His Holiness Pope Shenouda III explains that when Christ said, “It is better for you that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you” (John 16:7), He was not speaking of another prophet or man, but of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God Himself who dwells in believers and remains with them forever.

📖 Spiritual and Theological Explanation:

• The Comforter promised by Christ is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him—clearly not a human being.

• Jesus said: “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter to abide with you forever,” and this eternal presence can only refer to the Holy Spirit.

• The Holy Spirit dwells in believers, as written in (1 Corinthians 6:19): “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

• Jesus commanded the disciples not to leave Jerusalem until they received power from on high, which was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended upon them.

• Christ also said of the Spirit: “He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you” (John 16:14), proving that the Spirit works in unity with Christ, not as a new messenger.

• Therefore, the Comforter is not a human prophet but the Holy Spirit, sent by Christ from the Father to dwell in the Church forever and work within believers’ hearts.

• These verses affirm the Christian belief in the unity of the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—one in essence and eternal in nature.

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