ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE

Exarchate of Parishes of Russian
Tradition in Western Europe

Bishop Basil of Amphipolis
Pentecost 2006
Orthodox Community in South London, Clapham

Today we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, which at one level simply means that we are celebrating the fiftieth day after Easter, the end of seven weeks of celebration that balances the seven weeks' fast leading up to Easter. The Resurrection of Christ finds its fulfillment in the descent of the Spirit on this fiftieth day.

But this day is also, in a very deep sense, the birthday of the Church. Before this moment we do not see the Church acting as Church. We do not see the disciples being sent out. They are huddled together. Christ tells them, 'Go, teach all nations'. He tells them, 'As the Father sent me, so I send you.' But they are paralysed. They are unable to act, to do anything until this fiftieth day.

Our normal perception of the history of the Early Church – and especially what it must have looked like to outsiders – is subject to serious distortion. We have difficulty transporting ourselves back to those days. In our lives the celebration of the Eucharist looms large. But if you read the Acts of the Apostles and other early accounts of Church life, you will find that there is almost nothing about the Eucharist. This is because the Eucharist takes place out of sight. All the public sees of the early Church is the effect of the Eucharist, a service that takes place behind closed doors. Even today we cry out, 'The doors! The doors!' before we recite the Creed, telling the doorkeepers to make sure that only those who going to take communion remain. In those days they mystery of what went on behind those doors was concealed from the public eye.

There is no indication that the Apostles celebrated the Divine Liturgy - the Eucharist - before the day of Pentecost. But there is good reason to believe that it was on this day, behind closed doors, that they put into effect for the first time the words of Christ, 'Do this in remembrance of me'. And the result of this remembrance the descent of the Holy Spirit.

Every celebration of the Eucharist is a Pentecostal event. It takes us back to this day, which is the birthday of the Church. The choice of readings for the services this day are quite interesting. We have heard the passage from the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles that describes the event itself and its results. And in the passage from John that is read for the Liturgy we find Christ looking forward to the gift of the Holy Spirit: 'He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.' And the Evangelist then tells us this is a reference to coming of the Holy Spirit.

In the final words of today's Gospel Christ says, 'He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.'

What time could be more appropriate to baptize than upon this day! For Baptism is illumination, it is the gift of light.

Now, however, I would like to go back to the Gospel passage that was read last night at the Vigil, which is also taken from John. Here Christ appears to his disciples after the Resurrection. He comes into the closed room in which they are gathered in a way they cannot understand. And the first thing he says to them is, 'Peace be unto you!' We are told then that the disciples were ‘glad when they saw they Lord.' They seem to have seen something on his face that made them glad, that made them rejoice. What did they see? They saw, I believe, forgiveness.

This is the first tine that Christ meets his disciples as a group after they have abandoned him, after they have run away. "I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad." Christ says nothing about the fact that they abandoned him. He simply accepts them as they are. What an extraordinary experience this must have been for the disciples, who knew very well they had run away. Peter had gone as far as to deny him thrice: "I know not the man." But no mention is made of Peter's denial. Christ simply forgives them and takes them as they are.

And then he goes on to breathe on them, and to say, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit." Why? So that they may forgive sins in turn. First they are forgiven, and then, in the knowledge of their own forgiveness, they are empowered to forgive. Forgiving and being forgiven go together.

This may be the feast of Pentecost and of the gift of the Holy Spirit, the birthday of the Church, but it is also a feast of forgiveness. Here again we see the connection between Pentecost and Baptism, since Baptism is for the remission – for the forgiveness – of sins.

What I would like us to take with us from this service is not only the spiritual food that is communion, not only our participation in the baptism of a child, but also an understanding of the way in which the gift of the Spirit is the gift of the power to forgive. The presence of the Spirit almost implies forgiveness - the asking for forgiveness, and the giving of forgiveness. Indeed, we almost need to have a heart of forgiveness in order to receive the Spirit. "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us" is actually a prayer for the descent of the Holy Spirit.

That gift of forgiveness brings with it not only the joy that the Apostles experienced when they saw Christ, but also the peace that Christ came to give them. This day, Pentecost, is the birthday of the Church, a day on which the community of disciples that is the Church first realizes its true nature. It is the day on which the disciples are sent out - sent out to preach to all the nations. They are given, each one of them, a language that suits the message. We need to assimilate the full meaning of this day into our own lives, and live it in such a way that for each one of us each day - not even each Sunday - is for us a personal Pentecost. Amen