Iconography of the Ascension of the Lord in the art of Byzantium and ancient Rus'. Icons of the Ascension of the Lord Icon of the Ascension
In Christianity, there are many miraculous icons that have healing properties or strong energy. For example, icons painted in honor of great holidays - such as the Ascension of the Lord.
It is worth noting that the church usually advises keeping this image of the Ascension in every Orthodox home, like some other icons. After all, images are not just a mandatory Christian attribute in any home. They create the impression of the constant presence of God in the house, driving out evil spirits, evil and troubles that are afraid of one reminder of the Almighty.
Icon "Ascension of the Lord"
This icon reflects the events of the Feast of the Ascension, which coincides with the 40th day after Easter, after the miraculous resurrection of Jesus Christ. Historians and clergy argue about why the Virgin Mary is depicted on the icon, but this essentially does not matter, because the artist saw it the way he wanted. Moreover, the image of the Mother of God does not change the essence and only adds importance and tragedy to the icon.
The Feast of the Ascension symbolizes the final journey of Jesus Christ, his solemn reunion with the Father and the Holy Spirit. The unity of the Trinity signifies the completion of Christ's mission on Earth. Before he left, he left his disciples with the message that there would be a second coming. No one knows the exact date of the Last Judgment, for it is known only to the Heavenly Father.
The icon of the Ascension of the Lord, according to tradition, depicts Mary, the apostles and disciples of Jesus, to whom he gave instructions and taught the last 40 days of his earthly life. Also, the icon often featured the Mount of Olives and angels carrying Jesus to heaven.
Prayers before the icon of the Ascension
Prayers to this icon should be filled with love and warmth. They help to correctly prioritize between spiritual and earthly matters. Before this icon you can read any prayers, starting with Our Father and ending with the Theotokos, Virgin, Rejoice. And here is the main prayer before the Ascension:
We will serve and work for You, Lord and Our God; when, having renounced the bonds of the flesh and having passed through the air barriers without hindrance, we reach Thy heavenly abodes, there, standing at the right hand of Thy Majesty, with the Archangels and Angels and all the saints, we will glorify Thy All-Holy Name with Thy Originless Father and Thy Most Holy and Consubstantial and Life-Giving Spirit.
With these words we ask God to allow us to find the strength to follow him in earthly life. There are two shorter prayers that fewer people know about, but which are no less powerful:
Thou art ascended in glory, O Christ our God, brought joy to the disciple by the promise of the Holy Spirit, informed by the former blessing, for Thou art the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world.
Having fulfilled your concern for us, and having united us on earth with the heavenly, you ascended in glory, Christ our God, in no way departing, but remaining persistent, and crying out to those who love You: I am with you and no one is against you.
These two prayers are more suitable for the Ascension holiday itself, although many read these lines every day. They, like the icon of the Ascension itself, are filled with the genuine love of Jesus Christ for all people living and who have lived on Earth. They give us light and peace, as well as tranquility. Jesus Christ endured great torment for each of us, but found the bliss that he was originally worthy of. This is the main meaning of Christianity - to see only good in everything, to find salvation in trials, and in joy to recognize the meaning of life.
Priests always give very important instructions to all believers about how to pray in front of any icon. The main thing is the attitude. There is no need to memorize a prayer and read it like a robot, because this is communication with God. You don't have to force yourself to do it. Feel this call of your heart from within. Let him let you know that the moment has come when you need to pray to turn to God. May these prayers and the Ascension of the Lord icon lead you to spiritual enlightenment, humility and joy of life.
The description of the Ascension of the Lord is contained in the canonical texts of the New Testament: this is described in detail in the Acts of the Holy Apostles (Acts 1: 2–12) and the Gospel of Luke (Luke 24: 50–51), a brief summary of this event is given at the end of the Gospel of Mark ( Mark 16:19). According to legend, the temple on the site of the Ascension of Christ - the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem - was erected through the efforts of the holy Empress Helena, who visited the Holy Land around 327–328 and organized the search for shrines and the construction of churches.
Chapel at the site of the Ascension, built by the Crusaders where an early Christian temple was located
In the eastern part of Christendom, until the end of the 4th century, the celebration of the Ascension and Pentecost was probably still celebrated together, on the fiftieth day after Easter. The Western pilgrim Egeria, who visited the Holy Land around 381–384, writes about this tradition. She reports that on the evening of Pentecost, all Christians in Jerusalem gather on Mount Olivet, go “to the place from which the Lord ascended into heaven,” and a service is performed with the reading of the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, which tell about the holiday.
