Acts 2:3Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

And not only this, Luke says, but he adds what is far more striking: "And there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire." The words "as of" are everywhere beautifully added, so that you may not think anything sensory about the Spirit.

It is said, "as of fire," and "as of a rushing mighty wind." Therefore it was not a wind that usually spreads through the air. When John needed to recognize the Holy Spirit, He came down upon Christ's head in the form of a dove.

Now, when the whole people had to be converted, He appears in the form of fire. "And there sat one upon each of them," that is, it stopped and rested. To sit means to be established and to remain in place.

What then? Did the Holy Spirit descend only upon the twelve disciples, and not upon the rest? No, He descended upon all the hundred and twenty (see Acts 1:13-16).

Peter did not cite the prophet's testimony without reason when he said: "And it shall be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh.

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall be instructed by dreams" (Acts 2:17).

Notice that this happened not only to amaze them, but also to fill them with grace. Therefore it is said: "with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Mt 3:11). "And there sat," it says, "one upon each of them."

Thus it sat also upon the one who had not been chosen. For this reason he no longer grieves that he was not chosen like Matthias.

The words "as of fire" also reminded them of another vision, because He appeared as fire in the bush. But let us return to what was said above. "And it filled the whole house."

The mighty breath was like a water bath, while fire serves as a sign of abundance and power. This never happened with the prophets. It happened only now, with the Apostles. With the prophets it was otherwise.

For example, a scroll of a book is given to Ezekiel, and he eats what he was to speak: "and it was," he says, "in my mouth sweet as honey" (Ezek 3:3).

Or again, the hand of God touches another prophet's tongue (Jer 1:9). But here the Holy Spirit Himself does everything, and in this way He appears equal in honor to the Father and the Son.

Again, in another place the prophet says: "lamentation, and mourning, and woe" (Ezek 2:10). It was natural for grace to be given to the prophets in the form of a book, for they still needed images.

Moreover, they dealt with one people only, with their own people. The Apostles dealt with the whole inhabited world, with people they had never known.

Elisha receives grace through the mantle. Another, David for example, receives it through oil. Moses is called through the burning bush. But here it is not so. The fire itself "sat" upon the Apostles.

Why did the fire not fill the house? Because this would have terrified them. Yet from the writer's words it is clear that this did happen in a certain way.

Pay attention not only to these words, "there appeared to them divided tongues," but also to the others, "as of fire." Such a multitude of fire could envelop a vast forest in flame.

It is well said, "divided," for they were from one root, so that you may know this is the power sent by the Comforter.

But see: the Apostles first showed themselves worthy, and only then were they counted worthy of the Spirit. So also David acted among the flocks in the same way as after victory and triumph, in order to show his simple faith.

Look again at Moses. He first despises the royal palaces, and forty years later receives the governance of the people. Or look at Samuel, brought up in the temple, or at Elisha, who left everything, or again at Ezekiel.

That this was truly so also with the Apostles is clear from what follows. They left everything they had. Therefore they receive the Holy Spirit when they have shown their virtue.

Through what they experienced, they learned human weakness. They learned that these labors had not been accomplished by them in vain. Likewise Saul first had testimony that he was good, and only then received the Holy Spirit.

But no one, not even the greatest of the prophets, Moses, received in the same way as the Apostles. When others had to become spiritual, Moses himself suffered diminution. Here it was not so.

On the contrary, as fire is not diminished, however many lamps one may wish to light from it, so it happened then with the Apostles. Through fire was shown not only the abundance of grace.

Each one also received an inexhaustible fountain of the Spirit, just as Christ Himself said that those who believe in Him would have a spring of water flowing into eternal life (Jn 4:14).

This was entirely fitting, because they were not going to speak with Pharaoh, but to fight with the devil. More wonderful still, when they were sent, they did not contradict at all.

They did not say that they were of poor voice and slow of tongue, for Moses had taught them this. They did not say that they were too young, for Jeremiah had made them wise in this.

Although they heard many fearful things, and far more than those prophets had heard, they feared to contradict. From this it is clear that they were angels of light and ministers of higher works.

I would also like to speak about the reason for the feast, and to show what Pentecost is. I would like to say why the gift was given on this feast, why in fiery tongues, and why after ten days.

But I see that the instruction has become too long. Therefore I will add a little and end the discourse.

"When the day of Pentecost had fully come, there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire" (Acts 2:1, 3). Not fiery, but "as of fire," so that you may not suspect anything sensory in the Spirit.

