Trinity Day is the essence of the holiday. The history of the Trinity holiday. Birthday of the Church

More than two thousand years ago, an event occurred that is difficult to find an equal in the entire history of mankind. On this day, the disciples of Christ were honored with the descent of the Holy Spirit on them and showed the foundation of the future Church of Christ. Exactly fifty days separated this event from the day when, having trampled death, their Teacher rose from the grave. A holiday was established in memory of this. His name is Pentecost. What it is?

Days spent with students

The Holy Gospel tells that after His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ remained among His disciples for forty days. He appeared to them many times, residing in a new, non-material body - the one that in the future all those who have acquired eternal life will gain. After forty days, the Savior ascended to heaven, doing this in front of his disciples. He made them witnesses of the miracle in order to further kindle faith in their hearts.

Leaving them alone for the time being, Christ commanded his disciples to remain inseparably in Jerusalem, pray and wait for His messenger, the comforter - the Holy Spirit. The apostles, with all the fervor taking into their hearts the words of the Teacher, nevertheless could not understand clearly enough. Nevertheless, all the following days they were filled with a feeling of approaching joy.

The miracle that happened in the Upper Room of Zion

The book “The Acts of the Apostles” tells how they gathered together every day in a special room - the Upper Room of Zion. It was under this name that it was included in the New Testament. Nearby was the house of the youngest and most beloved disciple of Jesus, the Apostle John. On the day of His agony on the cross, the Savior entrusted him with the care of His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Since then, She constantly stayed in his house.

Having gathered together with the Most Pure Virgin and the Apostle John, the disciples of Christ indulged in prayers and reading the Holy Scriptures. This continued for ten days, until what Jesus predicted before His ascension happened. The New Testament describes the scene very vividly and movingly. It is not difficult to calculate when this happened. It is known that the Lord ascended on the fortieth day after His Resurrection. Let's add here the ten days that the apostles spent in the Upper Room of Zion, and we get fifty - Pentecost!

What this is and how it happened, we learn in detail from the book “The Acts of the Apostles.” It says that on the day of the Jewish holiday of the first harvest, at the third hour of the day, suddenly a strong noise was heard in the air, as happens during a hurricane, and tongues of fire illuminated the upper room. But this was not an ordinary fire, but precisely the one that now descends before the Easter holiday in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Shining brightly, it did not burn or cause pain. It was not a material fire. Having shone above the heads of the apostles, amazed by the consciousness of the miracle, tongues of flame rested on each of them.

Birth of the Christian Church

The action of Grace, which descended on them along with the Holy Spirit, immediately made itself felt. The apostles felt an incredible surge of strength and energy. They were filled with a feeling of love for God and people, and a readiness to give all of themselves to apostolic service. To accomplish this, each of them miraculously received the gift of speaking in languages ​​hitherto unknown to him, which made it possible to carry the word of God to different peoples and countries.

United by the Grace of God that rested upon them, the apostles revealed themselves as a new, united church. Therefore, the Day of Holy Pentecost is considered to be the birthday of the Christian Church. From that day on, human souls flowed in an endless stream into her maternal arms. And it was from this day that the apostles began their ministry, bringing people the light of Divine truth.

The meaning of the holiday of the Holy Trinity - Pentecost

The holiday of Pentecost is one of the most important in Orthodoxy. Its meaning is close to such solemn days as Easter and Christmas. This is not accidental, because the concept forms the basis of the Christian faith. In 381, the Church Council, held in Constantinople, adopted the dogma of three Divine hypostases: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. From these days the holiday was established, which we now call Trinity - Pentecost. What this is was clearly and clearly formulated in the documents of the Council, and it is by them that we are guided to this day.

Since this holiday is the birthday of our church, it is always celebrated with special joy. It has become a tradition on this day to prepare treats and invite family and friends to the table. Everyone knows the custom of decorating houses and the interior of churches with flowers and birch branches on the day of Pentecost. By the way, not necessarily birch. In some places, bunches of fragrant herbs such as sage or lovage are used. This is an ancient custom. It is based on the fact that God in His trinity brought life, which in this case is symbolized by green tree branches and tufts of grass.

Church service on this holiday

The Pentecost service is always celebrated in churches solemnly and at the same time joyfully. On this day, the entire clergy appears in green vestments. This combines unusually organically with the greenery of the birch trees decorating the room. The parishioners stand holding flowers and bouquets of the same birch branches in their hands, and when at the end of the service they are raised above their heads for sprinkling, the temple turns into a living spring grove.

Celebration of Mid-Pentecost

Another interesting tradition is connected with this holiday. In the Orthodox Church it is customary to celebrate a day called Mid-Pentecost, that is, half of those days that separate Bright Resurrection from the day of the Holy Trinity. The name of the holiday dates back to Gospel times. In the New Testament we read how the Lord, in the last year of His earthly life, entered the church and taught there on the day of the half-life of the Old Testament Feast of Tabernacles. The Gospel testifies that everyone present was amazed at the depth and wisdom of his words. In honor of this teaching, the holiday of Mid-Pentecost was established. He prepares us for the day of the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Hebrew roots of the holiday

It is interesting to note that there is a Jewish holiday - the Old Testament Pentecost. What it is? The fact is that the ancient Jews had a custom on the fiftieth day after their exodus from Egypt (Passover) to celebrate the holiday of the firstfruits of the wheat harvest. Mentions of it are found in many ancient authors. For example, in his writings he calls it Pentecost. Under the same name he appears in the works of many other Greek and Byzantine authors.

This holiday was established in honor of the fact that on this day of liberation from Egyptian slavery the Jewish people received stone tablets with the Ten Commandments inscribed on them. They became known as the Law of Zion, and were the starting point for creating the religious and legal basis of the future state. Of all the currently celebrated Orthodox holidays, only two have Old Testament roots: Easter and Holy Pentecost.

Celebration in the first centuries of Christianity

Much evidence has survived to this day about how this day was celebrated in the first centuries of Christianity. Of particular interest are the notes of a pilgrim from Western Europe, written in the 4th century. In them she talks about how on the Friday before the holiday, an all-night vigil was held in the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem, how the bishop read the Gospel, and when dawn broke, everyone moved to another - the main church, in which the sermon lasted until the third hour of the day.

