Tag: Holy Spirit

The longing to kneel – The Vespers of Pentecost (the kneeling prayers) 

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A particular element of Pentecost is the serving of Vespers of Pentecost and Kneeling prayers immediately following the Divine Liturgy. Yet given our circumstances (being a Church that takes a bit of work to get to  for a majority of our members), serving the full Vespers is not a practical option- as such we simplify the service, sing a number of the Pentecost Vespers hymns and read the “Kneeling prayers“. These prayers mark the  beginning of  a new cycle in the Church and our pilgrimage through time and history in what is generally called“ordinary time.” As Fr. Alexander Schmemann beautifully notes in describing this movement  “

It is evening again, and the night approaches, during which temptations and failures await us, when, more than anything else, we need Divine help, that presence and power of the Holy Spirit, who has already revealed to us the joyful End, who now will help us in our effort towards fulfillment and salvation”.

This “need” for “Divine help…presence and power of the Holy Spirit” compels us to kneel in supplication, for  ourselves, all creation, and even those who have fallen asleep in death.

There are three beautiful prayers read, that plead for the Lord’s assistance in helping and teaching us to follow the true path in “the dark and difficult night of our earthly existence.” The last prayer being set apart for all those who have departed this life before us, recognising that it is by the Holy Spirit “the giver of Life” that we love and know love; something not even death can separate us from, either in this age, or in the age to come. 

Indeed there is a peculiar joy of being able to kneel in prayer again; in solidarity of those who in every generation humbled themselves by kneeling in prayer for us. for in this  “we are strengthened by the words of the Disciples, who revealed the glory of the Benefactor and God of all. Let us bend our knees and hearts with them. since we are strengthened by the Holy Spirit, bowing down in faith to worship the Savior of our souls!  (Tone 3 Aposticha – Vespers of Pentecost) 

How could this not be something we long for.

Pascha, Ascension and Pentecost – A “trinity of feasts”

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We are in the twilight of this blessed season of light and life. Our joyful proclamation  “Christ is Risen!” ends as we celebrate the “leavetaking of Pascha”, and is replaced with both wonder, as we witness the Lord of Glory ascending into heaven to be seated at the right hand of the Father, and hope, as we are called to wait and “tarry…until you are endued with power from on high.” (Lk 24:39) on the blessed feast of Pentecost.

Indeed over the next 15 days or so we are called to reflect upon something of a “trinity of feasts” (Pascha, the Ascension, and Pentecost) – an unofficial yet apt description of the whole economy and working out of the Lord’s saving plan for us, revealed seamlessly in our services over the span of a few weeks.

We are called to joyfully reflect upon the eternal Pascha, of a God who liberates humanity from the ravages of death, by transforming death into life – by His death. We are called to reflect upon the Lord’s Ascension, with jubilation as our very human nature (flesh and blood) is reconciled and sat the right hand of the Father in the kingdom of heaven;  and we are called to radiantly reflect upon His promise for Pentecost, that He will not leave us orphans or as a flock without a shepherd, as we wait in anticipation for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the“Comforter”  (Jn. 14:16) who “will guide you into all truth” (Jn. 13:3).

Of course this kind of perspective is a bit of a paradox (like many things in our faith) challenging our understanding of a logical progression of time and events (how can the past, future and present be considered uniquely, yet conveying unity?) Yet in many ways this “trinity of feasts” bears resemblance to the paradox of the Holy Trinity itself; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – One God (Homoousios ὁμοούσιος), in Three Persons (Hypóstasis ὑπόστασις). Unconfused distinction, in total unity, the source and substance of boundless love and communion.

Indeed, like the understanding of the Holy Trinity, our understanding of what this “trinity of feasts” reveals is the same – the witness of the Lord’s boundless love and communion for us, as experienced through faith. Faith in a God who has acted to save humanity eternally from sin and death. Faith in a God who ascends to “prepare a place” for us (John 14:2-3)  that we might truly become “communicants of life eternal”; and faith, in which we are constantly being transformed by the abiding presence of He “who is everywhere present and filling all things”. 

It is in this all that we are given an opportunity to understand simultaneously (in a manner), what the Lord has done for us (the past -His eternal Pascha shared with humanity in baptism), will do for us (the future – His eternal Ascension, and glorification of our humanity –Theosis), and is doing for us (the present – His eternal Pentecost, lived out in our Chrismation). Truly the witness of  His boundless love and communion.

It is truly a blessing that in these 15 days or so, we can be by faith be immersed in this “trinity of feasts” – Pascha, Ascension, and Pentecost  – the gift of divine love received; the promise of  divine love hoped for; and the participation of a divine love poured out on all flesh; “Now and ever and unto the ages of ages”. Amen! 

A Pentecostal heritage for the Archdiocese of Canada – Altar feast of Holy Trinity Sobor. 

