The high degree of spiritual discernment available to Orthodox Christians is not found outside of the Orthodox Church. Yet, no Orthodox Christian would dare doubt the statements of Jesus Christ regarding the possibility that some outside His group of Apostolic followers may possibly perform legitimate miracles in His name. So hiw are we to know what is legitimate and what is not?

Legitimate miracles lead people toward Christ, toward the unity of the Orthodox Christian Faith, but miracles which scatter people, leading them away from the spiritual unity found only in Christ are not of Divine origin. Christ also warns that miracles, casting out of demons, and prophesying (whether in the vernacular or in another language, i.e., tongues) are not signs of salvation because many who have done these things in His Name will walk away from Him on Judgment Day, going their own way into perdition because they are workers of iniquity (Matthew 7).

Many wonder why the gift of speaking in tongues is rarely mentioned by the Church Fathers and why there are so few accounts of it in the lives of the saints, but why would there be many accounts of it if it is a gift whose primary purpose is to speak privately to God in prayer, and not publicy to other people (1 Corinthians 14:2)? The saints do not tend to boast of spiritual giftings nor do they engage in charismatic exhibitionism because the Orthodox Church fosters humility rather than glorifying sensationalism and a cuture of spectacularism. The sign of tongues initially confirmed the efficacy of the Sacrament of the Laying on of Hands for the Gift of the Holy Spirit, which, in the apostolic era, was the normative means of the communication of the Holy Spirit. The sovereign act of God, apart from human intervention, which occurred at the first Jewish Christian Pentecost (Acts 2) and the first Gentile Pentecost (Acts 10) did not become normative. Rather, the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of Apostolic hands (Acts 8:18; 19:6; 2 Tim 1:6-7). In the early days of the Church, tongues was a sign to those who doubted the efficacy of the Apostles' laying on of hands. As the Church grew, the Apostles drew distinction between the laying on of hands for the Gift of the Holy Spirit and the laying on of hands for commissioning and ordination by the inclusion of a special Anointing for the Gift of the Holy Spirit. This would further distinguish this sacrament from the sacrament of the laying on of hands for ordination and thus help reduce any possible ambiguity in the Church regarding who was ordained by the Apostles, which ambiguity could be used by people with a penchant for power to allege ordination when, in reality, they had only received the sacrament for the Gift of the Holy Spirit. To clarify and distinguish the sacrament further from Holy Ordination, the Apostles took the sacramental sign of Holy Chrism from the anointing of prophets, priests and kings in the Old Testament, seeing its connection with the Holy Spirit (1 Samuel 16:13) and made use of Holy Chrism to communicate the Seal of the Gift of the Holy Spirit, not simply thru their own administration, but at the hands of the bishops and presbyters whom they appointed. Now, we require no manifestation of tongues or other miraculous sign to confirm the efficacy of Holy Chrismation, but we trust in the God who appointed the Apostles, and bishops and presbyters and imparted to them this Mystery. So there are no accounts after the Apostolic era of converts receiving the Sacrament for the Gift of the Holy Spirit and, consequently, immediately speaking in tongues. Such an outward spectacle is unnecessary to those who believe and it is undesirable in a community encouraging faith and humility. But does that mean that the gift of speaking in tongues has ceased from the Church? Not necessarily.