As He descended upon the streams of Jordan not as a dove, but in the form of a dove (Lk 3:22), so here too He descends not as fire, but in the form of fire.

So also it was said above: "there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind" (Acts 2:2). It was not the sound of a mighty wind, but a sound "as of a rushing mighty wind."

Why then did Ezekiel receive the gift of prophecy not through the likeness of fire, but through a book, while the Apostles receive the gifts through fire?

Concerning him it is said that God gave into his mouth a scroll of a book, which "was written within and without," and on it was written "lamentation, and mourning, and woe" (Ezek 2:10).

He ate it, and "it was in his mouth sweet as honey" (Ezek 3:3). But concerning the Apostles it is not so. Rather: "there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire."

Why then is there a scroll and writings there, but here tongue and fire? Because the one went to denounce sins and lament the calamities of the Jews, while these went to destroy the sins of the inhabited world.

Therefore the one received a scroll as a remembrance of coming calamities. These received fire, in order to burn up and destroy all the sins of the inhabited world.

As fire, when it falls into thorns, easily destroys them altogether, so the grace of the Spirit destroys the sins of men.

But at this event the insensible Jews, instead of marveling, trembling, and worshiping the Giver of the gift, again show their own madness. They accuse the Apostles, who were filled with the Spirit, of drunkenness.

They say, "They are full of new wine" (Acts 2:13). Imagine the ingratitude of men, and look at the gratitude of the angels.

When the angels saw our firstfruits being raised into heaven, they rejoiced and said: "Lift up your gates, O princes; be lifted up, O everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall enter" (Ps 23:7).

But when men saw the grace of the Spirit descending to us, they said that those who received grace were drunk. They were not even put to shame by the season, for in spring it was impossible to find new wine.

And it was then spring. Yet let us leave them and look at the recompense of the God who loves mankind. Christ took the firstfruits of our nature and gave us in return the grace of the Spirit.

It is as after a long war, when the battle has ended and peace is made. Those formerly hostile to one another give each other pledges and hostages.

So it happened between God and human nature. Human nature sent Him as pledge and hostage its firstfruits, which Christ raised up. In return, He sent us the Holy Spirit as pledge and hostage.

That we have a pledge and hostage is clear from the following. Pledges and hostages must be of royal stock. Therefore the Holy Spirit was sent down to us, since He is royal by nature.

Likewise He who was raised from us was of royal stock, because He was of the seed of David. Therefore I no longer fear, since our firstfruits sits above.

Therefore, even if someone speaks to me of the worm that does not die, or the fire that is not quenched, or other punishments and torments, I no longer fear. Or rather, though I fear, I do not despair of my salvation.

Indeed, if God had not desired to grant great blessings to our race, He would not have taken our firstfruits above.

Formerly, when we looked at heaven and considered the bodiless powers, we saw our own nothingness more clearly by comparison with the powers above.

But now, when we wish to see our nobility, we look above, to heaven, to the very royal throne. There the firstfruits from us sits.

So also the Son of God will come from heaven to judge us. Therefore let us prepare ourselves, so that we may not be deprived of that glory.

Our common Master will surely come, and He will not delay. He will come leading with Him armies, ranks of angels, assemblies of archangels, orders of martyrs, choirs of the righteous, and companies of prophets and Apostles.

In the midst of these immaterial armies, He Himself will appear like a king, in ineffable and inexpressible glory.

It is necessary to explain to your love why Christ did not give us the Holy Spirit immediately after His Ascension. Instead, He allowed the disciples to wait several days and to be alone, and only then sent down the grace of the Spirit.

This was not done without reason or purpose. The Lord knew that men do not properly value the blessings they have, nor consider them great, however great and pleasant they may be, unless they have first experienced their loss.

For example, to make this clear, a healthy man does not understand and cannot know what a blessing health is for him unless he has first experienced illness.

He who sees daylight would not marvel at the light in the same way if darkness did not come at night. Deprivation always teaches us to understand more clearly the value of the things we formerly possessed.

The Lord acted with this purpose at that time also. The disciples enjoyed countless blessings in His presence and prospered while remaining with Him.

For all the inhabitants of Palestine looked upon them as certain lights, because they raised the dead, cleansed lepers, cast out demons, healed diseases, and performed many other miracles.

Therefore, since they had entered into such great glory, the Lord left them alone for a short time without the assisting power.

