The film “The Resurrection of Christ

The Holy Spirit is the chief rector and dean of the University of True Wisdom

“I am telling you these things,” Jesus says to the apostles the evening before His death, “now while I am still with you.” He won’t be with the apostles for much longer. These are the final moments before His departure. Imagine a father saying goodbye to his children, knowing that he will be executed the next day. He is innocent, but he will still be executed. He’ll give his beloved children his heart on a plate. He’ll give them everything he has. And Jesus, with far greater love, imparts the depths of truth to the apostles as far as He knows they are able to bear and receive. He knew that they were still unable to accept many things, but He pointed to the hope that is the Holy Spirit. And here’s what He says: “… while I am still with you. … But the Comforter (Advocate), whom the Father will send in My name…” When someone comforts someone who is depressed, a word can save a life. “Comforter” – He comforts. “Comforter” or “Advocate”. You actually enjoy patronage at the highest levels. Imagine that you cannot get to the truth or achieve justice – it’s just not possible. Then someone says to you: “Look, there’s a man whose patronage will help you.

The Holy Spirit will teach you…

We are unable to grasp the depth of God’s truths and mysteries on our own. As Jesus said: “He will teach you…” Who? The Holy Spirit. No one else is able to teach us. He will approach you personally and teach you. But you have to want it and cooperate, and then He will teach you. No mention is made whether it will take a year, five years, or a lifetime. But He will teach you. Remember the promise: “He will teach you…” He will teach you how to be with Jesus. He will teach you how to live so that the life of Jesus can grow within you and Christ can live in you. He will teach you so that you can die and Jesus can grow. Jesus goes on to say: “He will remind you of everything I have told you.” How often do we need that in certain situations! We often find ourselves saying: “If only I could remember…” When you lose, you think: “Such a simple thing! Such primitivism!

Martyrs and Other Saints

+ Elijah – Tuptalo

March

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Brief reflection on the Descent of the Holy Spirit

We are now in the 40 days’ Easter period, commemorating the glorious victory of Christ over death and sin. The Word of God points out a deep relation to the mystery of the Resurrection of Christ through the Holy Spirit: “The Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead dwells in you…” (Rom 8:11f).

New life – the life of the risen Christ should be manifested in us through the Holy Spirit. The condition is to walk by faith and to give all our plans, worries and everything to Jesus. Let us not cling to anything, be it our thoughts, hurt feelings, doubts about God and His Word, or self-pity. Let us give our all to Him. He will then work through us in power, maybe in secret only, but our union with Him in faith will bear fruit for eternity.

At the end of May, we will celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit. May the Holy Spirit fill you again and endow you with the true divine joy and His gifts. It is not enough to receive gifts; we need to receive the Giver! Let us do our best to live in the presence of God, seeking His will, so that our decisions, words and acts would not be our own but of God. To abide in and walk with God, we need practical faith. Indeed, we need to walk by faith like Abraham. And we need to revive our faith ever anew in all trials. No manifestation of a living faith is in vain or without response!

“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth.“

“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth.”

The Spirit of God brings light. This enables you to realize a truth that you previously did not see at all, or saw only in a distorted way. For example, He reveals that what seemed like a coincidence in your life was not a coincidence at all; now, after several years, you recognize this. What you saw as a loss was actually a gain. The harm that troubled you turned out to be ultimately beneficial. What you saw as misfortune was merely a barrier that prevented an even greater misfortune. At the time, you couldn’t understand this.

The Spirit of God gives us understanding, particularly with regard to spiritual matters. He convicts us of sin. He opens up the Scriptures. Certain previously incomprehensible passages in Scripture suddenly touch your heart deeply, leading you to a personal awareness of sin and of God’s forgiving love.

The Spirit of God brings us into an intimate relationship with our Saviour, so that we may come to know Him better and love Him more. The greatest obstacle to loving God is original sin within us – our tendency to believe lies and commit evil. Without the Spirit of God, all truths, whether from Scripture or the catechism, are merely a letter that kills, as God’s Word says. But the Spirit gives life! (2Cor 3:6) Jesus said to the apostles, and He says to us as well: “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth.” (Jn 16:12-13)

“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counsellor to be with you for ever – the Spirit of truth.” (Jn 14:16-17)

“If you love Me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counsellor to be with you for ever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you.” (Jn 14:15-17)

Jesus says, “If you love Me…” – this is the condition. And He continues, “…I will ask the Father…” He says, “I” – Jesus. “…and He – the Father – will give you another Counsellor to be with you for ever – the Spirit of truth.” The Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, the Counsellor – He intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express, as we read in chapter eight of the Letter to the Romans. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us. So, Jesus will ask the Father. The Father will give the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit. Here we are already talking about the third Person of God. Jesus goes on to tell us about the Holy Spirit: “The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you.” (Jn 14:17) The world, or the spirit of the world, is the spirit of lies.

