Having said this, Jesus Christ, lifting up His hands, blessed His disciples; and when He was blessing, He began to depart from them and ascend into heaven, and soon a cloud took Him out of their sight.

Thus our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ascended into heaven with His humanity and sat down at the right hand of God His Father, i.e. His human soul and body received (the same) glory inseparable from His divinity, and He always was and will always be His divinity in heaven and everywhere.

The disciples bowed down to the Ascended Lord and continued to stand for a long time and look at heaven after Him. Then two angels in white robes appeared before them and said, "Men of Galilee! Why do you stand and look up at the sky? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come again (to earth) in the same way (i.e., in human flesh) as you saw him go into heaven."

After this, the disciples of Jesus Christ returned to Jerusalem with great joy and remained there all together, waiting for the descent of the Holy Spirit. All of them with one accord continued in prayer, always being in the temple of God, glorifying and thanking God. With them were some women and Mary, the Most Holy Mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, with Her relatives. During these days, the Apostles, having prayed, chose by lot from among the other disciples of Christ the twelfth Apostle Matthias, in place of the lost Judas the traitor.

Having ascended to heaven, Jesus Christ, according to His own promise, is always invisibly on earth among those who believe in Him and will again come to earth in a visible way to judge the living and the dead, who will then be resurrected. After this will come the life of the age to come, that is, another, eternal life, which for true believers and pious people will be completely blessed, and for unbelievers and sinners very painful.

NOTE: See in the Gospel of Mark, ch. 16, 15-19; Luke 24:46-53; see in the Acts of Sts. Apostles; chs. 1, 2, 4-26.

The Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ is celebrated by the Holy Spirit. The Orthodox Church, as one of the great feasts, on the 40th day from the first day of Pascha.

Troparion of the Feast

Thou hast ascended in glory, O Christ our God, Thou didst create joy by the disciples, by the promise of the Holy Spirit, which was communicated to them by the blessing which was, for Thou art the Son of God, the deliverer of the world.

Thou hast ascended in glory, O Christ our God, having rejoiced Thy disciples with the promise of the Holy Spirit, when through Thy blessing they were fully convinced that Thou art the Son of God, the deliverer of the world.

Joy created by the disciple - Joy created by the disciples; a promise - a promise; the blessing which was communicated to them, when they were confirmed in the faith through Thy blessing; as - what.

The Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles

After the ascension of Jesus Christ, the tenth day came: it was the fiftieth day after the Resurrection of Christ. The Jews then had the great feast of Pentecost in memory of the Sinai legislation. All the Apostles, together with the Mother of God and with the other disciples of Christ and other believers, were unanimously present in one upper room in Jerusalem. It was the third hour of the day, according to the Jewish count of hours, i.e. according to ours - the ninth hour of the morning. Suddenly there was a noise from heaven, as if from a rushing strong wind, and filled the whole house where the disciples of Christ were. And tongues of fire appeared and rested on each of them. Everyone was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to glorify God in various languages, which they had not known before. Thus the Holy Spirit, according to the promise of the Saviour, descended upon the Apostles, in the form of tongues of fire, as a sign that He had given the Apostles the ability and power to preach Christ's teaching to all nations; He descended in the form of fire as a sign that He has the power to scorch sins and cleanse, sanctify and warm souls.

On the occasion of the feast of Pentecost, there were many Jews in Jerusalem at that time, who came from different countries. Hearing the noise, a huge crowd of people gathered around the house where Christ's disciples were. All the people were amazed and asked one another, "Are they not all Galileans? How do we hear each of our own languages in which we were born? How can they speak with our tongues about the great works of God?"