Acts 2:1Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"When the day of Pentecost had fully come," it says. That is, not before Pentecost, but, so to speak, around Pentecost itself.

This too had to take place during the feast, so that those who had been present at Christ's Cross might also see this event.

Then He raises us, lifting us through knowledge, until we reach the highest of the commandments, which says: "The Lord your God, the Lord is one" (Deut 6:4). For when our mind, freed from everything, or rather, having left everything, reaches God, then it receives the fiery tongues and becomes God by grace. See Acts 2:1-4. See Ps.-Dion., Celestial Hierarchy 4.2: PG 3, 200D. See Eph 4:10. Cf. Eph 1:10. This is one of the places where St. Maximus turns to the teaching on ἀνακεφαλαίωσις, the recapitulation of all things in Christ. It is possible that such a teaching was widespread in Origenist circles, or in circles connected with Origenists. Yet an entirely Orthodox source for this teaching is not excluded. It would be based on the words of Scripture, "He was seen by Angels" (1 Tim 3:16), which many Orthodox authors applied to the Ascension. It is obvious, however, that the interpretation mentioned by St. Maximus could have appeared only after the Areopagitic writings. In any case, St. Maximus, when he next gives an anagogical interpretation, already avoids elements characteristic of the layer of tradition connected with Judeo-Christian and possibly Origenist ideas. Yet he does not call the first approach false. Cf. "The Word becomes all things, in proportion to us who are nourished by virtue and wisdom. He is embodied in various ways, as He alone knows, for the sake of each of those being saved" (Maximus, On the Lord's Prayer: PG 90, 897A). On the embodiment of Christ in the virtues according to St. Maximus and his predecessors, beginning with Origen, see Thunberg. This movement, the descent of God embodied in the virtues and the raising of us to true gnosis, is later understood by St. Maximus in terms of "contraction and expansion," συστολή and διαστολή. Thunberg, following Balthasar, draws a parallel between the use of the concepts "expansion" and "contraction" with regard to the existence of the created world and with regard to Christology. In Christology, he relates "expansion" in St. Maximus to God's condescension toward creation, and "contraction" to deification. Thunberg finds here a parallel with the tantum-quantum formula and with the Christology in Ambigua 33: PG 91, 1288A. Here the influence of Christian Neoplatonism is clearly evident. According to the Areopagite, the unity of the mind, gathered into itself after withdrawing from created things, is the condition for its union with God. It is the union of the one with the One. Following the Areopagite, St. Maximus considers this union the highest form of theology. It surpasses every theology that thinks of God on the basis of created things. In St. Maximus, Pentecost is specifically correlated with deification, which in turn is understood as the attainment of the divine Monad. The point is evidently that first the Logos is embodied in the fulfillment of all ten commandments. Then comes the ascent from multiplicity, that is, from practice, to unity, the knowledge of the divine Monad. This means knowledge of the One and Only One, in whom is the source of all commandments and virtues. On why the Holy Spirit descended on the tenth day after the Lord's Ascension. Those who know Holy Scripture say that, since according to the testimony of Dionysius the Areopagite there are nine ranks of Angels, the Lord, ascending into heaven by His human nature, allotted a separate day to each rank. According to His Godhead He is omnipresent. They too needed the Lord's coming. For, according to the Apostle, in Christ all things have been recapitulated, both those in heaven and those on earth (Eph 1:10). After this He appeared to God the Father, after which the Holy Spirit descended. This same question can also be resolved in another way. Since the Word of God is hidden in the ten commandments, when He is realized in us by descending upon us through the fulfillment of the commandments, He then raises us. He leads us upward until we reach the chief commandment, which says: "The Lord our God, the Lord is one" (Deut 6:4). And when our mind, having detached itself from everything, or better, having renounced everything, reaches God, then, being deified by grace, it will receive the fiery tongues.

For once the Hebrew people had been led out of Egypt, and on the fiftieth day after the lamb was slain the law was given to them on Mount Zion (Ex 19:17 and following).

