When you fulfilled the plan of salvation for us and united all things on earth to those in heaven, O Christ our God, You ascended in glory, never leaving us but remaining ever-present. For You proclaimed to those who love You: ‘I am with you and no one else has power over you’.
Beloved brothers and sisters!
Christ is risen!
This coming Thursday, the Orthodox Church celebrates the Ascension of the Risen Lord to the Heavens. He is a perfect God and a perfect human being in the same person! Ascending to the Heavens and settled Himself on the right side of the Holy Father means that we got the ability to become gods by grace. He promised that so.
“We who seemed unworthy of the earth, are now raised to heaven,” says Saint John Chrysostom. “We who were unworthy of earthly dominion have been raised to the Kingdom on high, have ascended higher than heaven, have come to occupy the King’s throne, and the same nature from which the angels guarded Paradise, stopped not until it ascended to the throne of the Lord.” By His Ascension the Lord not only opened to man the entrance to heaven, not only appeared before the face of God on our behalf and for our sake but likewise “transferred man” to the high places. “He honored them He loved by putting them close to the Father.” God quickened and raised us together with Christ, as Saint Paul says, “and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephes. 2:6). Heaven received the inhabitants of the earth. “The Firstfruits of them that slept” sits now on high, and in Him all creation is summed up and bound together. “The earth rejoices in mystery, and the heavens are filled with joy.”
“The terrible ascent....” Terror-stricken and trembling stand the angelic hosts, contemplating the Ascension of Christ. And trembling they ask each other, “What is this vision? One who is the man in appearance ascends in His body higher than the heavens, as God.”
Thus the Office for the Feast of the Ascension depicts the mystery in a poetical language. As on the day of Christ’s Nativity the earth was astonished on beholding God in the flesh, so now the Heavens do tremble and cry out. “The Lord of Hosts, Who reigns over all, Who is Himself the head of all, Who is preeminent in all things, Who has reinstated creation in its former order—He is the King of Glory.” And the heavenly doors are opened: “Open, Oh heavenly gates, and receive God in the flesh.” It is an open allusion to Psalms 24:7-10, now prophetically interpreted. “Lift up your heads, Oh ye gates, and be lifted up ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty....” Saint Chrysostom says, “Now the angels have received that for which they have long waited, the archangels see that for which they have long thirsted. They have seen our nature shining on the King’s throne, glistening with glory and eternal beauty.... Therefore they descend in order to see the unusual and marvelous vision: Man appearing in heaven.”
This is the glory of the feast of Ascension and that is why we are going to serve the Divine Liturgy that day at our Church, broadcasting it for all of you!
With pastoral care and prayers.
Fr. Gregory Stamkopoulos
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In response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic affecting our world, all of the Greek-American Day and Afternoon School programs across the country were forced to suspend in school classes and transition to on-line instruction. The majority of our Parochial Day and Afternoon Greek School Programs have executed successful on-line learning tools in order to provide the most effective educational instructions to their students.
