Secret of Creation

REVELATION OF THE HOLY TRINITY
(Brief record of the sermon of St. John (Maximovich) on Whit Monday)

St John of Shanghai and San Francisco Wonderworker

In the Old Testament there are only vague indications of the Divine mystery of the Holy Trinity. The Holy Bible says that before the creation of man, God said: "Let us make man in our image, and in likeness", which indicates that God is not one Person. But how many Persons in God and who are these Sisters and Creators - there is no indication. And another time, already somewhat clearer, but also only in the visible image of the three Angels, the Divine Trinity is revealed to the righteous Abraham.

In the New Testament, the mystery of the Holy Trinity is revealed three times: in the Baptism, the Transfiguration and the Descent of the Holy Spirit.In Baptism there was a Divine voice: "This is my beloved Son," when the incarnate Son of God, the God-man, entered upon the feat of the salvation of man. Here is the glory of God the Father and His jubilation at the sight of such a feat of love. God the Son stands in the jets of the Jordan in the slave's house, and God the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, supports the Father's word, testifying of the Son of God who humbly bowed his head under the right hand of the Forerunner.

In the Transfiguration, the same Divine verbs resounded again, with the addition: "Listen to this." Here is the glory of the Son of God: in the God-man, human nature is illuminated by divine glory. He is the apostle as the all-powerful Lord of the living and the dead, so that then, seeing Him crucified, they understand that the Lord Jesus Christ by free will accepted death, understood the glory of Divine love!

And, finally, after the Resurrection and the Ascension, when the mystery of Divine love and the ways of man's salvation are revealed to the holy apostles, then the revelation of the Holy Trinity is again performed in the appearance of the God of the Holy Spirit. Here is the Holy Spirit and His all-powerful power, which regenerates and transforms man on the Divine path of salvation. Here - the Holy Spirit fulfills the promise of the Son and completes His work of salvation. Thus the revelation of the Holy Trinity was accomplished: in the glory of God the Father, in the glory of God the Son and in the glory of God the Holy Spirit. Thus, the revelation of the Holy Trinity was accomplished by the consubstantial, single-edged, unanimous and unanimous. Thus, He Who says: "Let us create" in the image of "Our" is revealed.

The secret of the creation of the world is the mystery of the Holy Trinity. God created the World by the Word: "Speech and Bash." "In word" the Holy Bible calls the God of the Son. The Word of God is not only our word as a sound, but a creative Divine Power, a personal manifestation of the Wisdom of God: "In the beginning was the Word" and "The Word was God."

God the Father creates the world through the Son. God the Son, the Word of God, creates peace with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of life, according to the outline of God the Father. The Holy Bible says that when the world was created, the Holy Spirit "walked" - was worn over a world that did not yet have the form. The Slavonic word "noshasheya" does not fully convey the biblical expression. According to the Jewish script, it is necessary to understand not only that the Holy Spirit was - worn - over that world, but also that he had a special relationship to that world, that he kind of warmed him, like a hen, hatching chickens.

The world is loved by God as being called to participate in the Divine life and glory - through man. After the Fall, the entire material world experienced the consequences of that event and shared the condemnation of man.Therefore, when the salvation of man begins, the renewal of the world element is also being prepared. The Jordan establishes the basis for the salvation of man - repentance, and the water element is called to serve the renewal of man. "The water is sanctified by nature," the Church sings to the Epiphany: the entire material world, in the person of the water element, is called to serve a new life.

The water is consecrated first, since the first world, "the heavens and the earth are made up of water and water" (2 Pet 3: 5). In the Transfiguration the God-Man is glorified. His glory is not only a vision, but an authentic glorification and transformation of the nature of man and the revelation of a new life. Having changed, the Lord showed the glory of His Heavenly Kingdom and the glory of His deified human nature, so that the Apostles, after seeing His sufferings and humiliation, understand that this is the way that they should go, so that in the Kingdom of Christ also shine with that Light of Divine glory.

In the Descent of the Holy Spirit, man, and through him the whole world, is invited to share in that Divine life and glory. The spirit of a person accepting the Holy Spirit and wanting that new life is transformed. The Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles, and through them upon all who walk the way of salvation. He came down in fiery tongues: the regenerating and transforming power of the Holy Spirit gets all the sinner, and the world will enter a new life, purified by fire. The Holy Spirit gives man the strength to accept the new life created by the Son of God, to join and be natural to Him. When the creation of the first world was first created a world of material, after - a man, and then he was given a God-like spirit - "God breathed the breath of life." So in the creation of the renewed world, water was first consecrated - the material world - in Baptism; for the human nature - in the Transfiguration;and, finally, the rebirth and transfiguration of the human spirit occurred in the Descent of the Holy Spirit.

(schismatic) R-fragment website has preserved a collection of old materials

http://www.eshatologia.org/582-otrkrovenie-sv-troitsi.html