How to acquire the holy spirit, teachings of the holy elders: acquiring grace

Acquisition

Conversation between St. Seraphim and N. A. Motovilov about the purpose of Christian life
Acquiring grace archim. Rafail (Karelin)
Acquisition of the Holy Spirit in the ways of Ancient Rus' I.M. Kontsevich
Prayers in the passion of love of money and hope for earthly acquisitions

Acquisition - acquisition, accumulation.
God revealed to us through St. Seraphim of Sarov that the goal of Christian life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. Just as the people of this world strive to acquire earthly riches, a true Christian strives to acquire the Grace of the Holy Spirit. Each Christian individually, under the guidance of his “spiritual father,” follows one way or another of serving God and acquiring Grace. But one path common to all Christians is prayer, repentance, communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, and works of mercy.

The acquisition of grace is a living communion with God. It is the infusion of God into man - “the final goal of the search for the human spirit” (St. John Climacus).

“Blessed is he who, instead of all acquisitions, has acquired Christ, and who has one acquisition - the cross, which he carries high” (St. Gregory the Theologian).

Christians have a unique criterion for determining the standard to which a person’s spirit must conform.

Since both St. Seraphim and Fyodor Tyutchev were Orthodox Christians, there is a direct reason to look at what Orthodox doctrine says about the human spirit.

Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) gives an extremely precise definition of this concept: “The moral strength of a person is his spirit. <…> The Lord called the Holy Spirit the Power from above, the Spirit of Truth; Truth is the Son. The human spirit also has the property of strength; he is also the spirit of a person's thoughts - whether they are true or false. It manifests itself in the secret movements of the heart, in the way of thinking, and in all human actions. The spirit of a person reveals both his mind and his way of thinking; the spirit of each action reveals the thought that guided the person in the act.”

The human spirit is the moral force that moves us in everything we do. And the result of our activities depends on what this force will be.

The trace of the spirit is visible in all our deeds - both in the most sublime creativity and in the way a person throws out garbage. Our spirit determines the direction of our thoughts, actions, plans for the future. And it reveals itself precisely through them. As a man's spirit is, so will his deeds be.

And here Christians have a unique criterion for determining the norm to which the human spirit in all its manifestations must correspond - the Gospel description of the incarnate God - Jesus Christ. This description gives the absolute standard of humanity, as it should be according to the plan of our Creator. After all, God, who became Man, could not act otherwise than in strict accordance with His plan for man. This means that any action of Jesus Christ is the standard of human spirituality. And the main component of such a standard spirituality was defined and specially emphasized by the Lord Himself, who said: ... learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:29).

Please note, He did not say: learn from me, for I am angry and threatening in anger (and this is also described in the Gospel). The only place where Jesus Christ sets Himself as an example for teaching is these amazing words about meekness and a humble heart. This is the pattern of action of the human spirit, given by God for all people of the Earth for all times until the end of the century.

Meekness and humility instead of the spiritual rebellion described by Tyutchev. And it is not at all surprising that the poet ends his poem as if there is an unspoken call in it: man, please, spare yourself, return to Christ, be like Him in His peace and meekness, otherwise you will simply perish, torn apart by your own contradictory aspirations:

We are scorched by unbelief and withered, Today he endures the unbearable... And he recognizes his destruction, And longs for faith... but does not ask for it...

He will not say forever, with prayer and tears, No matter how much he grieves in front of a closed door: “Let me in! - I believe, my God! Come to the aid of my unbelief!..

Thesis three:

What does it mean to receive the Holy Spirit?

By acquiring the Holy Spirit is meant acquiring the grace of God. This is one of the goals of Christian work, Christian life.

According to its closest semantic meaning, the term “acquisition” implies: “acquisition”, “accumulation”.

Despite what has been said, the content of the expression “acquiring grace” cannot be interpreted in the sense that Divine grace can be accumulated, stored and stored in one’s heart in the same way as a money-grubber does, filling a jar with gold and silver.

In addition, the grace of God resting on a person does not become his property in the same way as the material values accumulated by the acquisitive become property. A person can use material values as he pleases. Grace assists a person only when his efforts are aimed at Good.

