Christ is ascended!

[ma2000]

I don't know the proper translation in English, so I'll post it in Romanian too:


Christ is ascended!

Hristos S-a înălţat!

[Eusebios]

And we with Him!

[Mary of Bethany]

Christ is Ascended!

I was blessed to be able to attend Divine Liturgy this morning. We had a nice crowd, and a small lunch afterwards. It's a really beautiful day here.

Glory to God!




Mary

[JustinHesychast]

So is this the "new" greeting from Christ is Risen? How long does it last?

[ma2000]

We (Romanians) use it from Ascension to Pentecost. But I'm not sure the others do.

Hristos S-a inaltat! (Christ is Ascended! - rough translation)
Adevarat S-a inaltat! (He is Truly Ascended!)

[Xpycoctomos]

Someone here said "and we with him". Is that the English response?

[Xpycoctomos]

I think holy seasons are the same for all Churches (assuming they follow the same Calendar). Correct me where I'm wrong anyone.

[MariaRegina]

Christ is ascended!

From earth to heaven!

[Rowan]

Indeed He is Ascended! :clap:

[Xpycoctomos]

From Earth to Heaven!
Truly/Indeed He is ascended!
And we with Him!

Is it all of these? Are some of these guesses? I wonder if it differs according to jurisdiction or region or what? Interesting.

[MariaRegina]

I have heard all three proclaimed.

And the Priest I talked with said that all are correct.

[MariaRegina]

By Christ's Holy Ascension, He became the first Man to be bodily received into heaven, thus paving the way for our own resurrection from the dead.

Now, I don't know where the OT saints fit in this picture as they were said to have been assumed into heaven.

Any comments here?

I wish our Father Professor could answer this question.

[Xpycoctomos]

cool!

[Xpycoctomos]

Aria, where did you learn that? I'm not criticizing you. I just never learned that that was the significance of the Ascension. in fact, I guess I never committed much significance tothe day other than.. well, he had to go back home someday. But as far as any theological or soteriological significance... I guess I'd never thought of it. but I am guessing there it did play an importnat role in the salvation of the world.

Perhaps it's not so much that he waas the first man. I mean, he wasn't the first man to be raised from the dead. But it was the first time God as man did any of this Himself. in resurecting, he made this possible for all mankind. So, through His ascension as the first God-man, did He make our eventual bodily assumption into heaven possible for all mankind on the last day instead of as an exception?

I don't know... I'm theorizing here. Anyone know?

[MariaRegina]

Aria, where did you learn that? I'm not criticizing you. I just never learned that that was the significance of the Ascension. in fact, I guess I never committed much significance tothe day other than.. well, he had to go back home someday. But as far as any theological or soteriological significance... I guess I'd never thought of it. but I am guessing there it did play an importnat role in the salvation of the world.

Perhaps it's not so much that he waas the first man. I mean, he wasn't the first man to be raised from the dead. But it was the first time God as man did any of this Himself. in resurecting, he made this possible for all mankind. So, through His ascension as the first God-man, did He make our eventual bodily assumption into heaven possible for all mankind on the last day instead of as an exception?

I don't know... I'm theorizing here. Anyone know?

This is what I learned when I was a catechumen ... and I too was surprised. After our chrismation, my son and I were studying from a set of SVS Press books on the feasts of the Holy Orthodox Church. They were filled with icon illustrations (graphite drawings) and were very inspirational. My son used this two volume set for his senior year of religious instruction in Orthodox Christianity, and he asked me to help him because of some of the difficult questions posed during this class.

Right now, I am sick with this flu so I cannot be running around searching for these paperback texts.

But most of the Holy Fathers of the Church refer to the Icon of the Ascension as the Icon of the Second Coming of Christ. I guess this is the main focus. The angels reminded the Apostles that Christ will come again on the Last Day in the same way in which He ascended into Heaven.


Marantha!

Come Lord Jesus!

[jckstraw72]

i think a good response is: "He'll be back!"

[Xpycoctomos]

i think a good response is: "He'll be back!"
Do we have to say it with a thick austrian accent? :)

[jckstraw72]

Do we have to say it with a thick austrian accent?

it would be heretical to do it otherwise

[Petronius]

Adevarat s-a-naltat !

[Mary of Bethany]

Aria, where did you learn that? I'm not criticizing you. I just never learned that that was the significance of the Ascension. in fact, I guess I never committed much significance tothe day other than.. well, he had to go back home someday. But as far as any theological or soteriological significance... I guess I'd never thought of it. but I am guessing there it did play an importnat role in the salvation of the world.

