pentecost что за праздник
День Святой Троицы. Пятидесятница
Историческое содержание
Оглавление
День Святой Троицы празднуется на 50-й день после Пасхи.
^ ДЕНЬ РОЖДЕНИЯ ЦЕРКВИ
^ Названия праздника
Двойное название этого двунадесятого праздника указывает на его дохристианские истоки (как и в случае с праздником Пасхи). Рождение собственно христианского праздника Святой Троицы произошло, как считают историки, в конце мая 30 г. н. э. и совпало с ветхозаветным праздником Пятидесятницы; поэтому наш календарь сохраняет оба термина. Само же название «Пятидесятница» (греч. Пэнтэкостэ) имеет формально хронологическое происхождение и не выражает существа чествуемого события, но означает лишь то, что праздник совершается через пятьдесят дней после Пасхи (как у евреев, так и у христиан).
^ Еврейская Пятидесятница
В Древнем Израиле это был первоначально земледельческий праздник Жатвы, день радости и благодарения, когда в жертву Богу приносились «начатки» собранного к концу мая первого урожая. Затем он стал отмечать и памятную годовщину древнего («ветхого») Синайского Союза-Завета, заключенного Богом с Моисеем и всем израильским народом приблизительно через пятьдесят дней после исхода (выхода) из Египта, драматические события которого и стали основой еврейской Пасхи. Это произошло, по мнению большинства ученых, во второй половине XIII в. до н. э. Так Пятидесятница стала Днем рождения Ветхозаветной Церкви. Теперь постараемся понять – как родилась Церковь Нового Завета, Церковь Христова. Обратимся к текстам.
^ Что произошло в Иерусалиме?
Иерусалим же был переполнен паломниками, съехавшимися со всех концов Римской империи. Они услышали этот неожиданный шум, подобный шуму бури и надвигающейся грозы, пришли в смятение и поспешили к дому апостолов. Их изумлению не было конца, когда они увидели простых галилеян, вдохновенно вещавших на разных языках. Более того, для каждого из них проповедь апостолов звучала на его родном языке! Чтобы подчеркнуть это чудо многоязычия, апостол Лука нарочито приводит длинный список народов со всех концов Римской империи, включая и отдаленные окраины (смотрите выше текст Апостольского чтения на Литургии).
^ Мессианское Царство или Церковь Христова?
Настало время исполнения древних пророчеств, – обращается к собравшимся апостол Петр, – Мессианское Царство уже основано, а Иисус из Назарета, распятый «руками беззаконных», воскрес. Именно Он, отвергнутый ослепленной националистическим безумием толпой, и есть обетованный Мессия, – цель и смысл всей ветхозаветной истории ожидания. Дух Божий, излившийся в мир, просветит разум каждого, желающего стать «гражданином» Его Царства. Для этого нужно лишь покаяться и принять крещение «во имя Иисуса Христа», получив при этом «дар Святого Духа» (2:38).
Это Мессианское Царство, смысл которого стал понятен самим апостолам лишь в эти минуты, отныне пребывает в мире в образе Церкви Христовой. Само же слово «Церковь» (по гречески – Экклесиа) означает «Собрание», а чудо понимания апостольской проповеди является знамением ее вселенского призвания, так как слушатели происходят из всей Вселенной (Ойкумены, или Экумены), как называли тогда Римскую империю. Трагическое разделение народов, происшедшее некогда у Вавилонской башни, приходит к концу: Бог «всех призвал к единству», – как поется в кондаке праздника. Прочтем его еще раз (слова в квадратных скобках даны для пояснения).
«Когда сошел Всевышний и смешал языки
[в Вавилонском столпотворении],
то этим Он разделил народы.
Когда же Он раздал огненные языки [в день Пятидесятницы],
то всех призвал к единству;
и мы единогласно славим Всесвятого Духа».
«Когда люди солидарны в дерзновенном зле, они теряют дар коммуникации, дар взаимного понимания. Но этот дар восстанавливается ради истины. Языки символического, духовного огня над головами апостолов означают, что языковые и этнические барьеры прорваны: Истина идет к человеку не как к «эллину», «иудею» или «скифу», но именно как к человеку» (Рашковский Е. «С высоты Востока. », с. 60).
