The Feast of Pentecost

Pentecost, Jean II Restout 1732

1. What does the name "Pentecost" mean?

It comes from the Greek word for "fiftieth" (pentecoste). The reason is that Pentecost is the fiftieth day (Greek, pentecoste hemera) after Easter Sunday (on the Christian calendar). This name came into use in the late Old Testament period and was inherited by the authors of the New Testament.

2. What kind of feast was Pentecost in the Old Testament?

It was a harvest festival, signifying the end of the grain harvest. Deuteronomy 16 states: “You shall count seven weeks; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain. Then you shall keep the feast of weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God.” [Dt. 16:9-11a].

Pentecostes, Grão Vasco 1534-35

3. What does Pentecost represent in the New Testament?

It represents the fulfillment of Christ's promise from the end of Luke's Gospel: “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high” [Lk. 24:46-49]. This "clothing with power" comes with the bestowal of the Holy Spirit upon the Church.

Pentecost, Duccio di Buoninsegna 1308-11

4. Is there a connection between the "tongues" of fire and the speaking in other "tongues" in this passage?

Yes. In both cases, the Greek word for "tongues" is the same (glossai), and the reader is meant to understand the connection.
The word "tongue" is used to signify both an individual flame and an individual language. The "tongues as of fire" (i.e., individual flames) are distributed to and rest on the disciples, thus empowering them to miraculously speak in "other tongues" (i.e., languages).

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