Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11

Prokeimenon. Mode 4.
Psalm 18.4,1
Their voice has gone out into all the earth.
Verse: The heavens declare the glory of God.
WHEN THE DAY of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly
a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where
they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on
each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other
tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews,
devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together,
and they were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. And
they were amazed and wondered, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And
how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and
Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontos and Asia, Phrygia and
Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both
Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the
mighty works of God."
Holy Pentecost
The Gospel according to John 7:37-52; 8:12
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, "If any one thirst,
let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, 'Out of his
heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who
believed in him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was
not yet glorified.
When they heard these words, some of the people said, "This is really the prophet." Others
said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the
scripture said that the Christ is descended from David, and comes from Bethlehem, the
village where David was?" So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them
wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
The officers then went back to the chief priest and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why did you
not bring him?" The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this man!" The Pharisees
answered them, "Are you led astray, you also? Have any of the authorities or of the Pharisees
believed in him? But this crowd, who do not know the law, are accursed." Nikodemos, who
had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, "Does our law judge a man
without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?" They replied, "Are you from
Galilee too? Search and you will see that no prophet is to rise from Galilee." Again Jesus

spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in
darkness, but will have the light of life."

After Your rising from the sepulcher, O Savior, * and Your divine Ascension to the
heights of heaven, * You sent down on Your Disciples Your glory, O Good One, *
renewing an upright Spirit in them, O
Christ. * And therefore those men who saw God proclaimed to all * Your sayings
and Your economy, as if melodious guitars * that mystically are played with the
pick * of the Spirit, O merciful Lord.

The Holy Spirit is light and life, and a living noetic fount. Spirit of wisdom, Spirit
of understanding; good, upright, noetic, ruling, purging offences; God and
deifying; He is fire issuing from fire, uttering, inciting, distributing the gifts of
grace. Through Him the Prophets and the Apostles of God and the Martyrs all
were crowned. Strange to hear, strange to see, fire distributed for the
apportioning of gifts

,
, , , ,
, .
Without sustaining corruption you still conceived a child, * and lent your flesh to
the Word and general Artificer. * Mother who knew no man, O Virgin Theotokos,
receptacle and space of your uncontained and infinite Creator, you do we
magnify.
, , ,
, , ' ,
.
Light is the Father, light the Logos; * light is the Holy Spirit, * which was sent to
the Apostles * in the form of fiery tongues, * and through which the entire world
is guided by the light * to worship the Holy Trinity

13 cannot be divided
Girds with one flame the countless host,
Trances the heart through chanting choirs,
And through the priest the mind inspires.

With powerful emphasis the all timely and catholic consciousness of the Church
is disclosed in the order of burial. The faithful who attain to a genuine union with
Christ Himself in their struggle and in the saving "mysteries" cannot be parted
from Him even by death. "Blessed are they who die in the Lordtheir souls shall
abide with the blessed." And the prayers for the departed are a witness and
measure of the catholic consciousness of the Church.

and "after He Who is Life itself and the source of life was ranked among the
dead, we consider no more as dead those who depart with a hope of resurrection
and with faith in Him."

For if there is no resurrection, the nature of men as men would not

continu" (15).
Man's mortality reflects man's estrangement from God, Who is the only Giver of
Life.

And, in this estrangement from God, Man simply cannot "endure" as man, cannot
stay fully human. The status of mortality is essentially "subhuman."

A human death indeed, death "according to humanity," and yet death

within the hypostasis of the Word, of the Incarnate Word. And thence a
resurrecting death.
This does not alter the ontological character of death, but changes its meaning.

And yet, we have to make a clear distinction between the healing of

nature and the healing of the will.
will n

(faculty of conscious decisions)

The power of the will often exceeds logic.

will n

(wish)

She went against her father's will and married the musician.
will n

(volition)

My grandmother says that what happens is God's will.

.
will n

(disposition)

The New Humanity

We live in a changed world: it has been changed by Christ's redeeming
Resurrection. Life has been given, and it will prevail. The Incarnate Lord is
in very truth the Second Adam and in Him the new humanity has been
inaugurated.