Thus, after being left alone, they would learn by experience how many blessings they had received from the Lord's grace in His presence. Remembering the blessings they had formerly enjoyed, they would then receive the gift of the Comforter with greater eagerness.

They had heard these words of the Lord: "Go and teach all nations" (Mt 28:19). Yet they were perplexed and did not know where each one had to go, or to what land each should preach the word.

Therefore the Holy Spirit descended in the form of tongues, in order to allot to each one a portion of the world for preaching. By the tongue given, as on a tablet, He showed each one the limits of the authority and teaching entrusted to him.

But the Holy Spirit descended in the form of tongues not only for this. He did so also in order to remind us of the ancient account.

In ancient times, God divided the tongues and destroyed the destructive union of men who, in extreme madness, wished to build a tower reaching to heaven.

“Divided tongues as of fire.” The Lord, who suffered in the flesh by His voluntary Passion and rose from the dead, raised us also with Himself, though we had died through sin. He destroyed the dominion of the devil.

Therefore until Pentecost, counting from Pascha, we do not make prostrations in prayer. We sing of the victory over our enemies: “They are bowed down and fallen, but we are risen and stand upright” (Ps 19:9).

But when the Holy Spirit appears to us in fiery tongues, we bend the knee. We cannot endure this vision, and we show that through the Holy Spirit we have come to know the perfect worship of the Holy Trinity.

For the Spirit is God, and “those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (Jn 4:24).

Therefore, when He sent the Holy Spirit, He visibly manifested Him in two forms: through the dove and through fire. Through the dove He appeared upon the Lord at His baptism. Through fire He appeared upon the disciples gathered together. Through the dove, then, it was shown that there should be no deceit in those sanctified by the Spirit. Through fire it was shown that simplicity must not remain cold. Nor should it trouble you that the tongues were divided. Tongues are far apart from one another, and therefore He appeared as divided tongues. It says: 'Divided tongues, as of fire, and one rested upon each of them.' Tongues are divided from one another, but the distance between tongues is not a schism. Do not fear a rupture in the divided tongues. Recognize unity in the dove.

Why does the Holy Spirit appear in the form of fiery tongues, divided and seated? Why does He appear in the upper room? How is speaking in different tongues to be understood? How did the Jews hear the Apostles when they began to speak in different languages?

The Holy Spirit appears in the form of tongues because of His kinship with the Word. He appears in the form of fiery tongues, as you may ask, either because of purification, for Scripture also knows a purifying fire, as those who wish may see everywhere, or because of His essence.

For “our God is a fire,” and “a consuming fire” (Heb 12:29), consuming impiety. But you are indignant again, displeased with the word “consubstantial.”

They received fire that does not burn, but saves. It is a fire that destroys the thorns of sins and enlightens the soul. This fire is now to come upon you also, to burn and destroy the thorns of your sins. It will enlighten still more the precious possession of your souls and grant you grace. For He then granted it to the Apostles as well. He descended upon them in the form of fiery tongues in order to crown their heads with new spiritual crowns through fiery tongues. Formerly the flaming sword barred the entrance to Paradise (Gen 3:24). The saving fiery tongue restored grace.

As the Law in its beginning required fear to move its hearers to keep the commandments, and as God spoke from the midst of fire, so after the Resurrection of our Master and Savior the Holy Spirit was given to the Apostles in fire and with a preceding mighty breath. Thus in both Testaments the one God might be known, although the difference between the second Testament and the first is great. The first was content with figurative ordinances, but the latter shone forth with the truth of realities and doctrines.

As the Spirit of God moved over the water (Gen 1:2) for the renewal of the face of the earth (Ps 103:30), and as flashes of new light shone forth to dispel the primal darkness, so in the radiance of fiery tongues fiery eloquence and the radiant word of the Lord are received. To this word, for understanding and for the destruction of sin, were added the power to illumine and the power to burn. Beloved, though the outward form of what occurred is itself wondrous, and though the majesty of the Holy Spirit is undoubtedly present in this joyful harmony of human voices, let no one think that His divine essence could be revealed in what bodily eyes could see.

