Orthodox believers are celebrating the Ascension of the Lord today.

Orthodox believers are celebrating one of the great twelve feasts today – the Ascension of the Lord.

It is celebrated on the fortieth day after Christ's Easter. On the feast of the Ascension, the Orthodox Church commemorates the Gospel events related to the last moment of Christ's earthly presence, His glorious Resurrection. The Gospels describe these events as follows: the Jewish feast of Pentecost was approaching, and Christ's disciples returned from Galilee to Jerusalem. On the fortieth day, Christ appeared to the apostles in Jerusalem and led them out of the city to the Mount of Olives, where He informed them about the sending of the Holy Spirit, then blessed the apostles and ascended into heaven.

When a bright cloud hid the Lord from the disciples, two angels appeared to them, saying that the Lord would come to earth again in the same way they had seen Him ascending into heaven. The apostles bowed to the ascended Lord and returned to Jerusalem.

Having ascended into heaven, Christ the Saviour did not leave the earth. According to Christian belief, Jesus is invisibly present near every person. Furthermore, the Church believes in the mystical presence of Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist, when bread and wine become the body and blood of the Lord. It might seem that the Ascension is a feast of Christ's separation from His disciples. The Lord and Teacher leaves the earth and ascends into heaven, but at the same time, His disciples who saw Him off return to Jerusalem, as the holy apostle and evangelist Luke narrates, "with great joy."

In the festive Orthodox hymns, the Church reminds its children that, having ascended into heaven, Christ the Saviour has not abandoned, has not left the earth with His presence. By His ascension, He fulfilled divine providence and united those on earth with those in heaven. This feast is an expression of hope that from now on, the path to heaven is open to all people who believe in Christ, where Christ first ascended redeemed and restored human nature.

For forty days after Easter, Orthodox services were filled with jubilant Paschal hymns, clergy were vested in bright red vestments, signifying the royal dignity of the Risen Christ, and believers greeted each other not simply with "Hello!" or "Good afternoon!", but with the words "Christ is Risen!". Today, on the last day of this period, the church service almost exactly repeats the service held on the day of the Bright Resurrection. In the evening, the All-Night Vigil of the Ascension feast will take place, at which there will no longer be Paschal exclamations.

According to tradition, on Ascension Day, pies with green onions and symbolic ladders are baked (elongated bread, buns, pies, kulebyakas decorated with dough in the form of cuts, crossbars, like ladder steps). They are baked so that it would be easier for Christ to ascend to heaven.

News of Belarus (BELTA)