But this was not the end of the service, since after a short rest everyone, led by the bishop, went to Zion, where excerpts from the “Acts of the Apostles” were read, telling about the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles. That day ended with a service on Mount Elion, at the place from which the Savior ascended. Such a long service, the participants of which were not only Christians living in Palestine, but also pilgrims from distant countries, speaks of the high status of this holiday and the understanding of those present of the full significance of the event.

The apostles also prayed together on the tenth day after the Ascension of the Lord. Suddenly a noise was heard, and split tongues of fire appeared and rested on each of them. The apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues (see: Acts 2:4).

One must think that this greatest gift - glossolalia - an exhaustive interpretation of which, of course, is impossible, although a huge number of attempts have been made, was received not only by twelve closest associates, but also by other disciples, as well as by the Mother of God (see about this, for example, “ Conversations on the Acts of the Apostles" by St. John Chrysostom). A description of speaking in tongues, its various interpretations and an assessment of synchronous relics are presented in the book “Explanatory Typikon”.

Its author M.N. Skaballanovich, in another of his works, admits that only one thing can be said with certainty about the gift of languages: “From the inside, in terms of the state of mind, speaking languages ​​was a state of special spiritual, deep prayer. In this state, a person spoke directly to God, and with God he penetrated into secrets. This was a state of religious ecstasy, for the availability of which the Apostle Paul warmly thanks God. From the outside, it was such a majestic phenomenon, completely worthy of the Spirit of God, that for the most unbelievers it was a sign showing with their own eyes the presence of the Divine Himself in Christian assemblies (see: 1 Cor. 14:25). It was a state of the highest spiritual elation. What was especially majestic about this phenomenon was that, despite all the strength of the feeling that gripped the person at that time, he did not lose power over himself, he could restrain and regulate the external manifestations of this state: remain silent while another spoke, waiting for his turn.”

So, having received the grace of the Holy Spirit, the followers of Christ’s teachings began to speak in different languages. Consequently, when they left home and began to address people with a bold and fiery sermon about the true faith, representatives of various nations (and in these holidays there were many pilgrims from various countries in Jerusalem) understood them without difficulty. Those who did not know languages ​​other than Aramaic mocked Jesus’ disciples and tried to catch them being drunk.

Then the Apostle Peter rejected these accusations: “They are not drunk, as you think, for it is now the third hour of the day” (Acts 2:15) . And it is precisely these words that make it possible to accurately determine at what time of day the descent of the Holy Spirit occurred. It was at 9 o'clock in the morning.

The significance of the condescension of the Holy Spirit can, without exaggeration, be called extraordinary. After all, this day was the true birth of the Church of Christ. For the first time, the apostles cast aside all fears of the Jewish elders and high priests and went out to openly and uncompromisingly preach the crucified and risen Savior of the world. And rich fruits were not long in coming: about three thousand people on the very first day were providentially baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (see: Acts 2:41).

Thus, this event ended with the complete triumph of the Holy Spirit over unbelievers. Three times Jesus Christ gave the disciples the Holy Spirit: before suffering - implicitly (see: Matt. 10: 20), after the Resurrection through a breath - more clearly (see: John 20: 22) and now sent Him essentially.

That is why Pentecost, of course, along with Easter, occupies a central place in the church calendar: “The preservation of Pentecost (as, first of all, the fifty-day period after Easter), whatever the original liturgical expression of this holiday, points, again, to Christian the reception of a certain understanding of the year, time, natural cycles as relating to the eschatological reality of the Kingdom given to people in Christ... Characteristically... the statement, on the one hand, that Christians are, as it were, in a constant Pentecost (cf. Origen: “He who can truly say: “We have risen with Christ” and “God has glorified us and seated us at His right hand in heaven in Christ” - always remains in the time of Pentecost”), and at the same time singling out Pentecost as a special holiday, at a special time of the year: “We also celebrate - writes St. Athanasius the Great, “the holy days of Pentecost... pointing to the coming age... So, let us add the seven holy weeks of Pentecost, rejoicing and praising God for the fact that He showed us in advance these days the joy and eternal peace prepared in heaven for us and for those who truly believe in Christ Jesus our Lord."

From that day on, the Church, created not by the futility of human interpretations and speculations, but by the will of God, continuously grew and was established - first of all, by the grace of the Holy Spirit. The doctrine of Christ acquired a very solid foundation that could no longer be shaken by anything. The Holy Church exalts general praise to the Most Holy Trinity and inspires believers to chant “the Father without beginning, and the Son without beginning, and the Co-essential and Most Holy Spirit, the Trinity Consubstantial, Equivalent and Without Beginning.” .

Let us turn to the history of the Feast of Pentecost. It has its roots in the Old Testament. According to the book of Exodus (see: Exodus 23: 14–16), in ancient Israel, among many others, there were three most important holidays: the Feast of Unleavened Bread (on the fifteenth day of the first month of the Jewish calendar), the Feast of the Harvest of First Fruits, also called the Feast of Weeks (fifty days after Easter), and the feast of fruit gathering (at the end of the year).

The Feast of Weeks, to which Holy Pentecost directly dates back, was originally celebrated seven weeks after the beginning of the harvest: “Begin to count seven weeks from the time the sickle appears in the harvest” (Deut. 16:9). Then their date began to be counted from Easter. Determining the specific day of the holiday caused bitter disagreement among the Jews. Thus, the Sadducees began counting from the first Saturday after the first day of Passover (the holiday always fell on the first day after Saturday). The Pharisees believed that the Sabbath meant the first day of Passover, and added seven weeks to the next day. In the 1st century A.D. the latter point of view prevailed.

A century later, the holiday of weeks (the final meeting of Passover) in Judaism began to be combined with the memory of the renewal of the Covenant on Mount Sinai - fifty days after the Jews left Egypt.

It should be noted that the term Pentecost - from Greek πεντηх?στη - is not found in rabbinic literature, but it is known from the monuments of Hellenistic Judaism (for example, quotes from 2 Mac. 12: 32; Tov. 2: 1 can be seen in Josephus’ “Antiquities of the Jews”).

