Glory be to Jesus Christ!
🌞
For the reading from the Apostle, please refer to the link:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/21122023.html
For the Gospel reading, please refer to the link:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/07122023.html
To Saint Gregory the Theologian:
The reading from the Apostle is preceded by the one spoken on here:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/31072023.html
The immediate continuation of the reading from the Apostle is the one I wrote about here:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/01082023.html
1 Corinthians XII, 7 — 'συμφέρον' - 'sympheron' - 'collecting; profiting'.
The Apostle Paul names and enumerates various gifts of the Holy Spirit to faithful Christians for the collecting and profiting
of the Church, the people.
Saint Gregory had many of these gifts, though not all of them. It is generally understood that no one has the fullness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit apart from Christ, but each faithful person receives some of them personally, as the Holy Spirit Himself desires.
Verse 11, in particular, also testifies to the fact that the Holy Spirit is a Person, a Personality, a Hypostasis of God's nature, and not just God's power, for He acts according to His will. It is important to emphasise the Self-existence of the Holy Spirit, Who, as a Person, acts as He wills. At the same time, His actions do not contradict the actions of the Father and the Son, and such a possibility is not even mentioned — and this is also a vivid testimony in support of faith in the Holy, Consubstantial and Undivided Trinity, because although the Spirit Himself wills, His will is the same as that of the Father and the Son, it is one for the whole Trinity.
It is also important to note the chain of events in the Church's collecting and profiting
. Wisdom here precedes understanding, is divine wisdom, which can exceed human understanding, and in turn, human understanding can rise to the wisdom of God — and these are both different, but implying each other, gifts of the Holy Spirit. and what can be understood can also be articulated and expressed in a certain way, which are also the results of the action of the Holy Spirit. And some people are given the power of the word, and some people are given the power of listening and faith, and these are all gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Another chain is the power of miracles, prophecy and faith. Prophecy can precede miracles, follow them, or occur during them, and faith can also be understood in those who perform miracles and prophesy, in those who witness them, and in those who do not see miracles but continue to believe in prophecy.
There are many such connections, and I have mentioned only a few that are well known.
For a frequent reading from the Gospel to the Hierarchs, see this link:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/14052023.html
Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!