| The feast of Mid-Pentecost falls halfway between Pascha and Pentecost. It is a service of anticipation. The hymns of the service focus much less on Pascha and the Resurrection as they do on the coming of the Holy Spirit. Although Pascha is the Feast of Feasts, Pentecost is the celebration of our full participation in the Mystery of the resurrected Life. The main metaphor used throughout the feast of Mid-Pentecost is water. When Mid-feast was come, Jesus went up into the temple and taught the disobedient people, saying: He that thirsts, let him come unto Me and drink living and everlasting water, and he shall never thirst unto eternity. He that believes in Me, rivers shall flow from his innermost being, and he shall have the Light of Life. For all that Christ accomplished for our salvation at Pascha, it remains still for us to receive it. And for us to receive the resurrected Life, we have to thirst for it. All of the blessings and gifts and graces of heaven are ours through Christ, but God will not force them on us. God will only give us the heavenly gifts if we thirst for them. This is probably the reason why Jesus usually asked someone if they wanted to be healed. It seems strange to us that Jesus would ask someone who had been sick a long time whether or not they wanted to be healed. But keep in mind, all physical healings and miracles are signs. Miracles are never an end in themselves. Miracles in the physical world that we can easily see are signs pointing us to spiritual realities that we cannot easily see. Last Sunday, Jesus asked the man lame for 38 years if he wanted to be healed. Today at the feast of Mid-Pentecost, Jesus is asking us if we are thirsty, thirsty for the Light of Life. And so this is the question we must all ask our selves: Do we really want to be saved? Do we thirst for heavenly Life? Are we sick and tired of being spiritually blind and lame, of running into the same spiritual walls, same besetting sins, same failures again and again? Are we ready to humble ourselves and confess our need, to cry out to God: “I have sinned, have mercy on me”? If we are willing, we are ready for Pentecost. |
| A week ago, the Church celebrated the Sunday of All Saints, on which we give honor to all those who pleased God by their lives, known and unknown. It included everyone from the time of Christ and even before, in the Old Testament—all children of the One God. This last Sunday, different nations celebrated the saints who have shown forth in their lands—their own “families”, as it were. The Church calendar declares the second Sunday after Pentecost to be Sunday of All Saints of Russia, Sunday of All Saints of Mt. Athos, Sunday of All Saints of Palestine, Sunday of All Saints of Romania, Sunday of All Saints of the Iberian Peninsula, and even Sunday of All Saints of America. Other synaxes of the saints of various lands are celebrated on subsequent Sundays. Next Sunday are celebrated All the New Martyrs of the Turkish Yoke, All Saints of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, All Saints of Novgorod, Pskov, Belorussia, and Vologda, All Saints of Galicia, All Saints of Poland, All Saints of Odessa, and All Saints of Britain and Ireland. St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco Why do these countries and even cities take such “pride” in their own saints as to hymn them exclusively on a special Sunday? Let’s first look at how the Orthodox view saints. St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco (who can be claimed by four different countries) talks about the nature of saints: Saints are those who have partaken of the Divine essence and made it their own; to God, they become " His own. " The saints enjoy blessedness, for God is blessed. From them there is light for men. Through them the power of God is revealed. Saints retain all that is characteristic of the human condition; they know everything that is ours. They are near to God, but they are also near to us; they walked and dwelt among us. That they dwelt among us is a very concrete thing. St. John himself dwelt comparatively recently among Russians, Serbs, Chinese, the French, and Americans—these last having been given the great blessing of preserving his relics on their West Coast. They might be proud of this, just as every land can be of their “own” saints. But is that the point of this commemoration? Are Russians, Greeks, Serbs, Romanians, or other historically Orthodox peoples waxing nationalistic by glorying in their own saints? |
| In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. CHRIST IS RISEN! If we come to the daily services and pay close attention to the hymnography in this Paschal period, or if we read through the Pentecostarion (which is a great thing to do at home even outside of Church) we will hear and read about the theme of “water” all throughout this period between Pascha and Pentecost in which the Church uses this liturgical book known as the Pentecostarion. On Pascha we hear “come let us taste a new drink, not miraculous water drawn forth from a barren rock, but the Fount of Immortality, springing from the tomb of Christ, in Him we are established,” and in the succeeding weeks we hear of the Sheep’s Pool, the Well of Jacob, the Pool of Siloam, and the Living Waters of Christ which cause us to never thirst again. We receive this living water in baptism, and in the Cup of Life which is the side of Christ from which flowed blood and water as He hung, triumphantly, on the Cross. He is truly the Fount of Immortality. Thus, in