The Apostles and the first Christians retained from the Old Testament (OT) the feast of Passover as well as the feast of Pentecost. They also preserved the name, Pentecost, because it was the fiftieth day after Pascha in the New Testament (NT) and also the fiftieth day after Passover in the OT.
The principal motive for celebrating Pentecost in the NT was the event known as the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. As you will recall that Jesus is quoted as telling His disciples that He would send God’s Spirit on them after He ascended back to His Heavenly Father. I am sure that the Apostles did not have the same understanding of this as we do. They had yet to conceive of God as Three-In-One (Trinity). What they did experience, however, was a renewed fervor about the message of Jesus and also the courage to go out and do what Jesus did, namely preach as Jesus did: Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand. They found the strength to tell people about the Jesus they knew and loved and about how He told them to live. They shared the GOOD NEWS.
This feast became universally known in the third century. While the feast itself commemorates the event of the descent of the Spirit, the day after, Monday, our Church celebrates the feast of the Holy Spirit. This feast is dedicated to paying special worship to the Holy Spirit as the Third Person of the Trinity. We know that the Council of Nicaea put in place the beginning of our understanding that Godas three distinct Persons in one Godhead since it references Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
St. Basil the Great says this of the Holy Spirit, “Through the Holy Spirit, our return to paradise is achieved, we are elevated to the heavenly kingdom and become the children of God.” He further states, “Through the Spirit, we are able to call God Father; we are able to become partakers of the grace of Jesus Christ and to be called children of light, and to share in everlasting glory.”
As the Church understands what the Holy Spirit shares with us – that is His gifts – it is the power to be charitable, joyous, peaceful, patient, kind, good, modest and the ability restrain ourselves. In effect, the Spirit gives us the ability to live the Way of Jesus. Since we are called to become more like Jesus, God also gives us the ability to accomplish this task. All we have to do is to believe that we can live in the manner. All ways of God take belief. God would not call us to change our way of thinking and behaving if He didn’t give us the power to accomplish this task. Do you believe?