The acquisition of the Holy Spirit means the grace-filled unity of man and God. How is it actually done?

As a person grows in virtue and holiness, the degree of his unity with the Almighty increases. The name of this process as acquisition is due to the fact that, firstly, the growth of a person in the religious and moral aspect, as well as the accumulation of material wealth by the acquisitive, is carried out gradually. Secondly, the grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit taught to man are often likened (allegorically) to material treasures (gold, pearls (Matt. 13:45-46)).

As a person ascends spiritually along the ladder of virtues, his ability to perceive grace increases; the degree of his grace-filled unity with God increases. And, on the other hand, the closer a person is to God, the more effectively his efforts aimed at further acquiring the Holy Spirit are realized.

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“The acquisition of the Holy Spirit begins here on earth”

August 1 is the day of remembrance and the 110th anniversary of the canonization of one of the most revered Russian saints - St. Seraphim of Sarov. Reverend Seraphim of Sarov (in the world Prokhor Isidorovich Moshnin, July 19, 1754 (or 1759), Kursk - January 2, 1833, Sarov Monastery) - hieromonk of the Sarov Monastery, founder and patron of the Diveevo Convent. Glorified by the Russian Church in 1903 as a saint on the initiative of Tsar Nicholas II. Today we are publishing an excerpt from the sermon of Doctor of Theology, church historian, Protopresbyter Vitaly Borovoy about St. Seraphim of Sarov, delivered at the Epiphany Cathedral in Moscow at Vespers on the Week before Epiphany (January 15, 1978).

Dear brothers and sisters! ... churching, this sanctification, this Christianization of the entire life of a given culture, a given society, a given country, people and state, never succeeds if it is not associated with transformation, change, sanctification, churching, Christianization of each individual human personality, each individual person.

This is the tragedy of historical Christianity, in that it proclaimed high social ideals - the creation of an ideal Christian society, an ideal Christian culture - and at the same time failed to transform, educate, Christianize every single Christian.

And therefore, Christianity as a social force that forms all of humanity into a single holy Christian ideal society and culture, in essence, failed. And it tragically failed. For it failed to combine, to unite two elements: the social ideal and personal holiness. It has always been like this with us: either people personally tried to be saints, to live a holy life pleasing to God, and then they left public ideals, or people indulged in the public ideal and then forgot about personal holiness. But an example of such a church call, Christ’s call to personal holiness in the name of public ideals, to personal holiness, which is a necessary condition for any Christian success in public work, is St. Seraphim of Sarov.

Here he was an amazing saint, a saint whom it is difficult to even imagine, difficult to even describe to others, because he, having gone through the entire feat of monastic work, all types of monastic hermitage - pillarism, seclusion, all types of Christian sublime perfect aspiration towards God, and then - clergy , when he was open to advice, to influencing people, having gone through all this, all his life he was surprisingly even, surprisingly the same, despite the variety of his exploits. He was always unusually kind, unusually affectionate, unusually joyful, unusually cheerful. It is amazing! With everyone with whom he spoke, to whom he addressed, he had no other words than “my joy”: “Christ is risen, my joy!” He said to everyone: “Get tenderness” and prayed before the icon of the Mother of God, which is called “Tenderness.” What is tenderness? Tenderness, dear brothers and sisters, is a feeling that, unfortunately, we rarely have. Joy happens often, joy happens often, and tenderness... Tenderness is the ability to rejoice, rejoice, the ability to be in an unusually good mood when there is no reason for this. A person rejoices when he has reasons to be happy, a person is happy when something funny happens. And tenderness is an ability, this is a feature of the soul, when a person is constantly rejoicing, constantly blessed, constantly, as if in an Easter mood, when there is no reason, when there are no visible reasons for this, when, on the contrary, all visible reasons and circumstances of life contradict this leads to grief, to despair, to crying, to irritation, to anger - but a person is capable of being touched.

This is the amazing ability of St. Seraphim. And it was not for nothing that he prayed in front of the “Tenderness” icon and always told everyone, often repeated: “My joy, gain, i.e. gain, tenderness." Or he also said: “Acquire a peaceful spirit, acquire tenderness, and thousands around you will be saved.” Because tenderness, this peaceful spirit, this joyful perception of even misfortune, even pain, even ugliness, even evil - it affects others, as if communicated to others.