the Dismissal Hymn of Mid-Pentecost we ask Christ for the “waters of piety” to be imparted to our souls. This feast looks back to Pascha and ahead to Pentecost, originating from both, offering to us, in a sense, a torrent of overflowing grace. The grace of these two amazing feasts is united on this day, and perhaps it is for this reason that this feast was held in especially high esteem by the holy elder Joseph the Hesychast, who was instrumental in renewing the spiritual life on Mt. Athos, and reposed in 1959. He delighted in this feast with the faith of a simple child and awaited with great expectancy and preparation in order to receive these “waters of piety.” It is said that the ascent of his soul and the divine visions he received were especially great on this present feast. Such is the love, mercy and grace of God towards man that are poured out in this Paschal period. Pentecost pours out such abundant grace that it reaches all the way down to Hades—and so on Pentecost we pray on bended knee for those who have reposed. Christ is the Living Water for both the living and the dead. And the Pentecostarion period concludes with the Sunday of All Saints on which we read from Isaiah 55, that as rain and snow pour out of Heaven and saturate the earth, causing the plants to bud and bringing bread to man, so shall be the Word of God. Whatever proceeds from the mouth of God shall not turn back until all things He wills shall be accomplished. His ways and commandments will prosper, and all peoples, mountains, hills, and trees—indeed, all of creation—shall exalt with joy, and the Lord’s name shall be an everlasting sign for Israel. Of course we know that as the Church we are the New Israel, so we are seeing in Isaiah a promise of God’s everlasting fidelity to us and the promise of His well-spring which can never be quenched. |
| Photo: pravmir.ru I have a question about something I’ve been thinking about for a while. I’ve read that the Church canons say that you are not supposed to kneel or prostrate on Sundays, but I was wondering how strictly that’s interpreted in practice? I currently attend a Romanian parish and among Romanians (as you probably know) it is customary to kneel during the Our Father, the Creed, the Gospel reading etc and some people kneel throughout much of the liturgy. I personally think it is a beautiful sign of reverence but I was wondering why it has become customary and accepted in Romania but not in other places, and if the “prohibition” against kneeling on Sundays is really necessary or what the purpose of it really is? I know some other parishes where people barely show any reverence at all so it still seems to me to be better to kneel or prostrate than to just be completely passive… Question from a Correspondent in Europe ‘Since some people kneel in church on Sundays and on the days of Pentecost, with a view to preserving uniformity in all parishes it has seemed best to the holy Council for prayers to be offered to God while standing’. Canon XX of the First Universal Council The canons you refer to are the above, Canon XC of the Sixth Universal Council and Canon XV of St Peter the Martyr of Alexandria, all from the first seven centuries. So, yes, on paper, you do not kneel on the liturgical day of Sunday (Saturday evening to Sunday evening) and not between Easter and Pentecost (the kneeling prayers read at Vespers of Pentecost are the first when you kneel). Why? Because Sunday is the day of the Resurrection and the period between Easter and Pentecost effectively the afterfeast of the Feast of the Resurrection. If we are risen with Christ, then we are risen and so stand. So much for the theory. What about practice? One of the easiest ways to tell the difference between certain converts and Orthodox is whether they kneel on Sundays or not (especially on the Sunday of the Cross during Lent). Converts, whether of the zealot old calendarist or of the liberal new calendarist variety (extremes always meet), refuse to kneel because of their head knowledge, Orthodox kneel because of the movements of their hearts. As one person has said in answer to an uptight convert who insisted that Orthodox stand during services: ‘No they don’t: Russians stand, Greeks sit and Romanians kneel’. |
| Sunday Before Pentecost We also are on our way to the day of Pentecost, next week we will keep this event. When Paul was on his way, he thought of what had happened to himself in the solitude of his journey from Jerusalem to Damascus and in the gift of the Spirit mediated to him by Ananias. And we also, each of us singly and all of us together should reflect on all that God has given us. Source: http://www.mitras.ru/ In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost We have heard in the Acts of the Apostles how, as the Feast of Pentecost was approaching, Paul the Apostle had started on his journey to Jerusalem to be there together with all those who on that very day received the Holy Spirit. Of all of them he was the only one who had not been present in the High Room where the event took place. And yet, God had given him a true, a perfect conversion of heart, and of mind and of life, and had given him freely the gift of the Holy Spirit in response to his total, ultimate gift of self to Him, the God Whom he did not know but Whom he worshipped. We also are on our way to the day of Pentecost, next week we will keep this event. When Paul was on his way, he thought of what had happened to himself in the solitude of his journey from Jerusalem to Damascus and in the gift of the Spirit mediated to him by Ananias. And we also, each of us singly and all of us together should reflect on all that God has given us. He has given us existence and breathed life into us, – not only the life of the body, but a life that makes us akin to Him, His life. He has given us to know Him, the Living God, and He has given us to meet, in the Gospel and in life, His Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. In Baptism, in the Anointment with Holy Chrism, in Communion to the Body and Blood of Christ, in the mysterious, silent communion of prayer, in the moments when God Himself came near, although we were not thinking of Him, He has given us so much. Let us reflect on all that is given us, asking ourselves whether we are truly disciples of Christ. |
