This Sunday, we are blessed to celebrate Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit comes to rest upon the Disciples, and on the entire Church. The Book of Acts tells us that it was about nine in the morning during the Jewish harvest festival of Shavuot, which falls 50 days after the Passover, and so the pilgrims were going to the Temple to pray, and to make offerings. There is a special similarity between the celebration of Shavuot and our Pentecost, because many Jewish sources also observe the festival as the commemoration of when God gave the law to Moses on Mount Sinai. Therefore, on both feast days, the inspiration of God comes to rest upon mankind.
During the Christian event, we read that “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting” (Acts 2:2). Tongues of fire—bright, but not burning, descended onto the Disciples. As we read in this week’s Gospel, Jesus says, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive…” (John 7:37-39). Thanks to this divine gift, the Disciples spoke God’s Word, all in different tongues.
As poor fishermen, they had not studied, but this miracle helped the Disciples fulfill Christ’s Commission to preach to all the nations. The Disciples explained that Jesus, the Redeemer of our sins, is the Son of God, of whom Moses and the Prophets had spoken; and that through Christ’s life, death, Resurrection, and His Ascension, Man has been reconciled with God. So astonished were many of these foreigners to hear their own languages, that they came away believing in Jesus Christ, The Teacher of new Apostles.
Our Pentecost (because it comes 50 days after Pascha) is special for us, not only because it allows us to commemorate this beautiful historical event, but because we ourselves have been baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. If we permit God to dwell within us, by observing the Commandments of the Father and the teachings of the Son, then the Holy Spirit will continue to inspire each of us to be Disciples as well. Let us pray then that we be made worthy of the Wisdom, power, and strength from Above to carry out our Lord’s command to witness Him, now, and always.
+SEVASTIANOS
Metropolitan of Atlanta
Greek Orthodox Nun Elucidates the Plight of Christians in the Holy Land
Dear Brother Archons and friends of the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,
Mother Agapia Stephanopoulos, a Greek Orthodox nun who has lived in the Holy Land for many years, recently granted a lengthy and detailed interview to journalist Tucker Carlson on the persecution of Christians in the Holy Land. If you have not watched this interview in its entirety already, I strongly urge you to do so, as Mother Agapia provides a uniquely illuminating perspective on the difficulties that our sister and brothers in the faith face on a daily basis.
As you watch this revealing and often shocking interview, please remain in prayer for the Greek Orthodox Christians of Israel and its environs, and for all the embattled Christians of that war-torn region.
Watch the interview here, and see a full transcript here.
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