I would like, dear brothers and sisters, to read to you one section from the memoirs of St. Seraphim, read his own words, because if I tell you, many of you will doubt how correctly I reproduced them. For this will sound very unusual, but meanwhile, this is St. Seraphim spoke. He said: “Joy is not a sin; it drives away fatigue. But fatigue can cause despondency. And there is nothing worse than despondency. It brings everything with it, despondency. So, when I entered the monastery, I also visited the choir, and I was so cheerful, my joy.” It was cheerful in the choir, in the monastery! “It used to happen that when I came to the choir, the brethren would get tired, well, despondency and attack them. And I amuse them, they don’t even feel tired. After all, it’s not good to say or do something bad. But in the temple of God it is not proper to do evil. But to say a kind, friendly, cheerful word, so that everyone’s spirit in the face of the Lord is always cheerful and not sad, is not at all a sin. There is no way for us to lose heart, because Christ conquered everything, raised Adam, freed Eve, put death to death!”

These are amazing words, dear brothers and sisters, words that show that St. Seraphim had this early Christian spirit of joy, constant joy, constant tenderness, constant affection. That is why he called on everyone to acquire this tenderness, to acquire, to acquire this joy, because this acquires the most important thing, as he said - the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. Here, I will read you his own words: “Prayer, fasting, vigil and all other Christian deeds, no matter how good they are in themselves, however, doing them is not the goal of our Christian life, although they serve as necessary means for achieving it . The true goal of our Christian life is to acquire the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. Good done for the sake of Christ not only gives truth in the life of the next century, but also in this life fills a person with the grace of the Holy Spirit.”

Dear brothers and sisters, this is the ideal, this ultimate goal put forward by St. Seraphim before every Christian, before every person. Joy, affection, tranquility, spirituality, tenderness, cheerfulness - in order to acquire the Holy Spirit. And at the same time, he said, the acquisition of the Holy Spirit is not there, in heaven, where it will be complete, but it begins here on earth. He called people to transformation already here on earth, to a transformation that begins in the life of every person through the power and action of the Holy Spirit. That theosis, that deification, which, according to the teachings of the ancient Eastern fathers and teachers of the church, is the goal, the final result of every person, of every human holiness, likeness to God - it already begins here, it must begin already in the life of every person.

And we know how this manifested itself in St. Seraphim. We have records of Motovilov, a man who communicated with St. Seraphim for many years and was healed by him, an intelligent man who knows spiritual life, who wrote down these experiences word for word, for certain. And Motovilov wrote down for us how he went with St. Seraphim is this path of acquiring the Holy Spirit. He did not understand what it meant – “acquiring the Holy Spirit”, how it manifested itself. And then St. Seraphim showed him - he took him by the shoulders and said: “What are you feeling now? We are already with you in the Holy Spirit!” And Motovilov looked at the face of the saint. Seraphim - and it glows unusually. And Seraphim asks: “What do you see with me?” - “I see such a light that I cannot bear.” Asks Rev. Seraphim: “What are you feeling now?” (And this was in winter, there was deep snow and frost, they were in the forest). “I feel,” he says, “extraordinary tranquility, extraordinary peace, silence and joy in my soul.” And then St. Seraphim asks: “What else do you feel?” And Motovilov here describes all those feelings of transformation that were experienced by him, a man like us, but ascended, thanks to St. Seraphim, by the action of the Holy Spirit to this degree of deification, to this theosis, to this acquisition of the Holy Spirit. And he describes that he felt an inexpressible sweetness, an inexpressible joy, an incredible warmth. Then Seraphim said: “Well, how do you feel the warmth? After all, there is snow and frost all around, and the snow that falls from the sky does not melt on us.” "Yes, but I feel like I'm in a bathhouse." Seraphim says: “So, this is the internal acquisition of the Holy Spirit, this is the Kingdom of God among us.” “Well, what smell do you smell, like in a bathhouse?” “No, I have never smelled such a smell in my life. It fills me with extraordinary joy and pleasure.” “This is,” he said, “the feeling of acquiring the Holy Spirit.”

