In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The feast of the Ascension of the Lord is one of the decisive links in our eternal human destiny. This destiny begins on the day that God calls the world from non-being into being with his mighty creative word. This world is placed before the face of God and by the creative word is called not only to temporal life but to remain eternally in the joy and glory of its Lord.
The destiny of the world and of man begins with God’s loving offer of the bliss of friendship with Him till the end of time. And when man fell away from God, when through the treachery of man the whole world was given over to suffering, God did not withdraw his love and abandon us. Never, neither in the hours of paradise nor in the dark years and centuries of the fall, was God a stranger to the world. He was constantly acting within it, arousing in men’s hearts all that was good and true, sending His guardian angels, His prophets and the messengers of His word, – and when the time was ripe the Lord Himself entered the life of the world. When God became incarnate He entered into the historical destiny of man so that there is no dividing line between this historical destiny and God’s eternal life. But the Lord not only entered the historical destiny of man by His incarnation, He united with Himself, with His divine nature, all that He had created – our human flesh which He put on not for a time but forever, our earth, our sky – and demonstrated its wonderful quality and glory. All that He created is capable not only of meeting God, but of being spirit-bearing, God-bearing. Continue reading →
St Vasilios Greek Orthodox Church 