A most profound meaning urges us not to pass over in silence why the Life-giving Spirit is given to them in fiery tongues, while at the Jordan He appeared in the form of a dove. I shall rightly proclaim it and fulfill my promise as a duty, if He grants me understanding. These two images have different meanings. There, the meaning is the simplicity loved by that bird, as is fitting for it. Here, the meaning is that slow simplicity should not make them lukewarm, and that faith should also be kindled. There He establishes them in concord amid the waves. Here He commands those who preach to burn in the word. Love is established in their minds, and fire blazes in their speech. See Mt 3:16 and Mt 10:16.

But we must resolve why the Holy Spirit, coeternal with the Father and the Son, appeared in fire. Why in fire, and at the same time in tongues? Why does He appear sometimes in the form of a dove, and sometimes in fire?

Why did He appear over the Only-begotten Son in the form of a dove, but over the disciples in fire? Thus He appeared neither over the Son in fire, nor over the disciples in the form of a dove.

We shall therefore return to the solution of the four questions we have proposed.

The Spirit, coeternal with the Father and the Son, appears in fire because God is a bodiless, ineffable, and invisible fire, according to the testimony of Paul: “For our God is a consuming fire” (Heb 12:29).

The Holy Spirit appeared in the form of fiery tongues because He makes all who are filled with Him both aflame and speaking: aflame, of course, with Him Himself, and speaking of Him Himself. At the same time, He indicates that the Holy Church, spreading to the ends of the world, will speak aloud with all nations.

4. As a sickle cuts off the upper part of an ear of grain stretching upward and leaves it in the reaper's hands, while the lower part near the earth is useless and becomes food for fire, so also the Holy Spirit, who spoke in the Apostles, separated the faithful man from the unbelieving, and the good from the evil. Those who gained the fruit of faith from the preaching were cut off by the Holy Spirit from unbelief and from the bonds of kinship. They came to faith in Christ and were baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Mt 28:19). But those who had grown together with the earth of unbelief and were nailed to the desire of this world were left in worldly thought and earthly lust. They prepared themselves as matter for the eternal fire.

Why did the Holy Spirit descend upon the Apostles in the mighty breath of wind and in the form of fiery tongues?

The Holy Spirit appeared in the mighty breath of wind. Wind has the power to separate the chaff, that is, sinners, from the righteous, who are called pure wheat.

Noah and his family were good wheat, while all their contemporaries were chaff. The Holy Spirit separated the chaff from the wheat, saving Noah with his family and drowning all the rest in the waters of the flood.

Lot was good wheat, and the Sodomites were chaff. The Holy Spirit separated the chaff from the good seed, led Lot and his family out of Sodom, and destroyed the Sodomites with sulphurous fire.

"And divided tongues appeared." This signifies the gift of speaking in many languages, which each of Christ's disciples received, so that afterward they could preach the mighty works of God.

The multiplicity of languages had been a punishment, and it became a gift. When it was a punishment, it divided men into many peoples and scattered them through different lands.

When it became a gift, it made one Christian race from all races and gathered them into the one Church of Christ.

"As of fire." These words signify the powerful action and brightness of the Gospel preaching.

"And one sat upon each of them." These words signify the firmness and immutability of the gift.

Yet the believers did not know, and could not know, that Christ's promise was to be fulfilled in them precisely on the day of Pentecost. Therefore, in a certain sense unexpectedly for them, 'suddenly' the Holy Spirit descended upon them. Very possibly, shortly before the hour of prayer, the believers were preparing to go to the temple, to take part there in worship with their fellow countrymen. Yet even at that moment the thought of Christ and His promise was their first and governing thought. It gave tone to the disposition of their souls.

"And there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one sat upon each of them" (Acts 2:3).

The manifestation of the Godhead, or of His power, in fire and flame also occurred in Old Testament times. Thus the Lord appeared to Moses in the bush that was engulfed in fire and yet not consumed.

Mount Sinai, when the Lord descended upon it to proclaim the Ten Commandments, blazed with fire (Ex 19:18; Heb 12:18). In both cases, God's manifestation in fire testified to His unapproachable majesty and holiness.

It disposed those who beheld it to reverence and fear. By fire the Lord punished the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:24). He punished Nadab and Abihu, who put strange fire in the censer, not from the altar, contrary to the Lord's command (Lev 10:2).

He punished Korah and his accomplices (Num 16:35), and the Israelites who murmured in the wilderness (Num 11:1). In all such cases, the deadly power of fire testified that no one can offend God with impiety, disobedience to His holy will, and pride without punishment.

It testified that He is "a consuming fire" to the unworthy and sinful, "a jealous God" (Deut 4:24), who does not leave without vengeance those who dishonor Him. It testified that "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb 10:31).

