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Pentecost Sunday

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The forty days of Easter lead us through the joy of the Resurrection to the moment when Jesus ascended into Heaven. At that event, on Ascension Thursday, He promised to send an advocate, a comforter, to the disciples. The Bible tells us that the apostles, disciples, and the mother of Jesus – our Blessed Lady – withdrew to the upper room where Jesus had celebrated the Last Supper and in which He had repeatedly appeared after His Resurrection. There they prayed, fasted, studied Scripture, and waited for God to act, while also worshipping at the Temple.

The Descent of the Spirit came with a great wind that rushed through the building, and tongues of fire danced on the heads of the disciples. This event, at nine o’clock in the morning, is commemorated every day in the Divine Office at the Third Hour. As a result of the descent of the Holy Spirit, Saint Peter is transformed and he begins his preaching ministry in the street outside of the house, and thousands are converted to faith in Jesus as the Son of God and the true Messiah of Israel.

All Pentecost icons show Our Lady in the upper part, just off-center. She is the one who prayed with the apostles and disciples, and this is her last appearance in the bible. She will step aside to let the apostles and disciples undertake their preaching ministry to save souls. The apostles are in a semi-circle, showing their unity in the Body of Christ. The Holy Spirit is at the top, as a dove, with rays of fire coming forth. Many icons have an empty space in the center, where Christ would sit. Instead, His invisible presence is shown by the small gap in the altar or seats. Most icons also show a large black opening at the bottom center, with a king in the center. The king is “Cosmos”, a crowned man who represents the universe. The Gospel is to be carried out to all nations, to the cosmos itself. The Gospel is for every one. With the power of the Holy Spirit, the disciples are able to launch out into the known world, and shortly enough to go beyond the boundaries and trade routes of the Roman and Persian empires as they carry the Good News to all peoples. Within the first generation of Christians, the Faith was carried all the way to India!

On Pentecost, we kneel down while the priest kneels at the Royal Doors and sings “Heavenly King” once, and we repeat it two more times, just like the Easter Troparion. We kneel in humility, waiting for the Spirit of God to descend upon us. Through the gift of sacred time, kairos, we are lifted out of our daily time, chronos, and so we are present in the Upper Room with Mary and the rest of the apostles and disciples, and we are able to partake in the Spirit’s gifts. The Prophet Isaiah listed these gifts for us in chapter 11, verses 2-3: “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”

Pentecost is marked in Eastern Europe by a profusion of greenery. On this day, every Greek Catholic and Orthodox home is adorned with green branches at the gates, on apartment balconies, and over doorways. Fresh greenery is put into a vase for the family icon corner. In the church, green branches are put across the iconostasis, large sheaves of green grass are on the floor, and all the clergy are vested in green. Pentecost gives us new life in the Holy Spirit! Our nine days of expectation and hoping are now fulfilled with the Comforter, Who comes to us as Jesus promised when He ascended into heaven nine days ago. This is the culmination of Easter, the true destination of paschal joy. Raised up with Christ into new life, the Holy Spirit now sends us out into the world, after we are transformed by His living grace, to proclaim the message of God’s love and power to all.

Pope St. John Paul II taught: "The Spirit of Jesus, received by the humble and docile heart of the believer, brings about the flourishing of Christian moral life and the witness of holiness amid the great variety of vocations, gifts, responsibilities, conditions and life situations. … it is the Holy Spirit who confirmed the hearts and minds of the disciples, who revealed the mysteries of the Gospel, who shed upon them the light of things divine. Strengthened by his gift, they did not fear either prisons or chains for the name of the Lord; indeed they even trampled upon the powers and torments of the world, armed and strengthened by him, having in themselves the gifts which this same Spirit bestows and directs like jewels to the Church, the Bride of Christ."