Chapter Two

The descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost and the bewilderment of the people (verses 1-13). The speech of the Apostle Peter and its effect on the listeners (verses 14-42). The Religious and Moral State of the First Christian Community in Jerusalem (verses 43-47).

The Descent of the Holy Spirit

(2:1-13)

The great event of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles is called by some, in all fairness, "the birthday of the Church of Christ." This event was at the same time the completion of the entire work of the "economy of God" – the work of the salvation of the human race. "What God the Father pleased to be, what the Son of God fulfilled in Himself, that the Holy Spirit has now descended to appropriate to the faithful" (Bishop Theophan of Vyshensky). Enlightened by the Holy Spirit, the Apostles courageously and fearlessly, with great boldness, began to preach about Christ crucified and risen from the dead, and the Church of Christ began to grow and multiply, first among the Jews in Palestine, and then among the Gentiles throughout the world, "even to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

This happened "At the onset of the day of Pentecost" – at the onset of the day of the feast of the Jewish Pentecost. The Law of Moses decreed that the 50th day after the morning of the Saturday of Passover should be celebrated, counting from it seven full weeks. The Jewish Passover in the year of Christ's death fell on Friday evening: the first day of Pascha fell, therefore, on Saturday, the morning of Saturday was on Sunday (on which Christ was resurrected). It was necessary to count 7 full weeks from it. Thus, the feast of the Jewish Pentecost fell on Sunday that year and coincided with the day of the first Christian Pentecost. Jewish Pentecost was established in the consecration of the harvest or first fruits, since by this day the harvest, which began immediately after the Passover, ended. With this feast the Jews also combined the remembrance of the Sinai legislation. It was one of the three most important holidays (Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles), on which the entire male sex was obliged to gather for celebration in Jerusalem. The coincidence of the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit with the day of the Jewish Pentecost, of course, is not accidental and is very symbolic. By this day, the Lord's disciples had matured and grown spiritually: then the fullness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit descended upon them, and they themselves appeared as the first fruits of the redemptive work of Christ. Besides them, the first fruits of the same work of Christ were the three thousand souls who were baptized on that day. Just as the Christian Passover replaced the Jewish Passover, so the Christian Pentecost replaced the Old Testament Pentecost on this day.

On the day on which the law (the Old Testament) was given, the grace of the Spirit had to be bestowed on the same day, because just as the Saviour, having to endure holy suffering, deigned to give Himself over to this suffering, not at another time, but at the time in which the lamb was slain, in order to bind the truth to the image itself, so the descent of the Holy Spirit, by grace from above, was granted at no other time, but in that in which the law was given, in order to show that the Holy Spirit laid down the law then, and now lays down the law.... Since on the day of Pentecost sheaves of new fruit were brought and various persons gathered under one heaven in Jerusalem, it also happened on the same day that the firstfruits of every nation of all the peoples living under heaven were gathered into one sheaf of piety and, according to the word of the Apostle, were brought to God (Blessed Theophylact).

"They were all with one accord together." Of course, not only the 12 apostles were gathered together, as can be inferred from the following narrative, but all the believers, perhaps even more than the 120 people mentioned in the 1st chapter. In verse 14, the apostles are quite clearly distinguished from the other participants in this great event. This meeting, as can be assumed, took place in the same upper room-hall, where, apparently, the disciples constantly gathered, after the Last Supper performed in it.

And "suddenly there was a noise from heaven, as if from a rushing strong wind, and filled all the house where they were." They were waiting for the descent of the Holy Spirit, but, of course, they did not know exactly when the promise given to them about it would be fulfilled, they did not know how it would happen, and therefore it is said that it was sudden, unexpected for them, especially since it was the hour of morning prayer and they were probably going to go to church. The expression: "A noise from heaven, as if from a rushing strong wind" shows that it was not the wind itself, but only one noise, reminiscent of a stormy wind, but without the wind itself. This noise came from top to bottom, filled the whole house, and was so strong that it attracted the attention of a large people who had gathered for the feast in Jerusalem.

