“The Holy Spirit is the soul of our soul,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav in a greeting on the Feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit

“I sincerely congratulate everyone today on the great Christian holiday – the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the holiday of Pentecost. On this day, as it was promised, our Savior sent the fire of the Holy Spirit upon His apostles. We heard from the Scriptures how on this day how the tongue of fire rested on each of the apostles, revealing the fire of the Holy Spirit,” - said the Primate in a video greeting.

The Father and Head of the UGCC explained that it was the power that clothed the apostles from heaven and made them brave preachers of the Word of God. Thanks to this power, they understood the depth of the mystery of God's presence, and thus carried the good news of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

“Saint Gregory of Nazianzus calls the Holy Spirit the soul of our soul. This means that there is no real spiritual life, no real religious life without the presence and act of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, there is no Church without the Holy Spirit, because the community of the Church itself is created by the grace of the Holy Spirit, which transforms a community, a group into a church spiritual community, which is an icon of the Holy Trinity,” the Head of the Church emphasized.

“Today we ask the Holy Spirit to come down and rest on each of us. We call him: Advocate, Teacher, Spirit of Truth, Bestower of Life. Today we ask: O Holy Spirit, comfort Ukraine! Teach us the Truth, give us life in the midst of the deadly moment of the Russian war. Who shall we go to? Where can we find the truth? In You only! O Holy Spirit, come and renew the face of the earth! Happy holiday to everyone!”, - His Beatitude Sviatoslav added at the end.

The UGCC Department for Information