Perhaps a consequence of this single celebration was the depiction of the Ascension and Pentecost in one composition found in early Christian art, for example, on an ampoule originating from Palestine, which served as a vessel for shrines brought from pilgrimages. In this miniature composition, God the Holy Spirit is depicted as He was seen during the Jordan - in the form of a dove descending from the wide-open right hand of God the Father.
"Ascension-Pentecost" Ampoule. VI century Collection of the Cathedral of Monza, Italy. Prorysya
Sources of the 5th and subsequent centuries already clearly identify the Ascension as a separate holiday on the fortieth day after Easter. The first images of the Ascension that have come down to us date back to the 5th century, for example, the avorium, dating back to the beginning of the 5th century, is a carved ivory plank.
Avory. Beginning of the 5th century Bavarian National Museum, Munich, Germany
Two scenes are inscribed in the rectangular format of the avorium: at the bottom are the Myrrh-Bearing Women at the Holy Sepulcher, at the top is the Ascension, presented so unusually for the modern viewer that it is not easy to identify what is depicted. Jesus Christ rises with wide steps along the mountainside, while holding on to the right hand of God the Father, extended from a segment symbolizing the spiritual Heaven, the Kingdom of Heaven.
This image is an almost verbatim illustration of the words of the sermon of the Apostle Peter, spoken immediately after the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles: “This Jesus God raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore He was exalted by the right hand of God...” (Acts 2:32-33). In the art of Western Europe, this version of iconography was quite popular and survived until the time of the Gothic, but in the East this version did not take root, apparently due to the lack of the motif of triumph and theophanicism necessary in the depiction of this such an important event.
Wooden door of the Church of Santa Sabina. Vv. Rome, Italy. Fragment
On the carved wooden door of the Roman church of Santa Sabina (c. 430), the Ascension is depicted in a more traditional form, although with some features characteristic of early Christian art. In the center of the upper register is the Savior, ascending standing in glory, depicted not just as a halo (clypeus, medallion), but as a large laurel wreath.
This detail creates an emphasis on the theme of triumph, victory - laurel wreaths traditionally could only be received by winners of competitions, or generals returning to Rome after a successful campaign. On four sides, the laurel medallion seems to be supported on their wings by tetramorphs - four mysterious angelic creatures with the faces of a lion, a calf, a bull and a man, whom the prophet Ezekiel saw during the manifestation of Divine glory to him (Ezek. 1:1-26).
The artist tries in every possible way to emphasize the solemn, triumphant nature of the ascension of the Lord in the flesh to heaven. Placed below the tetramorphs, the allegorical images of the Sun and Moon represent the entire created world contemplating the Ascension of its Creator.
The theme of Theophany, the appearance of the Divine in all His glory and power, corresponds to the main context of the Ascension event. The disciples become witnesses to the glorification of the Son, witnesses to the manifestation of the Divine glory of the Son to the world. The Ascension of the Lord is also an image of His Second Coming. The angels who appeared to the apostles reported that: “This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him going into heaven” (Acts 1:11). This eschatological significance of the Ascension is conveyed through the overall theophanic character of the entire composition.
It was precisely because of its theophanic nature that the image of the Ascension was placed in the most hierarchically significant area of the temple - on the vault of the dome. There is an assumption that it was the Ascension that was depicted in the dome of the rotunda of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, erected by Saint Constantine the Great. This composition occupied the vault of the dome in the Church of St. Sophia in Thessalonica, the temples of Cappadocia, the Church of St. Apostles in Pech, the Cathedral of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Mirozhsky Monastery, the Church of St. George in Staraya Ladoga, the Church of the Transfiguration on Nereditsa (the fresco was destroyed), the Cathedral of San Marco in Venice.
Mosaic of the dome of the Church of St. Sophia in Thessalonica. 880-885 Greece
In the miniature of the Codex of Ravbulah, originating from Syria, the Ascension is depicted against the backdrop of a picturesque mountain landscape. In addition to the winged tetramorphs, at the base of the mandorla (an oval symbolizing the glory and radiance of the Divine), there are some fiery wheels that were seen by the prophet Ezekiel. The entire depicted “structure” resembles an ancient chariot ruled by the Lord.
