Troparion, tone 8
Blessed art thou, O Christ our God, Who art wise as fishers of things, having sent down unto them the Holy Spirit, and with them caught the universe, Lover of mankind, glory to Thee.
Like the wise fishermen who made the fishermen wise. And with those you caught the universe - and through them you caught the universe.
Kontakion, tone 8
When the tongues merged, the Most High separated the tongues; Whenever the fiery tongues were distributed, everyone was called into unity; and accordingly we glorify the All-Holy Spirit.
More - when. Snished - having come down. Merge languages - mixed languages. By dividing languages, he divided nations. Distributed - distributed. The whole call was to unite - everything was called to unity.
When the languages of the Most High came down and the languages of the Most High were divided, we are talking about the construction of the Tower of Babel:
Throughout the whole earth there was one language, one speech... And they said: Let us build ourselves a city and a tower, its height reaching to heaven, and we will make a name for ourselves, before we are scattered over the face of the whole earth.
And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men were building. And the Lord said: Behold, there is one people, and they all have one language; and this is what they began to do, and they will not stop from what they planned to do; Let us go down and confuse their language there, so that one does not understand the speech of the other. And the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth; and they stopped building the city [and the tower]. Therefore the name was given to it: Babylon, for there the Lord confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord scattered them throughout all the earth (Gen. 11:1-9).
When the tongues of fire were distributed... When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together with one accord. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as if from a rushing strong wind, and it filled the whole house where they were. And cloven tongues as of fire appeared to them, and one rested on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:1-4).
Greatness
We magnify You, / Life-giving Christ, / and honor Your All-Holy Spirit, / Whom You sent from the Father / as Your divine disciple.
Zadostoynik
Chorus: Apostles, beholding the descent of the Comforter, were amazed at how the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a fiery tongue.
Irmos of the 9th song of the 2nd canon: Rejoice, O Queen, Glory to the Mother of the Virgin; For every kindly, well-verbal mouth cannot speak, It is worthy to sing to You; Every mind is amazed to understand Your Nativity; We also praise You accordingly.
Mother-Virgin Glory - Glorious Mother-Virgo. Handy - skillful, agile. Benevolent - eloquent. To ornate - to speak convincingly, eloquently. Sing to you - sing to you. Amazed - amazed, perplexed. Understand your birth - (trying) to understand your birth. That's why too.
The second canon of the holiday (and accordingly the honorable one) is the creation of St. John of Damascus (the first canon was written by St. Cosmas of Maium).