dear brothers and sisters, i congratulate you on the feast of the ascension of the lord. the establishment of the feast of the ascension of the lord reminds us of the completion of the earthly ministry of the lord jesus christ. for 40 days, the risen lord appeared to his disciples, talked with them, strengthened them in faith, and gave them the opportunity to be convinced that he was truly their beloved teacher who had risen. however, the time of christ's mature stay on earth came to an end. narrating about this event, the apostle and evangelist luke reports that the lord brought them out. from the city of dobethania and then, raising

his hands, blessed them; when he blessed them at that moment, the lord began to move away from them and ascend to heaven. even before his crucifixion and resurrection from the dead, the lord told his disciples that when his earthly ministry was completed, he would have to leave them.

evangelist luke says that after the ascension of christ, the apostles returned to jerusalem with great joy. why is that? because even during his earthly life the lord uttered such words. i will not leave you orphans. i'll come to to you. a little more and the world will no longer see me. and you will see me, for i live. ascending, christ... abandons the earthly world, but does not leave those who believe in him, and continues to be present next to us, but invisibly, the first christians clearly realized this important truth, so a tradition arose among them to greet each other with the words, christ is among us, and there will be an answer to this greeting, with these words today during the divine liturgy...

but why does the lord jesus christ not immediately grant us the kingdom of heaven, about which he so often spoke during the days of his earthly ministry. yes, christ ascends to heaven, but the biblical text itself tells us that during...

the idea that the first christians were waiting for the imminent return of christ, the return in glory to judge the living and the dead, but what did he say about this? lord, he likened the kingdom of heaven, now to a cast net, now to a sown field, now to a precious pearl, and time is required for a rich catch of fish and an abundant harvest of wheat. the ascension of the lord

is an amazing event that completes the time of the earthly ministry of christ and opens the time of the earthly ministry of the church. from now until the second coming of the lord, which awaits all humanity in the future, but hidden from us, the grace-filled opportunity of salvation is open to us, this is the time in which every person is called to hear and accept the saving words of the gospel, learn spiritual life, do alms and good deeds. the feast of the ascension of the lord is a reminder to us that today we... are called to take advantage of all the spiritual riches that the church of christ offers to everyone its member, to fully perceive the fruits of the saving feat of our lord. after all, jesus died and rose again not only for the sake of the apostle,

but so that as many people as possible would believe in him and enter the kingdom of heaven. christ did not leave his disciples alone. but being the omnipresent god, he is present among us with his spirit, present next to us who believe in him. and this can be felt especially clearly in the sacrament of the eucharist. at each divine liturgy, we not only remember the events of the crucifixion of christ, his glorious death and resurrection. christ himself meets us with the mystery of his body and blood. as then at the time of the last supper, which is why it is so important for a christian every week, especially on sundays on holidays, to try to be in the temple of god, to pray, to participate in the divine liturgy in the eucharist, despite

the widespread attempts among the people to guess the end of the world, a christian is not concerned with finding out the signs of the second advent. christ, because he tries to live as if he will meet his lord today. but in fact, every christian is called spend his day before the lord in the awareness that the lord is nearby, looking at him. this is our faith. it is precisely this kind of constant vigilance that the holy gospel reminds us of. all of this is especially important to think about. because sometimes everyday worries so captivate us that it becomes easy, easy to lose attention to spiritual life, to forget about our christian calling, but today the ascended christ lifts our mind to the heavenly, the heavenly,

the eternal. dear brothers and sisters, the lord jesus christ ascended to heaven, but did not leave us, and today he... invisibly, but in the most effective way, remains with us, let the awareness of this instill in us truly spiritual joy, at the same time, help us to be collected and attentive to our everyday life. in conclusion, i want to say that the meaning of today's holiday can be perceived in its entirety only by thinking about the holiday. the resurrection of christ, the pascha of the lord, on the feast of the holy trinity, because the work of salvation of the human race, it was accomplished through many events and phenomena in the life of the primal church, therefore we

as we experience the holidays, we regularly comprehend this or that event in the life of christ, in the life of the church, and thus... are called upon over the years, over time , to delve deeper into the incomprehensible mysteries of god, but at the same time, realizing that we are also much more we have not mastered it, taking into account the fact that god’s judgments are incomprehensible and whoever knows the wisdom of god, but at the same time we will strive for this, this will make our life more conscious, sublime and perfect. happy holiday, happy saint.

you are watching news live. on the air, with you elizaveta lokotko. good morning in this release: digitalization, agribusiness and business initiatives, more than $33 billion in export revenue, thanks to the implementation of state programs of belarus. acrid smoke and bright flames and a fire at an oil refinery in iraq. samba athletics, heavy and light. the brix games are taking place in kazan, already at 10 am, we are cheering for our team in swimming. in 3 years.