Perhaps it's not so much that he waas the first man. I mean, he wasn't the first man to be raised from the dead. But it was the first time God as man did any of this Himself. in resurecting, he made this possible for all mankind. So, through His ascension as the first God-man, did He make our eventual bodily assumption into heaven possible for all mankind on the last day instead of as an exception?

I don't know... I'm theorizing here. Anyone know?

I wish you could have heard our Priest's sermon on Ascension Day. :)

He has mentioned it at other Feast days also, and has really enlightened me about why we celebrate these Feast days. We don't celebrate Christ's first birthday, or his first step, or his 21st birthday, or other things that we think are milestones in our own lives. Because those things aren't important to our salvation. But we celebrate Theophany, Ascension, Transfiguration, etc., precisely because Christ experienced those things so that we could also experience those things.

Christ didn't Ascend just because "what came down must go back up". :) He Ascended to unite His humanity to the Father, as we who will be saved will also.

My Priest said it all much better, but I hope I at least gave you a little bit of the idea.

Mary

[MariaRegina]

I guess when you look at the ordering of the feast days in the Orthodox Church, you begin to see a pattern.

Resurrection - Christ is Risen from the Tomb

Ascension - Christ Ascends bodily into Heaven prefiguring His Second Coming and the bodily resurrection into heaven of the righteous on the Last Day

Pentecost - 50 days after the Pascha. The Holy Spirit descends upon the Apostles and the Theotokos and Christ's Holy Church on earth is born.

The Apostle's Fast - honoring the memory of Saints Peter and Paul who spread the Good News and write many Epistles to guide the Church.

The Holy Transfiguration of Christ , Our Lord and God - The divinity and glory of Christ is revealed to Saints Peter, John and James, so that during His Holy Passion and Death, they would know that He is God and not lose hope.

The Dormition and Assumption of the Theotokos - And lest anyone think that the Orthodox Christians shun the term of the Assumption, please realize that there are many Orthodox Churches which bear the name of the Church of the Assumption. The Blessed Theotokos is assumed bodily into heaven after her falling asleep in the Lord. Christ paves the way for His Mother's ascension into heaven by His Holy Resurrection and Ascension.

[DavidBryan]

Christ is ascended! He is ascended in Glory!

OR,

From Earth to Heaven! (as has been said)

OR,

With a shout!

Y'all can listen to Fr. Joseph Huneycutt's podcast on this very subject here (http://audio.ancientfaithradio.com/orthodixie/ixnay_xb_pc.mp3).

[MariaRegina]

With a shout!

Sounds so charismatic, doesn't it?

Our Holy Orthodox Church is filled with the All Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles and never ceased guiding us.

Praise the Lord! :)

[ProfChrysostomos]

Hello all,

Someone had asked me to post what the proper response to "Christ is ascended!" is. Let me preface my remarks by saying that this particular greeting, at least in modern times, is absent from the Greek tradition, unlike "Christ is risen!" which is obviously universal. Certainly, this doesn't mean anything; it is an Orthodox tradition and one, as I understand it, practiced by our Romanian (and possibly other) brethren.

It seems to me, at least from my own research, that the response "Truly He is ascended!" is the most fitting answer to the greeting. The whole interchange itself comes out of the piety of the Orthodox Christian community, which follows the divine economy in Christ throughout the liturgical year. We follow Christ in His resurrection and so proclaim it as a matter of fact, and we likewise proclaim His ascension. This is liturgical martyria rooted in a beautiful pious local tradition.

The response "Christ is risen" has a more universal significance because, as St Paul clearly infers in 1 Corinthians, it is the very cornerstone of our Faith. Aside from this, Pascha was the Church's first great feast, which gave prime significance to the celebration of the Eucharist. The feast of the Ascension, like the other Great Feasts (Nativity, Annunciation, etc.) came later after the fourth century when the Church, finally safe from persecution and institutionalized, began to form a calendar of more complex liturgical feasts that framed the Passion-Crucifixion-Resurrection Triduum, thus drawing worshipper's attention to the other feasts of Christ as critical markers in God's economy to save the world.

It seems, therefore, that the response "Truly He is ascended!" matches the original paschal greeting the best, although other responses may also be acceptable, since again these interchanges are localized traditions reflecting the love and piety of the people using them.

+ Prof.

[MariaRegina]

Thanks Father.

I have noticed that the Antiochians love these Christian greetings and have a variety of them. The OCA and the Greek Orthodox Church do not use as many.

Outside of the Nativity and Pascha, my priest tends to use

Glory to Jesus Christ.

And the response is:

Glory forever.