So also, after Christ's sufferings, when the true Lamb of God had been slain, on the fiftieth day after His Resurrection the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and the other believers.

Therefore the diligent Christian can easily understand that the beginnings of the Old Covenant were subject to the evangelical beginnings.

He can also understand that the second Covenant was given by the same Spirit as the first.

Therefore, as the apostolic narrative bears witness: "When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place."

In the form of divided fiery tongues, it rested upon the heads of the Apostles. They began to speak in languages unknown to them until then.

Behold the promised witness of Jesus, the Comforter and Instructor of the Apostles. Strengthened and enlightened by Him, they can now boldly enter the course of their action.

At once, in several languages, they proclaim to the diverse worshippers in Jerusalem that the Lord Jesus is the Christ.

By the day of Pentecost the Lord's disciples had matured and grown spiritually. Then the fullness of the gifts of the Spirit of God descended upon them, and they appeared as the first fruits of Christ's redemptive work.

Together with this, the Church of Christ was revealed and began on earth. The day of Pentecost was the day when the Old Testament theocracy, begun at Sinai, was replaced by the New Testament order.

The former governed men through the written law, the law of bondage and death. In the latter, men are led by the Spirit of God, the Spirit of adoption and freedom (Rom 8).

Thus, as the Old Testament Pascha, which commemorated the deliverance of the Hebrews from the Egyptian yoke, was abolished by Christ's Pascha, so New Testament Pentecost replaces the Old Testament Pentecost, with which life under the law began.

"When this day had come," the writer of Acts remarks as he begins to describe the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the believers, "they were all with one accord in one place."

These words indicate to us the persons who were counted worthy to be the first stones in the building of Christ's Church. They also indicate the place where they gathered and their inward, spiritual disposition.

Clearly the writer of Acts connects his narrative here with what preceded, Acts 1:13-14.

Therefore it was not without intention that he had earlier defined so precisely the number of believers gathered around the Apostles.

By this he wished to show how small was the community of Christ from which His Church on earth began.

The Kingdom of God, which was to embrace the whole world and all men, and which truly subjects the whole universe to God, at first contained only a little more than a hundred persons.

Clearly, the place where the believers were gathered when Christ's promise was fulfilled over them was the same house to which they had returned from the Mount of Olives.

It was the house in which they had remained together for ten days (cf. Acts 1:13; Acts 2:2).

From Luke (Lk 24:53) we know that the believers went to the temple at the hours of prayer and took part in the common Jewish worship.

On the other hand, from the words of the Apostle Peter (Acts 2:15), we see that shortly after the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the believers, the first prayer hour, the third, was to arrive.

From this we must conclude that the very event of the descent of the Holy Spirit occurred early in the morning, somewhat before the third hour.

At that time all the believers continued in the same disposition of spirit as during the preceding ten days. Unanimity was the distinctive mark of the community of Christ.

Thus the writer of Acts makes us understand here that on the day of Pentecost, as before, the believers were ready to meet and receive the coming of Christ to them in the Spirit (Jn 14:18; cf. Jn 16:22).

Each of them considered it his duty, whenever possible, to be in Jerusalem for this feast, in order to offer the appointed sacrifice there. Not only Palestinian Jews regarded this as binding. So did Jews outside Palestine, who lived in almost every country of the world then known.

Therefore around this time one could meet in Jerusalem Jews who were strict zealots of the law. They had come from Rome, Egypt, Crete, Arabia, Mesopotamia, and every region of Asia Minor and western Asia. They came from “every nation under heaven,” together with proselytes from various pagan peoples.

Jerusalem, already populous and noisy, now looked like a heaving sea of people. They filled the streets, houses, and surrounding heights. The murmur of many languages stood over the city like a groan.

In the days before the feast, unbroken crowds of pilgrims entered through all the city gates. Meanwhile the orphaned disciples of Jesus Christ, as usual, gathered in the upper room. They gave themselves to prayer and involuntarily pondered the events they had lived through.

