Ascension of Jesus

Jesus' ascension to heaven depicted by John Singleton Copley, 1775

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The ascension of Jesus (anglicized from the Vulgate Latin Acts 1:9-11 section title: Ascensio Iesu) is the departure of Christ from Earth into the presence of God.^[1] The biblical narrative in Chapter 1 of the Acts of the Apostles takes place 40 days after the resurrection: Jesus is taken up from the disciples in their sight, a cloud hides him from view, and two men in white appear to tell them that he will return "in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."^[2] In the Christian tradition, reflected in the major Christian creeds and confessional statements, the ascension is connected with the exaltation of Jesus, meaning that through his ascension, Jesus took his seat at the Right hand of God: "He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty."^[3] Despite this, in modern times the Ascension is seen less as the climax of the mystery of Christ than as "something of an embarrassment", in the words of McGill University's Douglas Farrow.^[4]

In Christian art, the ascending Jesus is often shown blessing an earthly group below him, signifying the entire Church.^[5] The Feast of the Ascension is celebrated on the 40th day of Easter, always a Thursday;^[3] the Orthodox tradition has a different calendar up to a month later than in the Western tradition, and while the Anglican communion continues to observe the feast, most Protestant churches have abandoned the observance.^[6][7]

Cultural background[edit]

Theologian James Dunn describes the ascension as at best a puzzle and at worst an embarrassment for an age which no longer conceives of a physical heaven located above the Earth.^[8] The cosmology of the author of Luke-Acts was quite different: his age believed in a three-part cosmos with the heavens above, a flat earth centered on Jerusalem in the middle, and the underworld below.^[9][10] Heaven was separated from the earth by the firmament, the visible sky, a solid inverted bowl where God's palace sat on pillars in the celestial sea.^[11] Humans looking up from earth saw the floor of heaven, made of clear blue lapis-lazuli (Exodus 24:9-10), as was God's throne (Ezekiel 1:26).^[12]

Ascension stories were fairly common around the time of Jesus and the gospel-authors,^[13] signifying the deification of a noteworthy person (usually a Roman Emperor), and in Judaism as an indication of divine approval.^[14] Another function of heavenly ascent was as a mode of divine revelation reflected in Greco-Roman, early Jewish, and early Christian literary sources, in which particular individuals with prophetic or revelatory gifts are thought to have experienced a heavenly journey during which they learned cosmic and divine secrets.^[14] Figures familiar to Jews would have included Enoch (from the Book of Genesis and a popular non-Biblical work called 1 Enoch); the 5th-century sage Ezra; Baruch the companion of the prophet Jeremiah (from a work called 2 Baruch, in which Baruch is promised he will ascend to heaven after 40 days); Levi the ancestor of priests; the Teacher of Righteousness from the Qumran community; the prophet Elijah (from 2 Kings); Moses, who was deified on entering heaven; and the children of Job, who according to the Testament of Job ascended heaven following their resurrection from the dead.^[15][16] Non-Jewish readers would have been familiar with the case of the emperor Augustus, whose ascent was witnessed by Senators; Romulus the founder of Rome, who, like Jesus, was taken to heaven in a cloud; the Greek hero Heracles (Hercules); and others.^[17]

Biblical accounts[edit]

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Luke-Acts, a single work from the same anonymous author, provides the only detailed account of the ascension.^[18][1] Luke 24 tells how Jesus leads the eleven disciples to Bethany, a village on the Mount of Olives not far from Jerusalem, where he instructs them to remain in Jerusalem until the coming of the Holy Spirit and blesses them. "And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy." Acts 1 describes a meal on the Mount of Olives, where Jesus commands the disciples to await the coming of the Holy Spirit, a cloud takes him upward from sight, and two men in white appear to tell them (the disciples) that he will return "in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."^[2] Luke and Acts appear to describe the same event, but present quite different chronologies, Luke placing it on the same day as the resurrection and Acts forty days afterwards;^[19] various proposals have been put forward to resolve the contradiction, but the question remains open.^[20]

The Gospel of John has three references to ascension in Jesus' own words: "No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the son of man" (John 3:13); "What if you (the disciples) were to see the son of man ascending where he was before?" (John 6:62); and to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection, "Do not hold me, for I not yet ascended to my father..." (John 20:17).^[1] In the first and second Jesus is claiming to be the apocalyptic "one like a son of man" of Daniel 7;^[21] the last has mystified commentators – why should Mary be prohibited from touching the risen but not yet ascended Christ, while Thomas is later invited to do so?^[22]

Various epistles (Romans 8:34, Ephesians 1:19-20, Colossians 3:1, Philippians 2:9-11, 1 Timothy 3:16, and 1 Peter 3:21-22) also refer to an ascension, seeming, like Luke-Acts and John, to equate it with the post-resurrection "exaltation" of Jesus to the right hand of God.^[17] There is a broad consensus among scholars that the brief ascension account in the Gospel of Mark is a later addition to the original version of that gospel.^[23]

Christian theology[edit]

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Orthodox Feast of the Ascension

The common thread linking all the New Testament ascension references, reflected in the major Christian creeds and confessional statements, is the exaltation of Jesus, meaning that through his ascension Jesus took his seat at the right hand of God in Heaven:^[3] "He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty." (Apostles' Creed) It implies the human Jesus being taken into Heaven and marks the beginning of Christ's heavenly rule, and its hold on the Christian imagination is evidenced by its importance in Christian art through the centuries.^[3]

Liturgy: Feast of the Ascension[edit]

The Ascension, Dosso Dossi, 16th century.