| Those Kneeling Prayers! This past Monday Eve -- that is, on Pentecost Sunday afternoon -- we prayed the Kneeling Prayers at the Vespers for Holy Spirit Day, on Monday. I love coming to each feast day, in its distinctiveness, and partake of some unique aspect of the Gospel of Jesus Christ communicated through that liturgical celebration. And Pentecost does not disappoint, with its annual Kneeling Prayers. This past Monday Eve — that is, on Pentecost Sunday afternoon — we prayed the Kneeling Prayers at the Vespers for Holy Spirit Day, on Monday. I love coming to each feast day, in its distinctiveness, and partake of some unique aspect of the Gospel of Jesus Christ communicated through that liturgical celebration. And Pentecost does not disappoint, with its annual Kneeling Prayers. Yet, as a priest and the one leading the people of God in these important prayers, I must admit a certain degree of struggle with these prayers. Undoubtedly, “love-hate relationship” is much too strong, but you get what I mean. These prayers are, well, quite long; priests are tempted to read them quickly, which would result in less than full comprehension. They’re read once a year, so there’s no opportunity to absorb them over time by repetition, week by week. They’re written in classic Byzantine style, not certainly in classic English style, with its genius of directness and simple elegance. (You can tell I teach writing, eh?) I wish that I were more pious, less of a sinner, so that such thoughts wouldn’t enter my head like so many birds stealing the fruits of faith, but there you have it. So, let’s look more closely at them, in order to understand them better. In these Kneeling Prayers there’s actually seven different prayers, done in three sets of kneeling: two in the first set, two in the second set, and three in the third set. Each set ends, sealed as it were with a lovely capstone, with one of the ancient vesperal prayers for light, from the Great Church of Holy Wisdom, in Constantinople. That much makes sense: praying for light as we re-enter the world from the heady days of Pascha-Pentecost, and enter “ordinary time” in our cycle of the church year. We need the light of Christ in the dark paths of this world, as our Gospel for the Feast proclaimed. |
| Tweet Pentecost - Trinity Sunday Fr. Thomas Hopko Pentecost. Novgorod, XIV century " When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marvelled, saying to one another, Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs &endash; we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God " (Acts 2:1-11). Tradition says that to fulfil the prophecy of Joel (Joel 2: 28-29), the Holy Spirit descended not only on the twelve chosen Apostles, but also upon all those who were with them " with one accord in one place " (Acts 2:1), that is, on the whole Church. This is why in Icons of Pentecost there are represented Apostles not belonging to the twelve - Apostle Paul (sitting with Apostle Peter at the head of the circle of Apostles), and among the seventy, Luke the Evangelist and Mark the Evangelist (Ouspensky and Lossky, The Meaning of Icons, Rev Ed, SVS, NY, 1982, p208). And there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire ... and they were filled with the Holy Spirit So that by gradual increase ... and progress from glory to glory, the light of the Trinity might shine upon the more illuminated ... |
| Pentecost Letter from His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph Source: Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America Archbishop Joseph of New York and Metropolitan of All North America 03 June 2020 Beloved Faithful in Christ, Greetings and blessings to you and your families as we prepare for our celebration of Holy Pentecost! As we stand between these two great feasts of the Ascension of our Lord and Holy Pentecost, our festal joy is intermingled with profound sadness and grief. We witnessed the brutal murder of a defenseless man, George Floyd, by men entrusted by our society to uphold peace and justice. As Orthodox Christians, we are appalled by this act of unjust violence, and we fervently entreat the Lord to grant repose to George’s soul and comfort and peace to his grieving family and loved ones. We are also witnessing protests that speak to the wider issues of racial prejudice and injustice in our society. We do not condone chaos and violence as a means of protest, as they only serve to fan the flames of anger and hatred and harm the very communities the peaceful protestors are working to improve. As Antiochian Orthodox, we can offer our broken-hearted empathy, as many of our faithful have come from countries where they have experienced injustice, and we must forcefully proclaim the equal dignity of every human person as created in the image and likeness of God. As we see the images of so many places set aflame, let us contemplate the images of fire that the Church will offer us this weekend. On Sunday morning, we will chant a festal hymn: “All the nations in the city of David beheld wonders, when the Holy Spirit descended in fiery tongues.” This hymn and many others speak to the teaching that the feast of Pentecost healed the division of humanity into competing nations as a result of the Tower of Babel. In the Old Covenant, God fashioned for Himself a people to receive the Law. In the New Covenant, God brings all the nations into unity through the Gift of the Holy Spirit – as Christ foretold to the Samaritan Woman a few short weeks ago that all would worship God “in spirit and truth.” |
