How to meet the celebration of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ — the metropolitan Anthony (Packanich).

The Ascension is an especial feast, when Angels approach to people.

But this happens only to those who celebrate this day properly and honorably.

«Don’t bring any more worthless grain offerings. Your incense is disgusting to me, so are your New Moon Festivals, your days of worship, and the assemblies you call. I can’t stand your evil assemblies» (Isaiah 1:13).

What do these words mean?

They mean that for the majority of us feasts sound only in terrestrialflatness. They don’t ascend us up, to Christ, but they bring us down to land. We are just more overburdened by them downgrading true festalsounding, pulling away from God.

The Lord does not need our festal attributes. He needs our heart rejoicing about Him:

«Hallelujah! Praise El in his holy place. Praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his mighty acts. Praise him for his immense greatness. Praise him with sounds from horns. Praise him with harps and lyres. Praise him with tambourines and dancing. Praise him with stringed instruments and flutes. Praise him with loud cymbals. Praise him with crashing cymbals. Let everything that breathes praise Yah! Hallelujah!»

Such a celebration! The feast of joy! But how hard it is to reach this.

We go through the circle of celebrations from one year to another, and they have become something usual and ordinary for us. The spirit of celebration loses behind a trumpery, external image, established traditions, even if only devotional.

And we pass that terrestrial that is the chamber pitch of feast day, his highest, perfect sound time.

Those, whose world is fallen, won’t reach this sounding to the full extent. For the Lord our gift is not important, but our internal temper, renouncing worldly worries, focusing on highest depths and sense of life are important.

This kind of renouncing requires extraordinary efforts and extra will which won’t be of human, but of Divine nature.

Angels are calling us to this sounding today.

The Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ is the celebration of Angels who meet their Creator and King in human body in the Sky.

The hymnsof todays celebration are full of angelic exclamations:

«Lift up your heads, you gates;

be lifted up, you ancient doors,

that the King of glory may come in.»

Rejoice, angelic hosts, so that we may receive the King of all, who cometh invisibly upborne in triumph by the ranks of angels. Alleluia.

And we, following Lord, with praise songs and joyful hearts move on the way. On the way to unending life which is opened by our Lord through His glory Ascension.

Terrestial life after the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ is not a goal in itself, the light of unending life shines ahead.

Recorded by Natalia Goroshkova