The descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles. Feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

There are many holidays in the traditions of the Orthodox Church. Trinity is one of the most important holidays after Easter and Christmas.

The essence of the feast of the Holy Trinity

On the day of the Holy Trinity, the church remembers a grandiose biblical event - the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles. This event laid the foundation for the Church of Christ. On this day, the Christian faith is affirmed all over the world, which calls on its spiritual children to strengthen and renew the gifts of the Holy Spirit received during the Sacrament of Baptism. The mysterious Grace of God renews and transforms the inner spiritual world of every believer, gives him everything that is pure, valuable and sublime. On the feast of the Holy Trinity, Orthodox Christians rejoice and celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles and the birth of the Church. Also on this day, another hypostasis of God was revealed. In the Old Testament times, people knew only about God, with the birth of Christ they saw His Only Begotten Son, and on the day of Pentecost people were able to learn about the Third Person of the Holy Trinity - the Holy Spirit.

Waiting for the Holy Spirit

The descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles on the day of Pentecost, as a grandiose turning point in world history, was told by the Evangelist Luke in the first chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. This event was not a surprise for the audience - God predicted it through the mouth of the prophets, Jesus Christ explained the need for His crucifixion and consoled the grieving apostles, telling them about the coming of the Holy Spirit to complete the salvation of people. Waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit? The Virgin Mary, the disciples of Christ, the myrrh-bearing women and more than 100 people were in Jerusalem in the Zion Upper Room, in which the Last Supper with the Lord had previously taken place. All those assembled were waiting for the promise of the Father promised by Jesus, although they did not know how and when it would happen. After the event when Jesus ascended into heaven, the tenth day came. The Jews celebrated on this day the feast of the Old Testament Pentecost - the deliverance of the Jews from slavery in Egypt and the beginning of life in union with God. The descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles did not happen on this day by chance: it freed believers in Jesus Christ from the power of the devil and was the basis for a new union with God in His Kingdom. It replaced the strict written laws of the Old Testament with the guidance of God in the spirit of love and freedom.

The Descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles

At nine o'clock in the morning, people who arrived in Jerusalem for the celebration of Pentecost gathered in temples for prayer and sacrifice. The descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles happened suddenly: at first overThere was a noise in the upper room of Zion as from a stormy wind. The house with the holy apostles was filled with this noise, many bright, but not burning, flames appeared above their heads. Even more unusual were their spiritual properties: everyone on whom they fell felt an extraordinary surge of spiritual strength, inspiration and joy. Feeling peaceful, full of strength and love for God, the apostles began to express their joy with loud exclamations and glorification of God, discovering that they speak not only Hebrew, but also other languages unknown to them before. This is how the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles, christening them with fire, as predicted by the prophet John the Baptist.

Peter's first sermon

The noise from the apostolic house attracted many people to him. The apostles with prayers and glorifications of God came to the roof of this house. Hearing these joyful prayers and singing, people were amazed that the disciples of Christ, mostly simple, uneducated people, speak different languages. And each of the people who came to the celebration in Jerusalem from different countries heard their native language and understood what the apostles were talking about. In addition to internal blessed spiritual changes, the apostles were able to more successfully spread the Gospel to different peoples in different languages without studying them. that the ancient prediction about the miraculous descent of the Holy Spirit came true and what exactly is in itthe salvation of people, that Jesus Christ suffered on the Cross for this. The sermon was simple, but spoken through human lips by the Holy Spirit himself. These words penetrated the hearts of the listening people, and they immediately carried out public repentance for their sins and accepted Baptism. The church in one day increased from 120 people to three thousand. So the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles became the beginning of the existence of the Church of Christ - a grace-filled society of believers who want to save their souls. According to the promise of the Lord, the Church will not be defeated by the enemies of the faith until the very end of the world.

Pentecost Service

On the feast of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, one of the most colorful and beautiful services of the year is performed in churches. Temples are decorated with summer greenery - parishioners come with wild flowers, birch branches. The floors of the temples are often sprinkled with freshly cut grass, the indescribable aroma of which, mixed with the smell of incense, creates an atmosphere of an extraordinary holiday. The colors of the robes of the ministers are matched to the tone of the decoration of the temple - also green. After the Liturgy, the great supper is often held in churches right away. Although the Supper is usually celebrated in the evening, an exception is made on this day due to the fact that many believers cannot attend it. The songs of supper glorify the Holy Spirit. While the service is going on, the priest reads three special prayers: for the Church, for the salvation of all those who pray, for the repose of the souls of all the dead, even those who are in hell. All parishioners at this time are on their knees. Such kneeling prayer ends the fifty-day period after Easter, during which no prostration or kneeling was performed.

The descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles. Iconography of the holiday

The composition and appearance of the iconography of Pentecost is one of the examples of changes in the artistic form of the icon under the influence of Christian theology over the centuries. The separation of the celebration of the Ascension and Pentecost began in the 4th century. Until that time, the celebration was on the same day, which was reflected in the icons of the Ascension-Pentecost. After the XV century, the celebration was divided, respectively, when the need arose for a separate display of Pentecost, the artists divided the icon into the upper part - "Ascension" - and the lower part - "Pentecost". At the same time, the image of the Virgin was left on the icon of Pentecost, which was illogical. Therefore, in the East, the Mother of God was not displayed on icons, and Western artists continued to draw Her in the center of the Pentecost icon. In the 17th century, Russian masters began to rely on Western models and again began to place the Mother of God on the icons of the descent of the Holy Spirit.

Etimasia is sometimes depicted between the apostles instead of the Mother of God - the Promised Throne, symbolizing God the Father, with the open Gospel on it - a symbol of God the Son, and above them a soaring dove - a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Together, this means the symbol of the Trinity. Such a "half-hearted" solution did not suit all artists, the search for a better form continued. Descent of the HolyThe spirit was unparalleled in history. To create a new iconographic composition, the scheme "Christ the Teacher among the Apostles" was taken as a basis. On this icon, Christ is located in the center, the apostles stand on the sides. In the free place of the "arc" there is a table, a basket with scrolls. After some changes, metamorphoses led to the version of the icon we know now.

Icon of Pentecost

The earliest surviving image of the Descent of the Holy Spirit refers us to the year 586. This miniature of the Russian Gospel was created by the monk Rabula from Syria. Also, the icon is present in the Ps alter and front Gospels, in ancient manuscripts, on the frescoes of many ancient temples of Athos, Kyiv, Novgorod and other churches. On the Sinai icons of the 7th - 9th centuries, the apostles are depicted in a sitting position, and they receive the Holy Spirit in the form of rays of flame from the Savior, blessing them from heaven. The icon "The Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles", the photo of which is presented above, is traditional depicts the apostles in the Zion chamber with fiery tongues over their heads. The 12 disciples of Christ sitting in a semicircle (instead of Judas Iscariot, the apostle Matthew is depicted, who was chosen to replace him) hold books and scrolls in their hands - symbols of church teaching. Their fingers are folded in blessing gestures. Among the disciples of Christ, the icon also depicts the Apostle Paul, who was not in the Zion room that day. This shows that the Holy Spirit descended not only on those who were in the Upper Room of Zion, but on the whole Church, consistingat that time of the twelve apostles. The empty space present on the icon between Paul and Peter shows the presence of the Holy Spirit at the head of the Church. Since the 17th - 17th centuries, the image of the Mother of God has been affirmed on the icon. Although it is not indicated in the Acts of the Apostles at this event, Luke writes that after the Ascension of Jesus Christ, all the apostles were in prayer with their wives and the Mother of God. During one such meeting, the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles took place. The iconography approved a place for the Mother of God surrounded by the apostles in the center of the icon.

Temples dedicated to the Holy Trinity

Although the relationship of the Holy Trinity was finally formulated in the Creed in the 4th century, the first churches in the name of the Holy Trinity in the Christian world appeared no earlier than the 12th century. In Russia, the first temple of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles was built in 1335 by the modest monk Sergius in the middle of the deaf Radonezh Bor. It became the basis of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, one of the largest centers of spiritual life in Russia. Initially, a small wooden temple was built in the name of the Holy Trinity and several small cells. After the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and the area around it became part of the monastery, and eventually the spiritual center of Moscow and nearby lands. Now, on the site of that temple, since 1423, a beautiful four-pillar cross-domed white-stone Trinity Cathedral has been rising, around which the architectural ensemble of the Lavra has been formed for many centuries.