If you are an Orthodox Christian, how you are sure on this?
Youwrote
entecostal churches are not teaching speaking in tongues is the only evidence of Holy Spirit coming to any individual. I wonder who you are. You said Orthodox spirituality is limiting you to receive this gift. If you embrace another denomination will your eceive this gift?...This means you are questioning the very impartial nature of God.The word gift means:Something that is bestowed voluntarily andwithout compensation So if Speaking in tongues is a gift, it is upto God to who He has to share with.
Speaking In ToungesTrue glossologia as a gift of the Holy Spirit can be recognized only when it is combined with the following presuppositions.1)
If someone, by inspiration [of the Holy Spirit], speaks alanguage, it should be understood by all those who stand nearby, as happened in the case that we cited from the Acts of the Apostles(Acts 2:1-13).2) When someone speaks a language among the residents [of Jerusalem,Corinth etc.] that they do not understand, then another gift, the gift of translation of this language into the language of the peopleis necessary. Without this translation the foreign language is babbling and lunacy (1 Cor. 14:23).3)
Glossologia was not given to the Church forever, but only in the beginning of Christianity in order to awaken the idol-worshippers and Jews to belief in Christ. This is why the Apostle Paul said thatthe gift of glossologia would at some point cease to exist in the Church (1 Cor. 13:8).4) Since we believe that Christ is our true God we no longer have need of glossologia, given the fact that the knowledge of foreign languages by inspiration [of the Holy Spirit] is a sign (miracle)necessary only for the unbelieving and not for the faithful (1 Cor.14:22).5)
From the beginning of Christianity the gift of glossologia was one among the lesser in the Church of Christ, while the others, suchas that of prophecy, interpretation of Scripture, of love and the rest, were much greater.6)
It is totally out of the question for speaking in tongues, as agift of the Holy Spirit, to mean a delirium in a non-existent and incomprehensible language, for then it wouldn't be speaking inlanguages, but our own [exclusive] language (Mk. 16:17). Moreover,it comes into clear contradiction with chapter two of the Acts ofthe Apostles.7) The inarticulate voices, lunacies and incoherent utterances which we often hear from the self-proclaimed speakers of tongues very much resembles the scenes the idol-worshippers would make before their idols of Dionysus, as well as with quite a few of the Montanists,Gnostics, Quakers, and later Pentecostals, all of whom the trueChurch of Christ anathematizes (See the first and second Canons ofthe Sixth Oecumenical Council).
Thus, brother, foreign to the Spirit of God is the speaking intongues of those who think they are grace-bearers and make bold tomisconstrue the true glossologia, a gift of the Holy Spirit which existed at the outset of Christianity.(Taken from Ch. 18. from The Truth of Our Faith:: A Discourse fromHoly Scripture on theTeachings of True Christianity, By Elder Cleopaof Romania)
Below passage is taken from "The Orthodox Way" by Bishop KallistosWare of Oxford:
"The conscious awareness of the Spirit's action should be somethingthat permeates the whole of our inward life.
It is not necessary foreveryone to undergo a striking "conversion experience." Still lessis it necessary for everyone to "speak with tongues."
Most contemporary Orthodox view with deep reserve that part of the "Pentecostal Movement" which treats "tongues" as the decisive and indispensable proof that someone is truly a Spirit-bearer.
Thegift of "tongues" was frequent in the Apostolic age; but since themiddle of the second century it has been far less common, although it has not disappeared entirely. Still, Paul insists that this is one of the less important of spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 14.5)...Discernment is needed; hence the importance [in the OrthodoxTradition] of seeking the help of an experienced spiritual guide.Discernment is even more necessary in the case of tongues. Often itis not the Spirit of God that is speaking through the tongues, but the all-too-human spirit of auto-suggestion and mass hysteria.
Thereare even occasions when "speaking with tongues" is a form of demonicpossession.
"Beloved, trust not every spirit, but test the spiritsto see whether they are from god" (1 John 4.1)
Orthodoxy insists on the need for a direct experience of the HolySpirit, but also insists upon the need for discrimination and sobriety. ...our participation in the gifts of the Spirit need to be purged of all fantasy and emotional excitement. Gifts that aregenuinely spiritual are not to be rejected, but we should neverpursue such gifts as an end in themselves.
Our aim in the life ofprayer is not to gain feelings or "sensible" experiences of any particular kind, but simply and solely to conform our will toGod's. "I seek not what is yours but you" says St. Paul to theCorinthians (1 Cor. 12.14); and we say the same to God. We seek notthe gifts but the Giver".
