The Acquisition of the Holy Spirit

From a Conversation between Saint Seraphim of Sarov and Nicholas Motovilov in November 1831

“The true aim of our Christian life consists in the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God.”

This is the primary axiom of Orthodox Christian spirituality. It is the way by which we “love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind.” It is the way by which we “love our neighbor as ourselves.” (cf. Matthew 22:37, 39)

How, then, do we “acquire the Holy Spirit.” We acquire the Holy Spirit through fasts, vigils, prayer, and almsgiving, as well as every good deed done for Christ’s sake which bring us the fruits of the Holy Spirit. But these are only the means.

The ultimate reward of eternal life in the age to come begins with a right faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word and Son of God the Father, Who came into the world to save sinners. Through our acquiring for ourselves the grace of the Holy Spirit, He then brings into our hearts the Kingdom of God and opens the way for us to be granted the blessings of the future blessed and eternal life.

Once acquired, the grace of the Holy Spirit brings peace to our life in this present age, and eternal life in the age to come. This acquisition is the only way through which grace is granted to us. Prayer, keeping vigil, fasting, and almsgiving – done for Christ’s sake – are the means through which to acquire the Holy Spirit.

It is as simple as that. Acquiring the Spirit of God is the true aim of our Christian life, and the practical life of a Christian consists of praying, keeping vigil, fasting, almsgiving, and doing other good works for Christ’s sake.

The critical importance of these virtues as the means of acquiring the Holy Spirit is made even more striking when we consider the fact that even a good deed not done for Christ’s sake is nonetheless still considered “good” and has the potential of leading men of good will to God. As the Scriptures say “In every nation he who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to Him (Acts 10:35).

For example, an Angel appeared to Cornelius, the God-fearing and righteous Centurion, saying “Send to Joppa to Simon the Tanner; there you will find Peter and he will tell you the words of eternal life, whereby you will be saved and all your house.” In return for his good works, the Lord gave this a man the opportunity not to lose his reward in the future life (cf. Acts 10:1-47).

Acquiring, or obtaining, the Spirit of God is a process which can be compared to the process of acquiring wealth in the world.

The aim of ordinary worldly people, for example, is to acquire, or make, money as well as to receive honors, distinctions, and other rewards.

Yet these are temporal things which are rapidly spent and used up. Like the Samaritan woman who had to go to the well every day and draw water, they must be continuously replenished.

The aim of extraordinary Godly Christians is to acquire God’s Spirit and receive grace.

These are eternal and never consumed. As Christ told the Samaritan at the well, “whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; but the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14).

It is for this reason that our Lord compares our life with a market, and the work of our life on earth He calls business.

In the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, Jesus says that when the foolish ones ran short of oil they were told, “Go and buy in the market” (Matthew 25:9).

And, in the parable of the talents, Jesus says, “A certain nobleman ... called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten talents, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come’” (Luke 19:12-13).

But even when the foolish virgins did buy oil, the door of the bride-chamber was already shut to them. In their spiritual ignorance they supposed that the Christian life consisted merely in doing good works.

By doing a good deed they thought they were doing the work of God, but they in fact cared little whether they actually acquired the grace of God’s Spirit. It was not that they lacked “oil” – meaning virtues or good deeds – but they lacked the grace of the All-Holy Spirit of God.

The evidence that the grace of the All-Holy Spirit of God – obtained through good deeds – is truly present is whether it changes souls from a corruptible to an incorruptible state, from spiritual death to life, from darkness to light, from being a stable where passions are like dumb animals and wild beasts into a temple of the divine presence of God.

The indication that we are in the Spirit of God is whether we have laid aside every concern about the people and the circumstances in our life. “Let us who mystically represent the Cherubim, and who chant the thrice-holy hymn to the life-giving Trinity, now lay aside all cares of life, that we may receive the King of all, invisibly escorted by the angelic hosts. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.”

We can never be concerned with the material things of this life, for “your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things; but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:32-33).

We can never be concerned with what people say to us or do to us in this life, for “the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful” (Mark 4:19).

We are bereft of His grace when we are concerned with the cares and sorrows that people and circumstances in this life bring to us.

God says: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (Revelation 3:20). This “door” is the course of our life which has not yet been closed by death.

While in this life we must always be in the Spirit of God, for when He knocks and enters through the door of our life, how will He find us? The Lord makes it very clear that in whatsoever way He shall find us He will judge us, “Judge not, that you be not judged; for with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you” (Matthew 7:1-2).

Woe be to us if he should find us upset or disturbed or concerned with people in our lives. Woe be to us if we are troubled about having enough money, or food, or any other material thing. We will not be able to bear His anger or His wrath if we have not acquired the grace of the Holy Spirit and placed all our hope in Him.

Watchful prayer brings us the Spirit of God but concerns and worries deprive us of His grace. This is why Jesus said: “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38).

The grace of the Spirit of God is granted to us through every good deed done for Christ’s sake, but most of all it is granted through prayer. The power of prayer is great for it brings us the Spirit of God more than any other virtue.

In prayer we come into intimate communion with God, the never-failing Source of every heavenly and earthly blessing. We think it a great happiness to talk with some dear friend or a respected teacher. Yet in prayer we are granted to converse with our all-gracious and life-giving Lord God and Savior Himself.

Even so we must pray only until God the Holy Spirit descends on us in measures of His heavenly grace known to Him alone. And when He deigns to visit us, we must actually stop praying.

At the beginning of our daily prayers we invite Him saying, “Heavenly King, Comforter: come and abide in us, cleanse us of every stain; and save our souls, O good One.” But when He has already come to us we no longer need to invite Him.

Once He has entered, we must “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 45:10).

During prayerful conversation with God, we must of course “be still” with regard to worldly affairs. But we must even be “dead” to prayer as well when the Holy Spirit condescends to visit us by the omnipotent power of faith coming to us in the plenitude of His unutterable goodness.

The soul speaks and converses during prayer, but at the descent of the Holy Spirit we must remain in complete silence, in order to hear clearly and intelligibly all the words of eternal life which He may deign to communicate to us.

At that time, and at all times, complete soberness of soul and spirit, and chaste purity of body is required. For our God is a fire consuming everything unclean, and no one defiled in body or spirit can enter into communion with Him.