What is the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer?

When corruption entered human nature through the first Adam, the whole of humanity was exiled from Paradise, and the Spirit of the Lord departed from us, who is the source of our life and goodness, and our hidden treasure. Thus, the need arose for a new Adam who alone could bless our nature in Himself, as St. Gregory the Theologian⁸⁵⁰ says; who alone cannot be separated from the Spirit of the Lord since it is His own Spirit. Through Christ, the

849 St. Basil of Caesarea, Ad. Eunom. 5.

850 “You blessed my nature in Yourself,” from the Sanctus of the Coptic Liturgy of St. Gregory, Coptic Reader translation.

Holy Spirit returned to our nature and dwelt within it once more, restoring it to its original glory. So, the renewal of our human nature was not possible except in the Lord Christ, who descended to dwell in our midst and crown us with the glory of victory over sin; and who enriched our nature by His Holy Spirit, offering upon the cross the price of this divine work.

St. Cyril of Alexandria captures this splendidly, as the following example shows: “Since on account of the transgression in Adam, sin has reigned against all (Rom. 5:14) , and then the Holy Spirit fled away from the human nature and its state came therefore to be awful in all, and it needed that by the Mercy of God, [human nature] mounting up to its pristine condition should be accounted worthy of the Spirit:—the Only-Begotten Word of God became Man, and appeared to them on earth with a Body of earth, and was made free from sin, that in Him Alone the nature of man, crowned with the glories of sinlessness, should be rich in the Holy Spirit, and thus be re-formed unto God through holiness.”⁸⁵¹

St. Macarius the Great calls us to revel in the hidden treasure of the Holy Spirit, saying, “If a man is very rich in this world, and possesses a hidden treasure, out of that treasure and wealth that he has he purchases whatever he has a mind to purchase. Whatever rare articles in the world he fancies, he readily amasses them, relying upon the treasure, because by means of it he easily procures any piece of property he fancies. In like manner those who seek at God’s hand, and have found, and have the heavenly treasure of the Spirit, which is the Lord Himself shining in their hearts, accomplish every righteousness of virtues, and every acquisition of goodness commanded by the Lord, out of the treasure of Christ in them , and by means of it they amass a yet more abundant heavenly wealth. By means of that heavenly treasure they effect every virtue of righteousness, relying upon the multitude of the spiritual riches within them, and easily work every righteousness and commandment of the Lord by means of the invisible wealth of grace that is in them. The apostle says, Having this treasure in earthen vessels (2 Cor. 4:7), that is, the treasure which it was granted to them in this life to possess within themselves, the sanctifying power of the Spirit; and again, Who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30).

“So one who has found and has within him this heavenly treasure of the Spirit , effects thereby every righteousness of commandments and every accomplishment of virtues unblameably and purely, without forcing and with ease. Let us therefore beseech God, and seek and beg of Him, to bestow on us the treasure of His Spirit , and that thus we may be able to walk in all His commandments unblameably and purely, and to fulfil all the righteousness of the Spirit purely and perfectly, by means of the heavenly treasure, which is Christ … Nevertheless, every one should force himself to ask of the Lord to be permitted to receive and find the heavenly treasure of the Spirit, so as to be able without difficulty and

851 St. Cyril of Alexandria, Scholia on the Incarnation of the Only-Begotten 1 (LFHCC 47:186) amended.

with readiness to do all the commandments of the Lord unblameably and purely, which before he could not succeed in doing, whatever force he might use.”⁸⁵²