PENTECOSTAL EFFUSIOK 930
PEOR
21 (jCrit. Sac.') ; Otho, Lex. Rah. s. v. Festa ; Buxtorf, SynagogaK Jiidenthum, c. xx. See Festival.
Pentecostal Effusion of the Holy Spirit (as recorded in Acts ii). The commencement of the Chris- tian Church on the day of Pentecost, preceded as it was by our Lord's ascension, attached a peculiar interest to this season, and eventually led to its being set apart for the cominemoratiou of these great events. It was not, however, establislied as one of tlie great festi- vals until tlie 4th centurj'. The combination of two events (the Ascension and the descent of the Holy Ghost) in one festival has a parallel in the original Jewish feast, which is held to have included the feast of first-fruits and of the delivering of the law (Exod. xxiii, 16 ; Lev. xxiii, 14^21 ; Numb, xxviii, 26). In- deed, tliis festival in some respects bears a close anal- ogy to the Jewish one ; and is evidently little more than a modification of it. The converts of that day, on which the IIolj' Ghost descended, were the Jirst- fruits of the Spirit. Jerome (.1 d Fahium, § 7) elegant- ly contrasts this with the giving of the law on Mount Sinai: "Utraque facta est quinquagesimo die a Pas- chate; illo, in Sina ; hasc, in Sion. Ibi terrje motu contremuit mons ; hie, domus apostolorum. Ibi, inter tlammas ignium et micantia fnlgura, turbo ventorum, et fragor tonitruorum personuit ; hie, cum ignearum visione linguaruni sonitus pariter de ccclo, tanquam spiritus vehementis adversit. Ibi, clangor, buccinse, legis verba perstrepuit ; hie, tuba evangelica apostolo- rum ore iritonuit." This festival became one of the three baptismal seasons (Tertullian, De Baptis. c. 19; Jerome, in Zach. xiv, 8) ; and it derives its name of Whitsunday (q. v.), or White - Sunday, Dominica in albis, from so many being clad in wliite on this the daj' of their baptism. — Kitto.
In the early Christian Church the entire period be- tween Easter and Pentecost was named from the lat- ter (Tertullian, De Idol. c. 1 1 ; De Baptis. c. 19 ; Can. Ap. c. 37; Can. Ant. c. 30; Cyril. Ilicros. Ad Const.). The feast was observed as the festival of the Holy Spirit (Greg. Naz. De Pent. Horn. c. 4-4) at a very early date, allusion being made to it by Tertullian, as shown above, and by Origen (Contra Cels. [ed. Cantab. 1677], viii, p. 392). All public games were interdicted by Theodosius the Younger during the Pentecostal as dur- ing the Paschal solemnit}' (Cod. Theod. xv, 5, " De Spectac"). During these weeks the Acts of the Apos- tles were read, as being most suitable for the period during which the risen Lord appeared to his disciples in the body " by many infallible proofs." Fasting was intermitted (Const. Ap. v, 33), and the prayers of the Church were offered, not in a kneeling position, but erect (Cone. Nic. can. 20), as symbolizing the jubilant attitude of the Chui'ch during her Lord's passage from the grave to the glory. The entire octave was cele- brated in early days, and followed by a week of fasting (Const. Ap. V, 33). The feast was restricted to three days liy papal decree, A. D. 745. — Blunt, Diet. ofDoct. and Hid. Tlieol. p. 561 sq.
Doubts have been cast on the common interpreta- tion of Acts ii, 1, according to which the IIolv Ghost was given to the apostles on the daj' of Pentecost. Lightfoot contends that the passage iv ti;) (Tvi^nrXtjpnv- (T^ai, T)]v iififpav rTfr Un'TtiKoarrir means, when the day of Pentecost had passed, and considers tiiat this render- ing is countenanced by the words of the Vulgate, "cum complerentur dies I'entecostes." He supposes that Pentecost fell that year im the Sabbath, and that it was on the ensuing Lord's day that tianv aTravrfg opo^vpaSvi' tTTi rci niiro (Exercit. in Act. ii, 1). Ilit- zig, on the other hand (Ostern unl PJinristen, Heidel- berg, 1837), would render tlie words, " As the day of Pentecost was approaciiing its fultilinent." Neander has replied to the latter, and lias maintained the com- mon interpretation (Planting of the Christian Church, i, 5, Bohn's ed.).
The question on wliat day of the week this Pente-
cost fell must of course be determined by the mode in which the doubt is solved regarding the day on which the Last Supper was eaten. See Passoveh. If it were the last Paschal supper, on the 14th of Nisan, and the Sabbath during which our Lord lay in the grave was the day of the omer, Pentecost must have followed on the Sabbath. But if the supper were eaten on the 13th, and he was crucified on the 14th, the Sunday of the Resurrection must have been the day of the omer, and Pentecost must have occurred on the first day of the week. — Smith.
For monographs on this subject, seeVolbeding, Index Programmatum, p. 72, 120. See Baptism of Fire.
Pentecostals, a contribution or oblation made by every house or familj' to the cathedral church at Pen- tecost, in consideration of a general absolution then pronounced. The Pentecostals are sometimes called Whitsun-farthings.
Pentecostarion, one of the service-books of the Greek Church, containing the office of the Church from Easter-day till the eighth day after Pentecost, which they called the Sunday of All-Saints.