During the Hebrews' wandering in the wilderness, the Lord went before them by night in a pillar of fire, and by the light of the pillar He showed them the way (Ex 13:21).

Wondrous fire descended from God upon the sacrifices of Aaron (Lev 9:24), David (1 Chr 21:26), Solomon (2 Chr 7:1), and Elijah (3 Kgs 18:38).

By the touch of fire to Isaiah's lips, the Lord cleansed him and made him capable, with purified lips, of proclaiming to the people of Israel God's dread judgments and consoling promises (Isa ch. 6).

In all these cases, fire served as a sign and conductor of the grace of God, which enlightens, shows mercy, sanctifies, and purifies. One cannot fail to recognize a certain correspondence between the fiery manifestations of God's power in the Old Testament and the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of fires.

Like those manifestations, it testified to the dread and at the same time beneficent power of the Holy Spirit. The fires that descended upon the Apostles did not burn them or kill them.

They came down upon them harmlessly and rested there. Nevertheless, they were a sign of the dread power of the Holy Spirit, whose instruments the Apostles now became.

In one of His appearances to the Apostles after the resurrection, the Lord Jesus Christ breathed on them and said: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.

If you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (Jn 20:22-23). Was not a fearful power communicated to the Apostles in the authority to retain sins?

To retain sins means to declare them unforgiven, and therefore deserving condemnation from God. What is not forgiven on earth is not forgiven in heaven. The sentence concerning the sinner, pronounced by the earthly judge of human conscience, is confirmed by the heavenly Judge.

Why does this sentence receive such fearful force? Because the one who pronounces it is clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit: "Receive the Holy Spirit."

And behold, this same Spirit, whose firstfruits were communicated to the Apostles by Christ's breathing, solemnly descends upon them in the form of fire. He makes them instruments not only of His beneficent power, but also of His dread power.

Do you wish to see examples of this dread power? Recall the example of Ananias and Sapphira, who dared to lie, in the persons of the Apostles, to the Holy Spirit Himself.

This sin was not forgiven them by the Apostle Peter, and Peter's judgment was manifestly God's judgment. The sinners at once fell down lifeless. This fearful event brought terror upon all the believers, for it served as a visible sign of the dread power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-11).

Truly, the Holy Spirit is a consuming fire. Yet He is also fire possessing life-giving power. His descent in the form of fires points not so much to His dread power as to His life-giving and gracious power.

We can judge of it by comparison with the actions of material fire. Material fire shines and illumines objects. So also the Holy Spirit illumines men with the light of truth and knowledge, for He is the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding.

He either directly reveals the truth to those who have received the anointing from the Holy One, that is, from Himself, and therefore know everything needed for salvation (1 Jn 2:20), and will not let themselves be deceived by sowers of falsehood.

Or He teaches the truth through the written word of God, spoken by holy men of God according to His own inspiration (2 Pet 1:21). Fire warms. So also the Holy Spirit warms, by His grace, human hearts that are cold toward good.

By Him every soul, warmed by His grace, is made alive and manifests its spiritual life in the feeling of love for God. For "the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit" (Rom 5:5).

It manifests itself in warm prayer to God with inexpressible groanings produced in it by the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:26), in tears of compunction (Zech 12:10), and in love, joy, peace, longsuffering, mercy, and the rest.

For all this is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). Without the Holy Spirit, without His warmth-giving power, we would be spiritually dead.

Fire penetrates into the inward part of a substance. So also the Holy Spirit descends into the depth of the human heart and renews it by His grace.

He creates in us a heart of flesh, a soft heart (Ezek 36:26-27), and in the heart itself He inscribes the laws for our activity (Jer 31:33). He does not merely prescribe them outwardly.

Thus He makes them far more convenient to fulfill than they were for the Old Testament believers, when they were inscribed on stone tablets.

Fire purifies noble metal by separating it from base admixtures foreign to it. So also the Holy Spirit burns up in man everything impure and restores in him the pure image of God.

He refines all the powers of the spirit as silver and gold (Mal 3:3). How does He do this? He either casts a man into the furnace of outward sorrows and trials, or leads him through inward temptations.

In both cases, He cultivates in him a spirit of humility and self-denial, capable of resisting every suggestion of the spirit of malice and of the old man.

