Mid-Pentecost

Christian feast day

Mid-Pentecost

The twelve-year-old child Jesus in the temple (Russian icon, 15th or 16th century)

Observed by| Eastern Orthodox Christians, as well as Eastern Lutheran and Eastern Catholic Christians using the Byzantine Rite
Type| Christian
Significance| Celebrates Christ as Teacher
Celebrations| Religious (church) services, festive family meals, blessing of waters
Observances| Prayer
Date| 25 Days after Easter
Frequency| annual
Related to| Septuagesima, Sexagesima, Quinquagesima, Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Lent, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi and the Sacred Heart.

Mid-Pentecost or Midfeast, also Meso-Pentecost (from Greek: Μεσοπεντηκοστή; Russian: Преполове́ние Пятидеся́тницы) is a feast day which occurs during the Paschal season in the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches and Eastern Lutheran Churches that follow the Byzantine Rite.

Mid-Pentecost celebrates the midpoint between the Feasts of Pascha (Easter) and Pentecost. Specifically, it falls on the 25th day of Pascha. At the feast of Mid-Pentecost, a Small Blessing of the Waters is traditionally performed after the liturgy of the feast.[1]

Mid-Pentecost is a one-week feast which begins on the 4th Wednesday of Pascha, and continues until the following Wednesday. That is to say, it has an Afterfeast of seven days. Throughout these eight days (including the day of the feast) hymns of Mid-Pentecost are joined to those of the Paschal season. Many of the hymns from the first day of the feast are repeated on the Apodosis (leave-taking of the feast). Although it is ranked as a Feast of the Lord and has an Afterfeast, Mid-Pentecost itself is not considered to be one of the Great Feasts of the church year.

The liturgical texts for the feast are found in the Pentecostarion (the liturgical book containing propers for the period from Pascha to Pentecost). There are three Old Testament readings[2] appointed for Vespers; but, uniquely, no Matins Gospel. In some places an All-Night Vigil is celebrated for this feast, though a Vigil is not called for in the Typicon (book of rubrics). At the Divine Liturgy, the reading from the Apostle is Acts 14:6–18.

Meso-Pentecost.
A 15th century icon from Tver, Russia.

The theme of the feast is Christ as Teacher and the icon of the feast depicts the young Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem speaking with the Elders (Luke 2:46–47), the first biblical example of Jesus as teacher (Rabbi) following Passover. The Bar Mitzva of Jesus at this time corresponds to the traditional winter birth of Jesus according to all Orthodox Churches since it usually takes place when a boy is 12 and a half. In traditional Orthodox icons of this subject, the figure of Jesus is depicted larger than those of the Elders, showing his superior spiritual status.

The Troparion of the Feast hints at the encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan Woman, which will be celebrated on the following Sunday:

> In the middle of the Feast, O Savior, fill my thirsting soul with the waters of godliness, as Thou didst cry to all: 'If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink' (John 7:37). O Christ God, Fountain of our life, glory be to Thee!

The scripture verse from John 7, quoted by the Troparion, will be read three weeks later on the day of Pentecost.

Mid-Pentecost, has historically been the Altar Feast of the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (Istanbul).

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Булгаков С. В. Преполовение / Месяцеслов и Триодион православной церкви (in Russian). Retrieved 2010-08-07.
2. ^ I. e., Micah 4:2-3, 5; 6:2-5, 8; 5:4-5. Isaiah 55:3-4; 55:2-13. Proverbs 9;1-11.

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to Mid-Pentecost at Wikimedia Commons
* Midfeast of Pentecost Orthodox icon and synaxarion
* From Pascha to Pentecost: The Penticostarion period / Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Toronto

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Easter and its cycle

Lent|

| Pre-Lent|

* Septuagesima
* Sexagesima
* Quinquagesima

Carnival (Shrovetide)|

* Fat Thursday
* Tsiknopempti
* Shrove Monday
* Rosenmontag
* Shrove Tuesday
* Mardi Gras
* Holy Face of Jesus
* Fastelavn
* Maslenitsa

Lent proper|

* Ash Wednesday
* Great Lent
* Temptation of Christ
* First Sunday of Lent
* Ember days
* Laetare Sunday (Mothering Sunday)

