The Orthodox Church has four main fasting periods. They are: the Nativity Fast (Advent) before Christmas, Great Lent before Pascha, the Dormition (Falling Asleep) of the Mother of God fast before the feast of the Dormition on August 15th and the Apostle’s Fast from the Monday after All Saints Sunday (this year June 8th) until the feast of Ss. Peter and Paul on June 29th. This fast can be longer or shorter depending on when Pascha falls. Tradition tells us that the apostles undertook this fast in order to prepare themselves to go out and preach the Gospel after Christ’s Ascension into heaven and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Some people criticize the Church’s fasts, saying they are ‘man-made’ rules but this is not the case. In the second chapter of Saint Mark’s Gospel, when the Pharisees criticize our Lord’s apostles for not fasting, Jesus says “…. “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.  The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.” (Mk 2:19-20)
In other words, fasting is not appropriate when Jesus is with his apostles, but that is when our Lord returns to Heaven his disciples (including all of us) will fast. But why does Jesus want us to fast? Because it gives us spiritual strength.
Once when the apostles asked our Lord why they had not been able to cast a demon out of a young boy and heal him, Jesus said: “… this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting” (Mt 17:21) So fasting is important and for all of us. But we must be very careful not to fast only from certain foods and think that we are virtuous because of this. Even if we fast strictly, if our hearts are filled with judgement, lack of forgiveness, self-righteousness, grudges, etc. then our fasts are not pleasing to God. So in whatever way we fast, let our fasting come out of love for God and neighbor.

True fasting is putting away evil deeds. Forgive your neighbor his offences, forgive him his debts. “Do not fast in judgments and fights.” You may not eat meat, but you devour your brother. You may not drink wine, but you do not refrain from offence. You may wait till evening to take food, but you spend the day in places of judgment.

St. Basil the Great

Fr. John

When we look at an icon, especially a traditional one, we realize that it is not a naturalistic photographic image. Shapes and sizes, including human figures, often seem unnatural. The perspective is not what we are used to. Finally, time also appears distorted, with events and people of different times put together. So an icon is not like a photograph. It is more like a portrait done by a skilled artist who can often bring out depths and nuances that a camera could not catch.
This is all true of the Pentecost Icon. Pentecost was an actual historical event. We can read about it in chapter two in the Acts of the Apostles. But the icon gives us new levels of meaning than the text alone does. So for example, Saint Paul is seated among the apostles even though he was not even a Christian on the day of Pentecost.
Often the icon will show rays of light descending upon the Apostles from on high. This shows the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostle in tongues of fire. Sometimes the Holy Spirit will be depicted in the form of a dove. At the bottom of the icon an old king on a dark background is shown. This is Kosmos. He represents all of fallen humanity because we remember the world until the coming of Christ lay in darkness. In the center of the Apostles there is usually an empty seat. This is the seat of Jesus Christ, who has ascended into heaven but is invisibly present. Finally, sometimes Mary the Mother of Christ is present.
In conclusion we can see that this icon depicts the reality of the world, which still lay in darkness to a certain extent, but is being transfigured by God through the church as depicted here.

Troparion — Tone 8

Blessed art Thou O Christ Our God / Thou hast revealed the fishermen as most wise / By sending down upon them the Holy Spirit / Through them Thou didst draw the world into Thy net / O Lover of Man, Glory to Thee!

Kontakion — Tone 8

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!

Fr. John

St. Vincent was a monk of the Lerins monastery on the Ile Saint Honorat, in what is now France. He is known for several things. He wrote to proclaim the Orthodox teaching that Mary, Mother of Jesus, should be called Theotokos, or God-bearer, as she was officially called at the Council of Ephesus in 431. He also defended the Orthodox doctrine of grace and free will, which was being distorted in the Western church.
However he is most famous for his Commonitory which explained how we know to distinguish the Orthodox faith from doctrinal errors. He wrote that the Orthodox, catholic faith was what was believed “everywhere, always and by all.” In other words, in the Orthodox Church individuals do not ‘discover’ and teach their own individualistic teaching that they find when reading the bible on their own. On the other hand, in the Orthodox Church there is no infallible bishop or groups of bishops.
But we have to realize that this is not an exercise in archaeology. We don’t go back, let’s say to May 1st of 900 AD and take a survey of what every person in the church believed then. We do do this, but this is not the whole story. The Orthodox faith is not static. The fundamentals of Orthodox doctrine do not change over time. However, new questions and new challenges arise in the course of history and they have to be answered and resolved anew based on the unchangeable foundation of doctrines. What St. Vincent is telling us is rather that the Holy Spirit abides in the church and allows the church to always be faithful to the basics of the faith, while at the same time dealing with new issues. No individual, no matter how holy, comes up with doctrine on his own. On the other hand, no bishop or group of bishops can infallibly come up with new doctrines. It is always the living presence of the Holy Spirit in the church which keeps that faith whole and unimpaired. We can say that this was the meaning of St. Vincent’s Commonitory for us today.

Fr. John