Orthodox Christians celebrate the Ascension of the Lord

The Ascension of the Lord. Fresco from the Transfiguration Cathedral of the Mirozh Monastery, mid-11th century. Photo: pravoslavie.ru

On May 21, 2026, Orthodox Christians around the world celebrate one of the Twelve Great Feasts – the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to the Church Typikon, this feast is movable and is always observed on the Thursday of the sixth week after Pascha.

The event of the Ascension is described in detail in the New Testament – in the Gospel according to Luke and the Acts of the Holy Apostles. After His Resurrection, the Lord repeatedly appeared to His disciples over the course of forty days, assuring them of the reality of His bodily Resurrection, strengthening them in faith, and preparing them to receive the promised Holy Spirit.

During the last of these appearances, Christ led the apostles out of Jerusalem to Bethany, to the Mount of Olives. Raising His hands, He blessed them, and then began to depart from them and ascend into heaven until a cloud hid Him from their sight. At that moment, the disciples saw “two men in white apparel,” who proclaimed the Second Coming of the Savior: “This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

The theological meaning of this feast lies in the glorification of human nature, which in the person of Christ received full participation in divine life and equal honor with His Divinity. In the Creed, Christians confess the Lord Jesus Christ as the One “Who ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father.” As the holy fathers explain, sitting “at the right hand of the Father” signifies that the Savior’s human nature was not absorbed by His Divinity, but became enthroned together with it.

Saint Gregory Palamas emphasized that the Ascension of the Lord also reveals the calling of every believer to deification. According to the saint, although all people will rise again on the day of the Second Coming, only those who have “crucified sin through repentance and life according to the Gospel” will be lifted up to God.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote about spiritual blindness and the price of true freedom.

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