The Ascension of Our Lord
The date changes each year; in 2026 it is celebrated on May 21.
Dates follow the calendar tradition used by this project. Parishes using the new calendar celebrate fixed feasts on different civil dates.
The Ascension of Our Lord proclaims the risen Christ’s ascent to the Father. Celebrated forty days after Pascha, the feast also directs the Church toward Christ’s promise of the Holy Spirit to His disciples.
Meaning of the feast
The Ascension completes the forty days in which the risen Christ appeared to His disciples. The Gospels and the Book of Acts proclaim that the Lord was taken up into heaven and sat at the right hand of the Father. For the Church, this is not simply a departure from the world. Christ ascends in glory while remaining with the faithful, and His Ascension reveals the fullness of what His Resurrection means.
Scriptural background
After the Resurrection, the disciples did not immediately understand what had happened. They received the reports of the women and other disciples with fear, uncertainty, and amazement. Even at the Ascension they asked Christ about the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. He instead told them to await the Father’s promise. Acts proclaims that Jesus will come again in the manner in which He was seen going into heaven. In the Church’s worship, the event is contemplated as the exaltation of human nature in Christ before the Father.
Spiritual meaning today
This feast teaches that Christian hope is not limited to earthly success or outward triumph. In Christ, human nature is called to life with God. The Ascension also turns the Church toward Pentecost: the Lord promises the Holy Spirit to His disciples. The feast therefore joins joy in the risen Lord with patient expectation of the Spirit’s gift and a call to faithful life in the Church.
In the Bible
Related reading
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Sources: Orthodox Church in America