The rich pre-Christian tradition of the holiday in question largely explains why, although it was highly revered by the apostles and other disciples, it was perceived by them mainly as a Jewish celebration dedicated to the harvest. This ambivalence is evidenced, among others, by the following fact: the Apostle Paul did not forget about the holiday during his travels and tried to be in Jerusalem on this day (see: Acts 20: 16; 1 Cor. 16: 8).

Ancient Christian sources for a long time (until the 4th century) did not provide clear information about the scope of the term Pentecost. It is used in one of two meanings. In most cases, it is understood as a fifty-day holiday period after Easter, less often - as a holiday on the last day of the named cycle. Moreover, often these qualifications cannot be separated from each other even within the same text (cf. Irenaeus of Lyons, Tertullian, Eusebius of Caesarea and others).

With numerous testimonies about the holiday in question in Africa, Alexandria, Caesarea, Asia Minor, however, in the famous Syrian monuments of the 3rd–4th centuries (including in the works of St. Ephraim the Syrian), Pentecost is not mentioned at all, despite the fact that it is described in detail Easter celebrations.

The eventual and liturgical history of Pentecost is closely connected - especially in the first centuries of its existence - with the Ascension. The latter, as some ancient sources say (the Syrian Didaskalia of the 3rd century, for example), was celebrated - at least in some regions - not on the fortieth, but on the fiftieth day after Easter.

Holiday in Orthodox worship

The apostolic decrees contain the following injunction: “Having celebrated Pentecost, celebrate one week, and after it fast for one week” (Book 5, Chapter 20). In addition, during this period it is forbidden to work, “because then the Holy Spirit came, given to those who believed in Christ” (book 8, chapter 33). The holiday week after Pentecost, although not a formal after-feast, speaks of the special position of this holiday, which lasted a whole week. This cyclicity, however, was not accepted everywhere.

Thus, in Jerusalem of the 4th century, fasting began the very next day after Pentecost.

But it was in the holy city that the holiday in question was one of the most significant in the church calendar. And therefore it was celebrated magnificently and on a large scale. We find clear evidence of this from the pilgrim Eteria. On this day, the characteristic features of Jerusalem worship, due to the unique position of the city, are fully revealed. This stationary rite was characterized by various processions during services or between them, the performance of successions in different churches, the recollection of certain events, if possible, at the place where they took place: “The holiday in honor of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity continues in the Holy Land, as it should be, three days. This long church celebration here is explained both by the topographical position in the Holy Land of venerable places and shrines, with which the events from the history of our economy in the Old and New Testaments, remembered by the Orthodox Church on these sacred days, are associated, and by some special circumstances of later times in the history of our Russian colony in Jerusalem, and her missionary activities."

The festive service of Pentecost consisted of a night vigil, liturgy and daytime meeting, which took place in the Church of the Resurrection, at the Cross, in Martyrium, on Mount Zion, where the Acts of the Apostles were read and a sermon was heard, which necessarily stated that the Church of Zion was built on the site houses where the apostles lived, as well as in the Church of Olives (there was a cave in which the Lord taught his closest followers). See one of the testimonies of A.A. Dmitrievsky: “The All-Night Vigil is celebrated under the oak of Mamre according to the rite of the Trinity service, with going out to the litiya for the blessing of the loaves, with magnification, with the reading of the akathist to the Holy Trinity according to the 6th song of the canon and with anointing with oil. Early in the morning, at about 5 o'clock, here, under an oak tree, on a stone throne with a portable antimension, a solemn liturgy is celebrated by the cathedral, headed by Father Archimandrite, and a table placed not far from this place serves as an altar. During the small exit with the Gospel and during the great exit with the holy gifts, they walk around the sacred oak tree. During the liturgy, many of the pilgrims partake of the holy mysteries. At the end of the liturgy, a prayer service is served to the Holy Trinity and a procession of the cross is performed throughout the entire mission domain with the overshadowing of the cross and sprinkling of holy water on all four sides of it.”

In other words, the daily liturgical circle was so intense that it closed only after midnight.

Descriptions later than those of Etheria (for example, the Armenian edition of the Jerusalem Lectionary) give very similar ideas.

Since the 8th century, worship in Constantinople has been performed according to the so-called song sequence. The Typikon of the Great Church in the corresponding section has festive elements, which is expressed in the abolition of the evening and morning variable antiphons, in the singing of only three minor antiphons and immediately “Lord, I cried.” After entering, three parimations are read - the same ones that are heard at the service and at the present time. At the end of Vespers, the troparion of the holiday is sung three times by the singers on the pulpit with the verses of the 18th Psalm. After Vespers, the reading of the Apostle is scheduled until the time of the Pannikhis.

Matins is performed on the pulpit (which, again, speaks of the solemnity of the service). Its usual seven variable antiphons are abolished, and immediately after the first (constant) antiphon the song of the prophet Daniel is placed (Dan. 3: 57–88). To the verses of Ps. 50 the troparion of the holiday is chanted. After Matins, the word of St. Gregory the Theologian on Pentecost is read, “Let us briefly philosophize about the feast.”

Between Matins and Liturgy, the patriarch performs the sacrament of baptism, which was an ancient Christian tradition about which Tertullian, St. Gregory the Theologian and others wrote.

During the liturgy, festive antiphons and readings from Acts are established. 2:1–11 and John. 7: 37–52; 8:12, which are still accepted today. There is no after-feast of Pentecost in the Typikon of the Great Church, although on the weekdays of the week following the holiday there are several special remembrances (Archangels Michael and Gabriel, the Mother of God, Joachim and Anna), which give the week distinctive properties. Absent from the analyzed charter are also the kneeling prayers at Pentecost Vespers.

But they are regulated by the Studio Charters. In them, the celebration of Pentecost already has a completely modern look. It is preceded by a universal memorial Saturday. The remembrance of the Holy Spirit is timed to Monday. And most importantly: the entire week constitutes the after-feast of Pentecost, and Saturday is its giving away.