We know from Scripture and from Saint Irenaeus that many spoke in tongues in the early days of the Church and on into the second century, following the death of the apostles and prior to the advent of the late-second-century Montanist movement with its imbalanced, aberrant eschatological ideas and strange forms of ecstatic inspirations which seemed not to be subject to the prophets (those thus inspired) contrary to the Apostle Paul's description of legitimate prophetic inspiration (1 Corinthians 14:32). When the bishops of the Church rejected the Montanist movement the public display of prophetic gifts such as tongues, interpretation of tongues, and prophecy as is described by Saint Irenaeus and in the "Shepherd of Hermas" seems to have decreased sharply within the context of the worship gatherings of the Churches. Bishops certainly have the authority to "quench the Spirit" and to "despise prophesyings," even legitimate prophesyings. If they could not do that, Saint Paul would not have commanded us not to do so (1 Thessalonians 5:19-21). Nevertheless, even though the literature indicates a marked decrease in the manifestation of prophetic gifts within the public gatherings of the Ekklesia after the clerical crack-down on Montanism, the hagiography throughout the centuries and even into present times shows how the prophetic charismata have continued in the life of the Orthodox Church, not so much in worship gatherings, though at times, perhaps, during the homily, but mostly in the lives of the saints, in private confession, in their encounters outside of the worship gatherings, with others in need of help, encouragement, admonition, healing, encouragement, etc. Also, when we look at the writings of the Church Fathers and other saints, Orthodox Christians discern the inspirational operation of the Holy Spirit, working through these saints, and the Church has "held onto that which is good," and these things have become part of the Tradition. Tongues, of course, is largely absent from the written accounts of the saints' lives, because speaking in tongues is for the edification of the speaker, not others, and Paul encourages silence in the assembly in the absence of one gifted with interpretation. With the squelching of Montanist excesses and aberrations and the decrease and cessation thereafter of public manifestations of the Prophetic Spirit in the corporate gatherings of the Church, the public exercise of tongues with its requisite companion gift of interpretation would have largely or completely ceased, as the historical record seems to indicate. Once the public exercise of such gifts was a relic of the past, what would be the point of the manifestation of tongues and interpretation, unless it were in the private, prayer lives of the saints? By interpretation of tongues privately the saints could still benefit the Church, not immediately in the context of the public assembly, but, later, through teaching, writing, and personal conversations outside of the context of the worshipping assembly as they share insights they, perhaps, have received via such private tongues and interpretation.

After the public manifestation of prophetic gifts in the corporate worship of the Church had ceased and more and more written prayers were judged to be good, being inspired by the Holy Spirit, and were held fast, and incorporated into the liturgical worship of the Church, the need for such public displays lessened greatly, perhaps to the point of being unneeded or even unbeneficial. When those who are spiritual listen to the liturgical prayers of the Church, they recognize the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as the source of these prayers and the chanters speak "as the oracles of God," and, truly, they are. When Christians listen to these prayers they are edified in the faith and when unbelievers hear them, they are convicted. The same Prophetic Spirit that inspired spontaneous prophecies in public worship in the early days of the Church is still operative in the liturgies of the Church. Furthermore, spiritual discernment has been sharpened because of the intensity of the liturgical prayers among the Orthodox faithful. Speaking in tongues would be strange and out of place in the context of the great decency, order, and reverence of the Liturgy, but it is wrong for Orthodox to say that speaking in tongues is not for today, that it is not possible today, that God is bound by popular ideas in the Church and cannot grant such a gift to anyone today, or that such a gift could only be operative in a highly-sanctified Orthodox saint. All such errant conclusions are, in effect, contrary to the Apostolic injunction to "forbid not to speak in tongues."

The Orthodox serve a living God and, as Saint Cyril of Jerusalem says, "Faith is a large matter." We ought not to put limits on the possibilities of Faith while at the same time, judging all things, discerning the spirits, and holding fast to that which is good. Whoever is not from God does not listen to the Church and that is how we discern the Spirit of truth from the spirit of error (1 John 4:6). The one who does not gather others into the unity of the Church, but rather scatters abroad, is not with Christ , but rather against Him (Matthew 12:30). We must beware of "prelest," spiritual pride, pride in so-called charismata, pride even in authentic gifts, because such pride is a clear sign of alienation from God. Saint Gregory Palamas, in his "Triads," discusses the possibility of a genuine charismatic manifestation from God not benefitting the recipient spiritually. Better we not have any such gifts and be humble than be puffed up with pride and far from God with our "gifts." Such a gift could well become a curse to us if we are condemned by being lifted up with pride. When we truly benefit from a gift such as speaking in tongues, our hearts are afflicted with contrition and fear of God and joyful gratitude in the Holy Spirit, but if we are lifted up with pride or the complacency of laughter we ought to cease the speaking of such tongues. His Grace Bishop Kallistos Ware says no less in his excellent book THE ORTHODOX WAY. Such dangers were certainly present in the Apostolic era when the gift of glossolalia was granted more frequently. Even so, we ought not to overreact by essentially forbidding the speaking of tongues by our theologoumena and so make warfare against the Apostolic teaching through wayward pride in the name of Orthodoxy. The Apostle says very clearly, "Do not forbid speaking in tongues."

