The
Tongues of Fire
by Fr. Mathew Karimpanackal
The Church professes her faith in the Holy Spirit as “The life giving LORD of all”. The creed contains the statement that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and who is worshipped and glorified with the Father and with the Son. Also, it states that the Holy Spirit has spoken through the prophets and the Apostles.
In this article I will try to give a small account of Holy Spirit as professed in the Nicene Creed. I also discuss the NT and OT backgrounds of feast of Pentecost. The scriptural references in the liturgy of the feast of Pentecost are also explained.
THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE CREED
A. The Holy Spirit as the giver of life
The church has proclaimed since the first century that Holy Spirit is the life giving Lord. According to the gospel of John, the Holy Spirit is given to us with the new life. “The rivers of living water (John 7:37-39) and a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John: 4: 10) are the simile used by Jesus to refer Holy Spirit.
Jesus in his teaching of Holy Eucharist affirms emphatically that “It is the spirit that gives life. The flesh has nothing to offer. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and they are life” (John. 6:63). “Wherever the river flows, all the living creatures teeming in it will live” (Ezekiel 47:9). Wherever the Holy Spirit is, there life is.
B. Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father
“But the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you” (John. 14: 26). It clearly states that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. Again, “I shall ask the Father, and He will give another Paraclete to be with you forever” (John 14: 16).
Also, refer Acts 5:32 “We are witness to this, we and the Holy Spirit whom God (the Father) has given to those who obey him”.
C. With the Father and the Son He is adored and glorified
In the Trinitarian faith, Holy Spirit is consubstantial (being of the same substance) with the Father and the Son They are adored and glorified together.
D. Holy Spirit has spoken through the Prophets and the Apostles
“This salvation was the subject of the search and investigation of the prophets who spoke of the grace you were to receive, searching out the time and circumstances for which the spirit of Christ bearing witness in them” (1 Peter 1: 10-11).
This substantiates the fact that Holy Spirit spoke through prophets. Again, “at many moments in the past and by many means God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets” (Hebrews 1:1). ”They (the apostles) were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak different languages as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves” (Acts.2: 4)
Thus, so far we have seen what the church professes about the Holy Spirit. The life giving Spirit who proceeds from the Father and taken from the Son, was manifested on the day of Pentecost, which was the beginning of the church.
THE FEAST OF PENTECOST IN OT AND NT
The Greek word Pentecost stands for fiftieth. On the fiftieth day, after the day of Resurrection of our Lord that the Holy Spirit was outpoured on the Apostles.
A. The OT background
i) Feast of weeks
The four pentateuchal traditions have each a calendar of the great religious feasts. But in all the traditions (i.e., Yahwistic, Elohistic, Deuteronomic and Priestly) there is the Feast of Harvest. This feast of Pentecost was originally called as the Feast of Weeks. It had an agricultural nature. Seven weeks after reaping the first ears of barley, the wheat harvest was celebrated. “You will also observe the feast of harvest of the first fruits of your labours in sowing the feast” (Exodus 23:16).
Also, “you must count seven weeks, counting these seven weeks, come the time you begin to put your sickle into standing corn. You will then celebrate the Feast of Weeks for Yahweh your God with the gift of a voluntary offering proportionate to the degree in which Yahweh your God has blessed you”( Deuteronomy 16: 9-10).
Also, “From the day after the Sabbath, the day on which you bring the sheaf of offering, you will count seven full weeks. You will count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then you will offer Yahweh a new cereal offering”. The day after seventh Sabbath comes as a Sunday.
ii) The covenant at Sinai
Toward the end of Old Testament, this feast of Pentecost became linked to the remembrance of the law given on Mount Sinai.
“Now at daybreak two days later there were peals of thunder and flashes of lightning, dense cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast; and in the camp all the people trembled…..Yahweh had descended on it in the form of fire… The whole mountain shook violently” (Exodus 19: 16 -20)
B. The New Testament background
In Acts 2: 1-4, we read, “ when Pentecost day came around, they had all met together when suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a violent wind which filled the entire house in which they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues, as of fire, these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit”.
It is clear that the God who descended on the Pentecost day and the God who descended on the Mount Sinai are one and same.