Thus, the Studian-Alexievsky Typikon of 1034, preserved in a Slavic translation - a manuscript from the 70s of the 12th century, does not provide for an all-night vigil. At Vespers the first kathisma “Blessed is the man” is prescribed, at “Lord, I have cried” stichera for nine (as on any Sunday, but here stichera are only for the holiday). Next is the entrance and three parimias, on the stichera the stichera of the seventh voice “The Paraclete has” (in the current edition - “The Comforter that has”) is sung three times, on “Glory, and now” - “To the Heavenly King” (sixth voice). Afterwards the troparion of the holiday “Blessed art thou, O Christ our God,” is sung.

At Matins only the first kathisma is prescribed, then (after the sedalna feast and reading the words of St. Gregory the Theologian) “From my youth,” the prokeimenon and the Gospel of the feast (polyeleos are not used according to this Typikon). The ninth Sunday Gospel is used as a festive one.

The Studio Rule codifies the correspondence of the weeks after Easter to a certain voice (in order), starting with the first voice on the week of Antipascha. The introduced relationships are manifested not only in the singing of the texts of the Octoechos, but also in the fact that some hymns of the Triodion can be composed in an ordinary voice. Pentecost corresponds to the seventh tone. And at Matins the canon of the seventh tone is sung. It is on him, which happens extremely rarely, that the Venerable Cosmas of Mayum composed his canon in the 8th century. In addition to him, the canon of the fourth tone is also sung - the creation of St. John of Damascus.

On the praises there are stichera of the fourth tone “Glorious today” (the same as in the modern service, only about them it is noted that the second and third are similar to the first, but, despite some metrical coincidences, this is not the case), morning stichera on the stichera . The doxology is not sung.

The liturgy includes festive antiphons, and the entire service (prokeimenon, Apostle, alleluia, Gospel and communion), of course, is also a holiday.

According to the Jerusalem Rule, the festive cycle of Pentecost has the same structure as in the Codex Studio: commemoration of the dead on the Saturday before Pentecost, six days of after-feast with celebration on the following Saturday. The day of the holiday is celebrated with an all-night vigil, consisting of Great Vespers with litia and Matins.

Pentecost in the Russian Orthodox Church: liturgical-ortological continuity and rethinking

In the Russian Church, the meaning of the holiday gradually changed, and it began to be called the Holy Trinity.

In this regard, Archpriest Nikolai Ozolin states: “The Feast of Pentecost, which was on the site of the current Trinity Day, was a holiday of historical, and not openly ontological significance. Since the 14th century in Rus', it has revealed its ontological essence... The veneration of the Comforter Spirit, Divine Hope as the spiritual principle of femininity is intertwined with the cycle of Sophia’s ideas and transferred to the day following Trinity - the day of the Holy Spirit... The holiday of the Trinity, it must be assumed, first appears as a local holiday Trinity Cathedral as a celebration of Andrei Rublev’s “Trinity”. It is very likely that initially Trinity Day was correlated in the Orthodox celebration of Pentecost with the second day of the holiday, called the Day of the Holy Spirit, and was understood as the Council (Synaxis) of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. And “the so-called “Old Testament Trinity” becomes a festive icon of this “Monday of the Holy Trinity” in Rus' among the disciples of St. Sergius.”

In general, the liturgical formula of Pentecost, which, in accordance with various classifications, belongs to the Lord's, moving, great (twelfth) holidays, despite the fact that it was established in Russia along the lines of continuity, is distinguished by certain specifics.

So, until the middle of the 17th century in Rus', where the holiday described could also be called the word rusalia (relating, however, not to the content of the pagan holiday, as one might think, but to its date, falling during the period of Pentecost), on its day there were no An all-night vigil was held. But Vespers with Litia and Matins were served separately. After Vespers there followed a prayer service with the canon of the Trinity; before Matins there is a “midnight prayer service” (that is, according to the rite of an ordinary prayer service) with the singing of the Trinity canon from the Octoechos. Instead of the Trinity troparions “It is worthy to eat”, “To the King of Heaven” is established. Vespers is celebrated shortly after the dismissal of the liturgy.

On Monday of the Holy Spirit, the Metropolitan served the Liturgy at the Spiritual Monastery.

The peculiarity of the Pentecost service is that immediately after the liturgy Great Vespers is celebrated. Three prayers of St. Basil the Great are read on it with kneeling.

The Feast of Pentecost has six days of after-feast. The giving takes place next Saturday.

To complete the description, it should be noted that the week after Pentecost, like Light Week, is continuous (fasting on Wednesday and Friday is canceled). This resolution of fasting was established in honor of the Holy Spirit, whose coming is celebrated on Sunday and Monday, and in honor of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit and in honor of the Holy Trinity.

Prayers of genuflection at Pentecost Vespers

The prayers of genuflection at Pentecost Vespers have enormous symbolic significance, both specifically eorthological and general theological. They are introduced into worship in order to preserve and strengthen believers in a humble state, to make them capable, following the example of the apostles, of the most chaste performance of worthy deeds in honor of the Holy Spirit, as well as of accepting the priceless gifts of God’s grace (it is no coincidence that parishioners at this vespers stand on knees for the first time since Easter).

The compilation of these prayer books is sometimes attributed to St. Basil the Great, which means it dates back to the 4th century.

The current service of Vespers of Pentecost specifies three genuflections with several prayers recited at each of them. In the first of them - “Most pure, undefiled, without beginning, invisible, incomprehensible, unsearchable,” - ascended to God the Father, believers confess their sins, ask for forgiveness and grace-filled heavenly help against the machinations of the enemy, the second - “Lord Jesus Christ our God, peace Thy given by man" - is a request for the gift of the Holy Spirit, instructing and strengthening in keeping the commandments of God for the achievement of a blessed life, in - "An ever-flowing, animal, and enlightening source" - addressed to the Son of God, who fulfilled all the supervision (economy) of human salvation kind, the Church prays for the repose of the departed.