Dear brothers and sisters! This, of course, is an extraordinary experience, an exceptional experience, perhaps, which St. Seraphim showed Motovilov what it means to acquire the Holy Spirit. But this is what is the goal of each of us: through internal transformation to achieve this acquisition of the Holy Spirit.

Through the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, the Lord revealed to the Orthodox that the goal of the life of any believer is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. Just as worldly people strive to acquire material wealth, a true believer must care about acquiring the Grace of the Holy Spirit. Each Orthodox person has his own path, which he follows to serve God and acquire Grace. As a rule, his “confessor” helps him in this.

Prayer, confession, communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, good deeds - all these are the means by which all Christians acquire the Grace of the Holy Spirit.

Download: Acquiring the Holy Spirit. Seraphim of Sarov.

Living communication with the Lord is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit.

A person with a torn soul not only suffers himself, but also dangerously affects the condition of those around him.

A contemporary of St. Seraphim, the Russian poet and thinker Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev, wrote lines that later became no less famous than the statement of St. Seraphim:

It is not the flesh, but the spirit that has become corrupted these days, And man is desperately yearning... He is rushing towards the light from the shadows of the night And, having found the light, he grumbles and rebels.

Here it is clear that the corrupted (decaying, dying) spirit of a person is expressed in a deep internal conflict, primarily within his own personality: one part of it strives for the light, the other rebels against the same light.

And of course, a person with such an internal structure will wreak the same chaos and destruction around himself. In any of his social interactions this deep devastation will manifest itself in one way or another. Not understanding his motives, desires, needs, such a person rushes from one extreme to another, trying to find support either in a more just social system, or in a strong personality capable of leading him to the desired happiness, or in some idea that unites people.

But where there is no clear understanding of what you are striving for, there cannot be clear guidelines for achieving an unknown goal. And, willingly or unwillingly, such a restless human spirit carries with it other people suffering from the same internal splitting. Thus, the internal chaos and rebellion of one person becomes the cause of mental confusion for those who communicate with him in one way or another. Whether this will lead to their death, or whether they will be able to overcome this embarrassment with God's help, is difficult to say. It happens this way and that. But it is obvious that this internal spiritual rebellion in itself does not at all contribute to salvation or even the ordinary quiet life of a person.

But what is this human spirit? How is it determined, what is it like, and how can one determine what is the norm for it and what is a deviation from this norm?

Thesis two:

Origin of the expression “acquiring the Holy Spirit”

This expression was introduced into circulation by Seraphim of Sarov. Talking with Motovilov on topics that related to the essence of faith and what happens to a person when he prays, the Holy Ascetic said that a person praying acts like a person who dreams of achieving fame and wealth. Only the goal of the believer lies on a different plane. He strives to unite with the Lord through the acquisition of the Holy Spirit.

The monk compared the work of a believer with that which we perform in everyday life. To obtain material benefits for himself and his family, a person must work hard. The work of the soul is to acquire or receive the Grace of the Holy Spirit in order to unite with the Lord. This is the highest value for a believer.

The holy preacher explained this phrase in detail. A person has three sources of will and desires:

Spiritual, pushes to unite with God.
Own.
Besovskaya.

Guided by the third, a person works to satisfy his pride, vanity and self-interest. It is present in everyone and poses a great danger. The second allows you to make your own choice. He himself decides what he will be guided by. Some steal, others do good deeds. At the same time, they all pursue worldly results. They do good to their neighbor to satisfy their own pride. Only the first will is from the Lord. Guided by it, a person does good for the sake of the Holy Spirit. Listening to her, he collects not material, but eternal wealth. The monk said that one needs to accumulate this “capital” as much as possible, to strive for acquisition. This should be the meaning of everything a believer does in acquiring the Holy Spirit.

About the difficulties of translation | Orthodox Sarov

June 15, 2011

I am a programmer with almost 20 years of experience. Programmed in a number of languages (Pascal, C, C++, Fortran, Basic, Assembler, shell script and others), and translated and read programs in a dozen more languages.

