Pentecost – Holy Spirit residing within Man

In the name of God the Father, the Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, One True God. Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus

We have completed one full journey during which we undertook the Great Lent with fasting of 40 days and followed it by walking with Jesus during His passion, which culminated on His sacrifice on the Cross on Golgotha and three days later He rose from the grave. After His resurrection, Jesus visited His disciples and followers and on the 40th day, He ascended into heaven, to be seated on the right hand of our Father God. During His ascension, He promised two things – one, that He would send a helper and second, that He would come again in the same manner He had ascended to heaven.

For 10 days after His ascension, the disciples and the followers of Jesus gathered together in prayer in Jerusalem, waiting for the promised Helper. After 10 days of waiting in prayer, the Holy Spirit descends upon the gathered faithful and post the descent of the Spirit, the disciples were able to preach in different languages and do many miracles.

The feasts of Passover and Pentecost was celebrated by the Jewish community from the time of their Exodus from Egypt. The feast of Passover celebrated their exodus of the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt and the feast of Pentecost celebrated God’s gift of the Ten Commandments which was given to Moses on Mount Sinai. In the New Testament, Passover event takes on a new meaning as the commemoration of the Holy Eucharist instituted by Christ Jesus and His death and resurrection, the “exodus” of men from this sinful world to the Kingdom of God. Also, the Pentecostal feast is fulfilled and made new by the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ.

This moment has traditionally been called the birthday of the Church.

The Indian Orthodox Church along with those churches who follow the Gregorian calendar will be celebrating the Feast of Pentecost tomorrow (22-May-2021), our brethren from our sister churches who follow the Julian calendar will be celebrating the feast next month. During the liturgical services of the Orthodox Churches of the feast of Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit is celebrated together with the full revelation of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The fullness of the Godhead is manifested with the Spirit’s descent upon man. The prayers and hymns of the Church celebrate this manifestation as the final act of God’s self-disclosure to His creation. For this very reason, in the Eastern Orthodox Churches, Pentecost Sunday is also called the Trinity Day and many churches place the icon of the Holy Trinity – particularly that of the three angelic figures who appeared to Abraham, the forefather of the Christian faith – in the centre of the church. This icon is used along with the traditional Pentecostal icon which shows the tongues of fire hovering over Mary and the Twelve Apostles, the original prototype of the Church, who are themselves sitting in unity surrounding a symbolic image of “cosmos,” the world.

In the Church’s annual liturgical cycle, Pentecost is “the last and great day.” It is the celebration by the Church of the coming of the Holy Spirit as the end—the achievement and fulfillment—of the entire history of salvation. For the same reason, however, it is also the celebration of the beginning: it is the “birthday” of the Church as the presence among us of the Holy Spirit, of the new life in Christ, of grace, knowledge, adoption to God and holiness. On Pentecost we see the final fulfillment of the mission of Jesus Christ and the beginning of the messianic age of the Kingdom of God mystically present in this world in the Church of the Messiah. For this reason the fiftieth day stands as the beginning of the era which is beyond the limitations of this world, fifty being that number which stands for eternal and heavenly fulfillment in Jewish and Christian mystical piety: seven times seven, plus one.

With the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Jesus Christ, the time of salvation had arrived and the Divine work of redemption has been completed, the fullness revealed, all gifts bestowed: it belongs to us now to “appropriate” these gifts, to be that which we have become in Christ: participants and citizens of His Kingdom. Through Christ’s descent and Crucifixion, He made the sinful human nature able to become divine and through His ascension, He made it possible for the human nature enter into the presence of God and through the descent of the Holy Spirit, God began to dwell within us.

Sometimes we might wonder why the miraculous event of Pentecost happen only to the disciples and with the immediate followers of the Way. We should note that the feast of Pentecost is not simply a celebration of an event that took place centuries ago. It is the celebration of what must happen and does happen to us in the Church today. Through our Baptism in Christ Jesus, we have all died and risen again with our King and Master, and we have all received the Holy Spirit, through which we have now become “temples of the living God”. God’s Spirit dwells in us and among us (Rom 8; 1 Cor 2–3, 12; 2 Cor 3; Gal 5; Eph 2–3). We have received “the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit” through the sacrament of Christmation. So Pentecost has happened to us as well, and we have become Temples where God resides.

The Liturgy of Pentecost recalls our baptism into Christ. The Epistles and the Gospel readings all point towards the coming of the Spirit upon man. The Liturgy also points towards the reversal of the punishment upon man in Babel as God unites the nations into the unity of his Spirit. Through the prayers and hymns of the Church, there is great emphasis on the renewal of life in the whole creation through God’s divine breath – the life giving Spirit.

The Orthodox liturgy of the Feast of Pentecost features three long prayers during which the faithful brethren kneel down for the first time since Easter. These kneeling prayers are the highlight of the Liturgy and hence the prayers are also known as Prayer of Genuflection. Each prayer is addressed to each personas of the Holy Trinity. The first prayer is addressed to God the Father, Who is the Source of all life, and also the Holy Trinity. We thank Him for filling us with the Holy Spirit and hence sanctified and exalted the whole human race with the knowledge of the Trinity.

The second prayer is addressed to Jesus Christ, Who through compassion and mercy turned us from idolaters of idol worship and made us perfect and true worshipers of the Holy Trinity. We acknowledge the fulfillment of His promise of the Helper Spirit through Whom the disciples were strengthened to proclaim the mystery of the Holy Trinity and we acknowledge the Spirit being con-substantial with Jesus and Holy forever.

The third prayer is addressed towards the comforter Holy Spirit, Who enabled the unskilled and illiterate to become wise men and teachers to people around the world and to whom were revealed the hidden wisdom and mystery of the Trinity. We worship the Spirit and entreat Him to continually abide in us and His divine operation be displayed in our words, deeds, conduct and in all good and perfect works. We entreat the Spirit to make us holy temples worthy of His glory and prove to be clean and un-defiled in His presence.

Dear brothers and sister in Christ Jesus, as we renew ourselves with the presence of the Holy Spirit in us, let us turn our hearts and minds from the vain thoughts of glory, riches and pride and turn them towards God, Who resides with us and among us. This is the logical liturgical sequence since the coming of the Holy Spirit is fulfilled in men by their becoming saints, and this is the very purpose of the creation and salvation of the world. “Thus says the Lord: Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I your God am holy” (Lev 11.44–45, 1 Pet 1.15–16).

Your brother in Christ Jesus

Jobin George