One of the main tenets of Christianity is the unity of the Holy Trinity. Every Christian faces a difficult task: to understand and accept the Trinity of the Divine Essence. As a rule, there are no problems with understanding the Father and the Son, since the concept of nepotism and the transfer of power from father to son is close to humanity. Problems arise in understanding the Holy Spirit as an immaterial, but really existing entity.
From Judaism to Early Christianity
The Holy Spirit is mentioned many times in the Old Testament. This is an eternal substance, not created during the creation of the world, but always existed. Before the creation of the world, the earth was deserted, only the Spirit was hovering over the abyss of water. Of course, he took the most direct part in creation: he hovered above the ground and warmed it, like a bird protecting its chicks.
In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit and God are not one. God sends the Holy Spirit to earth to build, protect and perform miracles. As a caring creator, God is concerned about his creation, and his messenger is the mediator between the Most High and his chosen children.
With the coming into the world of Jesus Christ, the situation changes. Now every believer becomes a repository of a part of the divine essence. Christ says that the Son, Father and Holy Spirit are one, and if a person cannot understand this, then he should simply accept it. He also warns: to say bad things about the third hypostasis of God is impossible in any case. If he who blasphemed the Son can be forgiven, then he who blasphemed the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either in the present or in the future tense.
Soul of god
According to Scripture, the Holy Spirit is the personification of love transmitted from the Father to the Son - an intelligent, living and sanctifying immaterial force. He descends on believers and enlightens them, descends on the prophets and gives them knowledge of the future, descends on the apostles and proclaims the truth to them. Despite the fact that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are triune, they do not merge into one essence, acting separately and together.
Even the church fathers admit that it is impossible to know the essence of the Holy Spirit, but it is possible to believe and accept it as part of the triune Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity appeared in early Christian works, but it was consolidated in the 4th century AD at the Council of Constantinople.
Phenomena
There are episodes in Scripture that describe the appearances of the Holy Spirit. He descended on Jesus Christ at the moment of his baptism in the form of a white dove that flew from heaven. In iconography, the image of the Spirit in the form of a dove is allowed only in those cases when it comes to the baptism of Jesus. In other cases, the image of a dove has no sacred meaning.
Also, the Spirit descended on the apostles in the form of tongues of fire. The Acts of the Apostles describes how, on a day later called Pentecost, there suddenly appeared a noise that resembled the sound of the wind. Strange sounds filled the house where Christ's disciples were at that time. Separate fiery tongues appeared, which descended on the apostles. After the descent of the divine flame, the apostles received the gift of the ability to speak in different languages and preach the Gospel.
