Creed 23

Yes, We believe in the holy Spirit, the Lord the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who is worshipped

and glorified with the Father and the Son. Who spoke through the

prophets.

The work of the Holy Spirit

1. The giver of life: in the old creation The giver of the new life:

a. The work in the new birth: i. Mind – sermon oilii. Heart – galilaoun oil iii. Washing of regeneration

b. The indwelling – myroun c. The purification (rebuke - absolution) and healingd. The everlasting life and resurrection through the

“true knowledge” of the Son (the Eucharist), then the Father through the Son

Yes, we believe in the Holy Spirit

• “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3). “God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father’” (Gal 4:6). This knowledge of faith is possible only in the Holy Spirit: to be in touch with Christ we must first have been touched by the Holy Spirit. He comes to meet us and kindles faith in us. By virtue of our baptism, the first sacrament of faith, the Holy Spirit in the church communicates to us, intimately and personally, the life that originates in the Father and is offered to us in the Son.

Yes, we believe in the Holy Spirit

• Baptism gives us the grace of new birth in God the Father, through His Son, in the Holy Spirit. For those who bear God’s Spirit are led to the Word, that is, to the Son, and the Son presents them to the Father, and the Father confers incorruptibility on them. And it is impossible to see God’s Son without the Spirit, and no one can approach the Father without the Son, for the knowledge of the Father is the Son and the knowledge of God’s Son is obtained through the Holy Spirit. – St. Irenaeus

The work of the Holy Spirit in individuals and in the Church

2. In the Mysteries: Initiation Mysteries: baptism, chrismation, confession, communion; priesthood, matrimony, unction of the sick

3. In inspiring scriptures4. The Tradition5. In helping the Holy Synod and councils6. In interceding in Prayer especially the Liturgy7. In Charisms and ministries: “Having then gifts differing according

to the grace that is given to us let us use them: if prophecy let us prophecy in proportion to our faith; or ministry let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches in teaching; he who exhorts in exhortation; he who gives with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy with cheerfulness.” (Rom 12:6-8)

The work of the Holy Spirit in individuals and in the Church

8. In signs of apostolic and missionary work: extraordinary gifts like speaking in tongues, healing, revelation of secrets, raising the dead, etc.

9. In witness of Saints through whom He manifests His holiness and continues the work of salvation. This is done through the gift of 3 main virtues: faith, hope and love, and gifts: “the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and godliness. The spirit of the fear of God shall fill him” (Isaiah 11:2). And through the fruits: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Gal 5:22)

Yes, we believe in the Holy SpiritThere is progression in the revelation of the Persons of the Trinity through history, and also in the way believers are introduced to the Trinity• The Old Testament proclaimed the Father clearly, but the Son

more obscurely. The New Testament revealed the Son and gave us a glimpse of the divinity of the Spirit. Now the Spirit dwells among us and grants us a clearer vision of Himself. It was not prudent when the divinity of the Father had not yet been confessed, to proclaim the Son openly and, when the divinity of the Son was not yet admitted, to add the Holy Spirit as an extra burden, to speak somewhat daringly… By advancing and progressing “from glory to glory”, the light of the Trinity will shine in evermore brilliant rays. – St. Gregory of Nazianzus

The joint mission of the Son and the Spirit

• In their joint mission the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct but inseparable. Some of the church fathers have called Them “the two hands of God the Father whom He sent to take care of the world.” To be sure it is Christ who is seen, the visible image of the invisible God, but it is the Spirit who reveals Him. Without the Spirit no one can recognize the lordship and the divinity of Christ.

The joint mission of the Son and the Spirit

• Jesus is Christ, “anointed,” because the Spirit is His anointing and everything that occurs from the incarnation on derives from this fullness. When Christ is finally glorified (John 7:39), He can in turn send the Spirit from His place with the Father to those who believe in Him: He communicates to them His glory (John 17:22), that is, the Holy Spirit who glorifies Him. From that time on, this joint mission will be manifested in the children adopted by the Father in the body of His Son: the mission of the Spirit of adoption is to unite them to Christ and to make them live in Him.

The joint mission of the Son and the Spirit

• “The notion of anointing suggests… that there is no distance between the Son and the Spirit. Indeed, just as between the surface of the body and the anointing with oil neither reason nor sensation recognizes any intermediary, so the contact of the Son with the Spirit is immediate, so that anyone who would make contact with the Son by faith must first encounter the oil by contact. In fact there is no part that is not covered by the Holy Spirit. That is why the confession of the Son’s lordship is made in the Holy Spirit by those who receive Him, the Spirit coming from all sides to those who approach the Son in faith.” – St Gregory of Nyssa

Symbols of the Holy Spirit

1. Water2. Anointing3. Fire4. Cloud and Light5. The Seal6. The Hand7. The Finger8. The Dove

Symbols of the Holy Spirit1. Water: signifies the Holy Spirit action in baptism. One’s first

birth took place in water and the second birth is also in water. “Made to drink of one’s Spirit” (1 Cor 12:13). He is the living water welling up from Christ crucified (John 19:34).

