On June 9 of this year the Orthodox Church celebrated great feast of the Ascension of the Lord. St. George parish had a nice celebration on this day. Our Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy.

Following the Scripture readings the Rector preached a homily. He pointed out that the Ascension of Christ teaches us humility. Although the very word ‘ascension’ means some uplifting upon the earth and upon anything inferior, our Lord ascended into heaven only after He lived on earth, endured human life, voluntarily endured His passions and death on the cross. Even after His Resurrection He did not leave the earth and His disciples but stayed for forty days, appearing to the Apostles. When He accomplished His ministry as the Savior of the world, He could allow Himself to leave. Some people act differently. If they wish to leave their native town to pursue a new life in a big city, very often they like to forget about their native place, and may even be ashamed of it. In this way they feel ‘ascended’ and lifted above their past. It is a pride which may lead them to a failure. Our Lord, on the contrary, reached His Ascension through humility. And by ascending into heaven He took our human nature to the heavenly abode of His Father. Therefore, we should also strive for our own ascension through humility and service to others, so our human nature may join our Lord Jesus.

After the Liturgy dismissal the Rector and altar servers performed the rite of Glorification in front of the festal icon singing the troparion, kontakion and magnification of the feast.