Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Congratulations with today’s wonderful feastday of Pentecost!

In the same way that Easter has a parallel Old Testament feastday which foreshadows the New Testament Pascha, today’s commemoration has a corresponding Old Testament feast which foretold the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Holy Apostles. On the fiftieth day after Passover, the Jews remember and celebrate the Holy Prophet Moses’ ascent of Mount Sinai and his receiving of the Law from the Lord. Of course, for believing Jews this is the greatest of events in human history, for they endeavour through this Law to regulate each moment of every facet of their lives as a sign of their devotion and love for God. We can also bear in mind that not only the fiftieth day after the Old Testament Pascha, but also every fiftieth year was especially venerated by the Jews. On these, as they are called jubilee years, crops were neither sown nor reaped, people would return to their ancestral plots, debts would be forgiven, slaves would be set free. In a word, one could say that in those years the Jews started life from scratch. (You can read about this in the 25th chapter of Leviticus.)

The Old Testament Pentecost, as well as the jubilee years, foreshadowed our present festival. For us, believing Christians, the Holy Spirit takes the place of the Law, settles us not in our ancestral villages, but in the Holy Church and in the Kingdom of Heaven, forgives not monetary debts, but sins, frees us not from earthly slavery, but from spiritual bondage to sin, death, and the devil, grants us rest not from physical labour, but from spiritual worries. Through the actions of the Holy Spirit, our sinful past is blotted out and we begin a new, renewed, pure life. What is still more wonderful is that our Christian Pentecost repeats itself not once a year or every fifty years, but innumerable times throughout life. When we are baptized, confess our sins, commune of Christ’s Holy Mysteries, when we read Holy Scripture and when we pray, the Holy Spirit descends on us, sanctifies us, enriches us with the gifts mentioned above. Do you see what a magnificent feastday we have today and how much better it is when compared to the ancient Jewish one?

Today let us fervently pray that the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in our hearts, that He begins to direct our souls, and that we acquire those spiritual gifts that are offered to us.

priest Alexis