| Photo: Remembering Sion We have reached today the Third Sunday after Pentecost, the third Sunday after the feast on which the Holy Spirit was first poured out upon the apostles of Christ, and the great missionary work of the Church was begun. On the first Sunday after Pentecost we celebrate all the saints who have shown forth throughout the entire world, while the second Sunday is set aside for each local church to keep the festival of its own saints — in our case it is the Sunday of All Saints of the Church of Russia, the church which first brought Holy Orthodoxy to our land, and which still to this day leads and guides us [in the Russian Church Abroad] toward the Kingdom of Heaven as our loving mother. And today, on the third Sunday, we honor the saints who have spiritually labored right here, in our rough American soil, so that the same grace of the Most Holy Spirit which transfigured their own lives would also transfigure the lives of you and I and each and every person around us. And though they may be few in number, truly the spiritual glory within them shines no less brightly than in the saints of any other land! For as St. Paul writes in his letter to the Hebrews: “Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” So let us remember today those who have spoken unto us the word of God. Let us remember first of all the Protomartyr Peter the Aleut who, having found the pearl of great price, truly gave all that he had — even his very life — to acquire it (cf. Matthew 14:46). Let us remember our Holy Father Herman of Alaska, that great ascetic and model for monastics, who understood that the heart of all asceticism is love and that the heart of all monasticism is obedience, and so with humble obedience forsook his beloved solitude in Valaam in order to bring the love of Christ to the people of our land. Let us remember the Holy Hieromartyr Juvenaly, who like our Lord Himself meekly accepted death at the hands of the very people he had come at such great cost to bring to salvation. |
| All Saints Sunday Of course all of us are called by God to be saints—that is, to be holy, sanctified. This is, in fact, the purpose, and the main purpose of our life here on earth. You see, our main purpose is not to be good businessmen—though there’s nothing wrong with that—or good teachers, or good priests, or good writers, or good anything else. Our primary destiny is to live with God in most intimate union, forever, and ever, and ever, beginning in this life. In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen On this Sunday on the secular calendar we observe Father’s Day, a worthy non-Church celebration. But let this not overshadow the liturgical feast we keep on this Sunday: All Saints Day. Last week we celebrated Pentecost Sunday, when the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit, descended upon the Church—which consisted of the apostles, disciples, and the Theotokos—in the Upper Room in Jerusalem. That Pentecost “event” was not just a pious fable or a symbol or a metaphor. It was the actual “indwelling” of God the Holy Spirit in the Christian Church, beginning on that day and continuing to our very own. And what is the “fruit” of Pentecost? Simply this: the huge harvest of saints, of holy men and women—beginning with the apostolic Church and continuing into the 21st century, yes to our very own time. What is a “saint”? Because our very debased culture tends to portray saints as “holier-than-thou”, “goody two-shoes” types, it’s important for us as Orthodox Christians to understand what the Church has always understood by the term “saint.” We must allow the last two thousand years of the Church’s experience to explain this to us, rather than our degraded entertainment media or some non-Orthodox Church. In Protestantism, generally, it is believed that anyone who has accepted Christ as Lord and Savior is already saved and is a saint, because the early Christians were always referred to in the Book of Acts and the Epistles as saints. This, however, betrays a lack of knowledge of the first Christians and their times. Those initial believers gave themselves over so completely and fully to Christ that their lives were absolutely, magnificently, and completely changed. They were “living saints”—something very different from people that came later or who call themselves Christians today, yet continue to life in a sinful lifestyle, with bad habits, negative outlooks, and vices, no matter how small. Those early Christian were indeed saints. They turned completely away from themselves and turned in the direction of Christ God exclusively. Christians today are not in the same category at all. |
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