At the first genuflection, two prayers are read (the first is the actual prayer of kneeling, while the second, as part of the song sequence, was the prayer of the first small antiphon). At the second genuflection there are two prayers: the last one is the prayer of the second small antiphon, written out in the modern Book of Hours at the end of the first part of Great Compline. At the third genuflection there are three prayers, although in fact there are four of them, since the second is the prayer of the third small antiphon before the words “To you the only True and Lover of Mankind”, with the words “Thine is truly true” the third prayer begins, which in the context of the song vespers of this day was usually used together with the next as a prayer of dismissal; the fourth prayer is directly the prayer of dismissal of the Constantinople Song Vespers (according to the modern Missal, this is the seventh prayer of the lamp).

It is obvious that even in its current form, the order of worship, which has undergone a number of changes over its centuries-old history, bears a clear imprint of the Constantinople song version.

As already mentioned, kneeling prayers are absent in the Typicon of the Great Church.

In the most ancient Byzantine Euchologies their set is extremely unstable. Not without interest are the instructions of the Slavic Glagolitic Euchologia of the 10th–11th centuries, which gives only the prayers of kneeling - the first, third, fourth, without any additions. In later times, genuflection prayers were apparently individually adapted to the practice of the Great Church. In the same period - from the 10th century - other options for celebrating Vespers of Pentecost arose, according to which elements of Palestinian liturgical practice are mixed with the rules of chanting (Canonary of the 10th-11th centuries, Messinian Typikon, Georgian Euchologies and some others). In connection with the order of kneeling prayers, a special note is required by the prayer to the Holy Spirit, attributed to Patriarch Philotheus of Constantinople, with the following beginning: “To the Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Lord of the self-existent, the co-essential and the whole.” It is known from Slavic manuscripts and printed publications. Thus, in the collection of St. Kirill Belozersky it is placed instead of the prayer “Great and Most High God” - during the third genuflection. The Breviary of Peter (Grave) indicates that the above words are read before the prayer “Great and Most High God.” The prayer book is also recorded in old printed Moscow Typicons of the 17th century. But in the reformed Charter of 1682, references to the prayer of Patriarch Philotheus were excluded.

Holiday in Western tradition

Mass baptisms were usually timed to coincide with the all-night service of the day of Holy Pentecost, as well as the Easter holiday. And this custom is still preserved in relation to baptized adults in the Roman Catholic Church.

In the liturgy, this holiday is equal in significance to Easter.

The famous golden sequence “Come, Holy Spirit” (“Veni, Sancte Spiritus”), a hymn by an unknown 13th-century author, is sung during the Pentecost mass.

Patristic exegesis

There is no doubt that the dogma of the Trinity is at the center of Pentecostal homiletics. Saint Gregory of Nyssa says: “That which saves us is the life-giving power, which we believe under the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. But those who are incapable of fully perceiving this truth, as a result of the weakness that has befallen them from spiritual hunger... learn to look at the one Divinity, and in the one Divinity they understand the one and only power of the Father... Then... the Only Begotten Son is revealed through the Gospel. After this, we are offered the perfect food for our nature - the Holy Spirit."

The Holy Fathers think a lot about the gift of tongues: “If someone asks any of us: “You received the Holy Spirit, why don’t you speak in all tongues?” - one must answer: “I speak in all languages, because I am a member of the Church, in that body of Christ that speaks in all languages.” And truly, what else did God signify then, if not that, having the Holy Spirit, His Church would speak in all languages” (Blessed Augustine).

Iconography of the holiday

The fact that in the Russian Orthodox Church there was a certain shift in the eorthological emphasis and even in the naming of the holiday was interestingly reflected in the iconography.

Festive rows of the iconostasis since the 16th century often include an icon of the Trinity on the site of the Feast of Pentecost. Sometimes the Trinity is placed at the end of the row - before the Descent of the Holy Spirit (there is a distribution of these icons over two days - the actual holiday itself and Monday of the Holy Spirit). Let us also compare the following fact: an official of the 17th century (from the Novgorod St. Sophia Cathedral) orders that at Matins two icons of the holiday be placed on the lectern at once: the Holy Trinity and the Descent of the Holy Spirit. Such a practice is completely unknown in the Byzantine and post-Byzantine traditions.

Trinity Day does not have an exact date - it is usually celebrated on the 50th day after Easter. Thanks to this, this important church holiday has a second known name - Pentecost. Where did this holiday beloved by Christians come from, and what are its traditions?

History of origin

Pentecost is an ancient Old Testament holiday, traditionally celebrated on the 50th day after the Jewish Passover. The Jews attributed this day to three great celebrations, closely linking it with the acquisition by the people of Israel of the Sinai Law, received 50 days after the day of their exit from Egypt. The celebration of Pentecost has always been accompanied by mass fun, general rejoicing and sacrifices.

Orthodox Pentecost, also known as the Day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, is celebrated on the 50th day after the Resurrection of Christ; this great holiday represents for Christians the beginning of a new era of human existence. Moreover, an important date is considered the day of the creation of the Christian church. But the most important thing is that on this day the Holy Spirit descended on the 12 apostles and revealed to them that God is one and three at the same time. This is how events unfolded according to the Bible.

On the day of the celebration of Jewish Pentecost, 12 followers of Jesus retired from the mass fun in one of the Zion upper rooms. The disciples of Christ gathered together daily at the request of their mentor. Even during the life of the Savior, they knew about the coming event and were waiting for a new miracle. The Son of God informed them of the coming of the Holy Spirit before he died on the cross. On the 50th day after the Resurrection of the Savior, the participants heard a heartbreaking noise that, like a hurricane wind, filled a small house. Then tongues of fire appeared, they touched everyone present and seemed to separate those who were nearby.

The Holy Spirit came upon the followers of Jesus in the form of God the Father (Divine Mind), God the Son (Divine Word) and God the Spirit (Holy Spirit). This Holy Trinity is the fundamental basis of Christianity, on which the Orthodox faith firmly rests. The Holy Trinity is one God who is also trinity. God the Father is without beginning and creation, God the Son is born of the Father, and the Holy Spirit comes from God the Father.

