Information on the back of the card:

PENTECOST

Pentecost is derived from the Greek word for fifty. Pentecost, also known as Shav’uot or the Festival of Weeks, is one of the three major festivals of the Jewish year and dates from ancient times. The festival of Passover, commemorating the liberation from slavery in Egypt, is a week-long observance, ending on a Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. As prescribed in Leviticus 23, the day after the Passover Sabbath is the Feast of First Fruits, celebrating the beginning of grain harvest. Fifty days later, an offering from the harvest is made at Pentecost commemorating the giving of the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament). Christians believe that Jesus fulfilled these ancient feasts in a new and very striking way. Christ was crucified on Friday of Passover week, the Pascal Lamb offered up as sacrifice for our sins. On the following Sunday, He arose from the dead on the Feast of First Fruits, hence St Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15:20. Then, fifty days later on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came to the Apostles; the beginning of the Christian Church on the very day that commemorated the beginning of Judaism.

The pattern for this icon is very old, conforming to Byzantine traditions dating from before 800AD. Mary and the Apostles are touched by “tongues, as of fire” as the Holy Spirit shown as a dove accompanied by fire descends upon them, transforming a group of frightened people into bold proclaimers of the Good News. Tradition does not name all of their portraits explicitly. At bottom center is an old man bearing a cloth holding twelve scrolls. The Greek letters identify his as Cosmos, “the world”. He is symbolic of the world’s multitudes gathered together in Jerusalem for Pentecost. He is in a walled-off dark place, the world without faith. He is crowned by the rule of sin and aged by the sin of Adam. The scrolls represent the teaching of the twelve Apostles, bringing the light of faith to his dark world.

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak . . . Acts 2:4