The dangerous parlor games Father Seraphim Rose describes in his book ORTHODOXY AND THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE characterize the vast part of the Pentecostal movements, both "Oneness" and Trinitarian. It was not always so. The shift started in the 1960s, with the advent of the "Charismatic movement," or, perhaps, even early in the revivalism of the Latter Rain Movement with its dissemination of many false teachings. Prior to that time, the Pentecostal teaching was that one must sanctify oneself and seek God in prayer, waiting for God to grant the Gift of the Holy Spirit at such a time as He saw fit. There was always, of course, the expectation (demand?) within Pentecostalism that speaking in tongues would be the sign of being filled with the Holy Spirit, but ministers who tried to manipulate people into "speaking in tongues" were frowned upon, especially in the more established Trinitarian Pentecostal churches such as the Assemblies of God. Donald Gee, one of the earliest teachers in the Assemblies of God, criticized the "techniques" some ministers were using, even then, to try to get people to "speak in tongues," as described decades later by Father Seraphim. Even so, the early Pentecostal emphasis was much more on holiness, preparation of one's heart, repentance, confession of sin, and faithful, waiting prayer for the Gift of the Holy Spirit. That makes sense because Pentecostalism emerged largely out of the Methodist Holiness movement with its stress on sanctification as a "further work of Grace." But something happened around the 1960s and a new emphasis, teaching, and practice became widespread throughout Pentecostalism over a period of about 10 years or 15 years. Pentecostal preachers began mocking, from the pulpit, the practice of "tarrying for the Holy Spirit." Instead, they taught that "tarrying" is unnecessary and pointless. They taught that the Holy Spirit is already given, so all you have to do is just open your mouth and, basically, presume to speak words in tongues that will automatically be given by the Holy Spirit in answer to your "faith-filled" presumption. This new Pentecostal practice that became standard from the mid-seventies onward is reminiscent of the manipulative antics of the Gnostic teacher Marcus the Magician, described by Saint Irenaeus in AGAINST HERESIES. From the mid-1970s on, there was a proliferation of this kind of faith-killing, formulaic manipulation and ungodly presumption that now characterizes the Pentecostal movement and many of its Charismatic offshoots. Through the teachings of John Wesley, who had studied the Church Fathers, the Methodist Holiness movement was somewhat closer to Orthodoxy. So was the Pentecostal movement, which sprang from it, but when Pentecostal preachers jettisoned the older teaching with its emphasis upon holiness, the Pentecostal movements moved even further away from Orthodoxy toward "the religion of the future" Fr. Seraphim Rose warns of, the new-age, syncretistic religion of Antichrist, the enemy of God.

When it comes to the working of the Holy Spirit, Who is in All Places and Fills All Things, we need to evaluate in a case-by-case manner and meet people as persons with whom the Holy Spirit is working as He is trying to meet them where they are and guide them toward the Fullness of the Orthodox Faith. One can judge a movement or a religion as being imbalanced, misguided, or lacking in spiritual discernment, but that doesn't mean that God is wholly absent from it and is not working among and through Pentecostals, many of whom are trying to do the will of God, though they must certainly struggle, especially in the area of spiritual discernment, due to their lack of connection to the corporate wisdom of the Church which spans the past two millenia. But to judge the condition of their hearts...that seems wrong on so many levels. The Holy Spirit can work through the most sinful of men at times. The ability to speak in languages one has never learned is not a sign of sanctity or of salvation although the saints are probably more open to such experiences than most of us who live and often think like unbelievers. Saint Gregory Palamas in his "Triads" says it is possible to speak legitimately in tongues given by the Holy Spirit and not derive any spiritual benefit from the experience. Although the Gift is for prayer to God and operates through the body, as Saint Gregory points out, it does not result automatically in prayer. The point it, one's heart can be far from God while receiving Divine Grace.. That's why many can receive Holy Communion and genuinely receive Christ Himself while at the same time eating and drinking condemnation upon themselves because of their flippant approach to the Holy Mysteries. If God gives unholy people the Holy Gifts to receive even though "Holy Things are for the holy," why wouldn't God give a comparatively insignificant gift like speaking in tongues to a person for spiritual edification and support and an encouragement on the path toward Deification (Theosis)? We ought not to limit what God is willing to do for us by our theological presumptions, which are based more on our own impoverished spiritual experience than on the promises of God given to us in the Scriptures.

