Pentecost (Feast of the Holy Trinity)

The feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the fiftieth day after Pascha, kept as the feast of the Holy Trinity, Troitsa in the Russian tradition, where Rublev’s Trinity is its icon. Churches and homes are filled with green branches, grass and flowers, because the Spirit is the Giver of life. At Vespers that follows the Liturgy the faithful kneel for the first time since Pascha, which the First Council forbade on the Lord’s days and throughout the fifty days, while the priest reads three long kneeling prayers, one of them for those who have fallen asleep. The prayer O Heavenly King, silent since Pascha, returns to the beginning of every service. The next day is the Monday of the Holy Spirit, which the Romanian Church keeps as the feast of the Holy Trinity; the Sunday after is All Saints, and the Apostles’ Fast begins the day after that. St Gregory the Theologian’s sermon for the day is still the one the Typikon of St Sabbas appoints for Matins.