The Collect
GRANT, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that like as we do believe thy only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into the heavens; so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with him continually dwell, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.
Readings: (Acts i. 1; Saint Luke xxiv, 49)
“And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight." (Acts 1:9)
The fortieth day after Easter Sunday commemorates the Ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven. The term used in the Western Church, ascensio signifies that Christ was raised up by His own powers. Within the Eastern Church this feast was known as analepsis, the taking up, and also as the episozomene, salvation from on high – denoting that by ascending Christ completed the work of our redemption. Holy Tradition designates Mount Olivet near Bethany as the place where Christ left the earth. As an Ecumenical feast it ranks with the feasts of the Passion, of Easter, and of Pentecost as being amongst the most solemn of the liturgical calender.
The Ascension is the capstone of the life of Jesus Christ, and is made up of three key events: (1) Christ's final departure from the earth; (2) His going up into heaven; and, (3) The taking of His place at the right hand of the Father. These events are affirmed in the Nicene Creed and in the Apostles' Creed, and implies Jesus' humanity as being taken into Heaven.
The historical observance of the Ascension is located in the time of the Church Fathers, and although there is little evidence of it prior to the fifth century, St. Augustine affirmed that it is of Apostolic origin and claimed that it was of universal observance before his time. Mention of the feast is also found in the writings of St. John Chrysostom, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and in the Constitution of the Apostles.
Certain local customs are connected with the liturgy during this feast, such as the blessing of beans and grapes after the Commemoration of the Dead in the Latin Canon, the blessing of first fruits within the English Book of Common Prayer on Rogation Days, and processions with banners outside the churches to commemorate the entry of Christ into heaven. There is also a uniquely English custom of carrying at the head of the procession a banner bearing the device of the lion, and at the foot the banner, an image of a dragon to symbolize the triumph of Christ in His ascension over the evil one.
The story of Christ's ascension can be found in the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts.
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