowledge is revealed to those who test the divine writings. So, let's see what day (was) when the law was given. Blessed Moses - listen carefully - says: “In the third month after they came out of the land of Egypt, ... the Lord said to Moses: go to the people, and cleanse yourself today and tomorrow ... and by the third day” I will be visible (Ex. 19: 1, 10-11). Go into it carefully. Exit from Egypt in the first month: the fourteenth day was of the first month. Count: the fourteenth day, after it also the days that complement this month, that is, seventeen, and thirty (days) of the second. And on the forty-eighth day of the second month, God said: “go to the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow,” and “by the third day” I will be visible. So, thirty on the second, and seventeen on the first and three on the third. And notice the agreement in business. When God was visible on Mount Sinai, He was visible as burning fire; when the Holy Spirit appeared to the apostles, it appeared in the form of fire: “tongues as of fire were divided, and one rested on each of them” (Acts 2:3). And just as, brothers, during the appearance of God in the Old Testament, there was a lot of accompanying fear - the mountain was surrounded by darkness, and a storm, and a trumpet, and thunder - in order to bring the people into fear before the Lawgiver, so when the Holy Spirit was about to arrive - so that the immediate coming would not find those who received it careless, but so that they would recognize the dignity of the Spirit arriving in glory - just as darkness and storm preceded the mountain, so it was and regarding the Spirit: “When the day of Pentecost had come... there came a sound from heaven... as of a rushing mighty wind” (Acts 2:1-2); and then the Holy Spirit was seen, and he shook the house, - (the Spirit), not divided by His nature, but dividing His actions. It is not the Spirit that divides, but He divides the gifts, as Paul testifies: “But one and the same Spirit works all these things, dividing to each one individually, as He pleases” (1 Cor. 12:11); dividing, not dividing, - dividing, not dividing, - unlimitedly controlling, not being controlled. And what honor Paul gave to the Father of unlimited power: “And it is one and the same God, who works all things in all” (1 Cor. 12:6), - he said the same words in relation to the Spirit, saying: “But one and the same Spirit works all these things” (1 Cor. 12:11). But the Holy Spirit was called the comforter; for what else, if not because he consoles people, that is, encourages them? You will find this feature in Scripture: the apostle calls encouragement consolation. He consoles not as second after God, but as God: consolation is a property of God; so that you do not insult the name of the comforter, the apostle says: “according to Christ ... we pray, as I pray to God 1 by us” (“in the name of Christ we ask: be reconciled to God”) (2 Cor. 5:20). And, brothers, Paul is not considered that, by introducing God who comforts people, he introduces news into dogmas, accept the proof from the old testimony. The prophet Isaiah says Jerusalem: “He who gave you the name will comfort you” (Bar. 4:30). So, think: the Father comforts you, the Son comforts you, because Isaiah says: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, for the Lord has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor, He has sent Me... to comfort all who mourn” (Isaiah 61:1-2). On another occasion, the Savior, wanting to show the equal glory of the Spirit, says: “If I go... I will send another comforter” (John 16:7); He could not have been different if another had not stood in front. So, the Holy Spirit appears in the form of tongues of fire. Why languages? For the benefit of the sermon. Since the apostles, in order to fill the boundaries of the universe with preaching, in which the Holy Spirit had to act, needed the tongue, this is depicted externally, in relation to the gift. In addition, and on an ancient basis. Since the giants were then fighting against God and plotting to build a tower, God shared the bad agreement by sending tongues; and now sends the actions of tongues to unite the divided universe, And an amazing thing happened: tongues divided the universe; languages ​​united the universe, languages ​​as a result of preaching. But why fiery? Since wickedness, which spread like a forest, held the whole world in its power, binding it like thorns, He sends tongues of fire that destroy the thorns of wickedness. He Himself says: “I have come to bring down fire on the earth” (Luke 12:49), - a fire that does not destroy, because the fire of God does not burn, but sanctifies. Therefore, one of the cherubim was sent to Isaiah with a fiery coal from the altar, and when he placed it on his lips, he said to him: “Behold, this has touched your mouth, and your iniquity is taken away from you, and your sin is cleansed” (Is. 6:7). So, majestically celebrating this holiday of the coming of the Holy Spirit, let us send glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Almost the coming of the Spirit; and the coming of the Spirit is honored by the remission of sins. Where the Holy Spirit is, there is forgiveness, because the Lord says: “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven” (John 20:22–23). The Holy Spirit is preached (as) liberating; thus, the Father liberates, the Son liberates, the Holy Spirit liberates; and a slave cannot provide freedom: what he does not have, he does not give. Therefore, so that you know the new freedom of the Son and the Spirit, the Savior says about Himself: if the Son does not free you, you are slaves (John 8:36). He gave freedom to Himself. Again Paul says: thus we look, “...as of the Spirit of the Lord. The Lord is Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor. 3:18, 17). Sometimes He is called the Holy Spirit, sometimes