"Take no thought how or what ye shall speak…For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." (Mt. 10:19-20)

These are the words of Him Who knows all and Who declared to the world knowledge which was unknown before He visited mankind.

If someone is filled with the Spirit of God, he does not speak from the spirit of man. Instead, the Spirit of God speaks from him and through him. He is only an instrument or a lyre of God's Spirit, through which God the Spirit speaks. When that kind of man speaks, he speaks infallibly and no one can find falsehood in his speech except those who, because of the perversion of their minds, consider truth as falsehood.

How men speak when filled with the Spirit of God was clearly shown by the example of the prophets, and more clearly by the example of the apostles. So miraculous and unbelievable did the words of the apostles seem to strangers - that is, to those who were bereft of the Spirit of God in themselves and who were only able to speak of the earth - that they considered the apostles to be intoxicated.

In reality, all those people who were the first to speak about the hidden miracles of this physical world - the power of steam, magnetism, electricity, wireless telegraphy, and conversation at a distance - appeared intoxicated and foolish to the ignorant. How can spiritual men, when led by the Spirit of God and speaking about countless hidden mysteries of the spiritual kingdom, not seem intoxicated and foolish?

Whoever humbles himself before God, him God makes powerful. The Spirit of God settles in a contrite heart and from there speaks through the mouth of man. This is confirmed not only by the prophets and apostles, but also by God's innumerable sons and daughters.

O Good Lord, do not refuse us Thy Holy Spirit.

To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.

The Prologue of Ohrid, Vol. I
3 February, Homily