Pentecost NOT the Birthday of the Church
Painting: Pentecost, Juan Bautista Maíno, 1615-1620
Pentecost is considered birthday of the Church by:
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“because Pentecost is when the apostles went out among the people and began spreading Jesus’ message, thus establishing the beginning of the Church”
https://www.franciscanmedia.org/st-anthony-messenger/pentecost-the-birthday-of-the-church/#:~:text=Did%20you%20know%20that%20the,the%20beginning%20of%20the%20Church. -
“The resurrected Jesus himself orders the apostles to stay in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit. It is then that they will receive the “power” that they need to carry out their mission (Acts 1:8). It is an empowerment of a group, not of isolated followers. […] Paul calls the “church” “the body of Christ” and each one “individually members of it” (1Cor 12:27-28). This body of Christ is the group that was born at Pentecost where the gift of the Spirit was first received.”
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“Pentecost is regarded as the birthday of the Christian church, and the start of the church’s mission to the world.”
/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/pentecost.shtml -
“According to the account in Acts, about 3,000 people were baptised following Peter’s sermon (Acts 2:1441). For this reason, Pentecost is considered the birthday of the Church – Peter, the first Pope, preaches for the first time and converts thousands of new believers.”
Singapore Catholic News, 2 June 2019: https://www.catholic.sg/pentecost-the-birthday-of-the-church/ -
“On Pentecost, the Church was born with an unprecedented degree of freedom. As God had once given the law to Moses, so now he gave his own Spirit to the Church.”
https://catholicexchange.com/pentecost-church-born (by Mike Aquilina, St Paul Center)(Ernest T. Bass made the only comment on this blog: “With all due respect, being a pre-Vatican II cradle Catholic, I remember being taught specifically that the Church was born on Calvary when the side of Christ was pierced with a lance, and Blood and Water flowed forth: signifying the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. Pope Pius XII was very clear about this, as were many early Church fathers, especially St. Augustine. I never heard anything about Pentecost being the birth of the Church until after Vatican II.”)
According to Fr. Stephen Freeman, a priest of the Orthodox Church in America, Pentecost is NOT considered birthday of the Church. However, his reason is not that the birthday is some other moment in the Bible, but that the Church is eternal like the Holy Trinity.
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“the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 is the only biblical event that meets the criteria as the time when the first people ever were “baptized in holy spirit””
The ‘Birth’ of the Church from Jesus’ Dead Body on the Cross
Basilica of St. Mary, Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, Poland. Photo by Totus Tuus Apostolate
CCC 766
The Church is born primarily of Christ’s total self-giving for our salvation, anticipated in the institution of the Eucharist and fulfilled on the cross. “The origin and growth of the Church are symbolized by the blood and water which flowed from the open side of the crucified Jesus.” “For it was from the side of Christ as he slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth the ‘wondrous sacrament of the whole Church.’” As Eve was formed from the sleeping Adam’s side, so the Church was born from the pierced heart of Christ hanging dead on the cross. [St. Ambrose, In Luc. 2, 85-89; PL 15, 1666-1668]
Pius XII, Encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi, 28: “That He completed His work on the gibbet of the Cross is the unanimous teaching of the holy Fathers who assert that the Church was born from the side of our Savior on the Cross like a new Eve, mother of all the living.”
How can we understand the parallel between Adam and Eve, and Christ and the Church?
The Rebuke of Adam and Eve (by Domenichino, 1626, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)
John 19:32-34 RSV:
“So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him; 33 but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side [Greek: pleura = rib (cf. Genesis 2:21 when God made Eve out of Adam)] with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water [cf. Mishnah, Pesahim 5:5-7 on blood and water that poured out from the Temple when the Passover lamb is sacrificed].”
Are there issues with treating Pentecost as the birthday?
The issues would be similar to celebrating the birthday of a person on the day he/she started talking instead of the day when the child came out of the mother’s womb. By celebrating the birthday of the Church on Pentecost:
The identity of the Church as the “Body of Christ” (1Cor 12:27; Eph 4:11; 5:23; Col 1:18,24) would not make much sense, since if the Church were born of the Holy Spirit, why would she be called the Body of Christ? Whereas if the Church was in fact born from the actual body of Christ hanging on the cross, then it would make more sense to call the Church the “Body of Christ”.
We ignore the fact that the Church already existed before Pentecost, even when the apostles and disciples were afraid and were hiding; and when they prayed persistently together in the upper room together with Mary the mother of Jesus for the coming of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:13-14).
If Church was born from the dead body of Jesus on the cross, and Holy Spirit only came on Pentecost 50 days later, then there was this period of time when the Church did not have the Holy Spirit?
Fresco of the The Glory Be (Gloria Patri), Church of Saint Giles’, Prague. Photo by Totus Tuus Apostolate
Correct. There is a moment when the Church was born (Good Friday) and there is another moment when the Church started her public ministry (Pentecost). This parallels the life of Jesus himself. He was born in Bethlehem and lived a hidden life for about 30 years. When the time came for him to start his public ministry, Jesus was baptised and the Holy Spirit descended upon him. Now, the Church as the Body of Christ was born from the crucified Christ on the cross on Good Friday and lived a hidden life for 50 days. And when the time came for the Church to begin her public ministry, the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles.
The two periods of time in the life of the Church and of Jesus (hidden life and public ministry) also correspond to the two dimensions of discipleship. Mark 3:14 ESV: “And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach.” Notice the two intentions of Jesus in forming the Twelve:
1. To be with him;
2. To be sent out to preach.
From Good Friday to Pentecost, the Church was in stage 1, being with Jesus in prayer. It was the Holy Spirit given at Pentecost who launched the Church into stage 2 by empowering her and sending her out on her mission.
Now that we accept that the Church was born on Good Friday, what is the meaning of Pentecost?
Stained-glass window depicting the Holy Spirit as a dove, located within the Cathedra of St. Peter's Basilica (Cathedra Sancti Petri Apostoli) in Vatican City, Rome. Photo by Totus Tuus Apostolate
CCC 767: Pentecost was the Public Manifestation of the Church to the Nations
“When the work which the Father gave the Son to do on earth was accomplished, the Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost in order that he might continually sanctify the Church.” Then “the Church was openly displayed to the crowds and the spread of the Gospel among the nations, through preaching, was begun.” As the “convocation” of all men for salvation, the Church in her very nature is missionary, sent by Christ to all the nations to make disciples of them.
Why the fuss of getting it right about the birthday of the Church?
Christian doctrines are supposed to be coherent. One doctrine is not supposed to contradict another doctrine. But if we were to say that Pentecost were the birthday of the Church, i.e. the Church was born from the Holy Spirit, then the biblical expression of the Church as the “Body of Christ” would not make sense anymore.
The Catholic understanding of the Church is that the Church is not simply a group of disciples of Jesus who preach the Word of God to the nations (if this were so, then Pentecost would naturally be accepted as the birthday of the Church). However, the Church is also the mystical Body of Christ; the Church as a whole is a Sacrament, i.e. a visible reality pointing to the invisible reality of Christ. And this can be discerned only if we recognise that the Church was born from the body of Christ hanging on the cross as the Lamb of God, the New Passover sacrifice. So the Church is not only functional (to preach), but also mystical in the sense that she is the Body of Christ.
What about the 9-day novena in preparation for Pentecost?
It is not simply a pious practice invented by the Church, but is attested explicitly in the Bible.
Virgin and Child, St. Bernard Church, Krakow, Poland. Photo by Totus Tuus Apostolate
Acts 1:14 ESV:
“All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.”
Examples of 9-day novena prayer in preparation for Pentecost:
