8th SUNDAY OF PASCHA — Tone 7. Holy Pentecost: Feast of the Holy Trinity.
Tone 8 Troparion
Blessed are You, O Christ our God, You have revealed the fishermen as most wise by sending down upon them the Holy Spirit, and through them You drew the world into Your net.// O Lover of Man, glory to You!
Tone 8 Kontakion
When the Most High came down and confused the tongues, He divided the nations; but when He distributed the tongues of fire, He called all to unity.// Therefore, with one voice we glorify the All-holy Spirit.
Tone 8 Prokeimenon (Pentecostarion)
Their proclamation has gone out into all the earth, / and their words to the ends of the universe. (Ps. 18:4)
V. The heavens are telling the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims His handiwork. (Ps. 18:1)
Acts 2:1-11 (Epistle)
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs – we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.”
Tone 1
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!
V. By the Word of the Lord the heavens were made; and all their host by the Spirit of His mouth. (Ps. 32:6)
V. The Lord looked down from heaven, and saw all the sons of men. (Ps. 32:13)
John 7:37-52, 8:12 (Gospel)
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, “Truly this is the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Will the Christ come out of Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?” So there was a division among the people because of Him. Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him. Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why have you not brought Him?” The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this Man!” Then the Pharisees answered them, “Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” Nikodemos (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, “Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?” They answered and said to him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.” Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
Holy Pentecost
Father Alexander Schmemann (1974)
In the Church’s annual liturgical cycle, Pentecost is “the last and great day.” It is the celebration by the Church of the coming of the Holy Spirit as the end—the achievement and fulfillment—of the entire history of salvation. For the same reason, however, it is also the celebration of the beginning: it is the “birthday” of the Church as the presence among us of the Holy Spirit, of the new life in Christ, of grace, knowledge, adoption to God and holiness.
This double meaning and double joy is revealed to us, first of all, in the very name of the feast. Pentecost in Greek means fifty, and in the sacred biblical symbolism of numbers, the number fifty symbolizes both the fulness of time and that which is beyond time: the Kingdom of God itself. It symbolizes the fulness of time by its first component: 49, which is the fulness of seven (7 x 7): the number of time. And, it symbolizes that which is beyond time by its second component: 49 + 1, this one being the new day, the “day without evening” of God’s eternal Kingdom. With the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Christ’s disciples, the time of salvation, the Divine work of redemption has been completed, the fulness revealed, all gifts bestowed: it belongs to us now to “appropriate” these gifts, to be that which we have become in Christ: participants and citizens of His Kingdom.
THE VIGIL OF PENTECOST
The all-night Vigil service begins with a solemn invitation:
“Let us celebrate Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit,
The appointed day of promise, and the fulfillment of hope,
The mystery which is as great as it is precious.”
In the coming of the Spirit, the very essence of the Church is revealed:
“The Holy Spirit provides all,
Overflows with prophecy, fulfills the priesthood,
Has taught wisdom to illiterates, has revealed fishermen as theologians,
He brings together the whole council of the Church.”
In the three readings of the Old Testament (Numbers 11:16-17, 24-29; Joel 2:23-32; Ezekiel 36:24-28) we hear the prophecies concerning the Holy Spirit. We are taught that the entire history of mankind was directed towards the day on which God “would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh.” This day has come! All hope, all promises, all expectations have been fulfilled. At the end of the Aposticha hymns, for the first time since Easter, we sing the hymn: “O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth…,” the one with which we inaugurate all our services, all prayers, which is, as it were, the life-breath of the Church, and whose coming to us, whose “descent” upon us in this festal Vigil, is indeed the very experience of the Holy Spirit “coming and abiding in us.”
Having reached its climax, the Vigil continues as an explosion of joy and light for “verily the light of the Comforter has come and illumined the world.” In the Gospel reading (John 20:19-23) the feast is interpreted to us as the feast of the Church, of her divine nature, power and authority. The Lord sends His disciples into the world, as He Himself was sent by His Father. Later, in the antiphons of the Liturgy, we proclaim the universality of the apostles’ preaching, the cosmical significance of the feast, the sanctification of the whole world, the true manifestation of God’s Kingdom.