How many events, the greatest, most terrible, and most joyful, had taken place before their eyes in that time. Only three and a half years had passed since Jesus of Nazareth, by His authoritative word, had torn them from their poor occupations.

They had followed Him without yet understanding, obeying only the irresistible power of that word. Yet those three years were greater and weightier than any eternity.

What these simple Galileans had experienced and witnessed during that time was enough to make them inwardly gathered men. It was enough to give them a deeper understanding of the aim of Christ's ministry than they had possessed before.

Earlier they had been ready to dispute among themselves about who should be first in the earthly kingdom being established by the Teacher. But now something still greater disposed them to inward concentration.

They awaited the Comforter promised to them. He would take the Teacher's place for them, clothe them with power from on high according to the promise, and teach them all that they still understood only dimly.

But now the day of the feast of Pentecost arrived. It was about the third hour of the morning. Countless crowds of people hastened to the temple for prayer and sacrifices. The Haram square groaned with the speech of many peoples.

Sellers of sacrificial animals loudly called for buyers. Levites and priests hurried among the people, fulfilling various priestly duties. Smoke and flame from the sacrifices rose high from the altars.

Scribes and Pharisees thoughtfully watched the direction of the smoke. They explained to the simple people that the mercy of Jehovah toward the chosen people was great.

Soon, they said, the Messiah promised and proclaimed by the prophets would come and restore to Israel a great and glorious kingdom. They added this in lowered voices, fearfully glancing at the Roman guard.

Thus the blinded servants of the old covenant celebrated the day on which the law was established. They did not know that the power of the law had passed away, and that grace had come.

The representatives of the new covenant looked sadly from the height of their upper room upon this heaving sea of unenlightened multitudes. How senseless and pitiable these people were in their eyes.

Many had come from the most distant countries. They had endured the hardships and great expenses of the journey. And for what? Only to bear witness to their servile devotion to a law already without power.

There a zealot of the law chooses from the merchants “a lamb without blemish,” as the law prescribes, and leads it to slaughter. Behind him another leads “a goat for a sin offering.”

Foolish men! They do not know that they serve the vanity of the old covenant. In its place the new covenant of grace has been proclaimed to the world.

They serve the shadow when reality itself has appeared. They lead a lamb and a goat to slaughter when the Divine Lamb has already taken upon Himself the burden of the world's sin.

He has accomplished the salvation of the world by suffering, being slain by this unreasoning crowd, which does not know what it is doing.

And quietly the disciples prayed in spirit and truth. They prayed in contrast to that bustling crowd, which was fulfilling the outworn letter of the law.

The morning after that Sabbath therefore was, according to our reckoning, Sunday morning. In that year it was the morning on which the Lord rose, or the first day of the week.

From it seven full weeks, or fifty days, had to be counted. On the fiftieth day they were to keep the feast to Jehovah God.

Thus the feast of the Jewish Pentecost in that year fell on the first day of the week, or Sunday by our reckoning. It was the fiftieth day after the resurrection of Christ.

This Jewish feast, the feast of weeks (Tob 2:1; 2 Macc 12:23), or the feast of the first fruits (Ex 23:16; Num 28:26), was established for the sanctification of the harvest or first fruits.

It was one of the three great feasts at which every male, except children and the infirm, had to celebrate in Jerusalem. These were Pascha, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (Ex 23:14-16; Deut 16:16). It was celebrated joyfully and brightly (Deut 16:11).

With this feast there was also joined the commemoration of the giving of the law on Sinai. This was because, on the third day of the third month after the Hebrews came out of Egypt, the Lord descended upon Sinai to give the law (Ex 19:1, 10-11).

The Hebrews had come out of Egypt on the night of Pascha (Ex 13:3 and parallels). Consequently, the day of the giving of the law was the fiftieth day after the Pascha of the exodus; cf. Theophylact.

This important Jewish feast, the feast of new fruits and of the Sinaitic lawgiving, was the greatest day for the first Christian community. It was the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit.

