By Fr. George Dorbarakis
The somewhat forgotten and underestimated feast of Mid-Pentecost — especially by Christians of our time (in contrast to the Byzantine era, when it was celebrated with exceptional splendor, so much so that it was considered an imperial feast: the emperor himself would proceed in great procession, clothed in his royal vestments, to the Church of Saint Mokios, where the Patriarch awaited him in order to concelebrate the festive Divine Liturgy) — comes to present to us essential elements of our faith, without which we cannot truly be called Christians.
Beyond emphasizing the importance of the two great feasts it connects — the Resurrection and Pentecost — it proclaims in a powerful way the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet this is understood only to the extent that a person accepts it not theoretically or from a distance, but existentially and personally. That is, because the Lord is God who became man, He now functions as the center of human life. This means that after Christ, a person — of course, a believer — cannot live, move, speak, or think without taking Him into account. In other words, the Christian is (and must be) a Christ in the world, and every other person on earth should (and must) see Christ in his very existence. This is precisely the truth to which the Apostle Paul testifies, when he not only confesses that “Christ lives in him” as the center of his life, but also that every Christian constitutes “a letter of Christ to the world,” read by other people.
The hymnographers of the feast, Saint Theophanes and Saint Andrew of Crete, continually refer to this dimension of Mid-Pentecost, because they emphasize what the Holy Gospel itself stresses in the Synaxarion: that the Lord reveals His messianic identity, rebukes the Jews, and calls all the world that thirsts for truth to come to Him, because He is the source of life and of the living water that quenches the heart and the whole existence of man. Let us choose almost at random one example:
“As You stood in the midst of the temple, when the middle of the feast was approaching in a divine manner, You cried out loudly: ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. For he who drinks from My divine streams will see rivers of My teachings flowing from his heart. And he who believes in Me, who was sent by God My Father, will be glorified together with Me.’ Therefore we cry out to You: Glory to You, Christ God, for You have richly offered the streams of Your love for mankind to Your servants” (Kathisma of Matins).
These are the same words — as the Synaxarion notes — that the Lord addressed to the Samaritan woman, who, because she was well-disposed and believed in Christ, was converted and became not simply a good Christian, but the Equal-to-the-Apostles Great Martyr Saint Photini. The Lord’s words worked within her in a transformative way, overturning her entire former life.
What is required, of course, is the good disposition of the person — to believe in Christ, setting aside “one’s own will,” one’s ego. For this is precisely what faith in Christ means: I take Him seriously in my life and, by His grace, make Him the center of my existence.
And so, what do I offer Him? The filth of my sins, the barrenness of my heart, so that He may flood it with the fountain of the waters of His teaching and with the streams of His blood, so that it may become His dwelling place and that of His Holy Spirit. The Oikoss of the Synaxarion of the day is very revealing:
“My soul, which has become barren through the lawlessness of my sins, do water with the streams of Your blood and make it fruitful in virtues. For You said to all, O all-holy Word of God, to come to You and draw the water of incorruption, which is the living water that cleanses the sins of all who hymn Your glorious and divine Resurrection. To those who recognize You as God, good Lord, You grant the heavenly power of the Spirit, who truly came upon Your disciples. For You are the source of our life.”
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.