SUNDAY MESSAGE (audio message)
BY HIS EMINENCE THE METROPOLITAN
KYTHIRA & ANTIKYTHIRA SERAPHIM
ALL SAINTS' SUNDAY
(15-06-2025)
WRITTEN DIVINE PROCLAMATION
The Holy Spirit is the place of the Saints, but the Saints are also the place of the Holy Spirit. In this regard, St. Basil notes:
«So that the Spirit, the place of the saints. And the saint, a place familiar to the Spirit, saving himself for union with God, and serving as his temple.» (PG 32, 184B),
i.e. the Holy Spirit is truly the place of the Saints. The Saint, moreover, is the intimate place for the Spirit; he offers himself for the unification of God and becomes his temple. The indwelling of God in man, of course, means the participation of man in the God-giving action of God.
The Holy Spirit, when He visits man, comes and dwells in his heart and prays for his sake. Then he fully illuminates the man. Prayer by reason, i.e. that which is done with the brain, after the visit of the Holy Spirit, becomes mental, i.e. in the space of the heart, and the intellect listens to the prayer of the Holy Spirit. Then man becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit and the place of the heart becomes the altar on which the mental worship is performed. This is what happened to the Saints, who not only attained that state of illumination and redemption by Divine Grace, but were also glorified, i.e., glorified in the presence of the Holy Spirit. They came to the theosis by grace and saw Christ in glory. This is why our Church, immediately after the feast of Pentecost, has appointed that all the Saints, whom we are called to imitate, be celebrated.
We note, briefly, the following:
α. The indwelling of the Triune God in man is through the Holy Spirit, because man is unable on his own to address God and come into communion with Him.
β. A necessary condition for one to proceed in the illumination of the Holy Spirit is to create the proper conditions for the Holy Spirit to indwell him. Then that Holy Spirit will cleanse him from evil and transform him into a place of God.
c. To create the appropriate conditions, conditions of life, in which man will become conscious of himself in relation to God and will attract the Holy Spirit. In order to create the necessary conditions for the development of consciousness of oneself in relation to God and to attract the Spirit, systematic work of the self is necessary, to which contribute: repentance, tears, prayers, prayers, services, vigils, fasts, penances and genuflections, resistance to passions and calculations, but also to the predisposing factors, i.e. to the causes, to the factors that create the passions.
«Be ye holy, for I am holy» saith the Lord in the Holy Scriptures.
Hierodeacon Ierotheos Creticus Creticus