The Christians in the Church at Corinth had a lot of struggles with sin and carnality. The Apostle Paul called them "babes in Christ" and "not spiritual," but rather "carnal" because of their earthly mindset rather than being in possession of the mind of Christ. Nevertheless, so many of them had the genuine gift of tongues that the Apostle Paul had to give them guidelines so as not to abuse the Grace given them in this particular operation of the Holy Spirit. It appears they were misusing the gift , either for exhibitionism or in an egocentric way, and that they would all speak in tongues at the same time in their worship services, either to show off their gifting or to edify themselves without benefitting others gathered there. Saint Paul told them to stop this exhibition since it did not edify others and it would be an occasion for unbelievers to blaspheme and blame the genuine working of the Holy Spirit on insanity or on the kind of ecstatic behavior characteristic in the festivals of the pagan cult of Dionysus. Isn't that what happened when the apostles spoke in tongues at the same time on the Day of Pentecost? Many accused them of being drunk when they were all extolling the wonderful works of God in various tongues. What happened then on that first Pentecost and at the Gentile "pentecost" in Acts 10 is not meant to be normative for the Church. Those experiences of all speaking in tongues at the same time in the same place were not to be normative as Saint Paul makes clear in First Corinthians 14. Paul said he wished all Christians could speak in tongues (14:5), but he also says that such a manifestation is given by the will of God (12:7) and that not all speak in tongues (12:30). He also said that love should be the guiding principle, seeking the good of another, with respect to the charismata. He also said he would prefer that all Christians should prophesy and he seems to indicate that all Christians can prophesy (14:31). Moses had said, "Would that all the LORD’s people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!” And Joel prophesied that God would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh and that our sons and daughters would prophesy. Orthodox Christians are given this same Prophetic Spirit through Holy Chrismation, although it woefully lies dormant or only liturgically operative in many of us due to sins of pride, unbelief, and lack of spiritual fervor in our prayers, fastings, and charitable deeds. After all, Christ said if we are not good stewards with earthly things like money, how will we ever be entrusted with the true riches, the gifts of the Holy Spirit?

Saint Paul encourages those graced with speaking in tongues to seek the gift of interpretation of tongues so that the Church may receive edification (14:13). Saint Gregory Palamas says that Saint Paul encourages us to seek this gift of interpretation of tongues through prayer, but the persons Paul is addressing in the context are those who speak with tongues. By saying that Paul encourages US to pray for interpretation, is he implying that he himself and/or some of his fellow hesychast monks were still, in the 14th century, speaking with tongues? Perhaps, though he does not put the spotlight on himself the way the carnal Corinthian Christians did and the way Pentecostals often do, but Saint Gregory walks a path of humility to which the Church testifies. Anyone gifted with charismatic Grace ought to be very fearful of abusing such Grace for as the Lord said, "To whom much is given, much is required." If we misuse God's Grace in the Church as an occasion for pride, boasting of our sanctity, our spirituality, our Holy Mysteries, our Orthodoxy, or our whatever, we are condemning ourselves. It requires true spiritual discernment at times to distinguish between a genuine spiritual manifestation and a false one. An axiom such as "if the tongue-speaker is nothing close to a saint, the tongues are obviously demonic" is insufficient and may actually be plain wrong in certain circumstances, possibly even doing harm. We ought rather to ask: what is the purpose of this particular tongue-speaking? What is it resulting in? Toward where is it leading? Is it leading the person toward humility or toward pride? Toward repentance or toward complacency? Toward penitential tears or toward foolish laughter? Toward the Church or away from it? Toward the Holy Chalice or away from it? Toward Christ or elsewhere?

As far as contrived or demonic tongues are concerned, none of what is said here applies since such tongues are not from God and are therefore void of Divine Grace. The only appropriate response to demonically-inspired languages or "made-up" gibberish is to desist from them rather than trying to align demons or gobbledy-gook with the Orthodox Faith.

Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, the Theologian, says regarding the 120 disciples gathered at Pentecost, that the preferred interpretation of the text is that the miracle of tongues was not in the hearing of the crowd, but rather in the mouths of the disciples because the Holy Spirit was giving utterance to them, not changing the sound by a miracle in the hearing of the foreigners that heard them, but forming the words of other languages in the disciples' mouths. The Theologian says that that is why "they were reproached for drunkenness" (On Pentecost 15). John Chrysostom describes the phenomenon at length, stating the tongue of those given this gift would move under inspiration of the Spirit and they would speak in a language unknown to them. This movement of the tongue and lips is the operation of the gift "through the body" as mentioned by Saint Gregory Palamas in his TRIADS. But, as the Apostle Peter and Saint Irenaeus say, genuine gifts of the Holy Spirit are not subject to the will of man and are given at whatever moment as the Holy Spirit wills. One given such a gift may of course refrain from or even resist its operation, but one ought not to treat the gift as a possession to be exercised at will. If the manifestation is present and operative in the body, let one so graced either speak or refrain, but if Divine Grace is not currently operating for the manifestation of glossolalia, do not presume to initiate or "practice" speaking in tongues.

