Feast Of The Pentecost

This Sunday (May 31, 2020) is the Feast of Pentecost. According to the New Testament book of the Acts of the Apostles, the disciples were gathered in the upper room on the Jewish feast of Pentecost some time after Jesus' resurrection.

“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” (Acts 2:2-4).

A Day and a Season

"Pentecost" means fifty days in Greek. It refers both to the fiftieth day after Easter, and also to that entire season of fifty days. The 8th century Armenian Church father and theologian St. John of Otzun says that during the fifty days of Pentecost, "every day is Sunday." By this he means that every day is a day to celebrate the Easter mystery of Christ risen and active among us. There should be no fasting and no kneeling down because these are penitential rites which are not compatible with the joy of Easter.

Ancient Ceremony of Genuflexion

One characteristic of the Feast of Pentecost in the Armenian Church and all other ancient eastern churches is a ceremony of "Genuflexion" or kneeling down. After the festivities of Easter are completed on Pentecost Sunday, the church resumes its normal cycle of fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays. In addition, the prohibition against kneeling down in prayer and penance is lifted. In fact, the churches celebrate this by ceremonially inviting the faithful to bend the knee for the first time since Easter.

In the Armenian tradition, this ceremony takes place during the Badarak (Divine Liturgy). The priest celebrating the Divine Liturgy interrupts the Eucharistic Prayer (before the words, Arek, gerek... (Take, eat...) and reads three prayers which come to us from the ancient liturgy of Jerusalem. Each prayer is addressed to one member of the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Before each prayer a hymn is sung. After each prayer the priest invites all the faithful to bow down three times, saying, "With prayers, we fall on our knees and beseech the Lord."

(Courtesy of St. Nersess Armenian Theological Seminary)

https://www.stnersess.edu/news/pentecost-in-the-armenian-church-three-pentecost-prayers