Сила проповеди апостола Петра была ни с чем не сравнима: около трех тысяч человек приняли крещение в день Пятидесятницы. Так родилась Новозаветная Церковь.
^ Окончательное прозрение апостолов
Что же произошло с учениками Христа? Историки не могут дать на это ответа. Бесспорным является лишь то, что в этот день они наконец стали истинными апостолами («посланниками»). В страхе бежавшие из Гефсимании, а в день Вознесения надеявшиеся на воссоздание земного Израильского царства, они обращаются теперь ко всему миру. Мир будет преследовать их, сажать в тюрьмы, бросать на арены Колизея в лапы диких зверей, – но окажется бессильным перед таинственным Даром, полученным в Пятидесятницу. Пройдет три века, и горделивые римские императоры, именовавшиеся «спасителями отечества» и причислявшиеся Сенатом к «сонму богов», признают себя скромными подданными Царства Галилейского Учителя.
^ Христианская Пятидесятница: событие и праздник
Почти две тысячи лет тому назад, в день еврейской Пятидесятницы, мир воспринял тайну Триединого Бога: Ветхий Завет знал Единого Бога, положившего основание Ветхозаветной Церкви; Сын, воплотившись на земле, создал Церковь Нового Завета; Дух Святой открыл ее историческое время и действует в ней «до скончания века». Поэтому праздник ее рождения именуется Днем Святой Троицы.
Богословское учение о взаимоотношении Лиц Святой Троицы было окончательно сформулировано еще в IV веке, в период ожесточенных тринитарных споров, вызванных лжеучением Ария Александрийского, и закреплено в Никео-Цареградском Символе веры. Но далеко не всем известно, что первые храмы во имя Святой Троицы появились в христианском мире гораздо позднее, не ранее XII в., причем, сначала на Западе (этот вопрос требует специальных изысканий). Вскоре, в 1335г., скромный инок Сергий построил первую на Руси деревянную Троицкую церковь посреди глухого Радонежского бора, ставшую основой будущей Троице-Сергиевой Лавры, – центра духовной жизни России.
Празднику Пятидесятницы предшествует Троицкая родительская суббота – день поминовения усопших.
В самый день праздника, после Литургии, совершается Вечерня, на которой читаются три молитвы, обращенные к Триединому Богу. В это время, впервые после Пасхи, все становятся на колени.
Ко Дню Троицы храмы и дома у нас украшаются деревьями, травой и цветами. Обычай связан с историческим воспоминанием обрядов ветхозаветной Пятидесятницы, – принесением Богу зеленеющих начатков жатвы, а также с русской народной традицией проводов весны и встречи лета.
Первый понедельник после Пятидесятницы именуется Днем Святого Духа. Он является как бы продолжением праздника Святой Троицы и посвящен особому чествованию Ее Третьего Лица. С этого же дня начинается первая седмица по Пятидесятнице; она именуется «сплошной», потому что пост в среду и пятницу отменяется. А с понедельника второй седмицы начинается Петров пост.
Явление Трех Странников патриарху Аврааму у дуба Мамрийского (близ Хеврона), изображаемых обычно в виде ангелов, понимается христианскими богословами как прикровенное явление в ветхозаветном мире Святой Троицы. Этот знаменательный эпизод библейской истории, имевший место почти четыре тысячелетия тому назад, породил замечательный иконографический тип «Троицы ветхозаветной», вершиной которого стала икона «Троица» кисти преподобного Андрея Рублева.
^ Богослужебные тексты; краткая библиография
Текст Троицкой службы см. в любом издании Триоди Цветной (у греков – Пентикостарион). Русский перевод основных текстов, включая длинные молитвы Троицкой Вечерни, см.: Сборник суточных церковных служб, песнопений главнейших праздников и частных молитвословий Православной Церкви на русском языке / [Сост.] свящ. В. Адаменко. Нижний Новгород, 1926 (репринт: Париж, 1989), с. 158-171.
