On the Sunday of the Pentecost, also called the Sunday of the Holy Trinity, His Eminence Vladimir, Metropolitan of Chisinau and all Moldova, celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Nativity of the Lord Metropolitan Cathedral in Chisinau.
The first hierarch of the Orthodox Church of Moldova was assisted at the service by the Cathedral Dean and Metropolitan Secretary, archpriest Vadim Cheibas, and the clergy of the holy shrine.
The Feast of the Pentecost celebrates the descending of the Holy Spirit upon the Holy Apostles (Acts 2: 1-11).
Along with the Feast of the Resurrection of the Lord, the descending of the Holy Spirit is among the oldest Christian Feasts celebrated since the apostolic age. The celebration of this event is mentioned by Apostles Paul (1 Cor. 16), and Luke (Acts 20, 16). It is also described in the Apostolic Constitutions as a day when slaves should be exempt of daily work. This Feast is also mentioned by St. Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, the 43rd Rule of the Council of Elvira (c 300), 20th Rule of the First Oecumenical Council (forbidding kneeling on the day of Pentecost), St. Epiphanes, etc. Great preachers of the fourth and fifth centuries left numerous lauds of this Feast, while pilgrim Egeria described in the second half of the fourth century how this Feast was celebrated in Jerusalem. By the end 4th – beginning of the 5th c, Pentecost used to celebrate two events: the Ascension of the Lord and the Coming of the Holy Spirit, as described by Eusebius of Caesarea in the second half of the 4th c. Since about the year 400 AD, the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord is starts to be celebrated on the 40th day after Pascha, while the Descending of the Holy Spirit – 10 days later, as they are celebrated nowadays.
The Vespers service was officiated after the Liturgy, with special kneeling prayers thanking God for the utmost mercy and asking for the protection of the faithful.
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