The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost)

Greece, mid-18th century
Egg tempera on wood
Recklinghausen, Icon Museum, Inv. No. 348

Pentecost is one of the oldest festivals in Christianity. It is celebrated on the fiftieth day after Easter to commemorate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. Through this event, they received the divine power to bring the Gospel to the world. In accordance with the biblical account of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is depicted as a small flame hovering above the heads of the Apostles.

The bearded, crowned figure within the dark cave at the bottom of the image is identified as "Kosmos" and embodies the aged world. He holds twelve scrolls wrapped in a cloth, representing the languages ​​of the nations among whom the Apostles would carry out their missionary work.

Although the presence of the Mother of God is not explicitly mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, she appears amidst the Apostles in even the earliest depictions of Pentecost. Her prominent position in the center, between Peter and Paul, makes it clear that in this context she is to be understood as the embodiment of *Ecclesia*—the Church founded at Pentecost. (Text courtesy of the Icon Museum, Recklinghausen)