Ascension
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| Ascension (Christian) | |
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| Observed by | Many Christians |
| Type | Christianity |
| Significance | Affirmation of the ascension of Jesus |
| Date | Thursday in the sixth week following Easter Sunday |
| 2006 date | May 25 (Western) June 1 (Eastern) |
| 2007 date | May 17 |
| 2008 date | May 1 (Western) June 5 (Eastern) |
| Celebrations | No traditional celebrations |
| Observances | Prayer |
| Related to | Passover, Christmas (which honors the birth of Jesus), Septuagesima, Quinquagesima, Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Lent, Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday which lead up to Easter, Easter Sunday (primarily), Pentecost, Whit Monday, Trinity Sunday, and Corpus Christi which follow Easter |
| Liturgical year |
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| Western |
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| Eastern |
| Year | Western | Eastern |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | June 1 | June 8 |
| 2001 | May 24 | |
| 2002 | May 9 | June 13 |
| 2003 | May 29 | June 5 |
| 2004 | May 20 | |
| 2005 | May 5 | June 9 |
| 2006 | May 25 | June 1 |
| 2007 | May 17 | |
| 2008 | May 1 | June 5 |
| 2009 | May 21 | May 28 |
| 2010 | May 13 | |
| 2011 | June 2 | |
| 2012 | May 17 | May 24 |
| 2013 | May 9 | June 13 |
| 2014 | May 29 | |
| 2015 | May 14 | May 21 |
| 2016 | May 5 | June 9 |
| 2017 | May 25 | |
| 2018 | May 10 | May 17 |
| 2019 | May 30 | June 6 |
| 2020 | May 21 | May 28 |
General understanding of the Christian doctrine of Ascension holds that Jesus bodily ascended to heaven in the presence of his apostles, following his resurrection. The term heaven is generally believed, by practicing Christians, as referring to a physical reunion with God the Father, as opposed to a spiritual transformation and experience of the Divine which is common to the mystical traditions of other world religions. It is narrated in Mark 16:19, Luke 24:50-51, Acts 1:9-11, and Ephesians 4:7-13. This is affirmed by Christian liturgy in the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed.
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[edit] Biblical accounts
The first account of the Ascension found in the Christian Bible is in the Gospel of Mark (16:14-19), see also Mark 16. The description is brief. Jesus and the remaining eleven apostles are seated at a table, presumably in a room in or near Jerusalem. Jesus commands his followers to spread the Gospel, see also Great Commission, and that those who believe will be known by their invulnerability to poison, ability to heal the sick, exorcise demons, and the like. After delivering these final words, Jesus is received into Heaven to sit at the right hand of God. No description of the Ascension itself is given; Mark simply states that it happened.
The Gospel of Luke is even more brief in its description (24:50-51). Jesus led the eleven to Bethany, not far from Jerusalem. While in the act of blessing them, Jesus was carried up to Heaven.
Although the place of the Ascension is never distinctly stated, it would appear from the Acts that it could have been Mount Olivet since after the Ascension the apostles are described as returning to Jerusalem from the mount that is called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, within a Sabbath day's journey. Tradition has consecrated this site as the Mount of Ascension and Christian piety has memorialized the event by erecting over the site a basilica. St. Helena built the first memorial, which was destroyed by the Persians in 614, rebuilt in the eighth century, destroyed again, but rebuilt a second time by the crusaders; this the Moslems also destroyed, leaving only the octagonal structure which encloses the stone said to bear the imprint of the feet of Christ, that is now used as an oratory.
In both Mark and Luke, the Ascension appears to take place immediately after the Resurrection of Jesus. (But see the discussion two paragraphs below.)
Not only is the Ascension related in the passages of Scripture cited above, but it is also elsewhere predicted and spoken of as an established fact. Thus, in John 6:63, Christ asks the Jews: "If then you shall see the son of Man ascend up where He was before?" and 20:17, He says to Mary Magdalen: "Do not touch (translated "approach" in the Aramaic) Me, for I am not yet ascended to My Father, but go to My brethren, and say to them: I ascend to My Father and to your Father, to My God and to your God." Again, in Ephesians 4:8-10, and in Timothy 3:16, the Ascension of Christ is spoken of as an accepted fact. Christians do not interprete this as a "state of full consciousness," but rather a literal rising from the earth into the sky.
