“AND IN THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE LORD, THE GIVER OF LIFE, WHO PROCEEDS FROM THE FATHER…”

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

THE HOLY AND GREAT FEAST DAY OF GOD THE HOLY
SPIRIT ON THE MONDAY FOLLOWING THE SUNDAY
OF PENTECOST.

"And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life,
Who proceeds from the Father, Who with the Father
and the Son is equally worshipped and glorified,
Who spake by the Prophets," [Nicene-Constantinopolitan]
Symbol of Faith].

The Oneness of Essence, Equality of Divinity and
Equality of Honor of the Holy Spirit with God the Father
and God the Son.

In the history of the ancient Church whenever heretics tried to lessen the Divine dignity of the Son of God, this was unusually accompanied by a lessening on their part of the dignity of the Holy Spirit.
381
In the Second Century the heretic Valentinus falsely taught that the Holy Spirit was not distinct in His Nature from the Angels. The Arian heretics thought the same thing. But the chief of the heretics who distorted the Apostolic Teaching concerning the Holy Spirit was Macedonius, who occupied the cathedra of Constantinople as archbishop in the 4th century. The false and heretical teaching of Macedonius was refuted first in a Council of Constantinople in A.D. 381. In preserving Orthodoxy, the Second Ecumenical Synod completed the Nicaean Symbol of Faith with these words: "And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who PROCEEDETH FROM THE FATHER, Who with the Father and the Son is EQUALLY WORSHIPPED AND GLORIFIED, Who spake by the Prophets." as well as those articles of the Creed which follow this in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Symbol of Faith.

From among the numerous testimonies in Holy Scripture which concern the Holy Spirit, it is especially important to have in mind those passages which (a) confirm the teaching of the Church that the Holy Spirit is NOT an impersonal Divine power, but a Person of the Holy Trinity, and (b) which affirms His Oneness in Essence and equal Divine dignity with the First and Second Person of the Holy Trinity.

(a) A testimony of the first kind–that the Holy Spirit is a Person–we have in the words of the Lord in His farewell conversation with the His Disciples, where He calls the Holy Spirit the "COMFORTER" "Whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which PROCEEDS FROM THE FATHER, hE SHALL TESTIFY OF ME OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged" (John 16:8-11).

The Holy Apostle Paul speaks clearly of the Spirit as a Person of WISDOM, KNOWLEDGE, FAITH, HEALINGS, MIRACLES, THE DISCERNING OF SPIRITS, DIVERSE TONGUES, AND THE INTERPRETATION OF TONGUES– He concludes: "BUT ALL THESE WORKETH THAT ONE AND THE SELFSAME SPIRIT, DIVIDING TO EVERY MAN SEVERALLY AS HE WILL" [1 Corinthians 12:11).