Orthodox Church celebrates Day of the Holy Spirit

Orthodox Christians celebrate the Day of the Holy Spirit. Photo: open sources

On June 1, 2026, the day following the Feast of the Holy Trinity (Pentecost), the Orthodox Church celebrates the Day of the Holy Spirit.

According to Orthodox teaching, the Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity and shares the same divine essence as God the Father and God the Son. For this reason, the Church offers Him the same worship, honor, and glorification as the other Persons of the Holy Trinity.

The Feast of the Holy Spirit was established by the Church to glorify the Most Holy and Life-Giving Spirit and to bear witness to the Orthodox faith in His divinity. Its institution also served as a response to various heretical teachings that denied or diminished the divine dignity of the Holy Spirit.

The Church’s faith in the divinity of the Holy Spirit is expressed in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, where He is proclaimed as “the Lord, the Giver of Life,” Who proceeds from the Father and Who together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified.

In Orthodox iconography, the Holy Spirit is depicted symbolically. He appears in the form of a dove, recalling the Baptism of the Lord in the Jordan, and as tongues of fire descending upon the apostles and the Mother of God on the day of Pentecost.

Earlier, Metropolitan Onuphry explained how the image of God is manifested in the human person.

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