The third account of the Ascension is in the Acts of the Apostles (1:9-12). For forty days after the Resurrection, Jesus continued to teach his followers. Jesus and the eleven were gathered near Mount Olivet, to the northeast of Bethany. Jesus tells his apostles that they will receive the power of the Holy Spirit, the comforter, and that they will spread his message the world over. Jesus is taken up and received by a cloud. Two men clothed in white appear and tell the apostles that Jesus will return in the same manner as he was taken.
Even though these three accounts might appear contradictory, the reader should keep in mind that the Gospel of Luke and Acts were both written by the same author and are thus very unlikely to contain such glaring discrepancies. In fact, the Gospel of Luke never says that Jesus was taken up immediately after his Resurrection but simply states that the ascension happened "when he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany", which could very well be forty days after his Resurrection. It is also recognized by virtually every scholar that Mark either originally ended at 16:8 or had a different ending, see Mark 16. This Ascension account should therefore be read in the light of later authorship, probably with reference to the existing traditions surrounding the event.
The Gospel of Matthew ends at a mountain in Galilee, with Jesus commanding the Disciples to spread the Gospel. No mention of the Ascension is made. Also, in the more recently discovered Nag Hammadi, Gospel of Thomas, no mention is made.
Even within the pious Christian tradition, the language used by the Evangelists to describe the Ascension must be interpreted according to usage. To say that He was taken up or that He ascended, does not necessarily imply that they locate heaven directly above the earth; no more than the words "sitteth on the right hand of God" mean that this is His actual posture. In disappearing from their view "He was raised up and a cloud received Him out of their sight" (Acts 1:9), and entering into glory He dwells with the Father in the honour and power denoted by the scripture phrase, would have had to have been an assumption based on the disappearance.
[edit] Extra-biblical accounts
Outside of the Biblical Canon, the Ascension is discussed in the Pistis Sophia. Irenaeus in Against Heresies describes the ascension briefly: it gives a timespan of eighteen months between the resurrection and the ascension, while in another part of the same text he describes the timespan as eighteen aeons. The apocryphal text known as the Apocryphon of James describes the teachings of Jesus to James and Peter 550 days after the resurrection, but before the ascension, suggesting an even longer period.
[edit] Christian theology on Christ's ascension
[edit] Reformed tradition in Protestantism
The Westminster Confession of Faith (part of the Reformed tradition in Calvinism and influential in the Presbyterian church), in Article four of Chapter eight, states: "On the third day He arose from the dead, with the same body in which He suffered, with which also he ascended into heaven, and there sits at the right hand of His Father, making intercession, and shall return, to judge men and angels, at the end of the world."[1]
Article 46 of the Heidelberg Catechism answers the question What do you confess when you say, He ascended into heaven? by stating "That Christ, before the eyes of His disciples, was taken up from the earth into heaven, and that He is there for our benefit until He comes again to judge the living and the dead."[1]
The Catechism further explores aspects of the ascension, asking How does Christ's ascension into heaven benefit us? and replying, "First, He is our Advocate in heaven before His Father. Second, we have our flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that He, our Head, will also take us, His members, up to Himself. Third, He sends us His Spirit [...]"[1]
The Second Helvetic Confession addresses the purpose and character of Christ's ascension in Chapter 11:[1]
- Christ Is Truly Ascended Into Heaven. We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, in his same flesh, ascended above all visible heavens into the highest heaven, that is, the dwelling-place of God and the blessed ones, at the right hand of God the Father. Although it signifies an equal participation in glory and majesty, it is also taken to be a certain place about which the Lord, speaking in the Gospel, says: 'I go to prepare a place for you' (John 14:2). The apostle Peter also says: 'Heaven must receive Christ until the time of restoring all things' (Acts 3:21).
