Ambartsum in Armenia
Description:
The Ascension of God
The ascension of the Lord as a holiday was established in the IV-V centuries and is celebrated on the fortieth day after Easter.
It is based on the Gospel account of how the risen Christ called the apostles to the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem and blessed them to the world preaching: “Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you all the days to the end of the age.”
With these words, He became distant, ascended and hid in the cloud and sat at the right hand of God. As the apostles gazed at heaven, two angels appeared and spoke of the ascension of Christ, who in due time would appear again for the judgment of mankind and the establishment of the kingdom of heaven: “He will come in the same way as you saw Him ascending into heaven.”
Jesus said, “The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken.” Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the nations of the earth will weep and see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. But of the day and the hour no one knows, not the angels of heaven, but only my Father.