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Although there were various versions of Orthodox communities in Winnipeg prior to the arrival of St. Tikhon (at that time the ruling Orthodox archbishop for North America), none of them lasted beyond the charismatic pastors that either founded or served them. In 1904 when St. Tikhon was making a visit to Canada, he set into motion the establishment of a parish that would serve Orthodox Christians regardless if they be from  Bucovina, Galicia and Carpatho-Russia (Trans-Carpathia), then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The following year, St. Tikhon returned to consecrate the newly built Church at the corner of McGregor and Manitoba Ave. in Winnipeg’s North End. This new community was given to the patronage of the Holy Trinity, and its feast day was to be Pentecost. 

There is something very providential in this. As the Apotoalic witness and proclamation of the Jesus Christ’s saving victory over sin and death, spread from that first Pentecost throughout the whole world; The witness of this same proclamation spread from Holy Trinity Sobor,  through all of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and eventually the whole of Canada, as Holy Trinity became Episcopal seat for Canadian bishops for the better part of a century (the seat moved few times until 1970 when it was formally moved to Montreal and then Ottawa in 1987). 

With the amalgamation of the Mission of the Lifegiving Springs of the Theotokos in 2016, St. Tikhon’s vision of what Orthodoxy could be in North America was truly manifested at this historic Church. The presence of a Slavic community, and an English speaking community serving together has truly been a blessing, that in many respects has exceeded expectations. Although they are challenges that have to be navigated now and again, the willingness to commit to this unprecedented arrangement, has revealed time and time again that what binds a community is first and foremost the same thing that bound the early Church as it spread from the blessed first Pentecost -that “on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” (Mt. 16:18)

Although Holy Trinity Sobor is no longer the Episcopal  see for the Archdiocese of Canada, and there are much larger Orthodox Churches across Canada, there is nonetheless something profound.  That so much of what now exists across the prairies and country (including our own St. Nicholas) has the DNA of that first Pentecost and Holy Trinity woven into their life. Truly a Pentecostal heritage. May the Lord confirm the clergy and faithful of the Holy Trinity with many blessed years! 

The Icon of St. Tihkon holding Holy Trinity Sobor (the very Church he founded)

Our God is a consuming fire ( a reflection on the Holy Prophet Elijah and St. Maria Skobtsova)

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On July 20th we celebrate the feast of two remarkable Saints in our Church, the Holy Prophet Elijah and Saint Maria Skobtsova, of Paris. On paper both saints seem very very different. One was a Old Testament prophet who served thousands of years ago, and the other a Russian emigre in Paris in the living memory of many people. But for as many differences that exist between these two saints, the element of fire is one that connects them arm in arm in their witness of a loving and merciful God. 


We all understand the benefits of fire. How it can transform and purify, it can warm, and even renew; yet it also can destroy and devastate. For this reason we teach our children about it and its proper uses. The same could be applied to our lives as Christians, for this fire is truly creative and merciful love of God, a love that seeks to transform, purify, warm and renew our nature grown old by sin. We have been baptized not just with water, but by the Holy Spirit and as the Evangelist notes “fire” (Mt. 3:11); it is the tongues of fire that not only came upon the Apostles on the feast of Pentecost, but upon all of us in the anointing of Chrism and the “Seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit”. It is by fire that we are saved (1 Cor. 3:15). For the Lord has come  “to send fire on the earth” (Lk. 12:49). Indeed it is a fire that transforms us from being raw and without strength, to being mature and strong, purifying us like the purest silver. It is  fire that warms our cold hearts. It is a fire that consumes that which is of no use to our salvation. “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and Godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:28-29)

It was this divine fire that both St. Elijah and Maria bore witness to in their lives. It was by fire that the Lord God revealed Himself to Israel and the priests of Baal, when the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the sacrifice of Elijah on Mount Carmel, and it was by fire that St. Maria’s heart  was illuminated, causing her to abandon her bohemian and radical atheism. It was by fire that Israel was delivered from the wrath of God, and by fire that St. Maria delivered Jewish children to safety from the clutches of the Nazis.  It was by fire that Elijah manifested the mercy of God in the rains that delivered Israel from drought.  It was by fire that St. Maria, manifested the Love of God in her care of the homeless and alcoholics in Paris. It was by fire that Elijah was taken up to heaven on a chariot, and by fire that  St. Maria entered the Kingdom of heaven through the gas chambers at the  Ravensbruck concentration camp.  
These Saints understood this fire as love, and bathed in it like the Three Holy Youths. A fire that would consume and destroy that which was not founded in the Lord, but  transform and purify, warm and renew that which was offered to the Lord.

Our challenge is to also understand this fire that we are offered and confirmed in as being truly the Love of God and nothing else; for it is the very content of our faith. Or as St. Maria said “It is all crystal-clear to me. Either Christianity is fire, or else it doesn’t exist.