О еврейской Пятидесятнице, о новозаветном событии сошествия Святого Духа на апостолов и христианском празднике Троицы см.: Библейская Энциклопедия / Пер. с англ. Изд. 2-е, испр. Российское Библейское общество, 2002, с. 120, 144, 148, 157, 158, 342; Словарь библейского богословия / Под ред. Ксавье Леон-Дюфура и др. Брюссель, 1974, кол. 958-962; Левинская И. А. Деяния апостолов. Главы I-VIII. Историко-филологический комментарий. М., 1999, с. 112-145; Кирилл Александрийский, св. О святых праздниках. Гл. 17 // Творения св. отцов в русском переводе. Кн. III. М., 1885 (изъяснение трех важнейших еврейских праздников с экскурсами в христианскую Пасху); [Григорий Палама, архиеп. Фессалоникийский, св.] Беседа святителя Григория Паламы о свершившемся в день Пятидесятницы // Журнал Московской Патриархии, 1975, № 11; Иудейские и христианские праздники суть памятники истины (без подписи) // Христианское Чтение. СПб., 1821. Ч. IV, кн. 10, с. 70-72; Мень А., прот. Первые апостолы. М., 1998, с. 56-74; Ловягин Е. Вечернее богослужение в день Пятидесятницы // Христианское Чтение. СПб., 1853. Ч. I; Дмитриевский А. Праздник Св. Троицы на Сионской горе и у дуба Мамврийского в Хевроне. СПб., 1913; Скабалланович М. Пятидесятница. Киев, 1916; Рашковский Е. «С высоты Востока. » Двунадесятый праздничный цикл в православном богослужении. М., 1993, с. 56-63.
Подбор текстов, статьи и комментарии Ю. Рубана
The Feast of Mid-Pentecost and the Pentecostarion
The central theme woven throughout the period of the Pentecostarion therefore is water. This becomes the central theme of the period because it is the central theme of the Gospel of John which we read in its entirety during the Pentecostarion and which naturally flows into the Acts of the Apostles which is also read during this period in its entirety. This theme appears for the first time on Pascha itself in the joyous Canon of the Feast of Feasts written by Saint John the Damascene when he invites us to «drink a new drink,» not «brought forth from a barren rock,» as in the Old Testament under Moses, but which rather «springeth forth from the grave of Christ.» Then during the Paschal Divine Liturgy the priest processes with the Gospel and chants loudly from Psalm 67:27 saying: «In the congregations bless ye God, the Lord from the well-springs of Israel.»
When Renewal or Bright Week is over the Church wisely sets up two Sundays in which to abolish all doubts concerning the Resurrection of Christ, that of the Sunday of Saint Thomas and the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women. This is done in order to ensure that we all partake of the living water that only the risen Lord can give. The following three Sundays, as we approach Pentecost, the theme of water becomes more and more central in the hymns of the Church. Thus we are found one Sunday at the Sheep’s Pool with the Paralytic, then at the Well of Jacob with the Samaritan Woman, and finally at the Pool of Siloam with the Blind Man. During this festive period we hear concerning the «living water» which if one partakes of «he will never thirst». We are taught that it is our Savior Himself who is this living water, and we partake of Him through the baptismal waters and the Cup of Life which issued forth from His side at His crucifixion unto remission of sins and life everlasting. Then on Pentecost we have grace rained upon our parched souls and bodies so that we may be fruitful and have a great harvest as we hear from the holy Gospel on that day: «If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink». Finally the Pentecostarion concludes with the Feast of All Saints, that is those who partook of the «waters of piety», which is the harvest of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
The Fathers teach us that the feast of Mid-Pentecost stands in the middle of the fifty-day period from Pascha to Pentecost as a mighty flowing river of divine grace which have these two great feasts as its source. Pascha and Pentecost are united in Mid-Pentecost. Without Pascha there is no Pentecost and without Pentecost there is no purpose to Pascha.
