The date of Pentecost

[Elendil_s_Heir]

Different Christian faiths celebrate Christmas on different days. Is Pentecost on different days, too? I’m not Catholic, but a Catholic website I found through Google said Pentecost was on June 12 this year. Is that true for all Christians?

[naita]

Pentecost is 50 days after Easter, so since there’s a disagreement on when Easter starts (this is a different kind of agreement than Christmas), it’s sometimes on the same day, and sometimes not:

Since the date of Easter is calculated differently in the East and West (see Easter controversy), in most years the two traditions celebrate Pentecost on different days (though in some years the celebrations will coincide, as in 2010). In the West, the earliest possible date is May 10 (as in 1818 and 2285), and the latest possible date June 13 (as in 1943 and 2038). In the East, this range of possible dates presently corresponds to May 23 through June 26 on the Gregorian calendar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentecost#Date

[Bridget_Burke]

Pentecost is the day when it is said that he Holy Ghost descended on the Disciples. It’s celebrated 50 days after Easter, so it is also a “moveable” holiday. The Western & Eastern Churches calculate Easter differently; the dates for Pentecost vary accordingly.

ETA: Somebody beat me to it. But I’ll add that most Protestant denominations also celebrate Pentecost, using the Western calendar.

[Elendil_s_Heir]

Thanks. So would Catholics and Protestants celebrate Pentecost on June 12 this year?

[tomndebb]

Yes.

[panamajack]

Pentecost as a name is from the Greek term for the Jewish holiday Shavuot, aka the Feast of Weeks. Shavuot is celebrated 50 days after Passover, hence the Greek name, which literally means “50 days”. The Jewish celebration of Passover and the Christian celebration of Easter are tied to the same original holidays, but don’t always intersect — in the same way that different Christian traditions set different dates for Easter.

Unlike the Christian celebration of Easter, which has some explicit symbolic ties to the celebration of Passover, Pentecost (Christian holiday) is mostly a different event. It’s not entirely a coincidence, however. The Pentecost story related in the Book of Acts tells of the apostles preaching to the crowds of people that had made the pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem for Shavuot/Pentecost. This could (if you believe God is involved) then was timed to occur at a moment of greater impact for the world. Jewish tradition celebrates the giving of the Torah on Shavuot, and one could possibly draw parallels between that and the giving of the Paraclete, although that’s not something commented on the Bible.

[Shinna_Minna_Ma]

@panamajack

Pentecost as a name is from the Greek term for the Jewish holiday Shavuot, aka the Feast of Weeks. Shavuot is celebrated 50 days after Passover, hence the Greek name, which literally means “50 days”.

Nitpick: Shavuot is 50 days after the first day of Passover.

[BigT]

What I find weird is that none of the pentecostal churches that I have attended make a big deal out of the holiday. You’d think they’d have a revival or something, especially since many are constantly complaining about there not being a significant “move of the Spirit” today (i.e. a similar experience to that described in Acts.)