Russia celebrating Pentecost - birthday of the Church
Russia is celebrating Pentecost, one of the main Christian feasts, with Orthodox churches attended by lots of believers and divine services around the country commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles.
According to the New Testament, from that moment on, the apostles began to preach, bearing witness to Jesus as the risen Christ, the King and the Lord, so the day is traditionally considered the birthday of the Church.
It was the fulfillment of the promise Christ gave his disciples forty days after his Resurrection, when he said: "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts, 1:8).
Pentecost, which in Greek means "the fiftieth day," is celebrated seven weeks after Easter Sunday, or 50 days after Easter if the Easter day is counted, hence the name of the feast.
The Book of Acts describes the coming of the Holy Spirit in the following way:
"And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (2:3-4).
Divine services on Pentecost also commemorate the full revelation of the divine Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, manifesting the fullness of God?s self-disclosure to the world, so Pentecost Sunday in the Orthodox tradition is also called Trinity Day.
Immediately after Liturgy, churches hold Great Vespers, reading three long prayers about the Church, those living and those departed, during which believers and priests kneel for the first time since Easter. Churches are decorated with birch branches.
Pentecost Sunday was preceded by Memorial Saturday, or Saturday of the Departed, when Orthodox churches specially commemorated the dead, praying to God for their repose, and will be followed by Day of the Holy Spirit on Monday.
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