We read the following entry in The Great Horologion that further explains the details of the feast:
«After the Saviour had miraculously healed the paralytic, the Jews, especially the Pharisees and Scribes, were moved to envy and persecuted Him, and sought to slay Him, using the excuse that He did not keep the Sabbath, since He worked miracles on that day. Jesus then departed to Galilee. About the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles, He went up again to the Temple and taught. The Jews, marveling at the wisdom of His words, said, ‘how knoweth this man letters, having never learned?’ But Christ first reproached their unbelief and lawlessness, then proved to them by the Law that they sought to slay Him unjustly, supposedly as a despiser of the Law, since He had healed the paralytic on the Sabbath.
«Therefore, since the things spoken of by Christ in the middle of the Feast of the Tabernacles are related to the Sunday of the Paralytic that is just passed, and since we have already reached the midpoint of the fifty days between Pascha and Pentecost, the Church has appointed this present feast as a bond between the two great Feasts, thereby uniting, as it were, the two into one, and partaking of the grace of them both. Therefore today’s feast is called Mid‐Pentecost, and the Gospel Reading, ‘At Mid‐feast’—though it refers to the Feast of the Tabernacles—is used.
«It should be noted that there were three great Jewish feasts: the Passover, the Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Passover was celebrated on the 15th of Nissan, the first month of the Jewish calendar, which roughly coincides with our March. This feast commemorated that day on which the Hebrews were commanded to eat the lamb in the evening and anoint the doors of its houses with its blood. Then, having escaped bondage and death at the hands of the Egyptians, they passed through the Red Sea to come to the Promised Land. It is called ‘the feast of Unleavened Bread,’ because they ate unleavened bread for seven days. Pentecost was celebrated fifty days after Passover, first of all, because the Hebrew tribes had reached Mount Sinai after leaving Egypt, and there received the Law from God; secondly, it was celebrated to commemorate their entry into the Promised Land, where also they ate bread, after having been fed with manna forty years in the desert. Therefore, on this day they offered to God a sacrifice of bread prepared with new wheat. Finally, they also celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles from the 15th to the 22nd of ‘the seventh month,’ which corresponds roughly to our September. During this time, they lived in booths made of branches in commemoration of the forty years they spent in the desert, living in tabernacles, that is, in tents (Ex. 12:10‐20; Lev. 23 LXX). «
The Feast of Mid-Pentecost is celebrated for an entire week until the following Wednesday, making it an eight day feast. During this entire time the hymns of Mid-Pentecost are joined with that of Pascha. Because of the theme of water, traditionally the Church celebrates the Lesser Blessing of the Waters on this day, preferably with a procession with the Holy Cross to a water spring.
The theme of the feast not only invokes water, but even more central to the Gospel chronology it honors Christ as Teacher and Wisdom as He reveals Himself between the stories of the Paralytic and that of the Blind Man. During this time we are told: «Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. Jesus answered them, and said, ‘My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself'» (John 7:14-30). The icon for this feast depicts the young Jesus teaching the elders in the Temple (Luke 2:46, 47) at which time Jesus first revealed Himself as a teacher or rabbi. Traditional Orthodox icons will depict Jesus as larger than the elders, showing his superior spiritual status.
Since the hymns of the Church invoke and praise our Lord as the Wisdom of God spoken of in the Book of Proverbs, it is traditional that all churches named after Holy Wisdom or Hagia Sophia celebrate their feast on this day. In fact, Greek scholar Constantine Kalokyre has written a study titled «The Churches of the Wisdom of God and the Date of their Celebration», which appeared in the periodical Saint Gregory Palamas, no. 71 (723) (1988), pp. 538-617. In this study he comes to the conclusion that the Great Church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople celebrated its feast day on Mid-Pentecost.
Troparion, tone 8: Having come to the middle of the Feast, refresh my thirsty soul with the streams of piety; for Thou, O Saviour, didst cry to all: Let him who thirsts come to Me and drink. O Christ our God, Source of Life, glory to Thee.
Kontakion, tone 4: When the Feast of the law was half over, O Lord and Creator of all, Thou didst say to the bystanders, O Christ our God: Come and draw the water of immortality. Therefore we fall down before Thee and cry with faith: Grant us Thy bounties, for Thou art the Source of our Life.
