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Today, 23 May, the Orthodox Christians celebrate the Descent of the Holy Spirit, a feast also known as the Pentecost. Fragments of the Gospel according to John and of the Acts were read in all the Orthodox churches during the Divine Liturgy. His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Cathedral of Bucharest, informs Trinitas Radio station. His Beatitude explained in the sermon delivered that the Holy Spirit offered us a foretaste of the eternal life ever since this life: The eternal life is given to the people ever since this world as a foretaste, and then, after the common resurrection, it is given for good. So, the Holy Spirit shares with us the life of the Crucified Christ, Risen and Ascended to heaven, namely He gives us the life of the deified humanity of Christ. His Beatitude reaffirmed the fact that in order to live forever, ever since this life, we must unite with Jesus, our Lord, in faith: We start living eternally ever since this world to the extent to which we unite ourselves with Christ, through the work of the Holy Spirit in the Holy Church. This is why we better understand the words of Jesus Christ, our Lord, in the Church, who says: Anybody who believes in Me will be always alive, or will live for ever, and even if he dies in body, I will rise him in the afterworld . So, the faith in Jesus Christ and the bond of prayer, of the holy life with Him, give us the foretaste of the eternal life . His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel also offered a few dogmatic explanations concerning the teaching on the Holy Spirit: The Descent of the Holy Spirit is done as a result of His sending by Father and by the Son, or by the Father, at the request of the Son. Jesus, the Saviour, promised the Saints Apostles He would not leave them alone although He would go to the Father, but would send them the Comforter. Christ, the Saviour calls the Holy Spirit the Comforter. Who is the Comforter? It is the One who consoles, who brings joy when we are in trouble, who brings the loving presence of Christ when we feel lonely, who enlightens our mind to find ways out of difficult circumstances. His Beatitude emphasized the fact that the Holy Spirit is the loving presence of Christ in people and the One who annuls the people’s loneliness: The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, comforts the mourning families, the mothers and fathers who lost their children, the widows, orphans, sick, those who feel the loneliness united with sufferance. The Holy Spirit the Comforter does not let man feel lonely. So, the Holy Spirit is the presence of God in the man’s heart and life, it is the loving presence of Christ in the humans, it is the Comforter of the Christian family, of the sad family, rather often overwhelmed by troubles, poverty, needs, disease, and trials . The Pentecost Sunday reminds of the Founding of the Christian Church: Christ sets up the Church through Incarnation, through all His consecrating saving work and especially through the call of the Saints Apostles. And the Holy Spirit comes down over all the disciples of Christ and sets up the Church, in fact the leadership of the Church. Through the baptism that the Apostles celebrate after the people believed in Christ, as a result of the sermon of Saint Peter, the Holy Spirit extends to 3000 people in only one day. We see how the Holy Spirit, when He comes down over the Mother of God, the result of His work is the body of Christ or the Son of God Incarnated; now, when He comes down over the Apostles, the Church, the mysterious body of Christ, is formed, and when He comes down over the gifts presented, the bread and wine, He consecrates them and they are changed into the Eucharistic Body and Blood of Christ , also said His Beatitude. To end with today’s Divine Liturgy, a special service was celebrated, called the Pentecost Vespers, when eight prayers were said, seven of them loud and the eighth in a low voice and the walnut leaves were blessed – the symbol of the flames that came down over the heads of the Saints Apostles. The Patriarch of Romania emphasized, in the end of the Vespers, the symbolism of the consecrated branches during the holy service: These leaves symbolize the work of the Holy Spirit all over the world, the flames given to the Apostles so that they should be able to speak to all nations. At the same time, fire is also lightening, warming and purifying. It is lightening for our soul, warming for our piety and purifying of sins , informs Trinitas TV station. This is the third special Vesper celebrated during the church year. The other two are celebrated on the Good Friday, when the Holy Epitaph is brought into the middle of the church, and on the Holy Easter Sunday, at noon, also called The Second Resurrection according to tradition.
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