Passiontide|

* Passion Sunday (Lenten veil, Lenten shrouds)
* Friday of Sorrows

Music|

* Ave Regina caelorum
* Passion (music)
* Passion hymns
* Stabat Mater

Holy Week|

| Palm Sunday|

* Triumphal entry into Jerusalem
* Gloria, laus et honor
* Hosanna filio David
* "Singt dem König Freudenpsalmen"

|

Ferias|

* Holy Monday
* Holy Tuesday
* Holy Wednesday

Triduum|

* Tenebrae

Maundy Thursday|

* Chrism Mass
* Last Supper
* Crotalus
* Art
* Farewell Discourse
* Mass of the Lord's Supper
* Foot washing
* Stripping of the Altar

Good Friday|

* Passion of Jesus
* Arma Christi
* Stations of the Cross
* Crucifixion of Jesus
* Descent from the Cross
* Lamentation
* Epitaphios
* Encomia
* Pietà
* Burial of Jesus
* Tomb of Jesus
* Easter Sepulchre
* Good Friday prayer
* for the Jews
* Gorzkie żale

Holy Saturday|

* Harrowing of Hell
* Święconka

Easter Vigil|

* Paschal candle
* Holy Fire
* Lumen Christi
* Exsultet
* Artos
* Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults

Traditions|

* Burning of Judas
* Processions

By location|

* Colombia
* Popayán
* Guatemala
* Italy
* Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto
* Ruvo di Puglia
* Malta
* Mexico
* Taxco
* Philippines
* Portugal
* Braga
* Spain
* Cuenca
* Málaga
* Salamanca
* San Cristóbal de La Laguna
* Santa Cruz de La Palma
* Seville
* Valladolid
* Viveiro
* Zamora

Easter|

| Day|

* Resurrection of Jesus
* Art
* Myrrhbearers
* Road to Emmaus
* Paschal Homily
* Sunrise service

Date|

* List of dates
* Calculation

Season|

| Liturgical features|

* Alleluia
* Pentecostarion
* Trikirion

|

Octave|

| Bright Week|

* Easter Sunday
* Easter Monday
* Śmigus-dyngus
* Easter whip
* Easter Tuesday
* Wednesday
* Thursday
* Friday
* Saturday

|

* Second Sunday of Easter
* Doubting Thomas
* Divine Mercy Sunday

* Radonitsa
* Third Sunday of Easter
* Fourth Sunday of Easter
* Mid-Pentecost
* Fifth Sunday of Easter
* Rogation days

Ascensiontide|

* Ascension of Jesus
* Art
* Feast of the Ascension
* Cenacle
* Novena
* Matthias the Apostle

Traditions|

* Basket
* Bonnet
* Bunny
* Bilby
* Cavallo di fuoco
* Easter seals
* Food
* Greeting
* Parade
* Pace Egg play
* Postcard
* Rouketopolemos
* Saitopolemos
* Scoppio del carro

Easter eggs|

* Dance
* Decorating
* in Slavic culture
* Rolling
* Hunt
* Osterbrunnen
* Tapping
* Tree
* Tossing

By country|

* Croatia
* Poland
* Ukraine

By country|

* Ethiopia and Eritrea
* Italy
* Latvia
* Poland

Pre-Christian|

* Ēostre

Music|

* Easter Oratorio
* I Will Mention the Loving-kindnesses
* Russian Easter Festival Overture
* Salzburg Easter Festival

Liturgical|

* Regina caeli
* Troparion
* Victimae paschali laudes

Cantatas|

* Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden, BWV 6
* Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4
* Der Friede sei mit dir, BWV 158
* Der Himmel lacht! Die Erde jubilieret, BWV 31
* Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiß, BWV 134
* Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen, BWV 66
* Ich lebe, mein Herze, zu deinem Ergötzen, BWV 145

Hymns|

* Christ the Lord Is Risen Today
* Jesus Christ Is Risen Today
* O filii et filiae
* The Strife is O'er, the Battle Done

Choral music|

* Surrexit a mortuis

Film and TV|

* Films
* Television episodes

Pentecost|

| Season|

| Octave|

* Pentecost Sunday
* Whitsun
* Whit Monday
* Whit Tuesday
* Ember days
* Feast of Christ the Priest
* Trinity Sunday

|

* Feast of Corpus Christi
* Feast of the Sacred Heart

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