Пятидесятница (Пентекосте) или Хогегалуст (Hogegalust, арм. Հոգեգալուստ)
Праздник, отмечаемый как день, когда Св. Дух сошел на апостолов. Это произошло на 50-ый день после Св. Воскресения, поэтому Пятидесятницу отмечают на 50-ый день после Св. Пасхи.
Св. Дух является одним из трех ипостасей Святой Троицы, единосущный и равный Отцу и Сыну. Христос в Своей земной жизни неоднократно говорил со святыми апостолами о Св. Духе: “Утешитель же, Дух Святой, Которого пошлет Отец во имя Мое, научит вас всему и напомнит вам все, что Я говорил вам” (Иоан. 14:26).
Сошествие Св. Духа описывается в Деяниях Св. Апостолов: “При наступлении дня Пятидесятницы все они были единодушно вместе. И внезапно сделался шум с неба, как бы от несущегося сильного ветра, и наполнил весь дом, где они находились. И явились им разделяющиеся языки, как бы огненные, и почили по одному на каждом из них. И исполнились все Духа Святого, и начали говорить на иных языках, как Дух давал им провещевать” (Деян. 2:1-4).
В этой главе Библии приведены названия стран, откуда прибыли люди. Они были удивлены, услышав свой родной язык. Месопотамия, Иудея и Каппадокия также стоят в ряду этих стран (Деян. 2:9). Святые отцы Церкви Августин и Тертулиан утверждают, что было бы правильнее слово “Иудея” заменить словом “Армения”: упоминание Армении в ряду этих стран было бы более логичным. Помимо этого, с географической точки зрения именно Армения находится между Месопотамией и Каппадокией. Следовательно, армяне также были свидетелями этого знаменательного события.
Исполняемыми во время заутрени шараканы (духовные песнопени) “Голубь-посланец” (Св. Дух в образе голубя снизошел во время крещения Иисуса Христа) и “Троица неразделимая” посвящены Пятидесятнице. А во время вечернего богослужения совершается обряд освящения четырех сторон света и зачитывается молитва, написанная по этому поводу Отцом Церкви 12-го века Нерсесом Ламбронаци.
В Христианской Церкви учение о Божественном даре связано со Св. Духом. Согласно этому учению, каждая из добродетелей является Божиим даром, которым Св. Дух наделяет верующего, и любое приписывание добродетели собственной личности (а не Богу) является большим грехом, ведущим к гордыне. Следовательно, празднование Пятидесятницы призывает верующих избегать гордыни и с помощью дара Божия совершать только добрые дела.
Сразу после праздника, в понедельник, начинается Ильинский пост. Это постная неделя начала лета — одна из четырех сезонных постных недель, учрежденных Армянской Апостольской Церковью. Как и другие сезонные посты, Ильинский пост также не является приготовлением к какому-либо церковному празднику. Традиционно он называется Ильинским только потому, что предшествует воскресенью после постной недели – дню памяти пророка Илии. В зависимости от дня празднования Св. Пасхи, начало поста может меняться в период с 11-го мая по 14-го июня. Этот пост, как и другие сезонные посты, продолжается 5 дней – с понедельника по пятницу.
04.06.2017
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31.05.2020
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Questions and answers on Pentecost
Would you say that Pentecost is the most important feast after the Nativity of Christ?
I think if you want to start an argument among Orthodox, this question might be a good way!
First of all, there is the feast of feasts, Pascha or Easter, the Feast of the Resurrection, which is higher than all other feasts.
Then there are other feasts, like the Nativity of Christ, or Christmas, the Baptism of Christ, or Theophany, and Trinity Day, or Pentecost. I am not sure what the order of importance is, but since the Nativity of Christ is the Feast of the Incarnation and Pentecost is the Feast of the Holy Trinity and the Holy Spirit, perhaps that is a good order of importance. After all, the two most important revelations to us are the Incarnation of the Son of God and the Holy Trinity.
