Forty days after the day of Christ‘s resurrection, the Church celebrates His glorious ascension into heaven. As this feast day draws near, I‘d like to share with you a couple of excerpts from Jacobus de Voragine‘s Golden Legend answering several questions concerning Christ‘s ascension.
From where did Christ ascend to heaven?
“(…) he rose to heaven from the Mount of Olives, out toward Bethany. This mountain, following another translation, was also called the Mount of Three Lights, because from the west the light from the Temple fell upon it by night, for a fire burned continually on the altar; in the morning it caught the sun‘s rays from the east before they reached the city; and the hill‘s olive trees produced a plentiful supply of oil, which feeds light.
Jacobus de Voragine: The Golden Legend. Readings on the Saints, Princeton University Press 1993, p. 291-292
Christ appeared twice to his disciples on the day of his ascension and ordered them to go to this mountain. The first time, he appeared to the eleven apostles as they were eating in the cenacle. (All the apostles and other disciples, as well as the women, were living in the section of Jerusalem called Mello, or else on Mount Sion where David had built his palace. There was a large furnished upper room where the Lord had ordered the two disciples to prepare the paschal meal for him, and the eleven apostles were staying in this room while the rest of the disciples and the women were lodged nearby.) They were at table in the cenacle when the Lord appeared to them and rebuked them for their lack of faith; and after he had eaten with them, he ordered them to go to the Mount of Olives, on the road to Bethany, as aforesaid. There he appeared to them again and responded to their untimely questioning, then raised his hands and blessed them. After that, as they looked on, he ascended into heaven.
Regarding the place from which Christ ascended, Sulpicius, bishop of Jerusalem, says, and the Gloss also says, that when a church was built there later on, the spot where Christ had stood could never be covered with pavement; and more than that, the marble slaps placed there burst upwards into the faces of those who were laying them. He also says that footmarks in the dust there prove that the Lord had stood on that spot: the footprints are discernible and the ground still retains the depressions his feet had left.“
Why did forty days pass between the resurrection and the ascension of Christ?
“It was harder to prove the fact of the resurrection than that of the passion, because from the first day to the third the passion could be proved, but more days were required to establish the truth of the resurrection; therefore a longer time was necessary between the resurrection and the ascension than between the passion and the resurrection. (…)
Jacobus de Voragine: The Golden Legend. Readings on the Saints, Princeton University Press 1993, p. 292
The second reason was the consolation of the apostles, because the divine consolations are more abundant than our trials, and the time of the Lord‘s passion was a time of tribulation for the apostles, so the days of consolation had to outnumber the days of tribulation. Thirdly, there was a mystical meaning involved: we were given to understand that the divine consolations are to be compared with our tribulations as a year is compared with a day, a day with an hour, an hour with a moment. The comparison of year to day we find in Isa. 61: 2: ‘To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God.‘ Thus one day of trial yields a year of consolation. The ratio of day to hour is manifest from the fact that the Lord lay dead for forty hours, a time of tribulation, and, rising from the dead, appeared to the disciples over forty days for their consolation. Hence the Gloss says: ‘He had been dead for forty hours, so for forty days he demonstrated that he was alive.‘ (…)“
In what manner did Christ ascend?
“First of all, he ascended powerfully, because he did so by his own power (…). Admittedly he ascended in a globe of cloud, but he did not do this because he needed the help of a cloud, but to show that every creature was ready to serve its creator. He rose by the power of his godhead, and this indicates a difference, according to the Scholastic History: whereas Enoch was translated into paradise and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven, Jesus ascended by his own power. (…) Secondly, he ascended openly, because the disciples were there to observe it (…). He willed to have them see him ascending so that they would be on hand as witnesses of his ascension, would rejoice that a human being was carried up into heaven, and would desire to follow him there.
Jacobus de Voragine: The Golden Legend. Readings on the Saints, Princeton University Press 1993, p. 292-293
Thirdly, he went up joyfully, because the angels were jubilant (…).
