“Blessed art Thou, O Christ our God,
Who hast shown forth the fishermen as supremely wise
by sending down upon them the Holy Spirit,
and through them didst draw the world into Thy net.
O Befriender of man, glory be to Thee.”
“Once, when He descended and confounded the tongues,
the Most High divided the nations;
and when He divided the tongues of fire,
He called all men into unity;
and with one accord we glorify the All-holy Spirit.”
In the prokeimenon it speaks of the preaching of the Apostles throughout the world: “Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.”
The Apostle reading (Acts 2:1-11) contains the record of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles.
In the Gospel (John 7:37-52, 8:12), we have the sermon of Jesus Christ on the feast of the Tabernacles regarding the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the faithful.
The megalynarion is:
“Rejoice, O Queen, boast of virgins and mothers;
For every eloquent and capable mouth
Is unable to extol thee worthily,
And every mind is confounded in seeking to comprehend thy childbirth.
Wherefore, with one accord do we glorify thee.”
The communion hymn is: “Thy good Spirit shall lead me in the land of uprightness.”
After the Liturgy on the day of Holy Pentecost, Vespers is served according to the usual custom. During this Vespers, the Three Kneeling Prayers are read. These prayers were composed by Saint Basil the Great. In the first prayer, we confess our sins before the Heavenly Father and beseech Him to be gracious unto us for the sake of the great sacrifice of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. In the second we ask the Lord to grant us the Divine Spirit. In the third, we pray the Lord, Who descended into hades and destroyed the might of the devil, to grant peace to our fathers and brethren who have fallen asleep in a place of light, in a place of green pasture, in a place of peace.
At the feast of Pentecost it is the custom for the faithful to decorate our churches and our homes with greenery and with flowers as reminder that the Old Testament Church and the Apostles celebrated the festival in this way. According to tradition, the upper room, wherein the Apostles received the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, was, in accordance with this ancient custom, decorated in this way with flowers and greenery. From this, the custom was adopted in the Christian Church. The green branches and flowers, which are brought into church, are the first-fruits of a renewed Spring, and so at the same time signify for the believers the renewal of their souls by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Beginning on Trinity Day, we hear in church again the prayer to the Holy Spirit, “Heavenly King,” and the hymn “We have seen the true light,” the reading and chanting of which were stopped from the first day of Pascha.
… to be continued in the next issue with “The Services of the Feast of the Lord’s Transfiguration”
