The Holy Spirit – beauty and hope Cover Image

Święty Duch – piękno, nadzieja
The Holy Spirit – beauty and hope

Author(s): Sawa Hrycuniak
Subject(s): Systematic Theology, Eastern Orthodoxy
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe ChAT
Keywords: Holy Spirit; Orthodoxy; beauty

Summary/Abstract: The love of God and His beauty constantly enrich and save the world. Beauty is an ontological and salvific category, not only an aesthetic one. This fact is expressed in the Divine Liturgy, the theology of icons, the spirituality of the Transfiguration and the vision of the world transfigured. Beauty witnesses to the existence of the unseen world.The real ideal of beauty, its source and determinant is God Himself. God, who created the heavens and the earth, sent His Only Begotten Son who came into the world as the Incarnate Logos and as the other Comforter after the Ascension of Jesus Christ. This is beauty in its purest and plainly incomparable ontological meaning. Beauty is a possibility, but also reality. It is available to all by means of participating in the Mysteries performed thanks to the incessant activity of the Holy Spirit in the Church – the Human-Divine Organism. For F.M. Dostoyevsky, beauty is not a luxury, rather man’s basic need. Longing for Beauty is innate and not acquired. The more intensively one lives, the more beauty is needed. Orthodoxy unceasingly preserves this priceless treasure – beauty found in experiencing the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a direct grasp of Beauty. He is constantly called upon in the prayers of the Church. Beauty is closely connected with goodness and truth. Love for them transforms man. This takes place by the power of the Holy Spirit, who is the personal source of spiritual beauty. For spiritual beauty to be salvific, a moral fulfilment which man gives to his actions, is required. Salvation in itself is inseparable from beauty. It is beautiful that man can be saved.

  • Issue Year: 60/2018
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 491-514
  • Page Count: 24
  • Language: Polish