dear brothers and sisters today we have the great feast of the ascension of the lord, as you know, the offer of 40 days in the church calendar reminds us of this with joyful easter prayers and hymns. christ is risen with such a joyful growth begins each time the easter period is drained with these words, believers greeted each other, the events of the ascension of the lord tell us about the completion of the earthly ministry of the lord jesus christ the lord appeared to his disciples , talked with them, strengthened them in the faith, however

time of sight. stay. christ on earth came to an end even before his crucifixion of the resurrection and from the dead the lord told the disciples that his earthly ministry would be completed and he would have to leave them, when they asked jesus about fasting, he answered them. can the sons of the bridal chamber mourn while the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come when the image of the bridegroom will be taken away from them and then the image of the groom will be fasted - this is one of the gospel images of the savior, and today we remember how this biblical prophecy and the angels' service was fulfilled. he says that after the ascension of christ, the apostles returned to jerusalem with great joy, but at the same time, the ascension is the separation of the disciples from their teacher. that is why

sometimes a question arises among believers. can the ascension of the lord be called a joyful holiday? most often, a church holiday involves triumph and joy, but how can separation from christ be called joy? after all, how joyful it would be for us today to contemplate the savior in the father and directly ask him all the questions that concern us receive a word of consolation or miraculous healing, but in the gospel we see that the disciples who sincerely loved the lord do not remain in sorrow, but rather feel in jerusalem with joy. why so, because even during his earthly life, the lord said such words i will not leave you orphans. i will come to you. a little more and the world will no longer see me. and you will see me, for i live and you

will live. ascending christ leaves the earthly world, but does not leave, the first christians who believe in him clearly realized this important truth. that is why among them there was a tradition to greet each other with the words christ in the midst of us to answer them is and will be with these words today during the divine liturgy the clergy greet each other. therefore, the ascension in no way deprives us of the joy of being with christ; on the contrary , the ascension day is the threshold of another joyful event. after all, in just 10 days. we will celebrate pentecost or the day of the holy trinity, the fiftieth day after the bright resurrection of christ, the holy spirit. and this event radically changed her life

. pentecost is rightfully called the birthday of the church from that moment on. the holy apostles not only themselves were in the joy of communion with god, but also shared this joy with all others, preaching about the saving resurrection of christ even to the ends of the universe. but why does the lord jesus christ not immediately grant us the kingdom of heaven, about which he spoke so often in the war of his earthly ministry. heaven, but the biblical text itself, tells us that during the ascension by the apostle angels appeared and announced to the man of galilee that you are standing, look at the sky, all jesus who has lifted up from you will come in the same way as you saw him ascending. the text

of the new testament books very clearly contains the idea that the first christians were waiting for a speedy return. christ returning in glory to judge the living and the dead, but what the lord himself said about this, he likened the kingdom of heaven, now to a cast net, now to a sown field a for a rich catch of fish and for a bean harvest of wheat, it takes time, labor is required. ascension of the lord is an amazing event that ends 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 is expected by all mankind in the future, we are openly blessed with the opportunity of salvation. this is the time at which every person is called to hear and accept the salutary gospel words, to learn

the spiritual life, to do alms and good deeds. the feast of the ascension of the lord is a reminder to us that today we are recognized to take advantage of all the spiritual wealth of the church of christ and in full to perceive the fruits of the saving feat of our lord, because jesus died. and he resurrected not only for the sake of the apostle, but so that as many people as possible could believe in him and enter the kingdom of heaven, he died. for all mankind , christ did not remain their disciples alone, but today, being the omnipresent god, he is present among us who believe in him, and this can be especially clearly felt in the sacrament of the eucharist at every divine liturgy. we don't just remember the events of the crucifixion. christ his

death islam resurrection christ himself meets his body and blood in old age, as then, at the moment of the secret party, the ascension of the lord encourages us with a reminder that christ will go again to this earth, but not in modest obscurity, but in heavenly glory and this is the event for which we his disciples must prepare. in the gospel, we repeatedly meet references to how the apostles tried to find out about the exact time of the second coming of christ to earth, but also in their parables and in frank speeches. jesus called all to one to watch. you are always ready to meet him, this requires us great responsibility of attention to your life. in one of the gospel speeches we find such an image. the lord says that if

the owner of the house had known what kind of watch the thief would come, he would have been awake and would not have allowed his house to be dug up, because at that time theft was carried out in this way. this image reminds us of the importance of daily spiritual wakefulness in spite of popular attempts to guess the end of the world. the real christian is not concerned with explaining the signs of the second coming of christ because he is trying to live. as if to meet with our lord today, on this day , it is precisely such constant vigilance that the holy gospel reminds us of. this is what the savior tells us. and it is especially important to reflect on this, because sometimes we plunge into

earthly cares. in the vanity of many cares in experiences, we can lose due attention to our spiritual life, lose this constant assessment. and what happens inside me, as far as it is pleasing to god, as far as it is correct and corresponds to the gospel. but today the ascended christ also lifts up our mind to the heavenly mountain eternal. and therefore , dear brothers and sisters, the lord, jesus christ who ascended into heaven did not leave us, and today he invisibly, but in the most effective way, abides among us. let this knowledge be the certainty of it. on the one hand, it inspires us with genuine, spiritual joy , on the other hand, it encourages us to take a responsible attitude towards our lives, like the great, this is

live news in the studio sergey lugovskiy hello, see the issue of the second day of the economic forum from the meeting of the supreme eurasian economic council the working visit of our president to russia continues