Archpastoral Letter for Pentecost 2003
Prot. N. 157
To the Very Reverend an Reverend
Fathers, Members of the Diaconate, Monastics and Laity of our God-saved
Diocese:
GLORY TO JESUS CHRIST!
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pur out My Spirit on
all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall
dream dreams, and your yojng men shall see visions. Even upon manservants and
maidservants in those days, I will pour out My Spirit
Prophecy of Joel 2: 28 (read at
Pentecost Vespers)
After the creation of the world and the fall of mankir1d from grace, the
lord God Almighty began His work with mankind anew. In the Garden of Eden, the
progenitors of the race of man, Adam and Eve, walked and talked with God their
Father as intimates, as loving and obedient children of a loving Father. Even
more, they were friends of God. All of that changed because of their
disobedience, however. And from that moment God already set in motion His plan
to re-instate human beings to ttlat very same privilege and dignity. But this
would take timeJ of course, and God dea:t with His People in increasing degrees
by which they would be brought back to their original state.
This has been accomplished in three phases of our salvation history.
The first phase reflected a lesser degree of God's intimacy with His
children, since they had demonstrated that they, through Adam and Eve. were
perhaps not mature enough to be friends of God. 50, in the Old Covenant, God
communicated ONL y with select individuals who would take His message: His
instructions, and. His Laws to the Hebrew nation. He . would prepare tllem for
the Advent of HiS Son Who would redeem them from their sins and open the way of
restoration to their close relationship with their God. These select few we
know as the Patriarchs and Prophets, some of whom are Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, Moses and Aaron, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah, Ezekiel, Joel, and the many
others.
The second phase of our intimacy with God occurred when the Son of God
Himself came to earth to prepare the people more intensely for the manner in
which the wall of division between God and man was to be broken down, that is,
through His Death and Resurrection. This Son of God, Jesus Christ, instituted a
deeper involvement of men and women who were to assist in the task of spreading
His Kingdom upon the earth. They were still a select group, but a larger group.
For the three years of his ministry on earth, however, our Lord talked with,
taught, and healed His people of their physical and spiritual infirn1ities in a
very personal and direct manner. God was becoming more accessible and intimate
with His creatures. However, this phase of our return to God lasted but those
few years.
And now, since the day of Pentecost, we are in the third phase of our return
to intimacy with God. The Kingdom HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED! The Church of Christ
HAS BEEN BORN! The Holy Spirit GUIDES AND DIRECTS THE CHURCH, and He works with
His people, through His people, and in His people in the most intimate way yet!
The Feast of Pentecost is the culmination of every other event and feast
that we have celebrated throughout this past year of the liturgical calendar.
Everything has brought us to this moment.
Some people and some traditions seem to have forgotten about the Third
Person of the Divine Trinity. But without Him, the Church would not exist
today! Christ Himself told us on the night before His Crucifixion and Death,
"But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name,
He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have
said to you." (John 14:26) God the Holy Spirit, then, provides us with the
Holy Scripture, the Church, the Holy Mysteries -in essence, every means to gain
the deepest intimacy with God once again. Although it is the Church of Christ
to which we belong, IT IS THE HOL y SPIRIT WHO ACCOMPLISHES THE WORK OF CHRIST
IN HIS CHURCH. Think about all that has happened, and continues to happen, in
your life as a Christian. At Baptism the Holy Spirit is called upon to sanctify
the Baptismal waters; at Chrismation, you are sealed with the gifts of the Holy
Spirit and anointed with Holy Chrism, upon which the Patriarch invoked the Holy
Spirit to descend; at the Holy Eucharist, gifts of bread and wine are
transfom1ed into the Body and Blood of Christ by the action of the Holy Spirit;
at an ordination, ordinary men are changed into other "Christs" to
minister to His Church by the invocation of the Holy Spirit; most blessings,
whether they be of water or various liturgical appointments, are effected with
the words: "This item is blessed and sanctified by the grace of the Most
Holy Spirit and through the sprinkling of this holy water. .." and at the
Consecration of a Church (which all of us will soon have the awesome privilege
to witness, the Holy Spirit will be called upon to descend and fill this House
of God with His sacred presence. According to the Holy Apostle Paul, we could
not even pray or profess " Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit."
(I Corinthians 12: 3) These are some of the many and various ways in which the
Holy Spirit functions and by which He leads us into ever closer union with our
God.
My beloved, the Holy Spirit is alive and welll St. John again records our Lord's words,
" My Father is working still, and I am working." (John 5:17). The
very same announcement can be said of the Divine Spirit. He is at work, and at
work IN THE MOST INT1MATE OF WAYSI He now comes to each and every individual
who desires Him by these means which Christ Himself initiated and provided, and
of which we continue to know about because the Holy Spirit has called them to
our remembrance. And these make us that much closer to God, as Adam and Eve
themselves once were. One more phase will take us eventually to that ultimate
goal that we possessed in the beginning; it will be when we depart this life,
when we leave behind this vale of tears on earth, and when we will be
perfected. Then we will see God "face to face."
On this day as we commemorate the Descent of the Spirit upon the Apostles
and Disciples in the Uppar Room and as we call upon Him, especially in the
singing of "O heavenly King, the Comforter. .." to renew Him in us, I
pray that He will enter your lives and fill all of you with His rich and
powerful gifts and that you will utilize the tools of the Church, the Holy
Scripture, the Holy Sacraments, prayer and fasting to keep Him vitally active
in your spiritual life and growth.
Imparting my hierarchical blessing upon each and every one of you, I remain,
Most sincerely yours in Christ,
+
METROPOLITAN NICHOLAS
THIS ARCHPASTORAL LETTER IS TO BE READ IN ALL PARISHES OF THE DIOCESE AS THE
SERMON ON SUNDAY, JUNE 15, 2003.
