Mid-Pentecost, May 29
We all know the name of Pentecost which is according to the New Testament the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles which happened on the fiftieth day after the Passover of the Jews (Acts II 1-41). In commemoration of this event, every year, Christians celebrate with particular splendor the feast of Pentecost and this because theologically this day is considered the birthday of the Church.
Mid=Pentecost may be one of the lesser known holidays for Orthodox Christians, but it is one of the biggest and most important holidays.
Mid-Pentecost celebrates the midpoint between the Feasts of Pascha (Easter) and Pentecost. Specifically, it falls on the 25th day of Pascha. At the feast of Mid-Pentecost, a Small Blessing of the Waters is traditionally performed after the liturgy of the feast.[1]
Mid-Pentecost is a one-week feast which begins on the 4th Wednesday of Pascha, and continues until the following Wednesday. That is to say, it has an Afterfeast of seven days. Throughout these eight days (including the day of the feast) hymns of Mid-Pentecost are joined to those of the Paschal season. Many of the hymns from the first day of the feast are repeated on the Apodosis (leave-taking of the feast). Although it is ranked as a Feast of the Lord and has an Afterfeast, Mid-Pentecost itself is not considered to be one of the Great Feasts of the church year.
The liturgical texts for the feast are found in the Pentecostarion (the liturgical book containing propers for the period from Pascha to Pentecost). There are three Old Testament readings[2] appointed for Vespers; but, uniquely, no Matins Gospel. In some places an All-Night Vigil is celebrated for this feast, though a Vigil is not called for in the Typicon (book of rubrics). At the Divine Liturgy, the reading from the Apostle is Acts 14:6–18.
The theme of the feast is Christ as Teacher and the icon of the feast depicts the young Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem speaking with the Elders (Luke 2:46–47), the first biblical example of Jesus as teacher (Rabbi) following Passover. The Bar Mitzva of Jesus at this time corresponds to the traditional winter birth of Jesus according to all Orthodox Churches since it usually takes place when a boy is 12 and a half. In traditional Orthodox icons of this subject, the figure of Jesus is depicted larger than those of the Elders, showing his superior spiritual status.
The Troparion of the Feast hints at the encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan Woman, which will be celebrated on the following Sunday:
In the middle of the Feast, O Savior, fill my thirsting soul with the waters of godliness, as Thou didst cry to all: 'If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink' (John 7:37). O Christ God, Fountain of our life, glory be to Thee!
The scripture verse from John 7, quoted by the Troparion, will be read three weeks later on the day of Pentecost.
Mid-Pentecost, has historically been the Altar Feast of the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople In other words, it is a station, an intersection. The first trope of the vespers of the feast puts it nicely:
"Here is the middle of days,
of those who started an uprising from salvation
Pentecost and the goddess of those who are sealed,
and shines with splendour
I had both sides
and united the two
and it seems the glory manifest
of the despotic ascension is humbled".
In other words, without having its own theme, this day combines the themes of Easter on the one hand and the visitation of the Holy Spirit on the other, and "prophesies" the glory of the ascension of the Lord, which will be celebrated after 15 days. And precisely this middle of the two great holidays also brought to mind a Jewish epithet of the Lord, "Messiah". Messiah in Greek is translated as Christ. But sonically it reminds me of the medium. Thus, in the tropes and synaxari of the day, this paretymology becomes an occasion to present Christ as the Messiah - mediator between God and people, "mediator and mediator between us and his eternal Father". "It is for this reason that those who celebrate and call Mesopentekosti the Messiah present it as a holiday, we celebrate Christ", notes Nikiforos Xanthopoulos in the synaxari. The Gospel passage, which was chosen for this day, helped in this (Jn. 7, 14-30). In the middle of the Jewish Passover, Christ ascends to the sanctuary and teaches. His teaching causes admiration, but also lively controversy between him and the people and the teachers. Is Jesus the Messiah or not? Is the teaching of Jesus from God or not? So a new topic is added: Christ is a teacher. He who while not learning letters possesses the fullness of wisdom, because it is the Wisdom of God that made the world. It is precisely from this dialogue that much of the hymnography of the holiday is inspired. He who teaches in the temple, in the midst of the teachers of the Jewish people, in the midst of the feast, is the Messiah, the Christ, the Word of God. He who is condemned by the so-called wise men of His people is the Wisdom of God. We choose one of the most characteristic tropes, the doxastic of the epistles of the vespers of pl. d' audio:
"In the middle of the holiday
your teacher, Sotir,
the Jews said;
How did he see letters, not memorizing?
unaware that you are the Wisdom
I made the world.