"Praying in the Holy Spirit" (Jude 20) is not identical with the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues because one may pray in the Spirit in the vernacular and not in a foreign tongue. When we are directed by the Spirit how to pray and our words are inspired or we pray in the inspired words of Scripture or in the liturgical prayers of the Church we are also praying in the Holy Spirit and building ourselves up in our most Holy Faith. The gift of tongues and prophetic prayer both offer Grace to lead one toward the experience of unceasing prayer of the heart, but these charismata do not automatically result in this goal. One may speak in tongues, but not necessarily pray in tongues. One may prophesy, but not acquire the indwelling of Divine Love. Apart from ascetical striving, it is highly unlikely one will attain unceasing prayer, let alone maintain the Grace of unceasing prayer and abiding Love. So the gift of tongues or prophetic prayer can offer assistance toward this end, but they themselves are not that end. We are taught by our father among the saints Gregory of Palamas that it is possible for the genuine gift of tongues to be operative through the body of a person while that same person's heart is void of prayer. Nevertheless, to pray mindfully along with a charism of the Holy Spirit is profitable spiritually and can assist one on the path toward perfection in Christ. Saint Paul has great appreciation for the gift of speaking in tongues and he wishes all could receive this gift although he admits that the gift is given at the discretion of God and that not every one speaks in tongues. Even so, as Saint Peter of Damascus indicates, perhaps any Christian may attain a spiritual grace whereby he or she hears inspired statements in tongues mentally, without necessarily being able to speak or verbalize such locutions.

Contrary to any Pentecostal insistence on the sign of speaking in tongues unknown to the speaker as THE necessary sign of the reception of the Holy Spirit, on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, the disciples were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in various tongues (i.e. languages) as the Spirit gave them utterance. One of these languages being spoken would have been the vernacular for all of these disciples, since one of the languages Saint Luke lists is the tongue of the inhabitants of Judea, which would have been Aramaic, certainly known to all the Judeans and Galileans of which the 120 disciples were composed. In other words, whoever was speaking in the tongue of Judea was, in fact, simply prophesying in the vernacular because speaking in tongues is a form of prophesying and is described as such by the Apostle Peter when he calls this event on Pentecost a fulfillment of the Prophet Joel's prophecy regarding the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the distribution of the ability to prophesy. Saint Irenaeus also refers to the speaking of tongues as "prophecy." This simultaneous speaking of tongues at Pentecost occurred without human mediation. Likewise, in the only other recorded instance of the impartation of the Holy Spirit apart from a Sacramental Sign (i.e., the laying on of Apostolic hands or anointment with Holy Chrism), the sign of the reception of the Holy Spirit by the Gentiles was not simply speaking in tongues, but also magnifying God, which would have been in the lingua franca of the era, which was Greek. The inspired magnification of God in the vernacular was likewise a sign of the reception of the Holy Spirit by the Gentiles.

