6533b858fe1ef96bd12b5bd2

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Szawuot w ikonie. Pneumatologiczno-eklezjologiczna ikona Zesłania Ducha Świętego

subject

description

Shavuot is one of the three pilgrimage holidays of Israel prescribed by the Torah. Every Jewish man had to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem on Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot. He offered the firstfruits of his work. The feast of Shavuot was associated with the mature firstfruits and wheat, just as Pesach was associated with the firstfruits of barley. The rabbis calculated that the Chosen People left Egypt on Pesach and wandered for seven weeks through the desert, and on the fiftieth day he reached Sinai, where he received the Decalogue and the entire Torah. Therefore, Shavuot means the Feast of the Week and became the holiday of the Torah – the Word of God. Fifty days after the resurrection of Christ, the Apostles in the Cenacle experienced “Power from on high” in the form of fiery tongues. It was the Descent of the Holy Spirit. From the group of people full of fear, the Holy Spirit created the Church – the Body of Christ. Christians celebrated this festival for centuries, and wrote its theological content in the icon of Pentecost. This icon retains many references to the Jewish roots of this holiday. The Cenacle, shown in the icon, contains meanings related to the Tower of Babel, to Mounts Sinai, Zion, Moria and also to the Temple. Furthermore Apostles representing Israel and the New People (i. e. the Church) icon symbolically represents the Holy Spirit, Christ and God the Father, and also emphasizes the presence of Mary in an extraordinary way. The mysterious figure of the King refers to the Cosmos, the Prophet Joel, King Melchizedek, David, Moses, Christ and Adam. The icon depicting Pentecost is full of symbols and theological content. It is a synthesis of ecclesiology and pneumatology.