Head of the UGCC on Pentecost: “The Holy Spirit Reveals All of God’s Treasures to Humanity”
Today, God the Father, through the Son, granting the Holy Spirit to man, gives him a treasure chest in which all the riches that the human heart can desire are hidden. His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Father and Head of the UGCC, stated this during a sermon on the feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit.
Bishop Mykola Bychok, Eparch of Melbourne, concelebrated with the Head of the Church at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Kyiv.
“Today, the Church of Christ celebrates its birthday,” said the Primate. “Today is a specifically joyful holiday—the holiday which celebrates the consolation of the human heart, the holiday of Pentecost, the holiday of the closeness of God to man—the Day of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity, descending on the apostles in tongues of fire.”
His Beatitude Sviatoslav explained that in the Old Testament, fire symbolized God’s great power and anger. However, today the heavenly fire represents God’s love, not anger and fear. The Lord wants to envelop, fill, and renew every person with this divine fire.
The Head of the Church noted that the Holy Spirit is like a treasure chest of blessings, available to everyone ready to accept His gift: “Today we glorify the Holy Spirit as the Treasury of blessings, that is, a treasure of treasures. In Him, in the Holy Spirit, all the treasures of God are revealed to man.”
“Today, God’s grace becomes accessible to every person who seeks to receive it,” said His Beatitude Sviatoslav, explaining that the treasury of blessings is the greatest treasure of Christ’s Church, which the Church is called to disperse by administering the Holy Sacraments, blessing, and sanctifying all who come to it.
In the current circumstances, according to the Primate, the strength and capacity to win depends on the degree to which Ukrainians can cope with the trauma of war. However, “it is the Holy Spirit who cures, heals, and inspires. He is our certain hope for the victory of God’s truth, God’s righteousness.”
Greeting Bishop Mykola Bychok from Australia at the Patriarchal Cathedral, the Hierarch noted that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of communion that unites believers from all over the world.
Bishop Mykola Bychok, Eparch of Melbourne
Moreover, the day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit was also momentous for the brothers of the Kyiv Three Saints Theological Seminary. At the beginning of the Divine Liturgy, the Head of the Church blessed the cassocks of the first-year students. At the end of the Liturgy, 12 graduates solemnly received diplomas of completion of their studies at the formation institution.
Graduates of the Kyiv Three Saints Theological Seminary
“Graduation of new candidates for the priesthood during the war is a sign of great love, the grace of the Holy Spirit,” said the head of the UGCC. “If today young men are ready to devote their lives to the same Spirit who then sent the apostles in the power to preach the resurrected Christ to the ends of the earth, then this Pentecost is also our reality today.”
The UGCC Department for Information