THE VESPERS OF PENTECOST
The liturgical peculiarity of Pentecost is a very special Vespers of the day itself. Usually this service follows immediately the Divine Liturgy, is “added” to it as its own fulfillment. The service begins as a solemn “summing up” of the entire celebration, as its liturgical synthesis. We hold flowers in our hands symbolizing the joy of the eternal spring, inaugurated by the coming of the Holy Spirit. After the festal Entrance, this joy reaches its climax in the singing of the Great Prokeimenon:
“Who is so great a God as our God?”
Then, having reached this climax, we are invited to kneel. This is our first kneeling since Easter. It signifies that after these fifty days of Paschal joy and fulness, of experiencing the Kingdom of God, the Church now is about to begin her pilgrimage through time and history. It is evening again, and the night approaches, during which temptations and failures await us, when, more than anything else, we need Divine help, that presence and power of the Holy Spirit, who has already revealed to us the joyful End, who now will help us in our effort towards fulfillment and salvation.
All this is revealed in the three prayers which the celebrant reads now as we all kneel and listen to him. In the first prayer, we bring to God our repentance, our increased appeal for forgiveness of sins, the first condition for entering into the Kingdom of God.
In the second prayer, we ask the Holy Spirit to help us, to teach us to pray and to follow the true path in the dark and difficult night of our earthly existence. Finally, in the third prayer, we remember all those who have achieved their earthly journey, but who are united with us in the eternal God of Love.
The joy of Easter has been completed and we again have to wait for the dawn of the Eternal Day. Yet, knowing our weakness, humbling ourselves by kneeling, we also know the joy and the power of the Holy Spirit who has come. We know that God is with us, that in Him is our victory.
Thus is completed the feast of Pentecost and we enter “the ordinary time” of the year. Yet, every Sunday now will be called “after Pentecost”—and this means that it is from the power and light of these fifty days that we shall receive our own power, the Divine help in our daily struggle. At Pentecost we decorate our churches with flowers and green branches—for the Church “never grows old, but is always young.” It is an evergreen, ever-living Tree of grace and life, of joy and comfort. For the Holy Spirit—“the Treasury of Blessings and Giver of Life—comes and abides in us, and cleanses us from all impurity,” and fills our life with meaning, love, faith and hope.
Explanation of the Pentecost Icon
On the King of kings: St. Nicholai
By Me kings reign and princes decree justice. By Me princes rule and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. I love them that love Me (Proverbs 8:15-17).
Let not a king think that he rules by his wisdom and power, for he will be mocked by the weak and the foolish. Let not a ruler think that he establishes justice among the people by his own intelligence and will, for this would be foolishness, absurd even to children. Let not princes, rulers and judges think that they rule according to someone else’s will and mercy, contrary to God’s will and mercy, for all those who forget God will be fatally injured on the ice upon which they are sliding. I love them that love Me, says the Lord. The Lord speaks this, first of all, to the kings, princes and judges of mankind. For if they love the Lord, they are very dear to the Lord. If they love the Lord, the people whom they rule and judge will love Him also. And if the people love the Lord, they will love their kings, princes and judges. Inasmuch as a man is elevated by power and authority over people, so much closer to God should he be than the people over whom he is elevated. O my brethren, the Lord was crucified on the Cross for us, and by this He showed His love for us. He Who was crucified for us truly loves us more than he who merely rejoices with us at table. And yet when we have such love for our friends who make merry with us at table, how then should we not love Him Who, out of love for us, was crucified on the Cross? O Blessed Lord, open for us our spiritual sight, that we may see the entire immeasurable depth of Thy love and that we may be inflamed with love toward Thee! To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
— Velimirovic, Saint Nikolai. The Prologue of Ohrid
On the Liturgical Life
We must be careful, of course, to prepare ourselves by fasting, by arriving at the Liturgy on time, by active participation in the service, by forgiving others, by avoiding impure and hateful thoughts, and by attending to the many other factors that influence how the sacrament affects us. We must not receive Holy Communion at all times or in every condition since, as the communion prayers teach us, we can receive the sacrament to our judgment or condemnation if we receive unworthily or without preparation. Holy Confession not only benefits us in the obvious way, by granting forgiveness of sins, but it is of the greatest usefulness in shaping an Orthodox phronema. Those who have never confessed or rarely confess their sins to a priest cannot acquire an Orthodox phronema. To reject Holy Confession reveals an attitude of pride, ignorance, and the unwillingness to humble oneself before God. To reject confession is to reject the experience of the saints and the two-thousand-year-old teaching of the Church. How can one acquire the mind of Christ when one rejects this important sacrament? To believe that confession is unnecessary reveals an attitude of arrogance entirely incompatible with an Orthodox phronema.