If we remember that the commander, who deserved the ceremony of triumph, rode into the city in a chariot, then such an artistic allegory becomes quite understandable. Two angels, presented in the form of winged youths, present Christ with wreaths - the reward of a triumphant, the other two seem to support the mandorla.
Miniature of the Codex of Ravbula. 586 Laurentian Library, Florence, Italy
Below the fiery wings of the tetramorphs is the right hand of God the Father. The fiery flashes fluttering in the air can be interpreted both as a detail of the mentioned vision of Ezekiel: “fire went among the living creatures, and radiance from the fire and lightning came from the fire” (Ezek. 1:13), and as tongues of fire descending on the apostles standing below. Thus, on this miniature, as on the ampoule, there is an image of two events: the Ascension and.
Miniature of the Evangelary (Athos Dionisiou 587). Byzantium. XI century Monastery of Dionysiates, Athos
In the art of the Middle Byzantine period, the Savior was depicted seated on a throne, on a rainbow or on the celestial sphere. This version of the image has become established in iconography, since it best conveys the dogma set out in the text of the Creed: “...And he ascended into heaven and sat at the right hand of the Father...”.
Almost always, an interesting anachronism is observed in the composition: in the lower register, next to one of the two angels in white robes pointing to the Lord, the Apostle Paul is depicted, who at that time not only was not a disciple, but was the persecutor of Christians, Saul. Shortly after Pentecost, he guarded the clothes of the Jews stoning Archdeacon Stephen, and approved of this murder.
This discrepancy in chronology is explained by the fact that the icon has never been understood in Orthodoxy as an accurate, formal illustration of the text of Holy Scripture. An icon not only “shows” an event, but reveals its meaning and significance. The image of the Ascension is the image of the New Testament Apostolic Church, founded by Christ and spread throughout the earth by the preaching of the apostles and their successors. Therefore, the Apostle Paul is always depicted on the icon of the Ascension.
The icon is not intended to express only the “letter” of Scripture, otherwise, for example, the image of the Mother of God on the icon of the Ascension would be questionable, since the text does not speak of Her presence on the Mount of Olives. However, the Mother of God is always depicted, since the icon must convey the very essence of the Holy Scriptures and express the foundations of the Christian faith.
The Church teaches that the Ascension is the end of the earthly ministry of the Savior, the final moment of the dispensation of the Son of God. It began in Bethlehem, when the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity - God the Son - became incarnate from the Most Holy Virgin. Her presence on the icon of the Ascension recalls the beginning of the Son’s economy, the logical conclusion of which took place on Mount Olivet. Further, from the moment of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, a new stage of history begins - the economy of God the Holy Spirit.
Ampoule. VI century Collection of the Cathedral of Monza, Italy. Prorysya
Reliquary of the Sancta Sanctorum chapel. End of the 6th – beginning of the 7th century. Vatican Museums. Fragment
Gold ring. Byzantium. VII century Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, USA
Center of the triptych. VII-IX centuries Monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai, Egypt
Byzantine icon. VIII-IX centuries Monastery of St. Catherine, Sinai, Egypt
Miniature of the Khludov Psalter. Byzantium. Mid-9th (?) century. State Historical Museum, Moscow
Silver plate. XI-XII centuries Museum of Fine Arts. Sh. Amiranashvili, Tbilisi, Georgia
Fresco of Agakalti-Kilise. Beginning of the 11th century Cappadocia, Türkiye
Fresco from Karanlik Church in Goreme. XI-XIII centuries Cappadocia, Türkiye
Fresco of the Church of St. Sophia in Ohrid. Mid-11th century Macedonia
Fresco of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Society. Mirozhsky Monastery in Pskov. OK. 1156 Russia
Fresco of the dome of the Church of St. George in Staraya Ladoga. 60s of the 12th century. Russia
Fragment of a pulpit made of bone. Germany. Cologne. XII century England. London. Victoria and Albert Museum
Icon-epistylium. Byzantium. 2nd half of the 12th century Monastery of St. Catherine, Sinai. Fragment
Mosaic of the central dome of the Cathedral of San Marco. XII century Venice, Italy
Mosaic of the central dome of the Cathedral of San Marco. XII century Venice. Fragment
Stylization of Byzantine enamel. Europe. XIX century Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
Prayers before the image of the Savior ascending to heaven can completely change the life of anyone who is sincere in their request.