Glory be to you."
A few lines down in the Gospel of John, immediately after the passage containing the dialogue of the Lord with the Jews "In the middle of the feast", comes a similar dialogue, which took place between Christ and the Jews "on the last day of the great feast" , that is, at Pentecost. He begins with a great phrase of the Lord. "If he thirsts, come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture said, rivers of living water will flow from his belly" (Jn. 7, 37-38). And the Evangelist comments: "He said this about the Spirit, which those who believe in him will receive in the future" (Jn. 7, 39). It does not matter that these words of the Lord were not spoken on Mid-Pentecost, but a few days later. Poetic license entered the mouth of the Lord in His speech at Mid-Pentecost. Besides, they fit so well with the theme of the holiday. A more illustrative image could not be found to show the character of Christ's teaching work. To the thirsty human race, the teaching of the Lord came like living water, like a river of grace that cooled the face of the earth. Christ is the source of grace, of the water of eternal life, which quenches and irrigates the souls of people suffering from tormenting thirst. Who transforms those who drink into springs. "Rivers of living water flow from his belly" (Jn. 7, 38). "And a fountain of water springing up into eternal life will be born to him", he said to the Samaritan woman" (Jn. 4, 14). Who turned the desert of the world into a God-planted paradise of evergreen trees planted despite the outlets of the waters of the Holy Spirit. This fruitful theme gave new occasions to ecclesiastical poetry and adorned the feast of Mid-Pentecost with excellent hymns. We choose three, the most characteristic: The seat of pl. d' sound to "Tin Sophian kai Logon", which is sung after the third ode of the canon in the sequence of the verse:
"The water of wisdom and of life
springing forth to the world, all, Sotir,
you are calling him to appear
lifelines;
your good divine law
accepting person,
in him it fades
of the fallacy of coal.
Since forever
it will not thirst, it will not expire
of your daughter, lord, king of heaven.
For this we glorify
your kingdom, Christ God,
forgiveness of sins beggars
I am richly endowed
to your servants".
The absolute and the stock of the feast, the first of pl. d' and the second of the d' sound:
"In the middle of the holiday
thirst for my soul
godly watering threads;
because all of you, Sotir, have spoken;
Let the thirsty come to me and drink.
The source of life, Christ the God, glory to you".
"On the holiday of legal mediation
the poet and despot of all
at present you said, Christ the God;
See also invisible water of immortality.
Whence we turn to you and faithfully cry out;
You give us your blessings,
because you are a sourceof our lives".
And finally the incomparable six-pack of the holiday:
"I have the retainer
of empty donations,
show me clear water
for forgiveness of sins;
because I'm still thirsty,
pity only oiktirmon".
This in a few words is the feast of Mid-Pentecost. The lack of historical background deprived it of that necessary popular character, which would have made it popular with many people. And its completely theoretical theme did not help the Christians, who did not have the necessary theological prerequisites, to overcome the surface and penetrate into the celebrated glory of the teacher Christ, the Wisdom and Word of God, the source of pure water. Something similar to what happened to the famous temples of God's Wisdom happened to her, which instead of being honored in the name of Christ as the Wisdom of God, in whose honor they were erected, were, for the same reasons, to celebrate on the feast of Pentecost that of the Holy Spirit, that of the Holy Trinity, that of the Introductions, that of the Dormition of the Virgin, or that of the martyr Sophia, and of the three daughters of Faith, Hope, and Love.
Functional texts
Absolute
Ἦhos pl. d'.
In the midst of the feast, let my soul thirst for piety, water the threads; for all of you, Savior, have spoken; let the thirsty come to me and drink. The source of life, Christ God, glory to you.
Kontakion
Ἦhos d'.
On the feast of the legal intercessor, the poet and despot of the respondents said to those present, Christ the God, let the water of immortality appear. Whence we turn to you and we faithfully cry out; You give us your sufferings, since you are the source of our life.
Megalynarion
In the midst of the feast, O good teachers, in the midst of the Holy, see you who are thirsty, come and drink water, from the source of all, all of you.
Σχόλια