Pentecost
Today we celebrate Pentecost, an occasion in which we commemorate the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ while they were gathered in prayer in Jerusalem. This feast represents the fulfillment of the promise that Christ will baptize his followers in fire and in the Holy Spirit!
JERUSALEM
Discover the Place of Pentecost
The episode of Pentecost is well detailed in the Acts of the Apostles, but there is no literary evidence of the place where it took place. According to many, the place, described as “the house” in Acts, corresponds to the Upper Room, or Upper Room where Jesus and the disciples had the Last Supper.
According to early Christian tradition, the place is located on Mount Zion which is therefore considered the birthplace of the first Church and where the Eucharist was founded for the first time.
The place can still be visited today, although it has undergone several profound changes over the centuries. In Byzantine times several shrines were built, on Mount Zion as in many other parts of the Holy Land: in the places narrated by the Gospel. Here was built a large Basilica called Santa Sion.
Yet the site has been the scene of destruction and reconstruction. Until medieval times, when the Franciscans came and established here their first convent in the Holy Land; here, in the Upper Room, the Custody of the Holy Land was established. They were then expelled by the Turks in the sixteenth century, and later returned in 1920.
PENTECOST TODAY
The Cenacle on Mount Zion
Today there is still an ongoing dispute over the ownership of the place and it is forbidden to celebrate in it. Only the Franciscans are authorized to celebrate in it on two special occasions: Holy Thursday and for Pentecost.
On this occasion the Franciscans, together with all the local Christians and pilgrims , make a procession through the Holy City to the Upper Room on Mount Zion where they gather in prayer. At the end of the ceremony, all the faithful pray the Our Father in different languages, each one prays in his own.
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The Sanctuaries of the Holy Land
Today there is still an ongoing dispute over the ownership of the place and it is forbidden to celebrate in it. Only the Franciscans are authorized to celebrate in it on two special occasions: Holy Thursday and for Pentecost.
On this occasion the Franciscans, together with all the local Christians and pilgrims , make a procession through the Holy City to the Upper Room on Mount Zion where they gather in prayer. At the end of the ceremony, all the faithful pray the Our Father in different languages, each one prays in his own.
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