People who approached the house from which incomprehensible sounds were heard were very surprised that the apostles spoke to each other in different languages. At first they doubted the sobriety of those inside, but the Apostle Peter dispelled the doubts of the unwitting witnesses to the miracle that had taken place. He said that the Holy Spirit had descended on them, and through them it would touch every Christian. God specifically gave the chosen ones the opportunity to speak in previously unknown languages ​​and dialects, so that they could go to different countries and tell their inhabitants the Truth about Christ. It is believed that the Holy Spirit descended to the apostles in the form of a cleansing and enlightening fire.

The preachers chosen for an important mission scattered throughout the world. They preached Christianity in different parts of the world, easily communicating with residents of unfamiliar cities in their native languages. The disciples of Christ reached the countries of the Middle East and Asia Minor, baptized people in India, Crimea and Kiev. Of the 12 apostles, only one survived - John; the rest were executed by opponents of the new faith.

Features of the celebration of Holy Trinity Day

Pentecost always falls at that wonderful time of year when nature generously gives fragrant herbs and fragrant flowers. The green leaves do not yet have time to become covered with road dust and enliven the young branches of the trees. They decorate churches and homes, thereby demonstrating the flourishing of the human soul and the renewal of people. The aroma of herbs mixes with the smell of incense, creating a festive mood and evoking joy. And the faces of the saints, surrounded by fresh greenery, look as if they were alive.

In churches, the Trinity is celebrated with special respect. This is the most important and one of the most beautiful holidays. On the eve of Pentecost, the universal parental Saturday is celebrated, commemorating those who could not be buried according to Christian customs, including those who drowned and disappeared. On the night before the celebration, a night service is held in churches.

On the Day of the Holy Trinity, Sunday hymns are not performed; instead, special holiday songs are sung. The solemn service takes place according to a special festive rite. After the liturgy, Vespers follows, during which the descent of the Holy Spirit is glorified and three special prayers are read. Priests always wear symbolic emerald robes on Trinity Sunday. Parishioners come to the temple in high spirits with flowers and birch branches.

The week after Pentecost does not have fasting on Wednesday and Friday, and immediately after the holiday there follows an important holiday closely associated with the Trinity - the Day of the Holy Spirit.

Russians began to celebrate Holy Trinity Day only in the 14th century - 300 years after the Baptism of Rus'. The holiday was introduced by St. Sergius of Radonezh.

The Feast of the Holy Trinity, or Pentecost, is dedicated to the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles on the fiftieth day after the resurrection of Christ. This holiday concludes the Easter cycle (all subsequent weeks church calendar are considered from it: the First week after Pentecost, the Second, etc.) and certainly occupies a key place among the “twelve” (that is, the twelve most important) holidays of the Orthodox Church. Why? Let's try to figure it out.

Orthodox Shavuot

The city of Jerusalem and the Jerusalem Temple during the time of the apostles

So, on the fiftieth day after the Resurrection of the Savior, the disciples gathered in Jerusalem on the day of Jewish Pentecost. On this day, the Jewish people celebrated the holiday of Moses' acceptance of the Ten Commandments and the Torah on Mount Sinai. Jews still celebrate it, this is one of the main Jewish holidays - Shavuot, (“shavuot” - translated from Hebrew means “weeks”, here we mean the seven weeks that have passed after Passover, that is, 49 days, the fiftieth day itself fell holiday, in 2011 the Jewish Shavuot fell on June 8, and the Orthodox on the 12th: the Jewish “Easter” and the Orthodox do not coincide, this happened back in the Byzantine era, however, in the apostolic time the current “gap” did not exist).

Shavuot (Jewish Pentecost) holiday in the synagogue

“When the day of Pentecost came, they (the disciples) were all with one accord together” - this remark in the text of Acts opens the story of Pentecost; the Greek text allows us to understand by the pronoun “they” not only the apostles, but also all the believers in Christ who were then in Jerusalem. The disciples are waiting for the “Comforter Spirit” promised by the Teacher on the eve of the suffering of the cross. At nine o'clock in the morning (at the third, according to Jewish reckoning), when many Jews must have been getting ready to go to the Jerusalem Temple for sacrifice and prayer, as the author of Acts narrates, suddenly a noise was heard above the house where the apostles were, as if from a stormy storm. wind.

It is interesting that, according to the remark of the largest Orthodox interpreters: St. John Chrysostom and St. Theophylact of Bulgaria - there was no wind itself, only noise rushing from top to bottom, from the sky to the place of meeting of the apostles. Behind the noise, split tongues appeared, as if of fire, and rested, one on each of the apostles. Both noise and flame are phenomena of a spiritual order, not physical, a kind of metaphor. Like noise without wind, so tongues without fire are only similar to fiery ones: “It is good to speak as if they were fiery, as if from a rushing wind, so that you do not think anything sensual about the Spirit,” emphasizes St. Theophylact.

Christ predicts the appearance of the third hypostasis - the Holy Spirit - to the disciples during his last conversation with them, on the way from the Upper Room of Zion, where the Last Supper took place, to the Garden of Gethsemane, the place where the Savior will be arrested and handed over to torment.

After the descent of the “tongues of fire,” the apostles are filled with the Holy Spirit and discover the miraculous ability to speak in languages ​​that they never knew or learned; this sudden ability becomes a visible sign and a gift of grace, the result of the influence of the Spirit on the Apostles. They speak “about the great deeds of God”, “as the Spirit gave them to speak” - this is how the “descriptor” writes - perhaps the speeches of the apostles were akin to prayerful ecstasy, and it is obvious that these speeches were not ordinary conversations, but words put into the mouths of the apostles by the Spirit God's. Witnesses of “glossolalia” (from the Greek glossa - “language, adverb” and laleo - “to speak, preach”) - are many pilgrims who arrived in Jerusalem for the holiday from different countries of the Jewish diaspora, and they recognize the apostles in the strange speech “ their native dialects.”
Saint Theophylact of Bulgaria comments on this strange phenomenon: “Why did the apostles receive the gift of tongues before other gifts? - he wonders. - Because they had to disperse to all countries; and just as during the pandemonium one language was divided into many, so now many languages ​​were united in one person, and one and the same person, at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, began to speak Persian, and Roman, and Indian and many other languages "

Giotto di Bondone "The Descent of the Holy Spirit", beginning. XIV

However, not all “spectators” are able to see the gift of the Holy Spirit in the behavior of the apostles; some even joke: are the disciples drunk? Seeing their bewilderment, the Apostle Peter explains to those gathered that in the miraculous descent of the Holy Spirit, the ancient promise once given through the prophet Joel was fulfilled: “And your sons and your daughters will prophesy; and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams” (Joel 2:28-32).