Nevertheless, perhaps you could argue that the Annunciation, that is the Conception of Christ, is the true feast of the Incarnation. Although it is a feast of the Mother of God, it should therefore precede the Nativity of Christ in importance – the Nativity could not have taken place without the consent of the Mother of God at His Conception. However, in the end, such considerations, though of interest, are certainly not vital for our salvation. The main thing is to come to church for all of these feasts and take part in them, rather than go into such detail.
What does the word Pentecost mean?
First of all, I should say that the most common name for this feast is ‘Trinity Day’, rather than the more formal ‘Pentecost’. This is because this feast is the revelation of the Holy Spirit, and therefore the revelation of the fullness of the Holy Trinity, for until today, we had only known the Father and the Son. The Son had promised us the ‘Comforter’ and today He is here, in fulfilment of that promise.
Pentecost is simply the Greek word for fifty. Pentecost comes 50 days after Easter. The significance of this is that even in the Old Testament (Leviticus 25), the number 50 was special. This is because seven is the number of fullness or completion (God rested on the seventh day, after the six days of Creation). 7 x 7 is therefore a particular sign of fullness and 50 is of course 7 x 7 + 1. Therefore, in the Old Testament, every fiftieth year was called a Jubilee year. The Jubilee year was not only the end of the old Jubilee period, but also the beginning of the new one. Thus, there were forty-nine years between each Jubilee year.
By adding one to seven, we reach eight. Eight is seen as the number of what is beyond the fullness of this world, beyond Creation, beyond created time and space, what is part of the age to come, ‘the eighth day’. Thus, Pentecost, the Descent of the Holy Spirit to earth, is the fullness of the revelation of the Holy Trinity. This is why it is called Trinity Day. The Descent of the Holy Spirit from heaven is the sign of the other world, the age to come, ‘the eighth day’, penetrating into this world. That is why baptisteries were, and still are, octagonal. They symbolize the person baptized entering into the other world, becoming a citizen of the Kingdom to come, ‘the eighth day’.
Can you say something about the days immediately before and after Pentecost?
On Easter Night, the Church opens a special book of services for this season of the year. It is called the Pentecostarion or, in Slavonic, the ‘Blossom Triodion’. This contains all the services leading up to Pentecost.
On the thirty-ninth day after Easter, that is Wednesday, we have the leave-taking of Easter. Now, if we can have a liturgy, we sing the Easter service for the last time. Then we take down everything associated with the feast and put the Shroud of Christ, depicting His Burial, which we venerated on Great Friday, back up onto the wall in the altar.
On the fortieth day after Easter, that is Thursday, we have the Ascension. Christ returns to Heaven and His Father. However, He does not return as He came down from heaven. He came down without human nature, but He returns to Him together with human nature. Thus, our human nature sits at the right hand of God the Father. Of course, it is an all-pure and sinless human nature, crucified and risen. Formerly, our human nature was separated from God, but now our nature is joined with Him.
The day before Pentecost, on Saturday, we remember our ancestors, that the Holy Spirit may visit and comfort those that have fallen asleep. At Pentecost itself, called Trinity Day, after the Liturgy, we have the Kneeling Vespers, with the special prayers when we call on the Holy Spirit for ourselves and for the departed. This is the first time that we have knelt since Easter, for in all that time we stood, because we are risen with Christ. The standing celebrates the grace of the Resurrection.
On the Monday after Trinity Day, or Pentecost, we have the Day of the Holy Spirit. This corresponds to the old Whit-Monday, as it used to be called in this country. This is another example of the Orthodox custom of celebrating the person responsible for a feast on the day after it. Thus, we celebrate the Mother of God on the day after the Nativity of Christ, the Forerunner John the Baptist on the day after Theophany, St Simeon and St Anna the day after the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, the Archangel Gabriel on the day after the Annunciation, St Joachim and St Anna the day after the Presentation of the Mother of God in the Temple, St Andrew the Fool-for-Christ on the day after the Intercession of the Mother of God, and so on.