Fourthly, he went up swiftly (…). He must have ascended with great speed, since he traversed such a distance, as it were in a moment. Rabbi Moses (Moses Maimonides), the great philosopher, tells us that each orbit or heaven of any of the planets is 500 years across, i.e., the distance from one side to the other is as far as someone could travel on a level road in 500 years, and the distance between one heaven and the next is also, he says, a journey of 500 years. Therefore, since there are seven heavens, from the center of the earth to the vault of the heaven of Saturn, the seventh heaven, there will be, according to Rabbi Moses, a journey that would take 7,000 years, and to the dome of the empyrean, 7,700 – i.e., as far as one would go on a level road in 7,700 years if he lived that long (…). This is what Rabbi Moses says: whether it be true or not only God knows, for he, who made all things in number, weight, and measure, knows this measurement.“
Where did Christ ascend to?
“(…) he rose above all the heavens, according to what we read in Eph. 4: 8-10: ‘He that descended is the same also that ascended above all the heavens that he might fulfill all things.‘ The text says ‘above all the heavens‘ because there are several heavens – the material, the rational, the intellectual, and the supersubstantial – beyond which he ascended. The material heaven is multiple and includes the aeriel, the ethereal, the Olympian, the fiery, the starry, the crystalline, and the empyrean heavens. The rational heaven is the just man, who is called a heaven by reason of the divine indwelling, because as heaven is God‘s seat and dwelling place according to Isa. 66: 1 – ‘Heaven is my throne‘ – so also the righteous soul is the seat of wisdom, according to the Book of Wisdom. (…) The intellectual heaven is the angel. Angels are called heaven because they are like heaven by reason of their dignity and excellence. (…)
Jacobus de Voragine: The Golden Legend. Readings on the Saints, Princeton University Press 1993, p. 295-297
The supersubstantial heaven is equality with the divine excellence, from which Christ came and to which he later ascended. (…) Therefore Christ went up above all these heavens to the supersubstantial heaven itself. (…) He went through all the material heavens to reach the empyrean heaven, but his ascension was not like that of Elijah, who went up in a fiery chariot to the sublunar region but did not go beyond it. Elijah was transferred into the terrestrial paradise, which is as high as the sublunar region but does not transcend it. Christ therefore resides in the empyrean heaven, and this is the special and proper dwelling for him and for the angels and other saints: the habitation befits the inhabitants. (…)
Christ ascended all the way to the supersubstantial heaven, which means that he ascended to equality with God, and this is clear from the last chapter of Mark (16: 19): ‘The Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sits at the right hand of God.‘ The right hand of God is coequality with God.“
Why did Christ ascend?
“(…) it is to be noted that his ascension was fruitful or beneficial in nine ways. The first is that it brought down the love of God upon us; John 16: 7: ‘If I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.‘ The second fruit is our greater knowledge of God; John 14: 28: ‘If you loved me, you would indeed be glad because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.‘ (…) The third benefit is the merit of faith. Of this Pope Leo says in his sermon on the Lord‘s ascension: ‘(…) For this is the strength of great minds – to believe without hesitating things that the eye of the body cannot see, and to fix desire on what you cannot reach by sight.‘ (…)
Jacobus de Voragine: The Golden Legend. Readings on the Saints, Princeton University Press 1993, p. 297-298
The fourth fruit is our security. Christ ascended in order to be our advocate with the Father. (…) About this security Bernard says: ‘O man, you have sure access to God, when the mother stands before the Son and the Son stands before the Father, the mother shows her Son her bosom and her breasts, the Son shows his Father his side and his wounds. Surely then, where there are so many works of love, there can be no refusal.‘
The fifth benefit is our dignity. Very great indeed is our dignity, when our nature is exalted to the right hand of God! (…)
The sixth fruit of the Lord‘s ascension is the strengthening of our hope; Heb. 4: 14: ‘Having therefore a great high priest who has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast the confession of our hope‘ (…). On this, Leo again: ‘Christ‘s ascension is our elevation, and where the glory of the head has gone before, there the hope of the body tends also.‘
The seventh benefit is that the way is marked out for us; Mic. 2: 13: ‘He shall go up that shall open the way before them.‘ Augustine: ‘The Savior himself has become your way: arise and walk, you have the way, don‘t be sluggish!‘ The eighth fruit is the opening of the gate of heaven; for as the first Adam opened the gates of hell, so the second the gates of paradise. (…) The ninth is the preparation of the place; John 14: 2: ‘I go to prepare a place for you.‘“
