Fifty days after Easter, the Church celebrates the feast of Pentecost which comes from the Greek word meaning “fiftieth”. It originally refers to the festival celebrated on the fiftieth day after the Passover, and it was to celebrate this Jewish festival that the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ were in Jerusalem.
While they were in the “Upper Room” celebrating this festival, something happened which changed the changed the lives of the Apostles and other followers and indeed the course of history. As recounted in Acts 2: 1-6, the Holy Spirit descended. “and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them utterance”
It is not surprising that this day is often called the “birthday of the Christian Church”.
– John Aarons