In Luke, we see the last instruction of Jesus “and now I am sending upon you what the Father has promised (i.e. the Holy Spirit)”. “Stay in the city, until your clothed with the power on high” (Luke 24:29).
The apostles with one heart joined constantly in prayer, together with some women, including Mary, the mother of Jesus and with his brothers {Acts 1:14}.They waited for the promise of the Father i.e., to be baptized with the holy spirit (Acts 1:5).
On the day of Pentecost, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak different languages as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves. The scholars explain the speaking of tongues to see in this occurrence a foretaste of the preaching which was soon to carry the good news to all the people of the world and thus undo the confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel. Luke could have been helped in this by a Jewish tradition which commemorated the day of Pentecost, the theophany at Sinai and which claimed that the Voice of God, mediated by flames of fire, was then addressed to all the peoples of the world, but was rejected by all except Israel which accepted the Law. In this new Sinai, the peoples are challenged and they accept. (Quoted from the New Jerusalem Bible, foot note 2 a Page 1801.)
THE FEAST OF PENTECOST IN THE LITURGY OF THE CHURCH
The church commemorates the feast of Pentecost on the fiftieth day after Easter and the tenth day after the feast of Ascension of our Lord.
In the liturgy of the feast of Pentecost, there are three sections in which the first section is addressed to God the Father; the second to God the Son; and the third to God the Holy Spirit. The structure of each section is the same. It is as follows;
(a) Opening prayer (b) eniyono (c) konoono yavnoyo (d) promeon (e) sedro (f) quolo (g) ethro (h) scriptural readings (i) litany (j) silent prayer and (k) maneeso.
The scriptural reference of Konoono Yavnoyo of each section is as follows:
Section 1: Exodus 15:1-2 from the Song of Moses.
Section 2: Daniel 3:29f from the Song of the Three Young Men and
Section 3: Luke 1:46-55 from the Song of Mary, the Mother of God i.e., the Magnificat.
Let us take a glance at the scriptural readings of each section:
Old Testament
Section 1:
(a) Genesis 11:1-9 which depicts the confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel.
(b) Judges 13:24-14:7 which explains the story of Samson defeating a lion with the power of God’s spirit.
Section 2:
(a) 2 Kings 2:14-17 in which we see that the Spirit of Elijah comes to rest upon Elisha
(b) Joel 2:25- 3:2 the outpouring of the Spirit.
Section 3:
(a) Numbers 11:16-35 The Spirit is given to the Elders
(b) 1 Samuel 10:9-15 God’s Spirit is given to Saul the King.
New Testament
Section 1:
(a) Acts 19:1-6 The Holy Spirit is given through the laying of hands
(b) 1 Corinth 14:20-25 the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Section 2:
(a) Acts 19: 8-12 Work of the Holy Spirit through the Saint Paul
(b) 1 Corinth 14:26-33 the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Section 3:
(a) Acts 2: 1-21 The outpouring of Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost
(b) 1 Corinth 12:2-27 the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Gospel Readings
Section 1: John 14:1-17 The Promise of the Spirit
Section 2: John 4: 13 -24 Spirit as Living water
Section 3: John 14:25-27 15: 26-16:15 Coming of the Paraclete
In the light of what we have seen so far anyone can make out that our liturgy is enriched with the Living word of God. It is the faith and the wisdom of church Fathers which is manifested in it.
The spirit of God is the spirit of Holiness and Passion. On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit was poured out on the people in the form of tongues of fire. Fire denotes both purity and passion. As Valson Thampu in his book “Tongues of Fire” explains(Page 219), that it is the Fire that burns and consumes not, as seen by Moses on Mount Horeb. The world knows Fire as destructive. Just as blood is the main means of cleansing and renewing the body, the spirit is the principal means for purifying and sanctifying our inner being. Holy Spirit is the blood of Jesus Christ, that passes through the veins and arteries of our faith, cleansing and nourishing our spiritual life. This is the secret of our Spiritual fruitfulness. Let us conclude with the Trinitarian formula derived from the liturgical usage, “ May the grace of the Lord JESUS CHRIST , the Love of GOD and the fellowship of the HOLY SPIRIT be with you all”(2 Corin: 13:13).