The Ascension of the Lord is a great holiday for every Orthodox person. The Icon of the Ascension can become the best protection for your family: the holy image can protect the house from any, even the most terrible threat.
History of the icon
The most famous icon of the Ascension of the Lord belongs to the brush of Andrei Rublev. The icon painter created it in 1408 for the Assumption Cathedral in the city of Vladimir. Rublev painted the image of the Ascension of Jesus Christ in accordance with the history of the New Testament.
As the Holy Scripture says, after the miracle of the Resurrection, the Lord remained among his disciples for another 40 days. On the 40th day, he gathered everyone on the Mount of Olives and told the disciples that they would testify to the people about a new miracle.
The arriving apostles saw the heavens open and angels appear greeting their Lord. The Savior, in a descending bright light, rose above the earth’s firmament and ascended into the Kingdom of Heaven, ending his earthly ministry. The voice of an angel consoled the apostles, telling them that the Savior would definitely return to earth when the time came.
Description of the icon of the Ascension of the Lord
The icon depicts the moment of the end of the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. Having redeemed the sins of all people, the Son of God returns to the Kingdom of Heaven in his body, ascending above his disciples in an unearthly radiance.
At the top of the icon you can see angels waiting for the Savior. This part of the image symbolizes the open Gate for everyone who is pure in heart and worthy to accept the grace of the Lord.
The disciples, standing on the firmament of the earth, watch the miracle revealed to them. Next to the apostles, the Mother of God is depicted, who gave life to the Savior and thereby allowed sinners to have the opportunity to repent and enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
What do they pray to the holy icon for?
The image of the Savior ascending to heaven is a symbol of eternal life and atonement for sins for every Orthodox person. It is traditional to pray to the icon of the Ascension of the Lord for the remission of sins, the granting of God's mercy and a change in life's path and Destiny towards the true Orthodox faith.
The Icon of the Ascension is capable of strengthening spiritual and physical strength, helping to gain strength of spirit to follow one’s destiny. Prayers before the image of the Savior ascending to heaven can completely change the life of anyone who is sincere in their request.
The Ascension of the Lord is one of the great twelve Orthodox holidays. This is an event in New Testament history, the ascension of Jesus Christ in the flesh to heaven. It is this great moment that the Ascension of the Lord icon depicts.
Evangelists Luke and Mark from among the seventy, although they were among those present, do not belong to the circle of the twelve apostles; however, they are depicted precisely as twelve. The Gospels that the evangelists hold on the icon have not yet been written, etc.
1. (Luke 24:50-53) “And he led them out of the city as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, blessed them. And when he blessed them, he began to separate from them and ascend to heaven. They worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they always stayed in the temple, glorifying and blessing God. Amen” (Acts 1:9). “Having said this, He rose up before their eyes, and a cloud took Him out of their sight. And when they looked at the sky, during His ascension, suddenly two men in white clothes appeared to them and said: Men of Galilee! Why are you standing and looking at the sky? This Jesus, who ascended from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him ascend into heaven.”
2. These texts pass over the presence of the Mother of God in silence. But in the icon of the Ascension of the Lord She occupies a central place among the apostles and angels. Outwardly, the presence of the Apostle Paul (he had nothing to do with Christianity and was still Saul), who is depicted at the head of the apostolic circle together with the Apostle Peter, is also not justified by anything here and contradicts historical data. Evangelists Luke and Mark from among the seventy, although they were among those present, do not belong to the circle of the twelve apostles; however, they are depicted precisely as twelve. The Gospels that the evangelists hold on the Ascension of the Lord icon have not yet been written, etc.
3. But the icon of the Ascension of the Lord is a figurative expression of the Holy Tradition of the Church, living in the Holy Scriptures and liturgical texts. Therefore, outside the holiday service as a whole, it is impossible to understand or make out a single holiday icon.
4. The Ascension service emphasizes the presence of the Mother of God in the final act of the presence of Her Son on earth. For example, “...you came with Your disciples to the Mount of Olives, having You who gave birth to the Creator and Creator of all...” (lithic stichera on Glory and now). Or what could be more expressive than directly addressing Her: “Behold Your Son, O Theotokos... rise up to the heavenly ones” (troparion of the 8th song of the canon). The reason for Her presence here follows obviously from Her role in the work of the incarnation. Nicholas Kavasila: “The Incarnation was not only the work of the Father, His Power and His Spirit, but also the work of the will and faith of the Virgin Mary.
Without the consent of the Most Pure One, without the assistance of faith, it would be just as impossible as without the assistance of the three Persons of the Divine themselves. God makes Her His Mother only by teaching and convincing Her, and accepts from Her the flesh that She gives Him according to Her will.” In Her person, humanity gave its consent to the incarnation of the Redeemer, to the Word becoming flesh. Therefore, being a necessary condition for salvation on the human side, She “gave birth to all the Creator and all the Creator” and is depicted on the icon of the Ascension as direct evidence of His incarnation. It was for Her, “who suffered more motherly than all others, to enjoy the joy of His flesh in abundance” (lithic stichera on Glory even now), to see His glorious Ascension, the triumph of humanity received from Her, deified and placed above heaven at the right hand of the Father.
5. Being in the most literal sense the temple of the incontainable God, the temple prepared by Old Testament humanity, She is depicted here as the image of humanity renewed in Christ, as the image of the Church.
6. Both in the Ascension and in Pentecost we are faced with the same phenomenon of correspondence of the icon to the service of the holiday: the service of the Ascension affirms the presence of the Mother of God among the disciples at the Ascension of Christ, and the icon of this holiday depicts Her, placing her in the center of the entire composition, despite the fact that that there is not the slightest hint of this in the New Testament texts. At Pentecost it is the other way around: from the text of the first chapter of Acts it follows that She was present in the Upper Room of Zion; the service in connection with the Descent of the Holy Spirit does not mention Her anywhere, and the traditional icon of the holiday does not depict Her. (120)
7. In the icon of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the apostles are depicted blessing. This is that gesture of blessing, the source of which is the blessing of the ascending Christ, transmitted by Him to the apostles, and through them to their successors and to all those whom they bless. (129)
8. If the Ascension of the Lord determined the coming of the Holy Spirit into the world, then the presence of the third hypostasis in the Church determines and prepares the second and glorious coming of the Savior in the world, when the 12 apostles will sit on the thrones to judge the 12 tribes of Israel. In this sense, the Church leads us to the eschatological accomplishment, to the manifestation of what the icon of the Ascension shows us: the Savior “will come in the same way as you saw Him going into heaven” (Acts 1:11). The rapture savior is the second coming savior.
9. The apostles are depicted blessing. This is that gesture of blessing, the source of which is the blessing of the ascending Christ, transmitted by Him to the apostles, and through them to their successors and to all those whom they bless. (129)
10. In the icon of the Ascension, the holiday of “completed salvation,” the Mother of God is in the center and at the head of the group, which is the property of the Savior, acquired by His blood, left by Him bodily on earth, the Church, which, through the promised descent of the Holy Spirit on the coming Pentecost, will receive all the fullness of your being. (133)26.* The Church is based on the double descent into the world of the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. In the chain of the Twelve Feasts, Pentecost has a special significance as the beginning of the dispensation of the third Person of the Holy Trinity. At the Ascension, “Christ’s bodily works ended…” says Saint Gregory the Theologian.
"What does this mean about Christ?" - he asks and answers: “Virgin, birth, manger ...”, that is, what the Mother of God is directly related to as the Realizer of the Incarnation on the human side, what has to do with our nature, assumed by Christ. From Pentecost “the works of the Spirit begin "-continues Saint Gregory the Theologian, the earthly path of the Church begins in the fullness of her grace-filled life. (133-134)* We do not accept the Roman Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception, which cuts off the connection of the Most Holy Theotokos with the entire human race, making Her special, supernatural a being different from others. We also do not accept the doctrine of the deification of the Mother of God in the Annunciation. In this sense, the Gospel is categorical, and moreover, it is the Gospel read at the Liturgy of the first day of Pentecost: “I did not have the Holy Spirit (that is, was not yet in the world) , for Jesus was not glorified" (John 7:39); then before the glorification of the Son of God, before His ascension, the Descent of the Holy Spirit could not take place and, therefore, the deification of man was impossible, that is, the repose of the Holy Spirit in the saints, in including in the first of them - the Mother of God.
Great church holiday. Celebrated on the 40th day after Easter.
WHAT TO PRAY FOR IN FRONT OF THE ICON OF THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD
Christ is our protection and our salvation. In prayers before the Ascension of the Lord icon, they ask the Lord for help in strengthening spiritual strength, as well as for the Lord to help correctly set life priorities between the physical and the spiritual.
HISTORY OF THE FEAST OF THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD
The apostles were shocked by the death of the Teacher and did not believe the story of the myrrh-bearing women that they talked with Jesus Christ after His death. But soon they themselves were able to see that their Teacher was an unusual person.
On the way from Jerusalem to the small village of Emmaus, Jesus, in the form of another person, approached his disciples Luke and Cleopas, but they did not recognize the Lord. To His question:
“Why are you so sad?”
answered:
“Are You really one of those who came to Jerusalem and do not know about what has happened in it these days?”
And they told the Stranger about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, adding with bitterness that they
“They hoped that He was the One who was to deliver Israel...” (Luke 24:21)
They also told Him that several women had told them that Jesus was alive, but there was no confirmation of this; no one except them had seen Him.
In response, Jesus said:
“Oh, fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Isn’t this how Christ had to suffer and enter into His glory?” (Luke 24:25–26)
And he began to explain to them everything that the prophets had said about Him, beginning with Moses.
With these conversations, the travelers approached Emmaus and Luke and Cleopas invited the Interlocutor to visit. At dinner the Stranger took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and served it to them exactly as their Teacher had done.
"It is he!"
the disciples guessed, and at the same moment Jesus became invisible to them.
Luke and Cleopas hurried back to Jerusalem and told the other apostles about the meeting, but they did not believe them. Until on Sunday evening we saw the Lord ourselves.
"Peace to you!"
- with these words He appeared to them in the Zion upper room, although its doors were closed. The apostles were confused and afraid, but the Lord calmed them down, and then even had dinner with them. Then, finally, the apostles believed that it was not a ghost talking to them.
Everything that was written in the Old Testament prophecies was fulfilled:
“Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses to this” (Luke 24:45–48).
Among the apostles there was not one, Thomas. They told him about the meeting with the Lord, but he said
“Unless I see in His hands the marks of the nails, and put my finger into the marks of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe” (John 20:25).
Eight days later, Jesus appeared before his disciples again. And when Thomas was convinced that His hands were pierced with nails, he exclaimed:
“You are my Lord and my God!”
After the Resurrection, the Lord appeared to His disciples more than once, taught them, talked about the Kingdom of Heaven and the truth of His teaching, which they were supposed to tell the whole world about:
“...all authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ...go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:18-20)
And then came the fortieth day of the visible sojourn of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth. In his farewell conversation, He told the disciples:
“Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15)
and promised His support:
“I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
After this, Jesus and his disciples went to the Mount of Olives. When they climbed to the top of the mountain, the Lord raised His hands and, blessing them, began to rise and ascend until a bright cloud hid Him from the apostles. They stood for a long time and sadly looked up at the empty sky.
But the Lord comforted the disciples by immediately sending them two Angels, who told them that Jesus would come to them again:
“I will come again and take you to Me, so that where I am you also may be” (John 14:3).
After this joyful news from the Angels, the apostles returned to Jerusalem. In prayer, they began to wait for the descent of the Holy Spirit on them, which would give them strength to preach the Teachings of Christ throughout the world.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE HOLIDAY OF THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST
Resurrection of Christ and his Ascension were able to convince the apostles that His teaching was true and that He really was God incarnate. No one except God could ascend in his own (earthly) body.
All Orthodox Christians must remember that, although we live on earth, we belong not to it, but to heaven. And we should think, first of all, about spirituality, and not about material values that, after our death, will remain here on earth.
“On the day of the Ascension, the Lord separated from His disciples for a long time - until His second coming. But, having ascended to heaven, the Lord left His precious spiritual heritage to the Church - His blessing. The Lord, ascending, blessed the disciples and did not stop blessing until the cloud hid Him. This all-affirming and all-sanctifying blessing of God was forever imprinted in the memory of the disciples. It was carried throughout the world by the holy apostles and preachers of Christianity. You and I feel it too. And we, dear ones, need to know and remember that it is always alive and active, always filled with grace-filled power, always carries God’s gifts with it, lifts our souls and hearts to God. This blessing is our joy and source of strength. Amen"
Archimandrite John (Peasant)
GREATNESS
We magnify Thee, Life-Giving Christ, and honor the Divine Ascension into heaven with Thy most pure Flesh.
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