+ Elijah
Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate

The meaning of life

I recall one of the books by W. Busch. He describes World War II. He was against fascism and was in prison therefor. He says: “5 million young boys died in the war. There are practically 5 million girls who want to get married but cannot. They say: ‘No one married us!’ And these young women ask: ‘What shall we do? Shall we now break other marriages?’ No! Think of Dorcas in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 9). What’s the point of lamenting: ‘No one married me!?’ Jesus married you! So serve Him! Life is short. Jesus married you, He paid for your soul, He paid for you at Calvary! Dorcas was single too but she helped others as best she could by making garments or by acts of charity. When her dead body was laid out in the house, many people came, and widows showed Peter the garments which Dorcas had made for them, saying: “She made this for us, and this, and this…” They were weeping because they were aware of how very helpful she had been to them. Maybe some children came there too, snotty-nosed little kids, to whom she had helped, devoted her time, doing good to all. She had no family and so she cared for the poor, sacrificed herself as best she could – she lived by faith, by faith in Jesus and by love for Him. And when she died, Peter came, sent everyone out of the room, prayed for her and raised her to life. God worked a miracle. But the most important thing is this – the attitude to life. No one married you? Jesus did!

“We were buried with Him through baptism into death,

that just as Christ was raised from the dead…,

even so we also should walk in newness of life.“

“We were buried with Him through baptism into death,

that just as Christ was raised from the dead…,

even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

The verse speaks not only of Christ’s death but also resurrection. Again, it draws our attention to baptism, saying that we are buried with Christ through baptism into death, which means renunciation of our own will at the present moment. The consequence is that we live a new life, or rather that Jesus lives in us. He then works in us through the power of His resurrection.

One reality is Christ’s historical resurrection in Jerusalem 2000 years ago, and the other reality is our union with His resurrection in baptism. Baptism itself is not enough. In order for you to have light in your house, you need electric wiring in the walls, a switch and a bulb. You are connected to the source of energy. But if you don’t switch the light on, your house will be in darkness. Only when you do, the bulb will shine. We can compare baptism to the wiring and the switch to active faith. Christ lives in me in power through baptism and active faith.

Humility

Of all people, the Virgin Mary is the supreme model of humility. The Lord Jesus, God and Man, said: “Learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.” He said clearly that this is what we should learn from Him. He clearly demands it from us. We should practically deny ourselves, accept our cross and follow Him humiliated, abandoned and crucified. Humility is the basis of all virtues. The opposite of humility is pride which leads to eternal death, while humility is the key to heaven. Humility overcomes the devil and the old self in us. Different forms of jealousy, comparing with others, competitiveness even in spiritual life, sadness when someone is successful – this all is a sin of pride! We need to humble ourselves in thoughts time and again. But then we need to do so in words, deeds and gestures as well. Sadness is often a sign of preoccupation with ourselves, failure to achieve our plans or dreams etc. Unless we grow in this virtue, we will never have true unity with Christ or any man either. Humility overcomes the spirit of pride.

“Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins

and rose again for our justification.“

“Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins

and rose again for our justification.”

What is the focus of this Word of Life? It is on the resurrection. The previous verse says that the Father raised Jesus from the dead (We believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead /v.24/), but we also read in the next verse that Jesus Himself rose again by His own power. Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” (Jn 10:30) Jesus shares the same divinity as the Father. So does the Holy Spirit. We read in Romans 8:11, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” It tells us that the whole Holy Trinity – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – is involved in the resurrection. The three of them are one, one God in three Persons – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The resurrection is a manifestation of God’s power. His almighty power created the universe, millions of galaxies, and billions of stars. He sustains it all. He also created our earth. He is the Supreme Lord and Lawgiver. He has the power to intervene in the laws of nature, and we call such an occurrence a miracle.

13 April 2026

The renewal of the Church begins with the renewal of the spiritual life of the family. This renewal is deeply connected with keeping the third commandment: “Six days you shall labour… but the seventh day is a day of rest, a holy day.” (Deu 5:12-15) God reminds us to stop from our everyday work on the seventh day. Why? Not only so that we can rest, but also so that we remember how He freed His people from slavery in Egypt. Today, many people live as slaves of a modern Egypt – the system of this world. It traps them in many kinds of addictions and distractions. But most of all, it keeps them from pausing, from stepping out of the slavery of their own ego and the spirit and system of this world.

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13 April 2026

What was the result of the liturgical reform when the altar – and the priest with it – was turned in the opposite direction, facing the people? It brought about a desacralization of the liturgy and of the sacred space.