The Ascension of Christ is a feast of ineffable joy and hope, a day on which the Church contemplates the glorified Lord, Who, by His Ascension, did not withdraw Himself from the world, but raised our human nature into heavenly glory. In the Person of the God-man Christ, man for the first time sat at the right hand of the Father, revealing the eternal meaning and purpose of our existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Holy Fathers teach us that the Ascension is not a separation, but the fullness of God\u2019s presence. Christ ascends so that the world may not remain bound only to the earthly and transient, but may lift its gaze toward the Heavenly Kingdom. For man was created not merely to subsist in the world, but to live in God. The Ascension, therefore, is also a call to our own spiritual ascent, to life in freedom, prayer, and unceasing standing before the Face of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the occasion of this great Feast of the Lord, the full festal cycle of divine services was celebrated in our sacred monastery, crowned with the Divine Eucharist, at which our beloved Elder, His Grace Bishop Partenius of Antania, presided, concelebrating with the brother hieromonks and hierodeacons. To the special joy of all present, the pious deacon Fr Roman of the Orthodox Church of Estonia also concelebrated with us, thus bearing witness to the spiritual and Eucharistic unity of the Orthodox in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the prayerful atmosphere, filled with spiritual light and peace, all the faithful felt the profound meaning of this saving event: that Christ has opened for man the path to eternity, and that our true homeland is above, in the Kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And on this grace-filled journey, that is, on our return to God, our tireless guide and sure intercessor is the Apostle of Love, the holy Evangelist John the Theologian, whose commemoration today, by the providence of God, coincided with the Ascension of the Saviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through his prayers, may the ascended Lord strengthen our hearts in faith and in the personal experience of God, granting us the strength to raise our mind and heart toward the heavenly realm, where our unfailing joy and incorruptible hope abide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t