On Thursday, June 25 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 in our temple. After the Gospel lesson Fr. Igor preached the following homily:
“Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! Today we celebrate feast called the Ascension of the Lord into heaven. On the 40th day after His Resurrection our Savior ascended into the heavenly abode, left the human kind on earth to join the glory of His Father in heaven. Let us now concentrate on that miracle of the Ascension and to attempt understanding what it is and what it means”.
“Just as the Lord Jesus came to earth in a supernatural way, so He left in a supernatural way. One of the best descriptions of the Ascension is found in today’s Epistle reading, in the Acts of the Holy Apostles: “Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”” (Acts 1, 9-11)”.
“The words “He was taken up” do not mean that Jesus was elevated so many feet above the earth. They mean that through His Ascension Jesus entered a higher existence. When a school boy says that he has been promoted to a higher class, we do not take him to mean that he was transferred from a classroom on the first floor to one upstairs. Likewise, the words “He was taken up” mean that Jesus was promoted to glory, to a different realm of life, to heaven”.
“It is interesting to note that when one does go “up” into outer space, one enters a new and different realm than what we know here on earth. Scientists tell us that some time in the future we will be able to break the light barrier just as we did the sound barrier. People will be able to travel at the speed of light: 186 thousand miles per second. To reach the nearest star at the speed light would require 10 years: 5 years to go and 5 years to return. We here on earth will be 10 years older when the astronauts return while they will be only 10 days older. Why? Because they will break the light barrier, they reach the point where time almost ceases to exist. Time there, in the outer space, is not as here on earth. It is a completely different realm. So it is when the New Testament says that Jesus “was taken up”. It means that he entered a new realm, a completely different world from what we know here on earth”.
“But Jesus not just left us to go into that different life in heaven. His Ascension became an act of elevating us to heaven, a moment in which we became closer to the Heavenly Kingdom. We also became promoted. For Jesus came down from heaven as the eternal Son of the Father, and when He went back to the seat of honor and glory at God’s right hand, He took with Him our human nature. He returned to the Father as God-Man. It was our nature in everything, except sin, that sat down at the right hand of God. The Son of God descended to become one of us and ascended to enable us to ascend with Him. Since the manhood of Jesus was taken up to the heavenly places, our manhood will also be taken up. The Ascension is proof that we were made for heaven, not for the grave. Holy Apostle Paul does not hesitate to describe Christians as enthroned with God, as seated with God “in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2, 6)”.
“We can also say that Jesus is awaiting us there, in heaven. He said, “I go and prepare a place for you… that where I am, there you may be also” (Jn. 14, 3). The Ascension gives us a certainty that we have a Friend – not only on earth, but also in heaven. He is our Forerunner who has gone on before us to prepare for our arrival. To die is not to go into the dark; it is to go to Him”.
“And in conclusion we have to say that Jesus ascended for us. He did everything for our sake. Let us remember and let us be thankful for that. Our Lord came to us into this world, He died for our sake. He rose from the dead to liberate us from the evil. And He was taken up to heaven in order to prepare a place for us that we can be with Him forever”.
The choir director beautifully performed hymns of the feast during preparation for Holy Communion.
After the Liturgy dismissal the Rector and the altar server performed the rite of Glorification in front of the festal icon singing the troparion, kontakion and magnification of the feast.
Then Fr. Igor said a few words noticing that most of the people present at the Liturgy were men. It reminded of the words of today’s Epistle lesson, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand…?” (Acts 1, 10). In the same way we may ask, “Men of Bayside, why do you stand here?” Men of Bayside are blessed to have a strong faith. Now we need to imitate the Apostles who were praying and awaiting the Holy Spirit and we have to keep our faith and lead spiritual life.