— Constantinou, Eugenia Scarvelis. Thinking Orthodox: Understanding and Acquiring the Orthodox Christian Mind
Life Is Not Digital
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
Patriarch Bartholomew was recently interviewed on the subject of young adults and the digital world. He had some very good things to say, which apply not only to young adults but to everyone. Please give it a read!
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople was interviewed on May 25th 2025 by George I. Androutsopoulos, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Athens, which was published on Sunday, May 25, 2025, in the University of Athens newspaper, “Vima tis Kyriakis”. We quote below a portion of the interview:
Question: I thank you very much, on behalf of the university community, for the honor and opportunity of our conversation. Let us start with the young people. One – the positive – side is that the students of our University record excellent performance when they continue their studies abroad or participate in international competitions. The other, however, is that our children and young people today spend a large part of their time on Instagram and TikTok, while the rise in the phenomena of violence among young people is impressive. Have the standards and the path of prudence and virtue been lost in our days? How could the University and the Church contribute to a restart?
Answer: Christ is Risen! Thank you very much for the invitation. I am familiar with the newspaper of the University of Athens and I congratulate you for the initiative to create this forum for dialogue and reflection, but also for the effort to highlight the multidimensional work that is being done in your historic educational institution for the benefit not only of the academic community, but also of the entire Greek society.
It is encouraging that the new generation today manages to achieve high goals in various scientific fields. But it is obvious that “formal” education is not enough. A broader social education is necessary that will be based on family principles, social values, interest and respect for fellow human beings, and a culture of solidarity. This requires us to be part of the social whole, to participate, to be interested in the other person and not to live alone in a fictitious self-sufficiency.
Social networks cultivate this feeling since they contribute largely to the development of a false image of the individual, to the strengthening of his “ego”, within a digital world of a virtual reality. Life is not there, it is not digital. Friends are not digitally processed persons that we expect to give us a like or send us a smiley face in order to feel socially accepted. This is not reality.
And we all know that there are many dangers lurking in this. We are not, of course, in danger from the creations of the human intellect, but by the way we use them. Today, we live in the age of communication, but we communicate less and less with each other, face to face.
This is the problem and I fear that it is to a large extent one of the causes of the phenomena of violence.
We think that we communicate, but we live in the solitude of our self-sufficiency, often magnifying our egoism. We forget what it means to share with others, to respect others. That is why I ask your students, our young men and women, not to be trapped in digital golden cages, spending their precious time in a virtual, unreal universe. Go out into the world, breathe the oxygen of communication with fellow human beings.
God created us to live together, in real communities, with people with real needs, not in digital groups with virtual friends who get together for a few likes.
Go out into the real world, discuss, share ideas and concerns, dream. Make the most of your period of study. Get active within the university community and prepare yourself for society, for the arena of life, to make your dreams come true in the real world.
Question: Do you think that we are at risk from the excesses of Artificial Intelligence? Our physical presence already seems unnecessary in some cases, while now computer systems compose poetry or create paintings. Can Artificial Intelligence replace the teacher and acquire a soul and an eternal perspective? How do you see the scenario of machines governing us in the future?
Answer: We live in an era when many times the digital world seems to replace reality. Modern technological capabilities, achievements of the human intellect, constitute an important aid for many branches of science, such as medicine, but if used incorrectly can lead in a completely different direction. This is a challenge that man has faced countless times in his journey through time.
God gave us reason and freedom, but at the same time gave us the responsibility for our choices and actions. Therefore, in my opinion, we are not in danger from Artificial Intelligence, but from the way in which we will use it. It is our creation, our responsibility to use it, and we will certainly experience the results of its misuse. I listen and read carefully the reservations that some experts express. We must be particularly careful as the widespread use of Artificial Intelligence so far, with the countless possibilities it provides, can lead to malicious actions. This is what worries me the most.
Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
Sunday Bulletin June 1, 2025