Today, 29 May 2014, the Orthodox Christians celebrate the Ascension of the Lord. The feast remembers the ascension of the body of Jesus Christ, our Saviour, to Heaven, after 40 days since his resurrection from the dead. The Ascension of the Lord is the last event of the earthly life of the Saviour.
The Divine Liturgy was celebrated at the Patriarchal Cathedral by His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of Romania, assisted by a group of hierarchs, priests and deacons.
After reading the evangelical pericope, His Beatitude delivered a sermon in which he showed the importance of the celebration of today’s feast.
The ultimate destination of man is the heavenly life
“Today, the Orthodox Church celebrates the feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, to Heaven. This feast takes place 40 days after the Resurrection of the Lord and it is scheduled between the Holy Easter and the Descent of the Holy Spirit. The feast relates the Risen Christ to the Christ raised to heaven who would send, together with the Father, the Holy Spirit on the Pentecost day. The Ascension of the Lord to heaven shows us that the ultimate destination of man is not the grave, but the heavenly life. The Ascension of the Lord is the Ascension of the faithful man. It shows us our ultimate destination, the heavenly life to which the body will participate too after the resurrection from the dead, the transfigured, spiritualised, glorified body. Christ sends the Holy Spirit to give us His heavenly life. As long as He was in the world He was in front of us. Through the Holy Spirit He will be inside us becoming the life of our life. The Holy Spirit cannot be seen, He has no face, but is mysteriously present in front of Christ and wants every human to become an icon of Christ, a bright face, full of the love of God to do good and show merciful generous love in the world”, His Beatitude said.
The Holy Spirit is the inner architect of the Church
After the Ascension of the Lord, the Holy Spirit is the one who will guide us to every good thing, the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church also showed. Before ascending to heaven, Christ, our Lord, says ‘I shall send the promise of my Father’, namely the Holy Spirit and ‘he will remain in you and with you, will take from mine’, from his teaching and from his divine-human life’ and will give it to you’. The Holy Spirit does not bring another truth, but helps the people live the truth of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the inner architect of the Church. Thus, through the Holy Spirit Christ is with us in all days, till the end of the centuries. He rises to Heaven, but He does not desert us, but is present in another form, that of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. He does not want to be only in front of us, but to be present in our hearts too, so that the relationship should be of love, not of dread and fear. As long as it is dread and fear we feel God exterior to us. When we love Him we feel Him inside us. This is the mystery of the Ascension to heaven, namely a presence of Christ inside us through the work of the Holy Spirit.
The heroes of the Romanian nation are remembered in all the churches of the country and from abroad. At the Patriarchal Cathedral the heroes were remembered within the threefold litany. The Patriarch of Romania has also explained why the heroes of the nation are remembered today and how they must be honoured.
“Why has the Romanian Orthodox Church related the Ascension of the Lord to Heaven to the Day of the Heroes? It is because Christ rose to heaven after He passed through sacrifice, through the sacrificial love till death. Thus, there is no ascension without merciful love, without devotion. This is why our heroes are raised to honour because they sacrificed themselves, showed love and faith to the Church and nation according to the words of the Saviour that ‘there is no greater love than give one’s life for his friends’. Those who gave their lives for the people they belonged to are honoured today because their sacrifice is included in the blessing of Christ, in the blessing of the love which is not selfish, but full of devotion, of merciful devoted love. Thus, we remember the heroes and so we honour those who showed sacrificial love to keep their faith, and the spiritual and territorial integrity of the country.”
Today too, the Patriarch of Romania and a group of hierarchs ordained Rt Rev Archimandrite Ieronim Cretu as Assistant Bishop to the Patriarch, with the title of Sinaitul.
The answers at the Divine Liturgy were given by Nicolae Lungu chorus of the Romanian Patriarchate conducted by Archdeacon Razvan Stefan.