the Spirit of the Son, sometimes the Spirit of the Father, when He is not preached in fusion, but is explained in inseparability from the divine being. The Son calls the Spirit himself Father: “Do not worry,” he says, “how or what to say;... for it is not you who will speak, but the Spirit of your Father who will speak in you” (Matthew 10:19–20). The Son calls the Spirit Stepfather; Paul calls the Spirit Filial because he says this: “And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying: “Abba, Father!” (Gal. 4:6). The Spirit also gives life, because (the Lord) says: “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so the Son gives life to whomever He will” (John 5:21). You see that the Father and the Son give life, but look again that the apostle, or better yet, the Savior himself says through him: “The Spirit gives life; the flesh profiteth nothing” (John 6:63). I'll say it even shorter. Church ordinations are attributed by Paul now to the Father, now to the Son, now to the Spirit; Thus, when he speaks of the Father ordaining church dignities, he expresses himself: “God has ordained in the Church, firstly, apostles, secondly, prophets, thirdly, teachers” (1 Cor. 12:28), and so on. Here he attributed ordination to the Father, since He gives authority and supplies. Again, the same Paul ascribes (this) in another place to the Son, because he says: “He who descended, he is also the one who ascended above all the heavens, to fill all things. And He appointed some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some shepherds and teachers” (Eph. 4:10–11). Notice in this word His unlimited power. He did not say: and He served, but “he appointed some” according to his own unlimited power, not according to the divided and separated royal power of the Father, because what the Father desires, the Son also desires, and what the Son desires, the Father also approves. So, what he attributed to the Father and the Son - ordination - he himself again attributes this to the Holy Spirit, calling the Ephesian elders to himself and saying to them (Paul, who said this, also says this): “Take heed therefore to yourselves and to all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the Church” (Acts 20:28). Look at the similarities in the word. He did not say about the Father: “put”, but about the Spirit: “appointed,” but (used) the same saying: “God set” and the Father “set” the Holy Spirit in the Church. 2 The Father lays down the law in the Church; The Father lays down the law as the King of the ages, about whom David says: “I desire to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is in my heart” (Ps. 39:9). So, the Father gives the law, the Son gives the law. Listen to Paul as he says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2). He showed the Father as the lawgiver, he showed the Son as the lawgiver; he himself, who also gives the dignity of legislation to the Holy Spirit - or better, not giving, but returning - says: “because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2); not because there are three legislators; one law and one legislator; one God, although preached in three persons. They say: how can the Father be called God, and the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God, and not three Gods? Where there is communication by nature, (there) the names of virtues are also common. Thus, God calls what is divided into many by one name, according to one nature; and when he is angry with people, he calls all of humanity, subject to anger, one person; and when he addresses the world, he talks as if with one person. So, God brings a flood for sin, and says: “My Spirit will not forever be despised by men... I will destroy from the face of the earth the people whom I have created” (Gen. 6:3, 7). 3 Although he was not one, but (there was) an innumerable multitude, (however) he called all as one, by the name of nature, - the whole world, as one person, by the community of being. “What is man, that You are mindful of him, and the son of man, that You visit him?” (Ps. 8:5) David says, not because he looked at one, he gathered the whole universe. I will use one brief word spoken by Moses (about the fact that) Pharaoh entered the sea and was subjected to vengeance, according to divine law. Pharaoh perishes at sea with many chariots, and there are many people and many horses drowned. And Moses, knowing that all people have one nature, says: “I sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; he cast his horse and rider into the sea” (Ex. 15:1). He called many people one person - a horseman, due to their common essence. So, if in people, where knowledge is mixed, where outward appearances are different, there is no unity, no identical spirit, but different languages, different minds - the whole universe, due to the commonality of nature, is called one person, (then) I call the Trinity one God, where dignity is indivisible, one royal power, one original power. If I say: God, God and God, am I calling three Gods? If I say: Lord, Lord and Lord, do I call three Lords? No way. The Apostle calls the Father Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord, just like David: “The Lord said to my Lord: Sit on my right hand” (Ps. 109:1). And if: “Lord to the Lord,” (then) the apostle: “The Lord is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:17). So, if the Father is Lord, and the Son is Lord, and the Spirit is Lord, how do you, the apostle, the lawgiver of truth, the defender of piety, exclaim, saying to the Ephesians: “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph. 4:5)? “One Lord,” according to the doxology of the seraphim, because they also cry out: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts” (Isa. 6:3). And if heretics stubbornly insist that there is one dominion of the Father, and another of the Son, I wonder how they can be slaves to