The holy apostle understands the present moment, full of such strange signs, as the day of the fulfillment of this ancient prophecy. The Holy Spirit, completing the dispensation of the Son, imparts gifts to the disciples, heralding the coming of a decisive moment in the history of the salvation of the human race. The descent of the Spirit opens a new era - the era of the eschatological fulfillment of prophecies; in general, it is these considerations that constitute the pathos of Peter’s first sermon: “Men of Israel! Hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man testified to you by God with powers and wonders and signs, which God did through Him among you, as you yourselves know. This one, according to the definite advice and foreknowledge of God, you took him and, having nailed him with the hands of the wicked, you killed him, but God resurrected Him, breaking the bonds of death, because it was impossible for it to hold Him. This Jesus God raised up, of which we are all witnesses. So He, having been exalted by the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, poured out what you now see and hear.” Many of those who listened to these words, as the author of Acts reports, believed in Christ and were immediately baptized, and by evening the Church of Christ from a modest community of disciples had grown to 3,000 people. These three thousand became the basis of the Jerusalem Christian community, from which the history of the Christian Church begins. Arriving in the city, they visit the Jewish temple and “break bread” in their homes. This “breaking of bread” is still performed everywhere in Orthodox churches - we know it as the greatest Christian sacrament - the Eucharist. Most likely, the believers of the Jerusalem community, having divided into several groups, gathered in several places. (It is unlikely that in Jerusalem at that time it was possible to find a room capable of accommodating all three thousand at the same time.) But between all these communities there was the closest mutual communication, uniting them into one fraternal family, the soul of which was the apostles. The heirs of the apostles - bishops - still unite local communities - parish churches in the diocese, remaining their heads and leaders.

Apostles. Modern fresco.

Birthday of the Church

Orthodox church on the day of Pentecost. According to Russian tradition, the floors of the temple are covered with freshly cut grass, and the icons are decorated with birch branches.

Pentecost service

Dmitry REBROV

Trinity Day is celebrated on the fiftieth day after Easter, which is why this holiday is also called Pentecost.

Afterwards, His disciples continually lived in a sense of celebration. For another forty days He appeared to them one by one and gathered together. Before the eyes of the disciples, the Lord rose above the earth, as if assuring them that on the last day of the world He would come to earth in the same way as He had gone to God the Father. Saying goodbye to them for the time being, He promised to send them the Comforter - the Holy Spirit emanating from God the Father. The disciples did not know what this meant, but they believed that everything would be according to the word of the Lord.

Like fire in a hearth, they maintained the blessed state of that day in their souls, gathering every day in one house on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. In a secluded upper room they prayed and read the Holy Scriptures. This is how another ancient prophecy came true: “Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem.” This is how the first Christian temple arose. Near that house was the house of Christ’s beloved disciple, the Apostle John the Theologian; according to the will of the Lord, His Mother, the Virgin Mary, also lived there. Disciples gathered around Her; She was a consolation for all believers.

The Feast of Pentecost, or the Day of the Holy Trinity, went like this. On the tenth day after the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, on the day of the Jewish holiday of the first harvest, when the disciples and with them were in the Zion Upper Room, at the third hour of the day a strong noise was heard in the air, as if during a storm. Bright, flickering tongues of fire appeared in the air. It was not a material fire - it was of the same nature as the Holy Fire, which descends annually in Jerusalem on Easter; it shone without burning. Rushing over the heads of the apostles, tongues of fire descended on them and laid them to rest. Immediately, along with the external phenomenon, the internal one took place, taking place in the souls: “ being all filled with the Holy Spirit.”“Both the Mother of God and the apostles felt at that moment an extraordinary power acting in them. Simply and directly, they were given from above a new grace-filled gift of the verb - they began to speak in languages ​​that they did not know before. This was the gift needed to preach the Gospel throughout the world.

Washed, generously gifted by the One Spirit, feeling that this was only part of the spiritual gifts they had received from the Lord, they held each other’s hands, forming a new shining bright Church, where God Himself is invisibly present, reflected and acting in souls. Beloved children of the Lord, united with Him by the Holy Spirit, they emerged from the walls of the Zion Upper Room to fearlessly preach Christ’s teaching about love.

In memory of this event, the Feast of Pentecost is also called the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit, as well as the day of the Holy Trinity: in the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, who came from God the Father according to the promise of God the Son, the mystery of the unity of the Holy Trinity was revealed. This day received the name Pentecost not only in memory of the ancient holiday, but also because this event occurred on the fiftieth day after Christian Easter. Just as Easter replaced the ancient Jewish holiday, so Pentecost laid the foundation of the Church of Christ as union in the Spirit on earth.

Hymns for the Feast of the Holy Trinity: Troparion of the Trinity, Kontakion of the Trinity, Glorification of the Trinity

Troparion for the Feast of the Holy Trinity, tone 1

Kontakionfeast of the Holy Trinity, voice 2

Greatnessfeast of the Holy Trinity

We magnify You, Life-Giving Christ, and honor Your All-Holy Spirit, Whom You sent from the Father as Your Divine disciple.

Articles about the Feast of the Holy Trinity (Pentecost)

Trinity-Sergius Lavra

• Photo report
• – What do the monks and inhabitants of the monastery eat? We offer you a report from the refectory, kitchen, bakery and salting room of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
• – Why does a novice need to pray the rosary? They took away the rosary. Why strict fasting? So, the “sentence” came: “If only we lived like people, there would have been a monk long ago, otherwise he’s playing the saint.”
• article about the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary

Icons of the Holy Trinity

What date does Trinity Day fall on in 2019? What is the history of this Orthodox holiday?

What date is Trinity, Trinity Day in 2019?

