Imagine a cat that is present at a conference on astrophysics. She rubs against the legs of chairs and the legs of enthusiastically conversing scientists, hears their conversations, sees slides changing on the screen, but, of course, understands nothing. Moreover, those issues that scientists are discussing are far beyond its feline interests. Now imagine that scientists wanted to introduce a cat into their circle - somehow they find a way to increase her intellect and give her an interest in knowing. Gradually, she hardly starts to catch some elements of sense in what scientists say, but most importantly - she starts to guess how much she does not understand and what a huge world lies outside of her cat's world. Probably, she is experiencing a certain internal conflict - on the one hand, she is attracted to the mysterious stars and wise speeches of academics, on the other - she is afraid (with some reason) that she will have to leave some of her cat habits.
Can someday the wordless creatures enter the world of reason and knowledge - we do not know; Perhaps CS Lewis, with his talking Narnian beasts, saw something very important about the natural world, perhaps not.
But we know something else - a person is sharply distinguished from the natural world, he has a mind, conscience, a sense of beauty and reverence, and he is meant to enter the world of a completely different life, experience a change deeper than the cat that would have been made Able to talk with scientists about astrophysics.
Entering the Church, we enter the presence of the Mystery, infinitely superior to our ability to understand or think, or imagine. But this mystery itself descends to us - to lift us to Himself. God reveals Himself to us in the Church - the community of believers that is created by Christ, announces His word and reveals His presence in the world. So we learn that God is one in essence and three in the Persons. All Holy Scripture, both the Old and New Testaments, speaks of a single God - and sharply denies the pagan idea that there are many gods. But we read how the same apostles who deny polytheism talk about the Father as God, the Son as God, and - we will see this a little further - about the Holy Spirit as God. The Lord Jesus sends them to baptize in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Mt 28:19).
Before the crucifixion in a farewell conversation with the disciples, the Lord says: "I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world can not receive, because he does not see him and does not know him; But you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you (Jhn 14: 16,17).
In these brief words there is already the mystery of the Trinity - the Son turns to the Father, the Father sends the Spirit.
This mystery meets us at every divine service; "Glory to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now, and for ever, and for ever and ever, Amen!" Is constantly proclaimed in the Church. We will talk about one of the sides of this mystery - the mystery of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit that builds the Church
The Church, as the New Testament describes it, is not just a collection of like-minded people. It is something much more - a body, an organism united not just by common beliefs, but by a common supernatural life. Entering the Church in the sacrament of Holy Baptism, we receive the gift of the Spirit. The gift that we will live all our Christian life - and eternity. As the holy apostle Paul says, For, as the body is one, but has many members, and all the members of one body, although there are many, make up one body, so is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free, and all were made to drink into one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12: 12-13). The book of the Acts of the Apostles narrates the first steps of the Apostolic Church after the ascension of the Lord; It is sometimes called the "Book of Acts of the Holy Spirit" - and not by chance. It begins with an event called the "birthday of the Church" - Pentecost: When the day of Pentecost came, they were all unanimous together. And suddenly there was a noise from the sky, as if from a rushing strong wind, and filled the whole house where they were. And there appeared to them divisive tongues, as if of fire, and they sat one on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2: 1-4). Pentecost was the fulfillment of the promise that the risen Savior gave: but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; And ye shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even unto the ends of the earth (Acts 1: 8). The apostles - like the succeeding generations of Christians - turned the people to Christ not by their power or eloquence, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the history of the Christian world there were false teachers, who could not understand the mystery of the Trinity, nor at least be reconciled to it.