It was the day when the first spiritual fruits were offered to the Lord in the persons of the three thousand baptized that day (v. 41). It was the day of a new lawgiving, replacing the ancient one.

“On the day on which the law was given, the grace of the Spirit also had to be bestowed. For as the Savior, when He was about to endure His holy Passion, was pleased to surrender Himself to that Passion at no other time than when the lamb was slain. So as to unite the truth with the type itself, so also the descent of the Holy Spirit, by the good pleasure from above, was granted at no other time than when the law was given.

This showed that both then and now it is the Holy Spirit who gives the law. Since on the day of Pentecost the sheaves of the new fruits were brought, and various persons came together under one heaven in Jerusalem, on this same day the first fruits from every nation, from all nations dwelling under heaven, were to be gathered into one sheaf of piety and brought to God, according to the apostolic word” (Theophylact; cf. in part Chrysostom).

“Were all with one accord together”: who were these all, and where were they? The word “all,” to which “they” is added in the Russian translation, and “the apostles” in the Slavonic, seems unable to be limited to the twelve apostles alone.

Rather, it must mean all the believers in Christ who were then in Jerusalem. At one of the preceding gatherings there had been about one hundred and twenty (Acts 1:16), and now perhaps there were even more.

The emphatic word “all” (ἄπαντες), used as though deliberately and intentionally, does not suit the small band of only twelve apostles. This is especially so since the preceding narrative spoke of a much greater number of Christ's disciples.

Further on, moreover, the twelve apostles are rather clearly distinguished from others who were present in this gathering (v. 14). The application by the Apostle Peter, in his following speech, of Joel's prophecy to the event also indicates a large number of persons gathered (v. 16 ff.).

It is entirely natural to suppose that, on such a great feast near the hour of prayer (v. 15), all the believers were together with the apostles. They were probably even more numerous than at the preceding gathering.

Then the believers were probably only those of Jerusalem; cf. the note on Acts 1:16. Now, for the feast, believers had surely come from Judea, Galilee, beyond the Jordan, and the neighboring regions.

They undoubtedly used this occasion to be together with the apostles and the other believers in Christ from Jerusalem.

Where were they gathered together at this time? There is no direct indication. From the following words of the narrative (v. 2), it is only clear that the gathering was in a house.

Perhaps it was in the same house in which the preceding gathering had also taken place (Acts 1:15 ff.). It is difficult to suppose that this was in one of the temple annexes.

Josephus does call them ὀίκιες, “houses” (Antt. 8.3.2). Yet they were under the supervision of the Sanhedrin, which had shown such hostility toward Christ and His disciples, and of which the Lord's disciples had recently been afraid (Jn 20:19).

It is most likely to suppose that this was the house of a private person, a disciple of the Lord. Was it not again that large upper room where the mystery of the Eucharist was first celebrated?

After that celebration the Lord promised to send the disciples another Comforter. Did this Comforter come to them in that same place?

All males, except children and the infirm, had to be in Jerusalem for prayer on this feast. It is therefore understandable how easily all the Apostles could gather on this significant day for common prayer.

This had already become customary for them as they awaited the promised sending down of the Holy Spirit. There is no doubt that many other Christians were also there with the Apostles, especially the Theotokos.

"On the day when the law was given, it was also necessary for the grace of the Spirit to be bestowed. For the Savior, when He was about to endure the holy Passion, willed to give Himself over to that Passion at no other time."

"He did so at the time when the lamb was slain, in order to unite the truth with the type itself. So also the descent of the Holy Spirit, by the good pleasure from above, was granted at no other time."

"It was granted at the time when the law was given, to show that both then and now the Holy Spirit is the Lawgiver. Since on the day of Pentecost sheaves of new fruits were brought together, and different persons came together under one heaven, this too had to happen on the same day."

"The first fruits from every nation, from all who live under heaven, were to be gathered into one sheaf of piety and, according to the apostolic word, brought to God."