If there is any charismatic gift that serves as a sign of the reception of the Gift of the Holy Spirit in every case, it would appear to be, not speaking in a tongue unknown to the speaker, but prophesying---that is, speaking words inspired by the Holy Spirit. The 12 Ephesians in Acts 19 both prophesied and spoke in tongues though we must not assume that every single one of them spoke in a language unknown to himself, though at least one of them certainly did and that is why Luke said that "they spoke with tongues and prophesied." The Deacon Philip's daughters prophesied though it does not say they spoke with tongues. Prophecy is greater than the gift of tongues, and as far as the charismata go, is more likely the sign of the Gift of the Spirit, though tongues could be considered a subset of prophetic utterance. According to Saint Augustine, the only sign of the reception necessary to believers is the sacramental sign by which the Spirit is imparted to the baptized in the normative way God works nowadays. Faith doesn't require a miraculous sign in order to trust the faithful working of God through the Sacramental Mysteries. But there is indeed another sign of the Spirit's reception, of which the Apostle Paul speaks. He says no one can say "Jesus is LORD" except by means of the Holy Spirit because no one can recognize the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, His Consubstantial Oneness with the Father, His identity as the incarnate LORD God of Israel apart from the Grace of God. And when Christians call God "Father" in prayer, it is by cooperation with the Grace of the Holy Spirit who has been sent into our hearts because we are sons by means of Baptism into Christ. Just as the confession of Jesus as one of the Holy Trinity is a function of the gift of prophecy, so also is the ability to call out to God in prayer as "Our Father." Similarly, the confession of the Nicene Creed in the Orthodox Church, coupled with the illumination of the faithful by the Holy Spirit, can also be seen as a prophetic function within the Church. And praying in the Holy Spirit can be carried out through recitation of the Creed, the praying of the "Our Father," through the chanting of Psalms and prayers and hymns, through reading the Scriptures and speaking "as the oracles of God," through private, spontaneous prayer informed by the prayers of the undivided Church, and even through the gift of speaking in tongues in prayer to God. (See Ephesians 5:18-19.) All these things are wrought authentically only through the Power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Grace and of supplication. We are to pray with all kinds of prayer and supplication in the Spirit. That is why Orthodox Christians begin all their devotional times of prayer with the sign of the Cross in the Name of the Holy Trinity and a prayer to the Holy Spirit: "O Heavenly King, O Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, Who are in all places and fills all things, Treasury of Good Things, and Giver of Life, come and abide in us and cleanse us from every stain and save our souls, O Good One." We also ask the Holy Spirit to pray in us. We ought not to babble as children void of understanding, praying only with our lips, as inspired as our utterances may be, but pray also with our minds. That is why, when speaking with tongues or prophesying or praying liturgically, our minds ought to be engaged in prayer also or resting in an attitude of waiting upon God so that we may deepen our spiritual understanding and be aligned with the mind of Christ.

The Orthodox believe in ongoing receptions, acquisitions, and fillings of the Holy Spirit, not just a one-time experience because the Gift of the Immeasurable Spirit cannot be exhausted. Yet not all speak with unknown tongues nor does God ever intend them to, and, currently, in the Orthodox Church, the vast quantity of Orthodox Christians have never spoken in tongues unknown to them. There are a few who do, not many, and only in the context of their private lives, not in the liturgical worship of the Church. Does that mean that Orthodox Christians do not have the Fullness of the Holy Spirit? Christ promised that the Holy Spirit would guide, not individual believers, but the Church as a whole into all Truth because He will receive from Christ, Who is the Truth, and reveal the things pertaining to Him unto them. If you look at this promise of Christ in the Gospel of John, he uses the plural form of the word for "you," not the singular form. Standing outside from the unity of the Church, one cannot presume upon the guidance of the Holy Spirit, though God is a merciful God and certainly not limited within the canonical boundaries of the Orthodox Church. Nevertheless, the Orthodox Church is the depository of the Revelation of Christ in the Holy Spirit among the Saints throughout the ages. Nevertheless, each of the faithful is called upon to walk in the Spirit and be led by the Spirit to mortify the irrational passions and misdeeds of the mortal flesh. As each of the faithful follows the lead of the Holy Spirit to die daily to sin and live to God, the faithful will increase in their conscious experience of the unity of the Spirit characteristic of the Body of Christ, the Church.

The focus of the monks is not speaking in tongues or receiving any of the charismata, but rather their objective is the primary purpose for which the gift of tongues is given...to be led toward the experience of the unceasing prayer of the heart and ongoing communication with God within the unity of the Church in love. One can speak in tongues and not have love. One can speak in tongues and cause division. One can speak in tongues and not benefit from the Grace being offered in the gift. One can glory in the gift and be displeasing to the Giver. One can speak in tongues and proclaim false doctrines and the teachings of demons. One can speak in tongues, genuine tongues as the Holy Spirit gives utterance--and be puffed up with pride due to the way one responds willfully to the gift. One can speak in tongues, work miracles, prophesy, cast out devils--all through the Power and Grace of the Holy Spirit--and yet be judged by Christ to be a worker of iniquity, not carrying out the will of the Father, alien to Christ. Not all speak in tongues, but all may attain the Grace of unceasing prayer of the heart, and that and loving God and one another should be our focus and objective. When we are in communication with God in prayer and not limiting God by our pride, our unbelief, or the preconceptions of our impoverished spiritual experience, God can give any of the charismata to us as He sees fit. May we be made worthy to walk in such a condition of Grace, Power, humility and Perfect Love together with all the saints. ( )