"And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, as of fire, and they rested on each of them" — the tongues were only like fiery tongues, but without fire, just as the noise was like the wind, but without the wind. Noise was thus a sign of the descent of the Holy Spirit to the ear, tongues to the eye. The loud noise heard was an image of the mighty power which the Holy Spirit communicated to the Apostles and to all the faithful, tongues of fire — an image of the fact that all who were present received the gift of fiery speech, scorching like fire everything impure, all that is wrong and opposed to the truth. (see Gregory the Theologian 4.17).

Immediately after these external manifestations followed an internal one: "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." And before the Apostles had been vouchsafed certain spiritual gifts, now they were filled with the Holy Spirit: all the fullness of grace-filled spiritual gifts descended upon them—they were transfigured, purified, sanctified, and enlightened by the action of the Spirit of God, they became, as it were, completely different, new people, and the Holy Spirit became their constant inspirer and guide. The outward manifestation of this grace-filled transfiguration of the Apostles was expressed in the fact that they "began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." This was foretold by the Lord (see Mark 16:17) [7]. As soon as this Divine fire was kindled in their souls, they, in a natural burst of sacred ecstasy, began to offer up words of praise and thanksgiving to God, glorifying the greatness of God (Acts 2:11). They began to express this thanksgiving to God aloud in various languages, which attracted to them the special attention of the numerous people who had gathered at the noise, who had come to Jerusalem for the feast from various near and distant countries. The writer of Acts purposely enumerates all these countries in order to show how different and numerous languages the disciples of Christ began to speak, after the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them. There were inhabitants of East Asia and Western Asia, Africa and Europe, and they all heard their own language, intelligible speech among those who spoke it. This was also symbolic. Here we see a prototype of the Church of Christ, into which all tribes and peoples were to enter, in order to praise God with one heart and one mouth. The significance of this gift of tongues is clear: it was to become a means of spreading the faith of Christ on earth.

At the same time, one involuntarily recalls how this gift of God was once in God's hands an instrument for punishing human pride. There was once a time when "there was one tongue and one tongue in all the earth" (Genesis 11:1). But man, in his pride, conceived a foolish enterprise, which was punished by God by sending down various tongues to the pride, which caused them to leave their work and disperse in different directions. Now, however, the opportunity granted by the Lord through the Holy Spirit to speak in different tongues has become the means by which the divided nations are united into one whole, the one Church of Christ. This is beautifully expressed in the wondrous hymn – the kontakion of the feast of Pentecost: "When He descended, the tongues merged, the Most High divided the tongues; and when we have distributed tongues of fire, we call all into unity, and in accord we glorify the All-Holy Spirit."

"And in Jerusalem there were Jews, pious men, of every nation under heaven." Here we are talking both about the Jews who previously lived in different countries and moved to Jerusalem for permanent residence, for religious reasons, and about those who temporarily stayed in Jerusalem, having gathered there from various places for the feast of Pentecost. The Jews of the time of the earthly life of Christ the Savior were indeed already scattered in great numbers to different countries, partly by captivity, as prisoners of war, partly by their own will, in the interests of trade and production.

"When this noise was made, the people were gathered, and they were dismayed, for every one heard them speaking in his own language" — evidently the noise that rushed from heaven to the house in which the disciples were gathered was heard at a considerable distance, and in such a way that those who heard it in the city noticed that it was rushing towards this very house. The unusualness of this phenomenon attracted a huge multitude of people to the house, perhaps going to church for morning prayer. Probably, there was a large square in front of the house. The people were struck by an incomprehensible phenomenon: the Apostles, who apparently showed their origin in Galilee, spoke different languages, so that each of those gathered heard his own language or dialect. Galilee was famous as a dark country, not distinguished by education, and therefore the assembled people wondered how these people, uneducated, not studied, could speak such different languages and dialects. It can be assumed that the Apostles, glorifying God in different languages, went out on the flat roof of the house, and the people listened to them, surrounding the house around and filling the entire area in front of the house. The writer lists many countries from which these people came.