This Sunday, as you know, is the great feast of Pentecost. Pentecost is, of course, the birthday of the Church, and is the liturgical birthday of St. John of Shanghai Orthodox Mission – it was on Pentecost Sunday, 2007, that we celebrated our very first Divine Liturgy in our current location. In memory of that, I’ve dug out an old photo album of that momentous event (pictures by Gregory Gascoigne):
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| St John's First Liturgy (Pentecost 2007) |
We have grown in many ways since then!
Following our celebration of the Divine Liturgy at Pentecost, the posture of penitence, kneeling – which we have avoided throughout the joyous celebration of Pascha – is restored to us in the “Kneeling Vespers” service. We generally celebrate this service right after we finish our Agape Feast, following the Divine Liturgy.