Some basic programming principles are not so different from the principles of conventional languages. In particular, this is why I have a great and growing interest in linguistics.

And I like my native Russian language more and more, as well as Church Slavonic, the language of my church.

note

Natural language is much richer than a programming language. Each word, as a rule, is polysemantic; it necessarily has its own history, semantic shades, cognates, synonyms and antonyms, which also clarify its meaning. Each word generates a very specific associative series, a whole “harness” of related concepts.

In each case, we intuitively understand that in a given context it is appropriate in terms of meaning to choose this particular synonym and not another. Mathematics is, as is often said, the language of science, which is why many mathematicians have studied the properties of languages. It is not without reason that such important concepts of probability theory and mathematical statistics as “Markov chains” were studied by their author (A.A. Markov) using the example of analyzing the text of “Eugene Onegin”.

Language is also the custodian of the historical and spiritual experience of the people.

In liberal circles, reproaches are often heard towards the Orthodox that the church uses Church Slavonic as the language of worship, and not modern Russian.

But the longer I am in the church, the more I realize how right this is and how criminal it would be to refuse it (just as Catholics should not refuse Latin). The fact is that language is the keeper of concepts and meanings. As long as language exists, people can grasp these meanings.

The oblivion of language means the oblivion of meanings - and with it the destruction of historical experience. That is why, for example, the dominance of the “Albanian” language on the Internet (that is, deliberately simplified and distorted Russian in the “preved, bear” style) can be considered as a method of waging an information war against Russia.

Because along with the destruction of the literary Russian language, many very important words and their meanings will disappear. In the Albanian language, many concepts simply cannot be expressed for lack of suitable words. In the same way, the oblivion of the Church Slavonic language means the oblivion and disappearance of many important concepts and meanings.

The resulting muteness gives rise to spiritual slavery, followed by physical enslavement. This is the true goal of the liberals mentioned above, despite their loud self-name.

As a teaching example, I will cite a very specific case from real life - the famous saying of St. Seraphim of Sarov: “ Acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands of souls will be saved around you .” I think there is no need to translate - the Church Slavonic language is still understandable to Russian people at the genetic level, even when a person does not know the exact meaning of the words.

With this saying, Seraphim expressed the essence of Christian achievement.

This saying gives, for example, an answer to those people (materialists) who reduce the entire content of human life only to the production and consumption of material objects, and all people not engaged in material production (for example, musicians, writers, actors, scientists, teachers, priests or monks) are declared “parasites”, “servants” and “superfluous people” who have no right to life. This saying also provides an answer to the question “what is the social service of Christians?” It turns out that changing the state of your spirit has not only personal significance, but also plays a social role - it helps other people in saving their souls.

And so I come across in the newspaper City Courier, No. 21 dated May 25, 2011, an article “as the monk taught” with a description of the photo competition “Orthodox shrines of nuclear cities.” There are the words of St. Seraphim is transmitted as follows: “Have peace in your heart, and thousands around you will be saved.”

This, of course, is a translation from Church Slavonic into Russian. The translation, in my opinion, completely profanes the content of Father Seraphim’s saying. You can say - just think, a phrase.

Important

But this is not just a phrase, these words are taken as a motto, and the motto has special significance as a refined formulation of an idea, like a banner.

The word “acquires” has an obvious active, volitional connotation - you can acquire something only through willpower and labor. The strong-willed connotation in this word is even more pronounced than in the word “acquire,” which is related in meaning. In a conversation with Motovilov, Seraphim speaks of “acquiring the Holy Spirit” as the goal of Christian life.

Speaking about “acquisition,” he gives the example of merchants who, through labor and ingenuity, acquire (gather) wealth. Seraphim was from a family of Kursk merchants, this example was close to him.

In Soviet times, the word “acquisitive” had a negative connotation, but even in this case it meant an energetic person, hungry to acquire wealth.

The word “styazhi” is also the same root as the word “banner” (banner) and “to pull together” (to collect). That is, one can “acquire” when there is a certain banner, a lofty goal that attracts and gathers like-minded people or warriors around oneself. The banner is a military term, so “to acquire” is also associated with battle, in this case, with spiritual warfare under the banner of the Savior.

