HG Bishop Ioan Casian: The Feast of the Holy Apostles - a feast of joy, of restored humanity in the Holy Spirit

“The church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.

The church is one for one is God. The church is holy because holiness is an attribute of God. We cannot multiply holiness, we can only participate in it by opening our minds and hearts so that the energy, the grace of God, can penetrate us.

The church is catholic because faith penetrates deep into the human heart and makes it catholic - universally harmonious - both spatially, but especially spiritually.

The Church is apostolic because it cannot detach itself from the teaching of the Holy Apostles on whose faith it was built up. The Church does not renew in the spirit of the doctrines of modern ideologies, but it is continually in the Holy Spirit, and this does not mean leaving the foundations of God's creation, which are preserved in the Holy Spirit, and knowledge, which is preserved in the tradition of the Church. This is the fundamental apostolic teaching.

If the community of those who believe renounces this apostolic experience and confession, it becomes an association of beneficent people, who no longer have this work of holiness in their bosom, they no longer have this apostolic vocation. The Church maintains her priesthood, the power of grace insofar as it remains in the teaching of faith of the Holy Apostles. This is the foundation of the verticality and authenticity of the Church and what makes it different from the world.

The Church means the unseen part of grace, of redemption, of the forgiveness of sins, but which is reflected in our good deeds: of kindness, love, charity, etc.

The Feast of the Holy Apostles includes the joy of the restoration of our human nature, of the humanity of the Apostles which is again penetrated by the grace of the Holy Spirit, by the work of evangelisation, by salvation. The Apostles’ speaking in tongues at the Descent of the Holy Spirit is a sign of the fulfillment and sanctification of humanity by the Holy Spirit (“But stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” Luke 24, 49).

The Feast of the Holy Apostles is a celebration of joy, of the full restoration of our humanity, considering all its temporal weaknesses and difficulties, through the mysterious work of the Church that maintain itself on the path towards salvation.

One of the texts read at this feast exhorts us to listen not only to the good, but also to the bad people, because obedience brings us to the knowledge of God. In this mystery of wickedness, of the ordinances of injustice, there is a mystery in which we understand how God works. This shows the extraordinary humility of St. Peter the Apostle (he who had a volcanic nature all the time, but who abandoned the Savior Jesus Christ in moments of suffering) and his ability to renew himself and to understand that even against the appearances of the wickedness of this world there is a work coming from God which, if we receive with humility and obedience, leads us to the knowledge of what God is and does. This does not mean not resisting evil, but doing and receiving everything in such a way as to know God and His work.

In the writings of the Holy Apostles there are a multitude of words, reflections inspired by the Holy Spirit, which put in front of us in view of observation and understanding the world from the perspective of God's thinking for our instruction. They are not accidental words, but they are designed for the understanding and the knowledge of God. Beyond the apparent or real work of the evil in this world there is a knowledge that helps us travel in this life towards the Kingdom of God, either individually or together as a community. Thus, if we want to assume this apostolic vocation, we must remember/revisit the words of those who knew God in the flesh.”