“Those who received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship (koinonia), in the breaking of bread (Eucharist), and in prayers.” That was the fruit of the descent of the Holy Spirit and of Peter’s sermon – the Church – living fellowship – was born and started to grow. On the seventh day, Sunday, when we commemorate the Resurrection of Christ and the Descent of the Holy Spirit, we try to find time for prayer, Divine Liturgy and fellowship. Here we can receive again the apostles’ doctrine through the Word of God and also receive encouragement through the examples of saints and martyrs as well as through personal testimonies of faith.

We have to be converted, to receive Jesus as our Saviour and Lord. We have to be renewed by the Holy Spirit and to walk in the Holy Spirit. But this is still not enough for escaping Purgatory. So what shall we do? The Word of God says: “He – Jesus – will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Mt 3:11) So this is a very important thing – baptism with fire. Jesus says: “I came to cast fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” (Lk 12:49) Where shall this fire be kindled? In us. It shall purify us. It is a fire of zeal, of pure love for Jesus. A fire that shall burn all manifestations of our pride, self-love, envy, self-pity, criticism, rebellion, impurity, various dependences – on people, things or plans. This all must be burnt by this fire. Jesus will then truly be our Lord. Otherwise it is a mere phrase. We need this fire. This fire is also connected with martyrdom. “When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you shall be My witnesses (martyres).” (Acts 1:8)

Before you stand before the judgment seat of God, do your best so as not to stand there with empty hands. We will be judged not only for doing evil. We are obliged to do good – to do works worthy of eternity. We will be judged for what we were obliged to do and did not do. Every good word, every encouragement, every step of faith, every suffering which we accept and bear, every mockery and every persecution for the sake of Christ is of great worth. So let us live by faith. Certainly, we will not be justified through our good works only but we are justified through the righteousness of Christ. Indeed, our salvation is in Christ – this is the foundation of Christianity, but the question is what we build on this foundation: wood and straw or the works of gold done in union with Christ.

+ Elijah
Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate

“Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized

in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins;

and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

For the promise is to you and to your children,

and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.””

“Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.’”

These words were spoken by Peter in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles. They began to praise God for His wonderful works in unknown languages, so the foreigners who had come to Jerusalem heard them speaking in their own languages. Interestingly, if we notice where the pilgrims of the different nationalities came from – Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Cappadocia, Pontus – we find out that it was the territory of present-day Turkey, which is now fully Islamized. For example, some of the Church Fathers, namely St Basil, St Gregory of Nyssa and St Gregory of Nazianzus, lived and worked in Cappadocia. Other nationalities mentioned here are Egyptians, Libyans, Romans, Cretans, Arabs, even to the territory of present-day Iran and Iraq. Today, these territories are occupied by Islam. Christianity was destroyed there by force.

Dear American Christians and people of good will,

the presidential elections in previous years do not compare with this historic moment! Whether there had been this or that candidate running for presidency, both of them represented the program of the behind-the-scenes elite which pursued gradual elimination of moral and spiritual values as well as of orthodox Christianity. The US embraced the program of “reduction”– autogenocide – through satanization not only of the Christian nations but of the entire world. Obama declared homosexuality a foreign policy priority. Thus the US turned into the spiritual Babylon, the prostitute sitting on the beast (Rev 17:1-6). Because of homosexual perversion fire fell from heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah as a punishment. God made these two cities an example to all humanity (cf. Jude 7; 2Pe 2:6).

John Kennedy was the last US President who really cared for the moral good of America. However, he was slyly murdered by the backroom elite which consequently took the power fully into its own hands. Democracy and freedom are only its masks.

There are different forms of the cross. Today we have one cross, tomorrow we will have another. Through the cross our life becomes fruitful, otherwise we would die of apathy or vanity. Many times we do not give thanks for our cross but rather avoid it; however, if we begin to give thanks, the Lord will gradually fill us with joy and we will be happy that we could deny ourselves instead of groaning or being in fear. We will be happy that we can do the will of God, and His will shall penetrate us at last.

+ Elijah
Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate

+ Elijah
Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate

Jesus said these words on the Mount of Olives on the fortieth day after His Resurrection, when ascending into His glory before the eyes of the apostles and disciples. Jesus emphasized that the apostles needed to receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit. They had already received Him on the Day of Christ’s Resurrection but not in fullness.

Jesus also told the apostles to stay in the city of Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit descended on them in fullness (cf. Lk 24:49). “…until you are endued with power from on high.”

Almost all of you, dear believers, have received the fullness of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit enlightens our mind and strengthens our will, that we may be true witnesses of our Lord Jesus Christ!

“For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit

not many days from now. You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit

has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem,

and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

It is necessary for the Orthodox priests to resolve to devote at least one and a half days a week to God and their souls in prayer and reflection on God’s Word. This would lead to the spiritual resurrection of all Russia and Ukraine.

An Orthodox priest has his own family. It would be enough if these married priests spent less than two days in prayer and fellowship. After a certain period of time, they could discuss together in fellowship the problem of mutual unity on the basis of the fact that they will first begin to perceive their outward sins which arouse indignation in the faithful and cause them to leave the Church, be it e.g. love of money, overbearing manner and clerical pride, or their ill-behaved children which cause outrage… Finally, they would come to the conclusion: indeed, we must stop being schizophrenics at last, we must stop preaching one way and living another way, and then our family will really be a model, a living Gospel for the whole parish.

The Emmaus disciples said to Jesus: “Lord, stay with us, the day is almost over.” The day of our life is almost over too, and only one thing is needed: that the Lord may open our eyes as He opened the eyes of the disciples of Emmaus, that we may see Him both in ourselves and in our brethren. If I then see my brother’s fault which repeats itself, I will not judge him in my thoughts but I will see Jesus whom he hurts and the fact that he hurt Jesus will remind me of how many times I had hurt my Lord. May at that moment – instead of me judging my brother – an angel wound my heart and fill it with compassion and love for Jesus whom everyone boycotts and scorns. May each of us realize: I have received more light from God than others and yet I hurt Jesus even more than they do – and realizing this, I will be with Jesus again, I will come down to the prison of my heart and offer Him my tears of sorrow to drink, and at the same time I will also see Jesus in my brother who was blinded by the old self at the moment.

We should see Christ in our neighbour. In the parable of the Last Judgment, Jesus says the same to those who will be saved and to those who will be condemned with only a slight difference: “…whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine” or “whatever you did not do”. And then He says: “you did for Me” or “you did not do for Me”. Jesus is in my neighbour, especially in my brother – he is baptized, has received Christ, wants to follow Him with a sincere heart, and even wants to sacrifice his life for His sake, and yet there is a barrier – spiritual prison. My brother does not see Christ in himself and neither do I, and what is more, I do not see Christ in me either, so there is double blindness – the two of us do not see.

We strive to fight against sin and repent, so Christ abides in us through faith. But where and how does He abide in us? He is not on the throne of our heart to reign. There is our ego there. He is like a beggar somewhere in the corner and not only that. He is literally in prison. Our ego, our sin keeps Him in prison so that He cannot live in us. He is in prison and we have not come to Him. When did I realize at least once that Jesus is in me?