2. Anointing: in initiation into Christian mystery it is the sacramental sign of the mystery of “chrismation” in the churches of the East and confirmation in the West. It’s full force can be grasped only in relation to the primary anointing accomplished by the Holy Spirit, that is of Jesus. Christ in Hebrew “Messiah” means the One anointed by God’s Spirit. From birth to ascension the work of the Spirit continued to be manifested in the humanity of our Lord. And that is what being transmitted to the believers in the mystery of the chrismation.

Symbols of the Holy Spirit3. Fire: represents the transforming energy of the Spirit’s actions. The prayer

of Elijah for fire to come from heaven on the sacrifice on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:38,39; Sirach 48:1) is a figure of the fire of the Holy Spirit who transforms what He touches. When the Spirit comes on the disciples on the morning of Pentecost and fills them with Himself as tongues of fire (Acts 2:3-4). The spiritual tradition has retained this symbol as one of the most expressive images of the Holy Spirit’s actions, “do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thes 5:19). The fire that came “from the Lord” and consumed the first sacrifice of the church in the wilderness (Lev 9:24), and consumed the 2 sons of Aaron when they brought a strange fire to offer to the Lord (in Lev 10:2). The fire that dedicated the first temple that Solomon built (2 Chron 7:1). The Holy Spirit also is “the fire” that came down from heaven to consecrate the new church through the sacrifice of Christ in the tomb by resurrecting Him from the dead so His life is now “in the Spirit” in the glory of God. The same fire will be transmitted on the day of His resurrection to his disciples (John 20:22) to fill them on Pentecost (Acts 2:3-4) as the new church.

Symbols of the Holy Spirit4. Cloud and Light: these 2 images occur together in the manifestations

of the Holy Spirit. In the theophanies of the OT the cloud, now obscure, now luminous, reveals the living and saving God, while veiling the transcendence of His glory. With Moses on Mount Sinai (Ex 24:15-18), at the tent of meeting (Ex 33:1-10), and during the wandering in the desert (Ex 40:36-38), and with Solomon at the dedication of the Temple (1 Kgs 8:10-12), in the Holy Spirit, Christ fulfills these figures. The Spirit comes upon the virgin Mary and “overshadows” her, so that she might conceive and give birth to Jesus (Luke 1:35). On the mountain of transfiguration the Spirit in the “cloud came and overshadowed” Jesus, Moses and Elijah, Peter James and John, and “a Voice came out of the cloud saying, ‘this is My Son, My chosen; listen to Him’” (Luke 9:34-35). Finally the cloud took Jesus out of the sight of the disciples on the day of His ascension and will reveal Him as Son of Man in glory on the day of His final coming (Acts 1:9).

Symbols of the Holy Spirit

5. The Seal: this symbol is close to the anointing “the Father has set His seal” on Christ and also seals us in Him (John 6:27; 2 Cor 1:22; Eph 1:13). Because this seal indicates the indelible (impossible to remove) effect of the anointing with the Holy Spirit in the mysteries of baptism, chrismation, and the priesthood, the image of the seal, “sphragis,” has been used to express unrepeatable mysteries.

Symbols of the Holy Spirit

6. The Hand: Jesus heals the sick and blesses little children by laying hands on them (Mark 6:5, 8:23, 10:16). In His name the apostles will do the same (Acts 5:12). Even more pointedly, is by the apostles laying of hands that the Holy Spirit is given (Acts 8:17-19, 13:3; 19:6). The letter to the Hebrews lists the laying of hands among “fundamental elements of its teaching” (Hebrews 6:2). The church has kept this sign in the prayer of the priest over the believers in the mystery of confession, in the request of prayer, and over the sick, in the marriage mystery, etc.

Symbol of the Holy Spirit

7. The Finger: “it is by the finger of God that Jesus casts out demons” (Luke 11:20). If God’s law was written on tablets of stone “by the finger of God” (Ex 31:18) then the “letter from Christ” entrusted to the care of the apostles is written “with the Spirit of the living God not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” In the same manner our Lord “stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger” (John 8:6) showing Himself to be the Writer of the Law and the only One who has the authority to judge according to the Law, eventually the One who would send the Spirit from the Father to write the law on the hearts (Jer 31:31).

Symbols of the Holy Spirit

8. The Dove: “the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the water” (Gen 1:2). The first image of the Spirit given in Genesis as “hovering.” The next image at the end of the flood we see the dove of Noah hovers over the water of cleansing as a symbol of baptism. The next time the dove was released by Noah returns with a fresh olive tree branch as a sign that the earth was again habitable (Gen 8:8-12). When Christ comes up from the water of His baptism, the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, comes down upon Him and remains with Him (Matt 3:16). The Spirit comes down and remains in the purified hearts of the baptized. Christian iconography traditionally uses a dove to suggest the Spirit. In this image the Spirit is represented as meek, gentle, and a herald of peace.

Review

• What are the actions of the Holy Spirit? 9• The giver of life..what does that mean?• What are the gifts of the Holy Spirit?• How the knowledge of the Trinity was

revealed through history? And how they are revealed to individuals today?

• What are the symbols of the Holy Spirit ?• What is the significance of anointing?