On the contrary, the word “have” is passive and devoid of volitional coloring. You can have it just like that, by inheritance, as a gift or by chance. The word “have” is more coarsely material, and it does not imply any gathering of like-minded people.

On the contrary, it is associated with isolation, using something for one’s own personal purposes. It’s not for nothing that formerly lordly estates were called “estates.”

And now, when we have been offended by being used as an inanimate thing, we sometimes say: “We were fucked.”

Advice

Further, “get a peaceful spirit” and “have peace in your heart” appeal to two completely different objects - the spirit and the heart. Apparently, the word “spirit” seemed outdated to the translator. But the meaning of the words is completely different. The spirit belongs to the sphere of will, reason, and doing. The heart is the sphere of feelings, emotions, sympathies.

Seraphim of Sarov about prayer

The saint said that during prayer the mind and heart should be one, and thoughts should not be scattered. Only in this case “the heart is warmed with spiritual warmth, in which the light of Christ will shine, filling the entire inner person with peace and joy.”

Often, during prayer, the saint was immersed in prolonged mental contemplation of the Lord: he stood in front of the holy image, did not read any prayers or bow, but only contemplated God with his mind in his heart.

Therefore, believers should try not to let their thoughts be scattered during prayer, since because of this, the soul, through the devil’s action, deviates from the love of God.

What does it mean to receive the Holy Spirit?

It is easy to acquire material wealth, but it is more difficult to acquire virtues. The saints considered the acquisition of the Holy Spirit and God's Grace to be the highest stage of spiritual growth.

Seraphim of Sarov constantly reminded of the need to acquire the Holy Spirit, since he himself experienced this blissful state. In a conversation with Motovilov, he compared a person’s life to a square where they trade. Every merchant tries to sell his goods at a higher price. In the beginning, the seller works hard to accumulate many things useful in the household. Having studied the demand, he brings to the market what will bring more profit. If a merchant returned home without goods and with money, the trade was considered successful.

The Venerable Seraphim gave spiritual meaning to this parable, comparing the accumulation of goods for trade with the acquisition of virtues: love, modesty and mercy. These are good qualities, but they are of no use to a person until he “sells” them to the Lord, receiving “money” for it—the Grace of the Holy Spirit. Seraphim of Sarov called the acquisition of the Holy Spirit the true goal of a Christian’s life, and good deeds are the means by which Divine Power is achieved.

Just as a merchant can buy whatever he wants with the money he earns, so with the help of the Holy Spirit a person will receive the strength to work miracles, easily cope with his own passions, be filled with health and strength, which our forefathers possessed in heaven, and the soul of a believer is always filled peace and joy.

When Motovilov asked how to achieve such bliss, the saint reminds him of a merchant who brings to the market only those goods for which he can get the most money. Likewise, an Orthodox Christian, in order to acquire more grace, must do such good deeds as will most comfort his soul. At the same time, it is worth remembering that good deeds are done not for the sake of praise, but for the Glory of God.

So that the explanations would not remain empty words for Nicholas, the monk asked the Lord to show for a moment what a person who is in the power of the Holy Spirit feels. Motovilov felt silence, extraordinary joy and warmth. Later, the student wrote a book in which he described in detail the phenomenon that happened to him.

Seraphim of Sarov: “Acquiring the Holy Spirit”

Through the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, the Lord revealed to the Orthodox that the goal of the life of any believer is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit.
What does it mean to “acquire the Holy Spirit”, what is the meaning of the concept of “acquisition” in the works of the Holy Fathers? Read more about everything in this article!

Through the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, the Lord revealed to the Orthodox that the goal of the life of any believer is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit.

note

Just as worldly people strive to acquire material wealth, a true believer must care about acquiring the Grace of the Holy Spirit.

Each Orthodox person has his own path, which he follows to serve God and acquire Grace. As a rule, his “confessor” helps him in this.

Prayer, confession, communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, good deeds - all these are the means by which all Christians acquire the Grace of the Holy Spirit.

Download: Acquiring the Holy Spirit. Seraphim of Sarov.