Fire has the property of striving upward. So also the soul kindled by the Holy Spirit is lifted up by purity. That is, purified from all earthly attachments, it easily and freely rises in its thoughts and dispositions toward its heavenly Father.

In Him alone it seeks light, joy, and rest from the disturbances of sin and worldly vanity. Such are the beneficent actions of the Holy Spirit, as far as one may judge them by comparison with the actions of material fire.

It was in the form of this fire that He descended upon Christ's disciples. And see how this immaterial fire enlightened, purified, and sanctified the Apostles, and strengthened them to pass through their great ministry.

Before the descent of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles lacked clear knowledge of the great truths about which they had to preach. However much the Savior instructed them, they did not understand much in His teaching.

Thus they could not contain the Savior's teaching about His spiritual kingdom. They did not want to believe His words that He must suffer and die for the salvation of men.

They were convinced that He had come to earth not to suffer and die, but to establish a glorious earthly kingdom. They did not consider it a sin to desire the destruction of the Samaritans by heavenly fire.

But when they were illumined by the light of the immaterial fire, the Holy Spirit, they began to spread conceptions of the Messiah and His kingdom than which none could be purer or more exalted.

They began to teach rules of morality that infinitely surpass every human moral teaching that ever existed. In general, they appeared so strong in understanding truth and in speech that the inhabited world bowed before them.

Upon these simple and unlettered men (Acts 4:13), the words of Christ were fulfilled: "I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist" (Lk 21:15).

The fire of the Holy Spirit renewed and transfigured the Apostles morally as well. Even before the descent of the Holy Spirit, they possessed lovable and moral qualities.

They were simple-hearted, foreign to guile and hypocrisy. With open souls they listened to the Savior's teaching. Out of love for Him they left everything and followed Him.

Yet with all this, they still lacked much morally. Their hearts were accessible to ambition and self-interest. Among the Apostles disputes about primacy were possible (Mk 9:34; Mk 10:35-37).

They lacked the courage and self-denial necessary for spreading the Gospel and for enduring sorrows and persecutions from the world hostile to Christ.

Despite their love for their Teacher and Lord, they all abandoned Him and fled when danger came. One of them even denied knowing Him.

The Apostles appear entirely different after the descent of the Holy Spirit. The fire of the Holy Spirit burned up in their hearts the remnants of the old man and destroyed in them every self-love.

It kindled in them such great love for Christ and zeal for the salvation of their neighbors that, for the glory of Christ's name and their neighbors' salvation, they resolved upon every sacrifice and sorrow.

"They hunger and thirst, are naked, suffer, wander, and labor, working with their own hands. Being reviled, they bless. Being persecuted, they endure. Being slandered, they entreat. They become as the refuse of the world and the offscouring of all things" (1 Cor 4:12-13).

For all these extraordinary sufferings and labors, they do not expect a reward for themselves on earth. They live in hope of one recompense, in heaven.

Such is the mighty action of the Holy Spirit upon the minds and hearts of the Apostles. The fires in whose form He descended upon them were a sign of the illumination of their minds by the light of true faith.

They were also a sign of the kindling in their hearts of strong love and hope.

The very outline in which the mysterious fires appeared above Christ's disciples is significant. They were tongues of fire. What did they signify?

They signified the ability granted to Christ's disciples to speak in various foreign languages, previously unknown to them. Jews by race and Galileans by birthplace, the Apostles knew how to speak only the Hebrew language, and that in its inferior Galilean dialect.

Now these Jews began to proclaim "the mighty works of God" (Acts 2:11) in many languages and dialects. Why was this miracle given?

It was given in order to testify solemnly that the truth of the Gospel must be preached to all nations and to all mankind. Until then, only one people had been the guardian of the true worship of God.

Until the sacred books were translated from it into Greek, the Hebrew language alone had been the language of the true faith. In it alone the majesty of the true God was glorified, though this God is the God of the whole earth and the whole universe.

And now the time had come for all nations to be called to the true faith, and for all languages to be sanctified by the words of the Gospel of the kingdom of God and by the confession of the Holy Trinity.

"Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," the Lord Jesus commanded the Apostles.

The day of Pentecost served as the beginning of this worldwide preaching. It was one of the three feasts when pilgrims from among the Jews and proselytes, converts from the Gentiles, gathered in Jerusalem from every side.

Besides the inhabitants of Judea, there were visitors from the far East, Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and Mesopotamians. There were people from Asia Minor, Phrygians, Pamphylians, Cappadocians, and Pontians.