What role does the Holy Spirit play in consecrating the heart to God?

In the past, physical fire transformed the golden vessels of the people of Israel into the idol of the golden calf, which they had continued to worship covertly in their hearts. Thus was their innermost intention revealed and their hidden idol exposed (Ex. 32:24). And in the days of Nebuchadnezzar when the three holy youths entered the visible fiery furnace because of their righteousness, their hidden God, who was working in their hearts, was manifest in the form of one like the Son of God walking with them in the furnace, embracing them and protecting them from the visible fire. In like manner God sent His divine fire, His Holy Spirit, the divine Hypostasis, to manifest the Lord Christ who is hidden in our hearts.

The work of the fiery Holy Spirit within us is to seal us with the royal seal in the depths of the inner soul, so that we bear the image of the Lord Christ within us, and so that the soul and the body and all their capabilities and actions belong to the Lord. This is the concept of consecration: we carry the divine seal, proclaiming that all that is in us is His.

The apostle Paul speaks of this divine seal, saying, “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee” (2 Cor 1:21–22); “In whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession …” (Eph. 1:13–14); “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30); “Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal …” (2 Tim. 2:19).

In the Constitutions of the Apostles we find, “Now concerning baptism, O bishop, or presbyter, we have already given direction, and we now say … you shall beforehand anoint the person with the holy oil, and afterward baptize him with the water, and in the conclusion shall seal him with the ointment.”⁹⁰⁴

St. Cyprian said, “only that which was lacking was supplied by Peter and John, after having prayed for them and imposed hands upon them [Acts 8:14–17] that the Holy Spirit should be invoked and infused into them. This now also is being done among us that. those who are baptized in the Church are offered to the bishops of the Church and, through our

903 St. Ambrose of Milan, On the Mysteries 7–8.42–43 (NPNF II/10:322–323) amended.

904 Constitutions of the Holy Apostles 7.2.22 (ANF 7:469).

prayer and the imposition of hands, may receive the Holy Spirit and be signed with the seal of the Lord.”⁹⁰⁵ He also says: “Behold how you have become partakers in the priestly name of Christ and how the seal of communion with the Holy Spirit was given to you.”

St. Ephrem the Syrian says, “The gates that are in your head are stamped with the stamp of the Spirit … The King has written you as his epistle, and has sealed it with seals of fire: do not let strangers read it and mar its letters.”⁹⁰⁶

The purpose of this sacred seal, the seal of the Holy Spirit, is to make us holy to Lord, a house of God consecrated to Him, as the apostle Paul says: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? … therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor 6:19–20). This seal of fire consecrates the soul as well as the body so that a person can truly become the spiritual bride of Christ the heavenly King. And as St. Macarius the Great says, “The five rational senses of the soul, if they receive grace from above and the sanctification of the Spirit, are really wise virgins, receiving the wisdom of the grace from above.”⁹⁰⁷

905 St. Cyprian of Carthage, The Epistles of Cyprian 73.9 (FOTC 51:273–274).

906 St. Ephrem the Syrian, Rhythms: Select Works of S. Ephrem the Syrian , trans., J. B. Morris (London: John Henry Parker; F. and J. Rivington, 1847) footnote 6b: p. 266.

907 St. Macarius the Great, Fifty Spiritual Homilies of St. Macarius the Egyptian , trans., A. J. Mason (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1921) Homily 4.7: p. 24.

Book 3

The Church:

The Kingdom of God

1. The Church: The Kingdom of God

2. The Heavenly High Priest and the Church

3. The Church as a Heavenly Wedding Feast

4. The Unique Work of the Church

5. The Church: House of Salvation

6. The Eminence of the Church

7. The Church and Daily Renewal

8. The Church and Society

The Role of Women in Society and Church

9. The Person of the Church

10. The Mystery of the House of God

11. The Iconostasis

12. Coptic Art and Symbolism

13. The Holy Utensils

14. The Church Nave

15. The Church Belfry

16. The Holy Sacraments

17. The Sacrament of Baptism

On the Rites of Baptism

The Rites of Holy Baptism

18. The Sacrament of Chrismation

19. The Sacrament of Repentance & Confession

20. The Sacrament of the Eucharist

On the Main Features of the Coptic Liturgy

21. The Sacrament of Priesthood

22. The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony

23. Unction of the Sick

24. The Coptic Church and the Monastic Movement