Orthodox Voice

29/05/2026

Jesus did not live with His disciples after His resurrection as He had before His death. Filled with the glory of His divinity, He appeared at different times and places to His people, assuring them that it was He, truly alive in His risen and glorified body.

To them He presented Himself alive after His passion by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days, and speaking of the Kingdom of God (Acts 1.3).

It should be noted that the time span of forty days is used many times in the Bible and signifies a temporal period of completeness and sufficiency (Gen 7.17; Ex 16.35, 24.18; Judg 3.11; 1 Sam 17.16; 1 Kg 19.8; Jon 3.4; Mt 4.2).

On the fortieth day after His passover, Jesus ascended into heaven to be glorified on the right hand of God (Acts 1.9–11; Mk 16.19; Lk 24.51). The ascension of Christ is His final physical departure from this world after the resurrection. It is the formal completion of His mission in this world as the Messianic Saviour. It is His glorious return to the Father Who had sent Him into the world to accomplish the work that He had given him to do (Jn 17.4–5).
. . and lifting His hands He blessed them. While blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy (Lk 24.51–52).

The Church’s celebration of the ascension, as all such festal celebrations, is not merely the remembrance of an event in Christ’s life. Indeed, the ascension itself is not to be understood as though it were simply the supernatural event of a man floating up and away into the skies. The holy scripture stresses Christ’s physical departure and His glorification with God the Father, together with the great joy which His disciples had as they received the promise of the Holy Spirit Who was to come to assure the Lord’s presence with them, enabling them to be His witnesses to the ends of earth (Lk 24.48–53; Acts 1.8–11; Mt 28.20; Mk 16.16–14).

In the Church the believers in Christ celebrate these very same realities with the conviction that it is for them and for all men that Christ’s departure from this world has taken place. The Lord leaves in order to be glorified with God the Father and to glorify us with himself. He goes in order to “prepare a place” for and to take us also into the blessedness of God’s presence. He goes to open the way for all flesh into the “heavenly sanctuary . . . the Holy Place not made by hands” (see Hebrews 8–10). He goes in order send the Holy Spirit, Who proceeds from the Father to bear witness to Him and His gospel in the world, making Him powerfully present in the lives of disciples.

The liturgical hymns of the feast of the Ascension sing of all of these things. The antiphonal verses of the Divine Liturgy are taken from Psalms 47, 48, and 49. The troparion of the feast which is sung at the small entrance is also used as the post-communion hymn.

Thou hast ascended in glory O Christ our God, granting joy to Thy disciples by the promise of the Holy Spirit. Through the blessing they were assured that Thou art the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world! (Troparion).

When Thou didst fulfill the dispensation for our sake, and didst unite earth to heaven, Thou didst ascend in glory, O Christ our God, not being parted from those who love Thee, but remaining with them and crying: I am with you and no one will be against you! (Kontakion).

Read sermon: https://www.oca.org/fs/sermons/sermon-on-the-ascension-of-the-lord

Music downloads: https://www.oca.org/liturgics/music-downloads/ascension-of-our-lord

29/05/2026

29/05/2026

GOSPEL OF THE DAY
John 17:18-26

18.As thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I sent them into the world.
19. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they might also be sanctified through the truth.
20. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word;
21.That they may be one; as thou, Father, art in Me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us:that the world may believe that thou sent me.
22. And the glory which thou gavest Me, I have given them; that they may be one even as we are one:
23. I in them, and thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent Me.
24.Father, I Will that they also, whom thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which thou hast given Me: for thou lovest Me before the foundation of the world.
25. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent Me.
26.And I have declared unto them, thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved Me may be in them.

29/05/2026

AND ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN, AND SAT AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER
Let us not curiously pry into what is properly meant by the throne; for it is incomprehensible.
But neither let us endure those who falsely say, that it was after His cross and resurrection and ascension into heaven, that the Son began to sit on the right hand of the Father. For the Son did not gain His throne by advancement; but through His being - and His being is by eternal generation - He also sits with the Father. And this throne the prophet Isaiah having seen before in the incarnate coming of the saviour, says, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up... Isaiah 6:1

For no one has ever seen the Father(John 1:18), and He who then appeared to the Prophet was the Son.

The psalmist also says, Your throne is prepared from of old; You are from everlasting,( psalm 92, 2)

Many are testimonies to this truth, but we shall content ourselves with these few due to time.

Catechetical Homilies of St Cyril Of Jerusalem.

29/05/2026

PREPARATION FOR COMMUNION
There are basically nine communion prayers to be read on the eve of a communion day( particularly Sunday).
while frequent receiving of communion is good, it can be abused if we take preparation for granted.

when one has the opportunity of receiving communion everyday, this sanctifies the person and reading the lengthy prayers on the eve may become unnecessary as it can become even a hinderance.

where it is therefore necessary is when there are intervals to communion. One may do things contrary to the holy living the communion offers after receiving it; therefore, prayers are necessary: but if this is not the case, the general communion prayers said in the church by the congregation during Divine Liturgy suffices: if there was no mortal sin committed before, in which case the full sacrament of confession would be required.

All things being equal, the nine communion prayers are to be said a day before ( in the evening). It is good to say at least three in the evening (in case one falls into temptation before morning), and then conclude with the remaining six to take care of this situation.

However if one is sure to remain focus till he or she communes, then such a one can complete the nine prayers in the evening at once.

Those who eat and drink unworthily the Eucharist bring condennation to themselves 1 Cor 11:27-32.

with love in Christ
+ Fr. Iakovos James

28/05/2026

wherever the bishop is, there let the multitude be, just as where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.
Letter to the Smyrneans 110AD

St. Ignatuis is the first Church Writer to use the word, Catholic Church meaning universal and complete faith.

By this quote he affirms that anyone who is obedient to the bishop will be protected from heressy.

28/05/2026

ENGLEWOOD, NJ — His Eminence Metr. Saba welcomed seminarians to the headquarters of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America on May 15 for their latest regular gathering before the beginning of summer assignments and internships.

Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America

LINK: https://uoj.news/news/87180-metr-saba-urges-seminarians-toward-compassionate-pastoral-care

28/05/2026

Exactly ten years after the Pan Orthodox Conference in Crete since 2016, Orthodox Scholars accept the need to discuss issues the continuing issues affecting its churches.

St. Vladimir Seminary is chosen for this meeting and some of the bishops who took part in the 2016 conference will be speaking, amongst whom are:bishop maxim vasilijevic of Los Angeles, protopresbyter Nicholas kazarian of the Greek Orthodox Church Of America and a host of others.

It is organised by The Orthodox Theological Society Of America OTSA.

28/05/2026

TBILISI — Georgian Patriarch Ilia II’s successor, Catholicos-Patriarch Shio III, welcomed representatives of the United States State Department to the Patriarchal Residence on May 27, where discussions focused on bilateral relations, Christianity, and cooperation between the two countries.

The American delegation included State Department representatives Charles Yock and Peter Andreoli, along with acting U.S. Ambassador to Georgia Alan Purcell. According to the Georgian Patriarchate’s Public Relations Department, the visitors congratulated Patr. Shio III on his recent appointment as head of the Georgian Orthodox Church and repeatedly emphasized the Church’s historic role in shaping Georgian national identity.

LINK: https://uoj.news/news/87232-patr-shio-hosts-american-officials-at-patriarchal-residence