What once belonged only to the prophets and teachers of Israel now (in the New Testament) becomes the property of the true Christian. The Spirit guides the member of the Church of Christ, being both perceptible, like complete confidence: I hear the Lord’s will, and imperceptible, so as not to deprive of freedom. Here is what St. Simeon the New Theologian said in the 11th century: “The mystery of Christianity, hidden from the beginning of the world, consists in acquiring the grace of God. The majority of the baptized, who call themselves Christians, do not know this mystery of Christianity.” Many believe that the grace of the Holy Spirit, received during chrismation, remains in us in a hidden form: we ourselves do not know how it guides us. But there is no life in Christ if a person has not completely consciously (that is, understands through hearing the voice of God the will of the Lord) given themselves to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The word of Christ (the experience of the Church of Christ) is absolutely clear: you hear His voice – so it is with everyone born from above. Therefore, the task of any baptized person is primarily to learn to discern the will of God for themselves on the path to deification. The mystery of eldership (the prophetic ministry in the Church) is that the Lord reveals to the elder the hiddenness of the soul of each person who turns to him for advice, and the grace of the Holy Spirit gives understanding of how to direct the life of the person who came for advice, according to the truth of Christ.
Obedience matters until the birth of the obedient (catechumen) from above. This is exactly what the Apostle Paul speaks of: “I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,” that is, until the second birth (baptism with the Holy Spirit). The one born from above is already taught secretly by the Holy Spirit, and no one can understand his life, which is why it is said in Revelation: “To the one who conquers I will give a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.” Or the Apostle
John says in his first epistle: “But the anointing that you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about everything, and is true and is no lie, just as it has taught you, abide in Him.” And in another place he says: “You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.”
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a member of the Church, the second birth – is the mystery that was revealed on the day of Pentecost (the birthday of the Church, the birthday of every hypostasis that is filled with the Holy Spirit). This is the goal of the coming of the Son of God to earth – the foundation and essence of the new creation. Even before the manifestation of the Kingdom of God on Golgotha, the Lord said: “I came to cast fire (of the Holy Spirit) on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled.” The Lord suffered because, until the descent of the Holy Spirit (until Pentecost, which for each person comes in their own time), people had neither the strength nor the ability to begin a new life.
The one who needs to acquire the Holy Spirit is not yet living a new life, not yet a new creation, not yet a Christian. Such are almost all of us in the contemporary church – Christians only in name, but in essence pagans, who do not even think of being catechized (by the Church) and preparing (acquiring a humble and contrite heart – the receptacle of the Holy Spirit) for baptism (with the Holy Spirit), for birth into the Church, for marriage and Eucharistic life with Christ and His Body (with Christians). The goal of human life – to acquire the Holy Spirit – is, unfortunately, almost not preached now.
In the Book of Acts of the Holy Apostles, the state of the early Church is iconically depicted, and further development of it in history is indicated.
“When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place… and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance…” “All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people…” “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power, the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.” And there was no one in need among them. No one oversaw the distribution of food, as later, when seven deacons were chosen. Everything distributed itself to the hands of the needy. In each, the Holy Spirit shone with one or another gift (or even gifts; see 1 Cor. 12) and opened to each the mysteries of faith in the language of their soul. And there was not even a hint of any power in the Church; everything was built on loving communication with one another without the slightest coercion. Everything was one. Everyone understood everyone else because they spoke one language – the language of Love, the language of the Kingdom of God, the language of Pentecost. The language of the hypostasis is one – the language of Love, the language of the absolute unity of the Holy Trinity, unlike natural languages (Ukrainian, English, Greek, etc.), which divide, about which the Church sings in the kontakion of the feast of Pentecost: “When You came down, You confused the languages, Most High, dividing the nations. When You distributed the fiery tongues, You called all to unity, and we, with one accord, glorify the Holy Spirit.” In the Church of the Holy Spirit, in the Mystery of the Unity of the Holy Trinity (“That they all may be one, as We are: I in You, and You in Me”), in the Divine Eucharist (the Mystery of the Body of Christ), there is already no division (by nature: national, social, gender, age, cultural, etc.), opposition, but only loving in the Grace of the Holy Spirit communication of unique, singular, unrepeatable Hypostases, who bliss in mutual perichoresis (I in You, and You in Me; I in all, and all in Me) the Life of the Holy Trinity.