"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.

"And they were all amazed and amazed, saying among themselves, 'Are not all these who speak Galileans?....?' And others, mocking, said: they were drunk with sweet wine," — from this it is clear that not everyone equally accepted this miraculous event. Well-meaning people rightly saw in this an extraordinary sign, trying to guess what it portends. But unbelievers, spiteful and frivolous, who may have come from among the Pharisaic and Sadducean parties hostile to Christ the Saviour, began to mockingly explain what had happened in the crudest way – by the action of wine, thus offending the Holy Spirit. This is how unbelief, frivolity and malice always try to explain the highest things in the spiritual life by reasons that are low to the point of vulgarity, being unable to understand this lofty (1 Corinthians 2:14-15) [8].

Speech of the Apostle Peter

(2:14–42)

The amazement of some and the rude ridicule of others prompted the Apostles to turn to the people with an explanation of the miracle that had taken place. The gift of tongues was sent down to all the disciples of Christ who were in the house; now only 12 of Christ's closest disciples stand out from all of them, and in the name of all of them the holy Apostle Peter addresses the people with the first apostolic sermon.

He "lifted up his voice" — his speech is full of great boldness, it is solemn, clear and intelligible. In the person of those gathered, St. Peter addresses all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Gently and meekly, he removes the suspicion that the Lord's disciples were "drunk with sweet wine," "for it is now the third hour of the day." It was the hour of morning prayer, before which none of the Jews ate food, especially on such a great feast as Pentecost. Further, in explanation of what happened, St. Peter cites the Old Testament prophecy of Joel (2:28-32) [9], spoken 800 years earlier. In this prophecy, the Lord, through the mouth of the prophet, gives a promise to people about the abundant communication of the gifts of the Holy Spirit to all believers, with which is combined the threat of judgment on the wicked and the promise of salvation to the righteous. The opening words of the prophecy: "And it shall come to pass after this" are replaced by St. Peter with the expression: "And it shall be in the last days" – an expression referred to by the prophets to the end of the Old Testament time and the beginning of the New Testament. By substituting this expression for the vague expression "after this," the Apostle thus obviously excludes the relation of this prophecy to any Old Testament time, and relates its fulfillment only to the time of the New Testament.

"I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh," instead of the authentic words of the prophecy, "I will pour out My Spirit," the meaning is the same, but the Apostle only points to the division of the gifts of the Holy Spirit to each believer individually. "Outpouring" is an image of the communication of these gifts of the Holy Spirit in a special abundance, as if in the form of pouring out water or rain. The outpouring "upon all flesh" indicates the communication of the gifts of the Holy Spirit to all people. This means, of course, all those who enter the revealed Kingdom of the Messiah (cf. Isaiah 40:5); only members of the Kingdom of Christ will receive this grace of the Holy Spirit.

Before Christ, a huge part of mankind – the pagans – were completely deprived of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, while in Judaism the gifts of the Holy Spirit were communicated only to some who were chosen for special service, while in Christianity – every believer is vouchsafed these grace-filled gifts through the sacraments. This began to be fulfilled from the day of Pentecost. For example, some manifestations of these gifts of the Holy Spirit are indicated here, as the most famous in the Old Testament: prophecies, visions, dreams, as a means of communicating Divine Revelation to people.