From Byzantine liturgical hymnology we clearly see that the Holy Spirit is the glory of Christ, which not only transfigures the body of the historical Jesus, as was the case at the Transfiguration, but glorifies as well His wider “Body,” that is all those who believe in Him. In fact, a comparison of the Byzantine liturgical texts of Pentecost with those appointed for the feast of the Transfiguration – and it is always important to remember that, for the Byzantines, the liturgy was the highest expression of their faith and Christian experience – shows that the miracle of Pentecost was considered as an expended form of the mystery of Tabor. On Mount Tabor the divine light was shown to a restricted circle of disciples, but at Pentecost Christ “by sending the Spirit, has shone forth as the light of the world,” because the Spirit “enlightens the disciples and has initiated them into the heavenly mysteries.”

Examples can be easily multiplied, which show that the Byzantine theological tradition is constantly aware that in the “economy” of creation and salvation the Son and the Spirit are accomplishing one single divine act – without, however, being subordinated to one another in their hypostatic or personal existence. The “head” of the new, redeemed humanity is, of course, Christ, but the Spirit is not only Christ’s agent; He is, in the words of John of Damascus, “Spirit of God, direct, ruling; the fountain of wisdom, life and holiness; God existing and addressed along with the Father and Son; uncreated, full, creative, all-ruling, all-effecting, all-powerful, of infinite power, Lord of all creation and not subject to any; deifying, not deified; filling, not filled; shared in, not sharing in; sanctifying, not sanctified.” Truly this personal independence of the Spirit is connected with the whole mystery of redemption, which is both a unification of mankind in the one divine-human hypostasis of Christ, the new Adam, and a mysterious personal encounter between each man and God. Truly the unification of human nature is a free, divine gift, but the personal encounter depends upon human freedom: “Christ becomes the sole image appropriate to the common nature of humanity. The Holy Spirit grants to each person created in the image of God the real possibility of fulfilling the likeness in the common nature. The one lends His hypostasis to the nature, the other gives His divinity to the persons.

What is your understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit?