Our Lord spent forty days talking to His disciples about “the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1: 3)  These were extremely important conversations that the apostles recorded in their writings and handed down to their successors.  This is why we believe that the Holy Bible is the first source for the teachings of our church as well as the Apostolic tradition that was handed down from one to another of the saints and is the second source for the teachings of our church after the Bible.

 The Glorious Ascension:

On the Mount of Olives, the Lord blessed His holy disciples and as He did so, He ascended to heaven while they watched until a cloud hid Him from their sight.  As they looked up to heaven, two angels in white appeared and asked them to go to Jerusalem and to pray and ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  The angels promised the disciples that the Lord Jesus would return once more from heaven at His second coming to take us with Him into heaven and into his eternal Kingdom.

 On this feast which always falls on a Thursday forty days after the resurrection, we lift up our hearts, confident that the Lord ascended to heaven in His resurrection body and that He is interceding for us with His redemptive intercession and that He forgives us our sins.

 And just as we saw Him ascend to heaven, we await His return to earth at the Second Coming when He will take us with Him after raising us from the dead with resurrection bodies; we will ascend to heaven where we will live with Him and with His holy angels.

 A Wind, Tongues of Fire, and Tongues:

The disciples remained in the upper room, praying night and day to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  This occurred on the fiftieth day after the resurrection, or Pentecost, ‘penta’ meaning fifty, or as it is often called, the feast of the coming of the Holy Spirit, when the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples.  It is also called “ansara”, which in Arabic means wind because a strong wind arose and this wind symbolizes the Holy Spirit.

·         We see the effects of the wind when the tree branches move but we do not see the wind itself.  The same is true of the Holy Spirit; we see His work in us and in the church but He cannot be perceived with our senses.

·         Just as breath is essential for the life of the body, so is the Holy Spirit for our spiritual lives.

·         The words for “wind” and for “spirit” are both “epnevma”.  This wind was accompanied by tongues of fire that came to rest on each of the disciples, and fire is always a symbol of the divine, for “our God is a devouring fire.”  It also symbolizes purification for it burns all chaff and kills microbes.

·         It is also a symbol of enlightenment, for we light a lantern in the desert to lighten our path.

·         The same is true of the Spirit of God, for He purifies us from our sins and is a light to show us the way.  What matters is that we ask for Him every day with the Church, saying, “O Heavenly King, the Comforter, Spirit of Truth, who is present everywhere and fills everyone, source of all good and giver of life, please come and dwell in us, O Righteous One, and save our souls.” (Tierce)

 Let us learn this prayer and say it every day at the third hour (Tierce), so that we are granted the work of the Holy Spirit within our hearts, purifying us from our sins, enlightening our minds, and leading us in the way of the Kingdom.

God bless you