two masters, because this is the voice of the Savior: “No one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24). If you share dominion, how do you serve as a slave for the royal power? It is impossible to serve two dignities equally if there is no equality of honor, because no one worships the king and the boss. Where dignity is equal, worship is also equal. No struggle, with equal dignity; inequality stirs up struggle; equality rules the world. Christ did not allow you to share the honor, because He says: “This is the will of the Father who sent Me... that all should honor the Son as they honor the Father” (John 6:39, 5:23). Honor the Father so that you can honor the Son, or better yet, honor the Son so that you can honor the Father. The Father takes upon Himself the honor of the Son; The Son takes upon himself the honor of the Father, because the Savior says: “He who hates Me also hates my Father” (John 15:23). So, let the heretics not think that they please God in any way by calling Him great in comparison with the Son; The Father does not accept this honor offered to Him when the Son is insulted. Accept, indeed, the clear proof from the Old Scripture. Job's friends, having come for consolation, blamed him for the boldness of his speech, and justified God. And Job said to God: who will put a judge between me and You, and I will know how great my sins are, that You have condemned me like this? Job's friends justified God when they did not know the basis (of the case), and rather they condemned the righteous as a sinner, and defended God as a slayer. And they say to him: “Very” you spoke in abundance, “Does God pervert judgment, and the Almighty pervert righteousness” (Job 8:3)? He has smitten (you) for your sins; If you had not had many sins, you would not have been punished. It also seemed to them that they were defending God, but they condemned the righteous man. Did God accept those who spoke for Him contrary to the truth? If He had accepted defense in His favor when the righteous was dishonored, He would have accepted this honor in relation to Himself when the Son was dishonored. Listen to what the Lord says to Job’s friends: why “did they not speak the truth against My servant”? If He rejects from Himself those who do not speak the truth against the servant, does He accept the one who sharpens his tongue against the Only Begotten? It won't happen. So, the punishment for those who slander the Holy Spirit is irresistible. Listen to what the Savior says: “all sin and blasphemy will be forgiven to men, ... but if anyone speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the next” (Matthew 12:31–32). Why do we need conclusions about the begotten and the unborn, the created and the uncreated? The word of heresy is sharp, beyond a sophisticated razor. But even a razor, even if it is highly sophisticated, can shave hair and not chop wood; the word of truth is not a razor, but an axe. That is why John the Baptist says: “Already the ax lies at the root of the trees” (Matthew 3:10). He did not say: a razor, because the word of God is not smooth, against those who smooth out their vanity with speech from outside, but an ax that cuts the pride of boasters, as John testifies, saying: “Already the ax lies at the root of the trees.” The assembly of those who speak deceit and weave heresies is a razor, as David says to Saul: “Why do you boast of wickedness, O mighty one? All day long your tongue concocts destruction; Like a sophisticated razor, you have it, insidious!” ( Ps. 51:3–4 ). The Father lays down the law, the Son commands, the Spirit rules sovereignly. Listen to God, who says: those who bring good news will come, “whom the Lord will call” (Joel 2:32). I ask you: listen to find out the agreement of the truth. We do not fight with conclusions, but follow Scripture. We wish to be slaves of Scripture, not to enslave Scripture to our conclusions. Faith does not accept conclusions, not because they are unreasonable, but because it surpasses all thinking. Paul, to show you that faith is armed against thoughts, says: “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds: with them we cast down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God” (2 Cor. 10:4-5). But if the wicked often wins by reasoning, do not be amazed, because David says: “The works of iniquity prevail over me” (Ps. 64:4). And the Father sends apostles, and the Son sends, and the Holy Spirit sends. The Savior says to the apostles: behold, I am sending you into the world: “Go, teach all nations” (Matthew 28:19). And the Acts of the Apostles says: “These, being sent by the Holy Spirit, came to Seleucia” (Acts 13:4). The Father calls the apostles, the Son calls the apostles; the prophet says: from Mount Zion the one who brings good news will come, and those who bring good news “whom the Lord will call” (Joel 2:32). So, the work of God is the calling of those who preach the gospel. If calling is the work of God, then therefore the Spirit speaking through the prophets said (also): this is the Holy Spirit speaking: “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (Acts 13:2). We have said enough about this. May the God of peace increase us all in faith and love for Him, since all glory, honor and worship are due to Him, with the only begotten Son and His all-holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Slav. “I pray” does not express the thoughts of the preacher; it would be necessary to “comfort” - παρακαλοΰντος. Slav. the text does not stand up to this similarity: in 1 Cor. 12 “put”, in Acts. 20 "put" . Meanwhile, in Greek text both times: έθετο. (The thought disappears. Maybe this option is more acceptable?) “...I will destroy from the face of the earth...from man to beast” (Gen. 6:3, 7). Creations attributed to St. John Chrysostom, and classified in the Minya edition as Spuria. You might be interested in: