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By Matushka Ioanna Callinicos Rhodes

After the Ascension of Christ the disciples were eagerly awaiting the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem as was promised them by Christ.  They had no clue as to when this occurrence was going to happen. They never realized what the impact of that moment was going to be and how it was going to affect them. Finally, ten days after the Ascension, the Holy Spirit descended as in tongues of fire over them, and a new life was given to them. They were filled with wisdom and knowledge never known to them before.  It is the Wisdom that can only come from the Grace of the Holy Spirit himself. It is this Grace that renews our life.

In Christ’s Resurrection we receive the “New” Pascha (Passover), Christ passing over from death to life. It is not the old Passover of the Old Testament, which commemorates the deliverance from the Angel of Death as he passed by the Jewish homes, but the actual destruction of death. It was not by accident that the Crucifixion and Resurrection occurred at the same time as the Jewish Passover. The two had to be connected.

In much the same way, the descent of the Holy Spirit was connected to the Old Testament Pentecost (Shavu’ot).  This period is counted from the second day of the Jewish Passover for seven weeks which equals 49 days + 1 day to equal the fiftieth day. Originally this day was the day the first fruits of the harvest were brought to the temple. Later on it became the time that commemorated the giving of the Torah (the Law). The Jews see this as being redeemed spiritually from bondage to idolatry and immorality.

by Fr. James C. Meena
From The Word Magazine, October 1982

You have heard it said many times that our youth are the future of the Church. While I do not and have never disputed that statement because I’ve always agreed with it and perhaps because I was once considered to be a part of the future of the Church, I would like to turn that concept around for your consideration and to state that the Church is the future of our youth.

We have become so involved with young people that our whole culture has become youth oriented to the extent that those of us who are aging rapidly try to deny the realities of time and keep ourselves looking young. We dye our hair, go on special diets, wear special clothes, have plastic surgery, wear cosmetics, and do all sorts of things to keep ourselves looking youthful. We look with contempt upon aging because in this society, which has been so concerned with the future, the comfort, the pleasures, the education and the gratification of young people, (and with literally buying their love), we have not bothered to develop in the minds of our youth a conscientious respect for aging, a realization that one day they will no longer be young but that they will be members of the “older” generation and will need to assume the responsibilities of senior members of society.

For too long now we have so devoted ourselves to safeguarding our children from the suffering we or our parents have experienced that we have forgotten that sometimes we only learn from our own adversities and from our own experience.

O heavenly King, the Comforter, Spirit of Truth, Who art in all places, and fillest all things, Treasury of good things, and Giver of life, come, and dwell in us, and cleanse us from every stain; and save our souls, O good One.

--Doxasticon of the Feast, Tone 6

The spring of the Spirit hath come to those on earth, dividing noetically into fire-bearing rivers, moistening the Apostles and illuminating them. The fire hath become to them a dewy cloud, lighting, and raining flames upon them, from whom we received grace by the fire and the water. Verily the fire of the Comforter hath come and lighted the world.

--Orthros of the Feast

• Listen to Fr. Patrick Reardon's homily on Pentecost at Ancient Faith Radio.
• Children will enjoy listening to Archdiocese Featured Author Chrissi Hart read from a Conciliar children's book about the Feast. The audio can be found here.
• Read a reflection on the Feast from Mat. Ioanna Callinicos Rhodes.

The following statement and photographs have been released by The Offices of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East in Damascus, Syria, courtesy of Archimandrite Ibrahim Daoud, Secretary to the Patriarch:

On Tuesday, June 2, 2009, the Most Blessed Ignatius IV, Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, received as his specially invited guests from the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, Their Graces, Bishop Antoun, Bishop Joseph, Bishop Basil, Bishop Thomas and Bishop Mark. 

Commemorated on August 30

St. Gaudentia was a holy virgin from Rome.

She was martyred with three others in an unknown year, probably during the early persecution of Christians.

By permission of www.orthodoxeurope.org

Commemorated on August 29

St. Sabina was the widow of Valentinus and the daughter of Herod Metallarius. 

She lived in Rome and was converted to Christianity by her female slave, Serapia. 

In 126, Serapia was put to death for her faith and later, in the same year, Sabina suffered martyrdom.

In 430, Sabina’s relics were brought to the Aventine in Rome, where a basilica was built in her honor.

By permission of www.orthodoxeurope.org

Commemorated on August 26

St. Pandwyna was a holy virgin born in either Scotland or Ireland.

She was a nun at Eltisley, located about four miles from St. Neots in Cambridgeshire, where a church is dedicated to her. 

The hagiographer Leland recorded that Pandwyna was a daughter of a king of the Scots, who fled from those who would deflower her to a kinswoman who was prioress of Eltisley.

St. Pandwyna died in 904 and was buried near the St. Pandonia Well in Eltisley.  Her relics were translated into the church there in 1344.

By permission of www.orthodoxeurope.org

Commemorated on August 25

St. Patricia was born in Constantinople in the seventh century and was related to the imperial family.  

After deciding to dedicate her life to God, she fled to escape an arranged marriage.  St. Patricia went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and then to Rome, where she consecrated herself to God as a virgin.  She then returned to Constantinople and gave away all of her possessions. 

She is the patron saint of Naples where she entered into the Heavenly Kingdom in 665.  It is said that a vial of her blood liquefies periodically.

By permission of www.orthodoxeurope.org

Commemorated on August 25

St. Lucilla was the daughter of Nemesius, a deacon. 

Lucilla was blind from her birth, and was taken by her father to be cured and baptized by St. Stephen, the Bishop of Rome.  Many others were converted and baptized on account of the miracle.

Learning of this deed, Emperor Valerian ordered Nemesius to be imprisoned and Lucilla to be given to a wicked woman, named Maxima.  However, after a few days, Nemesius and Lucilla were taken without trial to the temple of Mars in the Via Appia in Rome, and there Lucilla's throat was cut, before her father's eyes.

Nemesius rejoiced to see her go before him to the martyr's glory. He was beheaded between the Via Latina and Via Appia.

They both entered into the Heavenly Kingdom in 260.

By permission of www.orthodoxeurope.org

Commemorated on August 25

St. Ebba the Elder was the abbess and founder of the Coldingham Monastery on the Scottish border.  She was the sister of Sts. Oswald and Oswy, Kings of Nothumbria. 

She became a nun at Lindisfarne, before she founded the Coldingham Monastery.

St. Ebba entered into the Heavenly Kingdom in 683.

By permission of www.orthodoxeurope.org

Commemorated on August 25

St. Hunegund was born at Lembais, an estate belonging to her parents, near the town of St. Quentin, in the early seventh century.  Being a heiress of considerable means, she was betrothed in her infancy to another child, who died at an early age.  When she came to marriageable age, she was betrothed to Eudaldus, a French nobleman.

Hunegund persuaded Eudaldus to take her to Rome before beginning their married life so that they might secure the special intercession of the apostles by visiting their tombs, and that their union might receive the blessing of the Bishop of Rome.  Eudaldus granted her wish, and instead of preparing a bridal feast, they made ready a travelling carriage and a suitable train of servants and horses.  They accomplished the journey very happily, visited the holy sites in Rome, and prayed with great devotion on the ground saturated with the blood of hundreds of martyrs.

On the last day, they were to be presented to the Bishop of Rome to receive his nuptial blessing.  However, no sooner were they in his presence than Hunegund, in obedience to a sudden inspiration of piety, threw herself at the Bishop’s feet, made a solemn vow of perpetual virginity, and asked him to give her the veil of a consecrated nun.  Eudaldus felt an impulse to run his sword through Hunegund, but resisting this temptation, he turned and left.  He nursed his indignation all the way home, and intended to punish Hunegund by taking possession of all her property that was to have come to him as dowry.

Commemorated on August 23

St. Tydfil was a Welsh martyr, reportedly from the clan of Brychan. 

In 480, she received a martyr’s crown when she was killed by a group of pagan Picts or Saxons. 

She is venerated at Merthyr-Tydfil, Glamorgan, Wales

By permission of www.orthodoxeurope.org

Commemorated on August 23

St. Ebba the Younger was born in England, and became the abbess of Coldingham Monastery, now in Scotland, which had been founded two centuries earlier by St. Ebba the Elder.

When told that the Danes had invaded and were approaching the monastery, St. Ebba mutilated herself so that she would not be violated.  The Danes set fire to the monastery, and St. Ebba along with all the nuns of her community, perished.

They received martyrs’ crowns in 870.

By permission of www.orthodoxeurope.org

Commemorated on August 22

St. Ethelgitha was the abbess of a convent in Northumbria, England.

She entered into the Heavenly Kingdom in 720.

By permission of www.orthodoxeurope.org

Commemorated on August 21

St. Cyriaca was a wealthy Roman widow who sheltered persecuted Christians.  St. Laurence, the deacon and martyr, often came to her home in order to distribute alms to the needy.

St. Cyriaca’s charity cost her her life, and was she scourged to death in 249. 

The Church of St. Mary in Dominica is named in remembrance of her.

By permission of www.orthodoxeurope.org

Commemorated on August 19

St. Namadia was the wife of St. Calminius of France.  After his death in the late seventh century, she entered a convent at Marsat.

She entered into the Heavenly Kingdom in 700.  She is buried alongside her husband at the abbey church in Mozac, France.

By permission of the Orthodox Church in America (www.oca.org)

Commemorated on August 13

St. Centrolla was a Christian maiden in Burgos, Spain in the fourth century.  She confessed her faith and was tortured. 

At the place of her sufferings, a group of women appeared and mocked Centrolla, urging her to renounce Christ.  However, a noble virgin, St. Helen, approached Centrolla, praised her for her dedication to the One True Faith, and urged Centrolla to endure the tortures.  Centrolla answered that she gladly suffered and added, “See that thou fail not; thou will suffer with me for Christ.”

Fearing that the heresy might spread, the authorities ordered that both Centrolla and Helen be beheaded. 

They entered into the Heavenly Kingdom in 304. 

By permission of www.googlebooks.org

Commemorated on August 13

St. Radegund was a sixth century Frankish princess, who founded the Convent of Our Lady of Poitiers.  She is the patron saint of several English churches and of Jesus College, Cambridge.

In 520, Radegund was born to King Berthar, one of the three kings of Thuringia (located in present day Germany).  Her uncle, Hermanfrid, killed Berthar in battle, leaving Radegund an orphan. 

In 531, Radegund was forced into marriage with Frankish King Clotaire, becoming one of his six wives.  She bore him no children, and, after Clotaire had her brother assassinated, she turned to God, founding a monastery in Poitiers.

Radegund was extensively written about by the poet, Venantius Fortunatus, and the bishop, hagiographer, and historian, Gregory of Tours. 

St. Radegund died on August 13, 586.  Her funeral, at which Venantius Fortunatus and Gregory of Tours attended, was three days later.

Five English parish churches are dedicated to her, and she had a chapel in the old St Paul's Cathedral, as well as in Gloucester, Lichfield, and Exeter Cathedrals. Saint Radegund's Abbey, near Dover, was founded in her honor.  She is also the patron saint of Jesus College, Cambridge, which was founded on the site of the monastery of Saint Mary and Saint Radegund.

By permission of www.wikipedia.org

Commemorated on August 12

St. Hilaria was the mother of St. Afra of Augsburg, Germany.

During the persecutions under Emperor Diocletian in 304, St. Hilaria and her three maids were seized while visiting the tomb of St Afra and burnt alive.

The others who were with them were also martyred in Rome and were buried on the Ostian Way

By permission of www.googlebooks.org

Commemorated on August 12

St. Gracilian was a Christian from Faleria in Tuscany, Italy.  Imprisoned for his faith in Christ, and known for healings, a widow brought her daughter – blind from birth – to visit him.  The young maiden, Felicissima, had her sight miraculously restored by the prayers of St. Gracilian, and was baptized at that same moment to Christianity.

In 304, for their faith in Christ, both St. Gracilian and Felicissima were beheaded.

By permission of www.googlebooks.org

Commemorated on August 11

St. Digna was a holy virgin from Todi in Umbria in Italy. 

She lived as an anchoress in the mountains nearby during the persecutions under Emperor Diodetia in the fourth century.

By permission of www.orthodoxeurope.org

Commemorated on August 10

St. Asteria is the patron of Bergamo in Lombardy in Italy.  She was the sister of St. Grata of Bergamo where, during the time of the persecutions under Emperors Diocletian and Maximian, they both were responsible for burying the body of St. Alexander. 

St. Grata was put to death for her deed, with Asteria also being responsible for the burial of her remains.

In 307, shortly after her sister’s martyrdom, St. Asteria was arrested, tortured and beheaded.

By permission of www.googlebooks.org

Commemorated on August 10

St. Agilberta was the second abbess of the monastery in Jouarre, France, which was founded in 660.

She was a relative of St. Ebrigisil and St. Ado, the founders of the Jouarre monastery, as well as St, Agilbert, Bishop of Paris.

She fell asleep in the Lord in 680.

By permission of www.orthodoxeurope.org

Commemorated on August 7

The Holy Virgin Martyr Potamia the Wonderworker died under the sword in the third century.

Sometimes this saint is incorrectly listed as St. Potamius the Wonderworker.

By permission of the Orthodox Church in America (www.oca.org)

Commemorated on August 31

Sts. Cuthburgh and Cwenburgh were the sisters of King Ina of Wessex, an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons.  They became nuns at Barking, England, along with St. Hildelith.

Together, they founded a monastery in Wimborne in Dorset, England, where St. Cuthburgh was abbess.  Upon retirement, she was succeeded by her sister, St. Cwenburgh.

They both entered into the Heavenly Kingdom in 725.

By permission of www.orthodoxengland.org