Orthodox Devotion for June 19, Pentecost
“On the Jewish feast of Pentecost, there were to be offered to the Lord every year in perpetuity two loaves of bread, the first-fruits of the new harvest. So at the descent of the Spirit the Gospel was preached with power, and on that day many heard and believed and were baptized, and from men of every nation under heaven about three thousand souls were added to the Church, the first fruits of the new covenant. So every year on the feast of Pentecost, the Church baptizes, and so offers to the Lord an offering of the first-fruits of the redeemed from the face of the earth, an offering of both Jews and gentiles, as tokened by the two loaves.”
(Venerable Bede)