On the Ascension of the Lord
By Fr. Daniel Sysoev
By Fr. Daniel Sysoev
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!
Happy Feast of the Ascension of our Lord and God Jesus Christ! The faith connected with the events of this day is confessed every time we recite the Creed. This event is not merely something like the conclusion of the Gospel; in truth, this day is the completion of our salvation! Because Christ, in His Incarnation, overcame the corruption of human nature, since He took from the womb of the Most Pure Mother a nature no longer defiled by sin, though still bearing the consequences of sin — such as mortality, suffering, and vulnerability to pain. As a result of the Incarnation, divine life became accessible to us, a life of which we partake through Holy Communion. By His Crucifixion upon the Cross, the Lord redeemed us from beneath the wrath of God and the curse of death that rested upon every one of us because of Adam’s fall and our own sins, which grew from that fall like a tree from a seed.
By His descent into Hades, the Lord freed the ancient captives and shattered the power of the enemy, while by His Resurrection from the dead Christ destroyed the dominion of death over us, laying the foundation for the universal resurrection. And now the human nature assumed by the Lord had to be glorified. Today, on the Feast of the Ascension, the Lord raises our human nature above all the heavens and seats it at the right hand of God the Father. What does this have to do with us? Everything! Christ ascends into Heaven in order to intercede for us before the Father.
Confession and forgiveness are possible because Christ’s intercession continues eternally. The eternal Son of the eternal Father intercedes before God the Father in Heaven so that the sins of Christians who believe in His Name may be forgiven. This intercession, as Saint Nicholas Cabasilas taught, is accomplished not by words but by deeds. The Lord addresses the Father as though saying: “For the sake of My Blood, forgive the transgressions of sinners who believe in My Name.” Because of this intercession, repentance and the forgiveness of sins are possible, and with this message the Lord sends the Apostles throughout the whole world.
The Lord who ascended into Heaven lives forever to intercede for us before the Father. Christ is the High Priest, eternally standing before the Father and eternally justifying us by His precious Blood and His great sacrifice. He is the King Who has taken His throne over the whole universe. Just as God intended from the beginning, and just as all the prophets foretold — Man has become King over the earth and over the entire material universe. Christ ascends into Heaven, rising above all the heavenly powers. Why did nine days pass between the Ascension and Pentecost? Because during that time all the angelic ranks worshiped the glorified humanity of Christ. Thus mankind became higher than all the angelic worlds. Man entered the uncreated divine realm. And in Heaven there appeared a homeland for Christians — the homeland toward which they must strive.
Christ is our Head. He created the Church, and if He is our Head, then we, as members of His Body, must strive upward toward the Head. The connection between the head and the body cannot be severed. So too the Church of God stretches toward Heaven because of Christ’s Ascension. Christ ascended into Heaven and raises us together with Himself — first spiritually, and later bodily as well. Our spiritual ascension occurs when our souls are directed toward Heaven during the Divine Liturgy. Our minds ascend to God and begin to think heavenly thoughts. Our will also begins to act according to Heaven. Our bodies become partakers of heavenly life through Holy Communion. But this Ascension will be completed by our own personal ascension, just as Christ’s Resurrection will be completed by our own resurrection in the flesh. We shall rise again precisely in this very flesh in which we partake of Communion. Christ’s Resurrection will reach its fulfillment when we ourselves rise bodily. Likewise, Christ’s Ascension will reach fulfillment in our ascension to Him, when the angels of God will lift us up to meet the coming Christ, so that the whole Christ — Head and Body — may be revealed, and all Christians united around Christ the Savior by faith, love, and heartfelt longing may become one single whole: the Church of God, to whom eternal life beyond time has been promised, there where Christ now dwells. This is why the Ascension of Christ is for us a joyful feast and not a sorrowful one. It is the feast of our glorification, the feast of triumph and the supreme dignity of man. Many people consider man to be merely a lump of dirt. In reality, man is the living image of God, restored to likeness through salvation. Man bears within himself the imprint of Christ and is called to dwell where God dwells. As the Apostle Paul says: our life is Christ; we died together with Him. Therefore our life is now hidden with Christ in God, and our earthly life should pass almost outside our awareness, while our true center remains where our heart truly is — in God. “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory.”
Thus the Ascension gives us a task: to ascend to Heaven first with our minds, wills, and feelings, and then with the fullness of our entire being. To ascend with what? With the heart, with love, with spiritual longing. Let it not be that we profess faith in the Ascension of the Lord while we ourselves crawl upon the earth like worms, thinking only of earthly things. Is it fitting for us, members of the Ascended Christ, to bury ourselves exclusively in earthly concerns? Certainly not! Since Christ has ascended, our thoughts and our whole life must be where He is — the Ascended One. Our hearts must be directed toward the Ascended Christ; otherwise the Ascension of Christ has no relation to us, because we ourselves cut ourselves off from the Life-Giving Body.
Therefore let this not happen to us. Rather, let us tear ourselves away from the vanity that drags us downward. Let us remember that Christ ascended and opened for us the road into Heaven. He entered there as our Forerunner — the One Who goes ahead. That means the road to Heaven lies open for us! Let us never forget this heavenly path. Let us keep climbing upward and never look back. For whoever looks back will meet the fate of Lot’s wife, who looked back at the burning fires of her native Sodom and became a pillar of salt. May this never happen to us! Let our eyes, hearts, minds, wills, and feelings be directed daily toward Heaven! The Church established the Feast of the Ascension precisely to remind us of this: that already here on earth we are to live a heavenly life. The Lord, descending to earth, established heavenly laws here below. We have been given strength; we have been given authority. We are called to ascend. May this ascent be successful for us, so that, passing first beyond the dark checkpoints of the prince of darkness, then beyond the wide expanses of the heavenly plains, beyond the great angelic realms, and beyond the boundaries of the created universe itself, we may find our true Homeland there where our Father dwells — together with His Son and the Holy Spirit. Because our Homeland is with the Holy Trinity.
The slogan of the Ascension: “Homeward — to the Holy Trinity!”
May the Lord preserve you!
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
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