Whit-Tuesday is known as the Third Day of Pentecost. Indeed, the whole week after Pentecost is a festal, non-fasting week. The Sunday after Pentecost is All Saints Sunday. This is because the saints are the fruit of the Holy Spirit. We can see this clearly, because once the disciples received the Holy Spirit, they became apostles, that is, they were ‘sent’ by God, they became saints.
During the last century, at a time of general apostasy, it also became the custom in different Local Orthodox Churches to commemorate their local saints on the second Sunday after Pentecost and indeed even on succeeding Sundays. Thus, the Russian Church began celebrating all the saints who shone forth in Russia. The service was written by our own Metropolitan Anastasy and it was introduced as a measure for the salvation of Russia. Other countries or regions, like Romania, North America or the British Isles, have imitated this. There is also a commemoration on Mt Athos of All the Saints of Mt Athos.
On the third Sunday after Pentecost the Greeks have a service for all those who suffered under the Turkish Yoke. Then there are other local services, like all the saints of Belarus or Novgorod and so on. In general, this whole period after Trinity Day is then a series of local celebrations of the fruits of the Spirit, the saints, and this is also why, in July and August, we commemorate many of the greatest saints of the Church.
Why do we decorate the church with flowers and hold flowers during the service?
In the prayer you mentioned, ‘Heavenly King’, we ask for salvation. But surely only Christ, and not the Holy Spirit, is our Saviour?
We use many short, and long, prayers, asking for salvation. For example: ‘Most Holy Trinity, save us’. ‘Most Holy Mother of God, save us’. And yet, as you say, there is only one Saviour, Christ our God. So how then can we be saved by the Holy Trinity? Answer: Through the Saviour, through Christ, sent down to us by the Holy Trinity. How can we be saved by the Mother of God? Surely, she cannot save us? Yes, she can – through her mother’s prayers to the Saviour. Christ saves us through others. So too, Christ the Saviour saves us through the Holy Spirit, or, if you like, the Holy Spirit saves us through Christ. After all, it was only through the Saviour, that we received the Holy Spirit and the knowledge of the Holy Trinity. It was only through the Mother of God that the Saviour became one of us, only without sin.
In today’s Epistle, it is said that the apostles seemed to be drunk when they received the Holy Spirit. And yet in the Church we always talk about spiritual sobriety. Why the difference?
First of all, I don’t think we should dare to compare ourselves with the apostles. They had with their own eyes seen the Crucifixion, seen the Risen Christ. When they received the Holy Spirit, they saw visible tongues of fire. This was a unique event. We commemorate it, but since we are not saints, we cannot expect to see tongues of fire or to be ‘drunk’ with Spirit, as they were. To think that we can experience what they did would be incredibly pretentious on our part. This is like the illusion that some people have that ‘they are saved’. Not a single one of us who has the slightest dose of humility can possibly think that we are already saved. It would be towering pride to think such a thing.
In general, we have to be wary of emotions, emotionalism and physical excitement. There are people who work themselves up into exalted physical and emotional states and imagine that they’re almost saints. In the nineteenth century, this was called revivalism among Protestants, later the term ‘Pentecostalism’ was used, nowadays it is called the charismatic movement. This always happens among Protestants or the Protestantized. For example, there is a strong charismatic movement in Roman Catholicism and the people concerned are very protestantized. It is not Orthodox, because it is not spiritual. It is a very dangerous thing to confuse movements of the body or emotional sensations with spirituality. The two are quite different things. Some bodily sensations and emotions can be demonically inspired. We must take care.
The danger of all this emotion and physical excitement is that it creates self-induced states of illusion, of spiritual pride. The way of combating these is in sobriety, which is why there’s such an emphasis on that in the Orthodox Church. That is why we do not laugh in church, we do not make jokes, why we are serious. At a meal afterwards, that is another story, we are freer. At a parish feast, we may all tell jokes and laugh. But any child (or adult) who has a fit of the giggles in church needs to leave at once, calm down and come back when they are ready to pray. It is unbecoming. The church is the house of God. There is a time and a place for everything.
On the day of Pentecost, it is written that the apostles spoke in tongues. Why do we not see this today in the Orthodox Church?
