Dr Augustin Sokolovski
Fifty days after Easter, the Church celebrates Pentecost. In the Russian Church and in the Churches that have shared a particularly close history with her, this feast is called the Day of the Holy Trinity. This means that the feast was renamed at some point in history. As is often the case with tectonic shifts in ecclesiastical and liturgical life, there may be at least two reasons for this: a historical one and a theological one.
The fact is that Saint Sergius of Radonezh (1314–1392), the reviver of spiritual life in Russia, dedicated his monastery to the Holy Trinity. He celebrated the monastery’s patronal feast on the Day of Pentecost. From this practice, which became a great tradition, the famous icon of the “Holy Trinity” was subsequently created. It should be noted that in Greece, it is historically referred to not as the “Holy Trinity,” but as the Hospitality of Abraham. The icon as theology is, as it were, contrasted with the icon as event in these different Orthodox traditions.
The historical reason why Pentecost became Holy Trinity Day in the Russian Church is that, also during the time of Sergius of Radonezh, Russia was fighting for liberation from its subjugation to the Eastern empires, whose rulers had recently converted from paganism to Islam and had become much less tolerant toward the Orthodox. This was perhaps the only successful “Orthodox Reconquista in history,” and it occurred simultaneously with a similar phenomenon in Spanish history. The Feast of Pentecost, having become Holy Trinity Day, underscored the theological foundation of Orthodox Christianity.
This year, the Feast of Pentecost marks two remarkable coincidences. One of them can be described as historical, and the other as theological. According to the liturgical calendar, on this day, May 31, the Church commemorates the Holy Fathers of the Seven Ecumenical Councils. In the Orthodox understanding, the Fathers of the Councils revealed to the whole world that Pentecost—as the life of the Holy Spirit in the Church—did not end with the era of the Apostles, but continues to live on in the Church’s decrees, in its moral life, and in its dogmas. This is a theological coincidence.
Another coincidence is that Pentecost coincides with the last day of spring. This is a reminder to us that the Spring of the World has ended. We have entered the last days. Great trials await the Church, but also great joy as the Second Coming of Christ draws near. Spring is over. Most of us Orthodox believers are “Adult Men,” to borrow the title of Jean-Paul Sartre’s (1905–1980) novel of the same name; we are living in “The Age of Reason.” Therefore, both individually and as a whole, let us—the Church, as the Community of Believers—remain spiritually vigilant, watch over ourselves, and strive to correct our ways and improve, so that the Lord may return more quickly to those who await Him in deed and word. Religion is a matter for very adult people; thankfully, to guide us on this path Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit.