In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
Dear fathers, brothers and sisters. The feast of the Ascension of the Lord is unusual; its theme is separation, which would means sadness—but its meaning is joy. For forty days the Risen Savior was on earth together with His disciples: He appeared to them, taught and preached. The Apostles were aware that such joy would not last forever: the Savior Himself had predicted their separation. So the day came when the Lord commanded His disciples not to leave Jerusalem in the coming days, but to wait for another Comforter—the Spirit of Truth. Then they all went out of the city to the Mount of Olives. On the way Christ told them how His Church on earth should be organized, and at the top of the mountain the Savior explained to the Apostles what their main mission would be: But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8). Then Jesus blessed all the disciples, and the Apostles witnessed an extraordinary miracle: The Lord began to rise up from earth and a bright cloud hid Him from their sight.
And what about the disciples? St. Luke the Evangelist writes that they bowed to Christ and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. The separation turned into a triumph and hope for all mankind, marking the beginning of the building of the earthly Church. The Apostles were destined to become its pillars. Having ascended into Heaven, Christ, in accordance with His Own promise, is invisibly always on earth—among those who believe in Him. The Church teaches that the Savior will come to earth again in a visible way to judge the living and the dead, who will then be resurrected. After that, as it is said in the Holy Scriptures, the life of the age to come will begin—that is, another, everlasting life. The Ascension is not about losing God, not separating from Him. It is a call to our transformation and ascension, a call to Rise upwards following the Lord into His Kingdom. The main point of the Christian faith is the feast of the Resurrection of Christ—Pascha. The work of building the Church did not end with the Savior’s Resurrection; another important step towards the salvation of mankind was the Ascension of Christ into Heaven—this is one of the pivotal events of sacred history. After the Ascension, Christ’s visible presence on earth gave way to His invisible presence in the Church. From Pascha until His Ascension the Savior was with people, continuing His service to them. We know about what happened during those forty days from the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, which, according to tradition, were also written by Luke the Evangelist. According to these sources, after His Resurrection, the Savior repeatedly appeared to the disciples and the Most Holy Theotokos, assuring them of the truth of His bodily Resurrection, strengthening their faith and preparing them for the coming of the Holy Spirit.
This feast brought together two events: the end of the Savior’s earthly ministry and the beginning of apostolic preaching. The Old and New Testaments contain quite a number of indications of the coming glorification of Christ in Heaven and His Ascension into the Heavenly Kingdom. There are a great many prophecies about how the Son of God will be seated at the right hand of God the Father. By His Resurrection, Christ conquered death and enabled human nature to partake in Divine life. The Ascension became a new stage of human salvation; the God-man entered the Heavenly Kingdom, and thenceforth, human nature was granted full participation in eternal blessedness.
Before Christ, there were two main points of view on the human body. The first one saw it solely as a source of pleasure. The other, on the contrary, denied the body altogether, claiming that the body was a source of impurity and vice, a prison for the soul, from which a wise person must certainly break free. The dispute between these two opinions went on for many centuries. The issue was resolved only when God Himself, having been incarnated and become a man, appeared in our world. Christians believe that not only the souls, but also the bodies of righteous people will enter the Heavenly Kingdom. Therefore, the body is understood as the temple of the Holy Spirit. Meanwhile, our bodily nature was corrupted because of Adam’s fall; but Christ came to earth precisely to restore the original dignity of human nature, and He truly restored it with His Incarnation, sacrifice on the Cross, Resurrection, and Ascension. Thus, the Ascension became the most important link in the salvation and glorification of fallen man. Christ ascended bodily and took His equal place next to God the Father, thereby confirming the same possibility for the entire human race.
In the final days of His life on earth, the Savior began to prepare His disciples for the coming preaching. After His Resurrection, many expected Christ to set about restoring the Kingdom of Israel and opposing the Roman rule. However, He explained to them that a different Kingdom awaited them—not of this world—and it was beyond comparison with anything on earth. Its doors were opened to people after Christ’s death on the Cross and His Radiant Resurrection. The Savior promised His disciples that the coming Descent of the Holy Spirit Upon the Apostles would unite the Church in Heaven and on earth. And so it happened: after His Ascension, Christ did not forsake the world, but He still abides in it in the Holy Spirit, Whom He sent down from God the Father. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, the invisible presence of the Savior continues in the Sacraments of the Church, in which we must all regularly participate. Amen.