The first part of my answer is the same as to the previous question. Because we are not the apostles. We are unworthy, we are not on their level. Just imagine if one of us began truly to speak in tongues, how proud we would become. It will not happen to us, because the sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit is not pride, but of course humility and modesty, absence of sin. That we do not have today.
However, I think there is a second reason too. This is that the apostles needed to speak in tongues to make themselves understood. Nowadays, if we want to learn a language, we can go to school, take lessons with someone from another country, buy a CD, book or translator, learn from the Internet. But the Apostles depended on the Spirit to communicate. Many of them, as we sing in the troparion of the feast, were simple fishermen, made ‘most wise’ by the Holy Spirit. Nowadays, in our international times, I am not sure that the most useful gift of the Spirit is speaking in tongues. Rather, it might be just the gift to keep practising our faith at a time when hardly anyone does. Our churches are relatively empty. The witness of the Spirit is in the few who still come. Don’t tell me that people who do not go to church are Christians. They are not.
On this question of speaking in tongues, I was told many years ago of someone who was at a charismatic meeting and they had a session of speaking in tongues. Some people stood up and began making strange, almost animal-like noises, like barking. Then one person stood up and began speaking in an unknown language. Then another stood up and shouted out: ‘Stop him, he’s blaspheming the Mother of God’. Apparently, the man who had interrupted had worked as a scientist in South America and had recognised the language the other person had spoken in as an Amazonian native language. Indeed, the person speaking it had been blaspheming the Mother of God. Here there is a clear case of demonic interference, a demon taking over a human-being in order to blaspheme.
I think there is a very important point here. How do we distinguish human-beings from animals? One of the most important things is speech. Human-beings have the word. This is because we are made in the image and likeness of the Word, that is Christ. Animals are not. To reduce human-beings to a wordless state, or Word-less state, is a demonic action. We are not animals, though constantly at the present time, we see some human-beings behaving bestially to each other.
I don’t want to sound priggish, but we really should take care of our language, the way we speak it, the way we write it. This is more than a matter of safeguarding human culture, it is a matter of safeguarding the divine spark within us, our divine origins and destiny. Thus, when human-beings are reduced to animal-like states or trances at a so-called charismatic meeting, I do not want to be there. I have even heard it said that many people who have been through the charismatic movement have been made mentally ill by it, that is, they have been deprived of their reason, their ‘logos’ or ‘word’.
The demons want to take away from us ‘the Word’. Imagine how they mock human-beings who crawl around on all fours and bark, and who at the same time actually believe that they are praising God. Such illusion was known to the Latin Fathers as ‘illusio’ (from where we have the English word illusion), to the Greek Fathers as ‘plani’, to the Slav Fathers as ‘prelest’. It is very difficult to escape from this state of illusion, once you have been caught by it, because you are so convinced, however ridiculously you behave, that you are right and even virtuous. It is pride of mind.
Who is the figure in red in the black space, beneath the apostles, at the bottom of the icon of The Descent of the Holy Spirit?
If you look carefully, you will see, usually in Greek letters, the word ‘The Cosmos’ above him in the black. This crowned figure symbolizes all the knowledge of the universe, ‘the Cosmos’. This includes all the knowledge of the ancient world, of the pagan Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Indians, the Chinese, all the knowledge that was in the world up until the Descent of the Holy Spirit. Much of that knowledge was in itself purely neutral and concerned technologies to grow food and obtain water, make clothes and tools, build boats and houses, care for the human body, write records and stories, create calendars, wonder about God etc. On the day of Pentecost, all such useful knowledge was sanctified and became useful to the Church and the construction of an Orthodox Christian civilization.
Thus, our whole civilization began with Pentecost, the revelation of the Holy Trinity, the coming of the Holy Spirit to mankind. From that day on, our whole civilization became Trinitarian. As one religious writer put it: ‘There is nothing between the Holy Trinity and hell’. If we reject the Holy Trinity, revealed on the day of Pentecost, then we reject the whole of our civilization and our life becomes hellish, infernal. There’s something for us all to think about.