Living communication with the Lord is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit.

Origin of the expression “acquiring the Holy Spirit”

The holy preacher explained this phrase in detail. A person has three sources of will and desires:

Spiritual, pushes to unite with God.
Own.
Besovskaya.

They do good to their neighbor to satisfy their own pride. Only the first will is from the Lord. Guided by it, a person does good for the sake of the Holy Spirit. Listening to her, he collects not material, but eternal wealth. The monk said that one needs to accumulate this “capital” as much as possible, to strive for acquisition.

This should be the meaning of everything a believer does in acquiring the Holy Spirit.

Seraphim of Sarov about prayer

Therefore, believers should try not to let their thoughts be scattered during prayer, since because of this, the soul, through the devil’s action, deviates from the love of God.

What does it mean to receive the Holy Spirit?

Every merchant tries to sell his goods at a higher price. In the beginning, the seller works hard to accumulate many things that are useful for the household. Having studied the demand, he brings to the market what will bring more profit.

If a merchant returned home without goods and with money, the trade was considered successful.

The Venerable Seraphim gave spiritual meaning to this parable, comparing the accumulation of goods for trade with the acquisition of virtues: love, modesty and mercy.

These are good qualities, but they are of no use to a person until he “sells” them to the Lord, receiving “money” for it—the Grace of the Holy Spirit.

Seraphim of Sarov called the acquisition of the Holy Spirit the true goal of a Christian’s life, and good deeds are the means by which Divine Power is achieved.

Important

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9JCebI0yck

What is meant by acquiring the Holy Spirit?

This expression means the acquisition of God's grace. The term “acquisition”, in its semantic meaning, means: accumulation, acquisition.

The expression “acquiring Grace” cannot be understood to mean that Divine grace can be stored and stored in one’s heart like a money-grubber who accumulates gold and silver.

The grace of God resting on a person is not his property. A person can use material values at his own discretion, but Grace acts only when all a person’s actions are aimed at good.

As the believer grows in holiness and virtue, the degree of his unity with the Lord increases. A person gradually increases in the moral and religious aspect, which is why this process is called “acquisition.”

The meaning of the concept of “acquisition” in the works of the Holy Fathers

The bishops of antiquity are called the Holy Fathers of the Church. They compiled interpretations of the Gospel and the basic rules by which modern Christians live. The greatest of them are the bishops of Byzantium Basil the Great and John Chrysostom.

The famous preacher and denouncer of the merciless and unrighteous rich, Saint John Chrysostom, explained in accessible language for ordinary people what unrighteous acquisition is.

In the meaning of vice, the accumulation of wealth through lies and violence, he used the words “acquisitiveness” and “covetousness.” Thieves and bribe-takers are called covetous.

Advice

Basil the Great noted that there is no more terrible covetousness than if a person does not share with the poor what can deteriorate over time.

Speaking in modern language, as a result of our service and prayers, the Lord manifests itself more and more in us and through us, we feel this as filling with the Holy Spirit. To be filled with the Holy Spirit, we must pray, fast, be merciful, and do good deeds.

Source: https://pravgolos.ru/serafim-sarovskiy-ctyazhanie-duha-svyatogo/

What is meant by acquiring the Holy Spirit?

This expression means the acquisition of God's grace. The term “acquisition”, in its semantic meaning, means: accumulation, acquisition.

The expression “acquiring Grace” cannot be understood to mean that Divine grace can be stored and stored in one’s heart like a money-grubber who accumulates gold and silver.

The grace of God resting on a person is not his property. A person can use material values at his own discretion, but Grace acts only when all a person’s actions are aimed at good.

The meaning of the concept of “acquisition” in the works of the Holy Fathers

The famous preacher and denouncer of the merciless and unrighteous rich, Saint John Chrysostom, explained in accessible language for ordinary people what unrighteous acquisition is. In the meaning of vice, the accumulation of wealth through lies and violence, he used the words “acquisitiveness” and “covetousness.” Thieves and bribe-takers are called covetous. Basil the Great noted that there is no more terrible covetousness than if a person does not share with the poor what can deteriorate over time.