Clicking here goes to information on the icon.Welcome to the St. Luke Web Page.
Search the site.Listen to Father Borichevsky's restored radio programsSee What St. Luke Orthodox Church has planned.Visit and sign our guest book.Contact the St. Luke Orthodox Church Web Development Team.
Find something on the site in a hurry.
St. Lukes Orthodox Church Home PageDonate Now!Shop for Orthodox goods from your Computerchurchdirectory Pages that deal with St. Luke the Evangelist Orthodox Church. What's the news at St. Lukes.View all the previous and current Evangelist newsletters.View the Sunday bulletin.Information about St. Luke Orthodox Church including the Mission and Vision statements. Pages for 'keeping in touch' with God. Information on prayers and prayingView the prayer of the week and all other previos prayers of the week.Need to pray for something? What is the Orthodox Church and how/why do Orthodox Christians worship? What is the Orthodox Church of America?Who were the Saints, and why do we honor them?Find and explore many different liturgical texts we have available, including the Divine LiturgyWhat is Pascha? See what it's like at St. Luke's.How is Orthodoxy playing a role in the present times?Learn what are icons and how are they used in the Orthodox Church today.BellsSee what we have to offer!Current Issues Pages for Organizations of St. Lukes. Christian Education, Youth Group, Music, Church Resource Center, Adult Education, and Junior Olympics.Maintenance, New Building, Strategic Planning, Cell Phone Tower, Inventory, Cemetery/Memorial Book, and Historian.Outreach, Charities, Internet, Evangelist Newsletter, Media, Prison, Sanctity of Life, and Mission.Fellowship, Supply Coordinator, Prayer, Women's Ministry, New Americans, Sunshinem, Flowers, and Vestments. Some stuff Study the bibleSearch the bibleOrthodoxy on the lighter side...Words of Wisdom...If you've got the taste for great Orthodox foods, this is the place to be.Children friendly section of the pageMessages

Pentecost

An icon of Pentecost.

The Icon

The Disciples - tradition relates that they were gathered in the Upper Room where they had shared the Last Supper with Christ. St. Peter and Paul, the pillars of the Church, are at the center. This reveals the eternal nature of the feast since St. Paul was not in attendance when Pentecost was held.

The Books The books of the Gospels and scrolls are held in the hands of Disciples who wrote them for the New Testament. This place of honor, formally occupied by the physical person of Christ, is now occupied by the Book of the Gospels which the Holy Spirit has made into the spiritual presence of Christ in the world. This is shown in the tongues of fire which appear over the heads of the Disciples.

The World The entire cosmos received the outpouring of the holy Spirit. This is iconographically symbolized by a crowned figure seated in the midst of the Disciples. He holds in a cloth twelve scrolls. This represents the reception by the entire world of the preaching of the twelve disciples.

The Feast

In the Old Testament Pentecost was the feast which occurred 50 days after Passover. As the Passover feast celebrated the exodus of the Israelites from the slavery of Egypt, so Pentecost celebrated God's gift of the ten commandments to Moses on Mt. Sinai.

In the new covenant of the Messiah, the Passover event takes on its new meaning as the celebration of Christ's death and resurrection, the "exodus" of men from this sinful world to the Kingdom of God. And in the New Testament as well, the Pentecost feast is fulfilled and made new by the coming of the "new law," the decent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ. The apostles received "the power from on high," and they began to preach and bear witness to Jesus as the risen Christ, the King and Lord. This moment has traditionally been called the birthday of the Church.

Once again it must be noted that the feast of Pentecost in not simply the celebration of an event which took place centuries ago. It is the celebration of what must happen and does happen to us in the church today. We all have died and risen with the Messiah-King, and we all have received his Most Holy Spirit. We are the "temples of the Holy Spirit," God's Spirit dwells in us. We, by our own membership in the Church, have received the "seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit" in the Sacrament of Chrismation. Pentecost has happened to us. (Taken from "The Orthodox Faith" Vol. II by Fr. Thomas Hopko)

TROPARION

BLESSED ARE YOU, O CHRIST OUR GOD! YOU HAVE REVEALED THE FISHERMEN AS MOST WISE, BY SENDING DOWN UPON THEM THE HOLY SPIRIT: THROUGH THEM, YOU DREW THE WORLD INTO YOUR NET! O LOVER OF MANKIND, GLORY TO YOU!

KONTAKION

WHEN THE MOST HIGH CAME DOWN AND CONFUSED THE TONGUES, HE DIVIDED THE NATIONS, BUT WHEN HE DISTRIBUTED THE TONGUES OF FIRE HE CALLED ALL TO UNITY. THEREFORE WITH ONE VOICE WE GLORIFY THE ALL HOLY SPIRIT!