What is Pentecost? What exactly is celebrated with this holiday and why are we celebrating Pentecost at all? If you don't really know right away what the origin of this holiday could be, I can reassure you. You are not alone in this. In a survey a few years ago, 53 percent of those questioned had no idea what exactly was being celebrated. Although only a good 1000 people were surveyed, the trend should be correct. Pentecost has a low profile and, last but not least, somehow gets lost in the calendar. Especially at this time of year, in May and June, one public holiday follows the next. Obscure festivities such as Ascension Day or Corpus Christi make themselves comfortable between well-known celebrations such as Labor Day or Easter. Who is supposed to keep track of that? However, Pentecost is not such an unimportant day in Christianity. It is even one of the most important holidays of the year! So let's take a look at the history and origin of this festival.
In the name of the Holy Spirit
Pentecost gets its religious significance for Christianity primarily because it is the feast of a very specific part of the Trinity. It is dedicated to the Holy Spirit, in the doctrine of the Trinity next to God the Father and God the Son the third form of God or something (although a theologian would certainly slap me on the fingers with this superficial description). And why shouldn't the Holy Spirit have its own holiday? God the Son, better known as Jesus, also enjoys his festivals throughout the year. In the historical sense, Easter was always the most important thing here, but today, of course, Christmas plays a larger role in everyday life. In turn, the whole of life and thus the whole Christian year is dedicated to God the Father, and with the Lord's Day he gets his attention every Sunday anyway. It is actually only logical that the Holy Spirit does not go away completely empty-handed. And just as in the case of Easter, where Jesus is said to have died and risen again for the people, Pentecost is linked to a very specific miracle in the tradition of the church.
This mystical Pentecost event is said to have happened something like this:It was 50 days after the death of Jesus. At that time the Jewish festival of Shavuot was taking place and Jesus' disciples (after all, still quasi-Jews) gathered in Jerusalem for this purpose, together with many other Jews from all over the world. As the disciples and some other early followers of Jesus sat there together, the story goes that the Holy Spirit entered them in the form of wind and fire, or, however one has to imagine it, he poured himself over them. As a result, the disciples could suddenly communicate in all the languages of the world. And what do you do with such great new language skills? Sure, of course! They set them off in Jerusalem and told people from near and far about Jesus and his teachings. A total of 3000 of them are said to have been baptized immediately. The Christians therefore appeared on this day for the first time as missionaries and that is why Pentecost is still considered the birthday of the church to this day. This fact and the miracle wrought by the Holy Spirit form the basis of the meaning of the holiday. At least for the church.
But why do we really celebrate Pentecost?
But this explanation, as given in the book of Acts of the New Testament of the Bible, does require a healthy dose of faith. From a purely scientific point of view, I find it somewhat difficult to imagine a spirit that moves through the rooms in the form of wind and fire and gives people undreamt-of language abilities. So of course there are also non-religious backgrounds for the festival. The decisive hint as to why Pentecost can still be found in our public holiday calendar has already been given. It is, of course, the older Jewish festival of Shavuot! After all, in Christianity it is not unusual in principle for the dates of the major festivals to be based on older festivals. Easter started out coinciding with the Jewish Passover, Christmas follows the winter solstice, and Pentecost now just follows the Jewish Shavuot.
The original meaning of this festival, which on the one hand commemorates the receipt of the Torah from God and on the other hand served as a harvest festival, was lost at some point. But the logic stayed the same. Shavuot traditionally took place exactly 50 days after Passover, just as Pentecost still takes place exactly 50 days after Easter. It is not without reason that the Greeks called the Feast of Shavuot “Pentekost”, which roughly means “fiftieth” (from penta, as in pentagram and such). This has remained the case in many languages of the world, which means that Pentecost is called Pentecost in English, for example. The German word is actually only a derivative of it. Today, however, the dates of Christian festivals and Jewish festivals are no longer necessarily the same. The calculation of the date of Easter is one of the very old points of contention in Christianity anyway, and the date of Pentecost also depends on Easter.
Over time, the new Pentecost developed as religious holidays usually develop. The festival was probably celebrated in the earliest Christian communities and is therefore about as old as Easter. It is documented in writing at least from the 2nd century. Since then, however, it has changed again and again and changed its form. So what is Pentecost after all? Pentecost is actually a very typical Christian holiday. Yes, he could hardly be more typical. It originated from a Jewish festival, became more and more alienated from it over the centuries, took on new meanings and has survived to this day. Oh yes, and for everyone who wants to believe in it, it's also the feast of the Holy Spirit. Whether you want to find flaming gusts realistic or not.
On the podcast this week I'm speaking about a related topic, namely the great oriental schism between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches. After the events of early Christianity that are partially described here, there were always theological disputes between East and West. Among other things, this also affected the role of the Holy Spirit and in the 11th century this led to the final break between the two forms of Christianity. Or did it? Have a listen!