Divine Liturgy for Mid-Pentecost will be celebrated today – Wednesday, April 28, 2021 @ 5:30 pm.

This celebration always falls on the Wednesday after the Sunday of the Paralytic and marks the middle point of the Paschal Season between Easter and Pentecost.

After Jesus healed the paralytic at the pool of the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, the Pharisees and Scribes, moved with envy, sought to kill him, using the excuse that he healed on the Sabbath. So Jesus departed from Jerusalem and Judea into Galilee.

But then, at about the middle of the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, he returned, went up to the Temple, and taught. Marveling at the wisdom of his words many Jews asked, “How does he know scripture without having studied?”

Jesus then demonstrated that his healing of the paralytic on the Sabbath was no offense. “I performed one work and all of you are amazed because of it. Moses gave you circumcision – not that it came from Moses but rather from the patriarchs – and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If a man can receive circumcision on a Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a whole person well on a Sabbath? Stop judging by appearances, but judge justly.” (John 7:21-24). [Note: Jesus was here referring to the law of Moses in Leviticus 12:3, which commanded circumcision on the eighth day, and was unfailingly carried out even if it fell on the Sabbath]

Because these words were spoken by Christ at the mid-point of the Feast of Tabernacles and referenced his healing of the Paralytic, the Church has appointed the mid-point between Easter and Pentecost, falling during the week commemorating the cure, as an occasion uniting the two feasts. For that reason it is called “Mid-Pentecost.”

Come celebrate this day with us.