The Feast of the Ascension is one of the ecumenical (i.e., universally celebrated) feasts of the Christian liturgical year, along with the Passion, Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas. Ascension Day is traditionally celebrated on the sixth Thursday after Easter Sunday, the fortieth day from Easter day, although some Roman Catholic provinces have moved the observance to the following Sunday to facilitate the obligation to attend Mass. Saint Jerome held that it was of Apostolic origin, but in fact the ascension was originally part of Pentecost (the coming of the Holy Spirit), and developed as a separate celebration only slowly from the late 4th century onward. In the Catholic tradition it begins with a three-day "rogation" to ask for God's mercy, and the feast itself includes a procession of torches and banners symbolising Christ's journey to the Mount of Olives and entry into heaven, the extinguishing of the Paschal candle, and an all-night vigil; white is the liturgical colour. The orthodox tradition has a slightly different calendar up to a month later than in the Western tradition; the Anglican communion continues to observe the feast, but most Protestant churches have abandoned the traditional Christian calendar of feasts.^[6][7]

In Christian art[edit]

The ascension has been a frequent subject in Christian art.^[24] By the 6th century the iconography of the ascension had been established and by the 9th century ascension scenes were being depicted on domes of churches.^[25][26] The Rabbula Gospels (c. 586) include some of the earliest images of the ascension.^[26] Many ascension scenes have two parts, an upper (Heavenly) part and a lower (earthly) part. The ascending Christ may be carrying a resurrection banner or make a sign of benediction with his right hand.^[27] The blessing gesture by Christ with his right hand is directed towards the earthly group below him and signifies that he is blessing the entire Church.^[5] In the left hand, he may be holding a Gospel or a scroll, signifying teaching and preaching.^[5]

The Eastern Orthodox portrayal of the ascension is a major metaphor for the mystical nature of the Church.^[28] In many Eastern icons the Virgin Mary is placed at the center of the scene in the earthly part of the depiction, with her hands raised towards Heaven, often accompanied by various Apostles.^[28] The upwards-looking depiction of the earthly group matches the Eastern liturgy on the Feast of the Ascension: "Come, let us rise and turn our eyes and thoughts high ..."^[5]

Gallery[edit]

• 

  Rabbula Gospels
  6th century

• 

  Drogo Sacramentary
  c. 850

• 

  Andrei Rublev
  1408

• 

  Pietro Perugino
  1496–1500

• 

  Garofalo
  1520

• 

  Armenian Gospel manuscript
  1609

• 

  Rembrandt
  1636

• 

  Macedonian icon, Bitola, Macedonia
  19th century

• 

  Rosary Basilica, Lourdes
  19th century

Olivet and the Chapel of the Ascension[edit]

The Ascension edicule

The traditional site of the ascension is Mount Olivet (the "Mount of Olives"), on which the village of Bethany sits. Before the conversion of Constantine in 312 AD, early Christians honored the ascension of Christ in a cave on the Mount, and by 384 the ascension was venerated on the present site, uphill from the cave.^[29]

Around the year 390 a wealthy Roman woman named Poimenia financed construction of the original church called "Eleona Basilica" (elaion in Greek means "olive garden", from elaia "olive tree," and has an oft-mentioned similarity to eleos meaning "mercy"). This church was destroyed by Sassanid Persians in 614. It was subsequently rebuilt, destroyed, and rebuilt again by the Crusaders. This final church was later destroyed by Muslims, leaving only a 12x12 meter octagonal structure (called a martyrium—"memorial"—or "Edicule") that remains to this day.^[30] The site was ultimately acquired by two emissaries of Saladin in the year 1198 and has remained in the possession of the Islamic Waqf of Jerusalem ever since.

The Chapel of the Ascension today is a Christian and Muslim holy site now believed to mark the place where Jesus ascended into heaven; in the small round church/mosque is a stone imprinted with the footprints of Jesus.^[29] The Russian Orthodox Church also maintains a convent of the ascension on the top of the Mount of Olives.

See also[edit]

• Ascension Parish
• Assumption of Mary
• Chronology of Jesus
• Church of the Ascension (disambiguation)
• Life of Jesus in the New Testament
• Rapture
• Session of Christ
• Transfiguration of Jesus
• Post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

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• Aune, David (2003b). "Cosmology". The Westminster Dictionary of New Testament and Early Christian Literature and Rhetoric. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664219178.
• Baggley, John (2000). Festival Icons for the Christian Year. St Vladimir's Seminary Press. ISBN 9780881412017.
• Becchio, Bruno; Schadé, Johannes P. (2006). "Ascension". Encyclopedia of World Religions. Foreign Media Group. ISBN 9781601360007.
• Burkett, Delbert (2002). An introduction to the New Testament and the origins of Christianity. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521007207.
• Charlesworth, James H. (2008). The Historical Jesus: An Essential Guide. Abingdon Press. ISBN 9781426724756.
• Collins, Adela Yarbro (2000). Cosmology and Eschatology in Jewish and Christian Apocalypticism. BRILL. ISBN 978-9004119277.
• Cresswell, Peter (2013). The Invention of Jesus: How the Church Rewrote the New Testament. Duncan Baird Publishers. ISBN 9781780286211.
• Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, Elizabeth A. (2005). "Ascension". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192802903.
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• Earls, Irene (1987). Renaissance Art: A Topical Dictionary. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313246586.
• Farrow, Douglas (2004). Ascension And Ecclesia. A&C Black. ISBN 9780567083258.* Farrow, Douglas (2011). Ascension Theology. Bloomsbury. ISBN 9780567651884.
• Holwerda, D.E. (1979). "Ascension". In Bromiley, Geoffrey. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802837813.
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• Knight, Douglas A.; Levine, Amy-Jill (2011). The Meaning of the Bible: What the Jewish Scriptures and Christian Old Testament Can Teach Us. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780062098597.
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• Köstenberger, Andreas J. (2004). John. Baker Academic.
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