MySavior
Pentecost marks the day the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles in Jerusalem, as told in Acts 2: a sound like a rushing wind, tongues of fire, and the apostles speaking so that visitors from many nations heard them in their own languages. Peter preached that day, and about three thousand people were baptized, which is why Pentecost is often called the birthday of the Church.
The name comes from the Greek for “fiftieth”. It was already the name of a Jewish feast: Shavuot, the harvest feast of Weeks, held fifty days after Passover, which is why so many visitors were in Jerusalem that day. Christians count their fifty days from Easter. Pentecost closes the Easter season, and red, the color of fire, is its liturgical color in Western churches.
Why 49 days after Easter?
Counting Easter Sunday as day one, Pentecost is the 50th day, so it falls 49 days, exactly seven weeks, after Easter, and always on a Sunday. Because it hangs on Easter, it moves every year, from May 10 at the earliest to June 13 at the latest. In 2027, with Easter on March 28, it falls on May 16.
Ascension Day, ten days before
Ascension Day recalls Jesus' return to the Father forty days after the Resurrection (Acts 1:3), so it falls on the Thursday 39 days after Easter Sunday: May 6 in 2027. Many Catholic dioceses, including most in the United States, keep it on the following Sunday, May 9. The MySavior countdown uses the Thursday date. The nine days from Ascension to Pentecost, when the apostles prayed together with Mary, are traditionally seen as the first novena.
Orthodox Pentecost
Orthodox churches keep Pentecost 49 days after their own Easter, so in 2027 it falls on Sunday, June 20, 2027. The MySavior countdown uses the Western date.