The color of the Trinity holiday is emerald green. This is the shade of fresh, lush grass or foliage that has not had time to get tired and absorb the heavy dust of the city. The churches glow from the inside like an emerald cloud - hundreds of birch branches are carried by parishioners, the floor of the church is densely covered with grass, the musty smell of June is intensified by the rays of the sun from the church windows, mixed with subtle notes of incense and wax candles. The candles are no longer red, but honey-yellow - “Easter is given away.” Exactly 50 days after the Resurrection of the Lord, Christians celebrate the Holy Trinity. Great Holiday, beautiful holiday.

… Fifty days after the Passover, the Jews celebrated the day of Pentecost, dedicated to the legislation of Sinai. The apostles did not take part in mass celebrations, but gathered together with the Mother of God and other disciples in the house of one person. History has not preserved evidence of his name and what he did, we only know that it was in Jerusalem... It was about three o'clock in the afternoon according to Jewish time (about nine o'clock in the morning according to modern reckoning). Suddenly, from heaven itself, from above, an incredible noise was heard, reminiscent of the howl and roar of a rushing strong wind, the noise filled the entire house in which the disciples of Christ and the Virgin Mary were located. People began to pray. Tongues of fire began to play between people and began to dwell for a moment on each of the worshipers. So the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit, with which they received the amazing ability to speak and preach in many languages, previously unknown to them... The Savior’s promise was fulfilled. His disciples received special grace and gift, power and ability to carry the teachings of Jesus Christ. It is believed that the Holy Spirit descended in the form of fire as a sign that it has the power to scorch sins and cleanse, sanctify and warm the soul.

On the occasion of the holiday, Jerusalem was full of people; Jews from different countries converged on the city on this day. A strange noise from the house where the disciples of Christ were, caused hundreds of people to run to this place. Those gathered were amazed and asked each other: “Are they not all Galileans? How do we hear each of our own languages ​​in which we were born? How can they speak with our tongues about the great things of God?” And in bewilderment they said: “They got drunk on sweet wine.” Then the Apostle Peter, standing up with the other eleven apostles, said that they were not drunk, but that the Holy Spirit had descended on them, as was predicted by the prophet Joel, and that Jesus Christ, who had been crucified, had ascended into heaven and poured out the Holy Spirit on them. Spirit. Many of those who listened to the sermon of the Apostle Peter at that moment believed and were baptized. The apostles initially preached to the Jews, and then dispersed to different countries to preach to all nations.

So Saint Andrew, who is also called Andrew the First-Called, went to preach the Word of God to the eastern countries. He passed through Asia Minor, Thrace, Macedonia, reached the Danube, passed the Black Sea coast, the Crimea, the Black Sea region and along the Dnieper rose to the place where the city of Kyiv now stands. Here he stopped at the Kyiv Mountains for the night. Getting up in the morning, he said to the disciples who were with him: “Do you see these mountains? The grace of God will shine on these mountains, there will be a great city, and God will build many churches.” The apostle climbed the mountains, blessed them and planted a cross. After praying, he climbed even higher along the Dnieper and reached the Slavic settlements where Novgorod was founded.

Miraculously, the Apostle Thomas, who believed in Christ, reached the shores of India. To this day, in the southern states of this country, Kerala and Karnataka, there live Christians whose ancestors were baptized by St. Thomas.

Peter visited various regions of the Middle East, Asia Minor, and later settled in Rome. There, according to a very reliable tradition of the late 1st and early 2nd centuries, he was executed between 64 and 68 AD. According to Origen, Peter, at his own request, was crucified upside down, since he considered that he was unworthy to undergo the same the execution that the Lord suffered.

While enlightening the nations with the teachings of Christ, the Apostle Paul also undertook long journeys. In addition to his repeated stays in Palestine, he preached about Christ in Phenicia, Syria, Cappadocia, Lydia, Macedonia, Italy, the islands of Cyprus, Lesbos, Rhodes, Sicily and other lands. The power of his preaching was so great that the Jews could not do anything to oppose the power of Paul’s teaching; the pagans themselves asked him to preach the word of God and the whole city gathered to listen to him.

That grace of the Holy Spirit, which was clearly taught to the apostles in the form of tongues of fire, is now given invisibly in the Orthodox Church - in its holy sacraments through the successors of the apostles - the shepherds of the Church - bishops and priests.

The holiday of Christian Pentecost contains a double celebration: both in the glory of the Most Holy Trinity, and in the glory of the Most Holy Spirit, who descended on the Apostles and sealed the new eternal covenant of God with man.

On the Feast of the Holy Trinity, established at the end of the 4th century, after the dogma of the Trinity - the Trinitarian God - was officially adopted at a church council in Constantinople in 381, we talk about another important aspect of the Christian faith: the incomprehensible mystery of the trinity of God. God is one in three persons and this mystery is incomprehensible to the human mind, but the essence of the Trinity was revealed to people on this day.

By the way, for a long time Christian artists did not depict the Trinity, believing that God can only be depicted in the person of Jesus Christ, the son of God. But not God the Father, not God the Holy Spirit should not be written... However, over time, a special iconography of the Holy Trinity was formed, which is now divided into two types. The Old Testament Trinity is familiar to each of us from the famous icon of Andrei of Radonezh (Rublev), on which God is depicted in the form of three angels who appeared to Abraham. The icons of the New Testament Trinity are images of God the Father in the form of an old man, Jesus Christ as a youth in his bosom or an adult husband at his right hand, and the Spirit above them in the form of a dove.

In Rus', they began to celebrate Holy Pentecost not in the first years after the baptism of Rus', but almost 300 years later, in the 14th century, under St. Sergius of Radonezh.

From this day until the next holiday of Holy Pascha, they begin to sing the troparion to the Holy Spirit “Heavenly King...” From this very moment, prostrations to the ground are allowed for the first time after Easter.

... The Divine Service on the Feast of Holy Pentecost is touching and beautiful. The temple is decorated, the priests are dressed in green vestments, the smell of grass and fresh greens, the choir “... renew in our hearts, O Almighty, the true, right Spirit,” sounds solemnly and lightly, the parishioners kneel and read the special prayers of St. Basil the Great. And it’s a juicy early summer outside - a reminder of that beautiful and deep “summer of the Lord” that Jesus Christ promised the righteous.