[edit] Feast
The Ascension is one of the great feasts in the Christian liturgical calendar, and commemorates the bodily Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. Ascension Day is always Thursday (the fortieth day of Easter); in some churches (especially in the United States) it is commemorated on the subsequent Sunday (the Sunday before Pentecost). The three days before Ascension Thursday are sometimes referred to as the Rogation days (and the previous Sunday, the Fifth Sunday after Easter, as Rogation Sunday).
In the Eastern Church this feast was known as analepsis, the taking up, and also as the episozomene, the salvation, denoting that by ascending into his glory Christ completed the work of our redemption. The terms used in the West, ascensio and, occasionally, ascensa, signify that Christ was raised up by his own powers. Tradition designates Mount Olivet near Bethany as the place where Christ left the earth. The feast falls on Thursday. It is one of the Ecumenical feasts ranking with the feasts of the Passion, of Easter and of Pentecost among the most solemn in the calendar, has a vigil and, since the fifteenth century, an octave which is set apart for a novena of preparation for Pentecost, in accordance with the directions of Leo XIII.
[edit] History
The observance of this feast is of great antiquity. Although no documentary evidence of it exists prior to the beginning of the fifth century, St. Augustine says that it is of Apostolic origin, and he speaks of it in a way that shows it was the universal observance of the Church long before his time. Frequent mention of it is made in the writings of St. John Chrysostom, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and in the Constitution of the Apostles. The Pilgrimage of Sylvia (Peregrinatio Etheriae) speaks of the vigil of this feast and of the feast itself, as they were kept in the church built over the grotto in Bethlehem in which Christ was born (Duchesne, Christian Worship, 491-515). It may be that prior to the fifth century the fact narrated in the Gospels was commemorated in conjunction with the feast of Easter or Pentecost. Some believe that the much-disputed forty-third decree of the Council of Elvira (c. 300) condemning the practice of observing a feast on the fortieth day after Easter and neglecting to keep Pentecost on the fiftieth day, implies that the proper usage of the time was to commemorate the Ascension along with Pentecost. Representations of the mystery are found in diptychs and frescoes dating as early as the fifth century.
[edit] Customs
Certain customs were connected with the liturgy of this feast, such as the blessing of beans and grapes after the Commemoration of the Dead in the Canon of the Mass, the blessing of first fruits, afterwards done on Rogation Days, the blessing of a candle, the wearing of mitres by deacon and subdeacon, the extinction of the paschal candle, and triumphal processions with torches and banners outside the churches to commemorate the entry of Christ into heaven. Rock records the English custom of carrying at the head of the procession the banner bearing the device of the lion and at the foot the banner of the dragon, to symbolize the triumph of Christ in His ascension over the evil one. In some churches the scene of the Ascension was vividly reproduced by elevating the figure of Christ above the altar through an opening in the roof of the church. In others, whilst the figure of Christ was made to ascend, that of the devil was made to descend.
In the liturgies generally the day is meant to celebrate the completion of the work of our salvation, the pledge of our glorification with Christ, and His entry into heaven with our human nature glorified.
In some countries (e.g. Scandinavia, the Netherlands and in Germany) it is a public holiday; and Germany also holds its Father's Day on the same date.
In Roman Catholicism the Ascension of the Lord is a Holy Day of Obligation. In the Eastern Orthodox Church the Ascension is one of twelve Great Feasts.
In Western Christianity, the earliest possible date is April 30, the latest possible date is June 3.
- Coinciding with the liturgical feast is the annual commemoration by the Christian labour movement- especially syndical, in Belgium) of the encyclical Rerum Novarum issued by Roman Catholic Pope Leo XIII on 15 May 1891
[edit] Sources and references
- ^ a b c d [1]Quotations as cited by Redman, Gary, article/Web page titled "A Comparison of the Biblical and Islamic Views of the States of Christ/ Part 2: The State of Exaltation", at "The Muslim-Christian Debate Website", accessed March 29, 2007
(incomplete)
- This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. Ascension story & Feast
