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Why is Pentecost considered the symbolic beginning of the Christian church?
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Christianity
Christ as Ruler, with the Apostles and Evangelists (represented by the beasts). The female figures are believed to be either Santa Pudenziana and Santa Práxedes or symbols of the Jewish and Gentile churches. Mosaic in the apse of Santa Pudenziana basilica, Rome, 401–417 ce.
Pentecost is considered the symbolic beginning of the Christian church because it marks the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other disciples, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2.12
This event is viewed as the inauguration of a "new dispensation" that fulfilled the old law and launched the church’s mission to the world. While the Jewish festival of Shavuot commemorated the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, the Christian celebration signifies the outpouring of the Spirit, which empowered the early church to spread its message from Jerusalem to the wider world. Consequently, the event serves as the final seal upon the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, marking the start of a new era for the faith.132