GREETINGS OF HIS EMINENCE LEONID, METROPOLITAN OF KLIN, PATRIARCHAL EXARCH OF AFRICA, ON THE FEAST OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY
Dear in the Lord fathers, brothers and sisters,
I offer you my heartfelt greetings on the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity!
In his Homily on Pentecost, Saint John Chrysostom says, “Today we have arrived at the peak of all blessings, we have reached the capital of feasts.”The day of Pentecost was an important milestone when people, at last, became fully and truly aware of the trinitarity of God. While during the Baptism of the Lord the existence of the Triune God had been revealed to humankind for the first time, on the day of Pentecost the apostles, now by their own spiritual experience, came to know the Third Person of the Life-Creating Trinity, unknown to them before, as the Holy Spirit that descended upon them, unveiling to people the mysteries of their Maker’s being.
The Old Testament Pentecost was celebrated in commemoration of the day when the Ten Commandments had been given to Moses on Mount Sinai, marking the birth of the ancient Church which honoured the One and True Creator. That initial feast served as the foundation for setting the New Testament celebration of the same name, which, in its turn, became the day of birth for the Christian Church. The disciples of the Saviour accepted the blessed gift from above and could now speak different languages, which enabled them to preach to both Jews and Gentiles. This day is considered to be the beginning of the Church not only because it marks the starting point for the apostles’ preaching, but, first and foremost, because the Holy Spirit was granted unto people. The Holy Spirit acts in Sacraments and helps the faithful embrace the fruits of the atonement performed by Jesus Christ. Without the Good Comforter, living and acting in an assembly of worshippers, the very Church is unthinkable.
Among those gathered in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost were dwellers… in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene (Acts 2:9-10). Thus, back at the time people living in Africa became partakers of the grace of the Holy Spirit, for in the Church of God there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all (Col 3:11).
Pentecost is one of the major liturgical celebrations of church year. On this great feast I prayerfully wish you spiritual joy in the Lord, inexhaustible help from God in your life-long righteous endeavours, as well as strength in body and spirit, peace, welfare and longevity!