What has Pentecost to do with freedom? What is freedom exactly? What is it not? by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon When we declare that God created the Cosmos in freedom, we mean that nothing outside of God had to be. Modern philosophers seriously ask—as other philosophers, for centuries, implied—why is there something instead of nothing? […]
Day One of the Week – Pentecost
May 5, 2016 By
by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon The fourth century introduced a significant change of perspective with respect to Pentecost, when the Council of Nicaea determined that the date of Pascha should always fall on the first Sunday of spring. Up to that point, a certain measure of local custom had prevailed, with some Christians—luminaries like Polycarp […]
Pentecost: The Whole Paschal Season
January 20, 2015 By
by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon In Luke’s theology the mission of the Holy Spirit is especially related to the event of Pentecost. Consequently, the forgiveness and remission of sins—the Holy Spirit’s first gift—forms a theme foundational to the imagery of Pentecost. This is the case, whether “Pentecost” refers to the whole Paschal season (its older […]
Fifty Days of Sundays
December 29, 2014 By
by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon When, at the Council of Nicaea, the Church formally determined that Pascha should always be observed on a Sunday, that determination necesarily affected the final day of Pentecost. Thus, beginning and ending on a Sunday, the whole fifty days of Pentecost began to take on some of characteristics associated with […]
The Holy Spirit Rules the Church
June 18, 2014 By
by St. Leo the Great The bishop of Rome during difficult times, he was an eminent scholar of Scripture and rhetoric. During an invasion by Attila the Hun, St. Leo met him outside the gates of Rome. After some short words, to everyone’s surprise, Attila turned and left. Three years later, during an invasion by Genseric […]
Why Didn’t the Holy Spirit Come Right After the Ascension?
May 26, 2012 By
by St. John Chrysostom But why did the Holy Spirit come to them, not while Christ was present, nor even immediately after his departure, but, whereas Christ ascended on the fortieth day, the Spirit descended “when the day of Pentecost,” that is, the fiftieth, “was fully come?”(Acts 2:1) And how was it, if the Spirit […]
From Pascha To Pentecost
April 27, 2011 By
By Protopresbyter Dr. George D. Dragas 1. The Pentecostal Period. The word, Pentecost means “the fiftieth” and is used to designate the great event of the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Epiphoitesis) upon the Apostles and the Church on the 50th day after the Resurrection of Christ, just ten days after His Ascension into Heaven. […]
On Pentecost
May 20, 2010 By
St. Gregory Nazianzus “the Theologian” Our father among the saints Gregory the Theologian , also known as Gregory of Nazianzus (though that name more appropriately refers to his father) and Gregory the Younger, was a great Father and Teacher of the Church. He was a close friend of St. Basil the Great. He was one […]
