Oratio in ascensionem domini Of Saint Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria, on the ascension

of our Lord Jesus Christ

He who in the beginning before the ages was with God, God the Word, the ransom of our souls, the war against the devil, the freedom of the world; He who fashions all things by a word in order to lead us up by grace to His own worthiness; He who raised us up, fallen through sin, by bowing down to us through the incarnation; He who regenerated us, put to death through disobedience, by His own visitation to us, without leaving the Father; He who walked the earth and filled the heavens with Himself when He was with us bodily; He who became all that we are, without sin, and remained immutable; He who did not refuse to suffer anything for our sake, that He might lead us to impassibility; He who was nailed to the cross and opened the gates of paradise; this is He who undertook the struggle against the devil for us and broke the sting of sin and reduced to ashes the pride of the Jews, and emptied their priesthood of its splendors and cast down their temple after it was profaned by impious hands, having ended the covenant, having stopped the worship, and having called the nations; He who abolished death and made earth a heaven by the conduct of angelic citizenships, and nailed to the cross the handwriting of sin that was against us, and recalled us, who had become subject to sin, to adoption as sons through the economy of the Spirit. Today He ascended to where He had not departed from.

Do not delineate the economy as a shadow, do not consider salvation a phantom, do not call the truth 127 a shadow; you have heard that He descended. Understand it thus: He descended here and did not empty the heavens of Himself, for since He was uncircumscribed by nature, He fills heaven and earth according to the prophetic saying. And He was with Mary and with the Father and with Pilate and with angels and in heaven, in Hades and on earth and in the air; for He was God and the charioteer of all things. He came to where He was, He ascended to where He had not departed from. He was in the world; therefore, being in the world by His divinity, how did He come into the world? But since, being in the world by His divinity, He was not seen bodily, He takes up a body so that, seeing God through the body as through a mirror, we might be instructed in piety. Let us reverse the argument: therefore, being on earth, was He also in the heavens? Did He ascend to where He was? But it is not my purpose to fight, for it is not right to mix war with peace. Let us come to dance with Him who has conquered for us today. As He ascends, therefore, to the heavens, let us all follow, let us cast off bodily things, let us renounce pleasures, let us become entirely spirits so that, having followed Him, we may hear the heavenly powers saying: Lift up your gates, you rulers, and be lifted up, you everlasting gates, and the King of glory shall come in. And to those asking, "Who is this King of glory?", let us who have experienced His beneficence answer, and let us who have been freed say that He is the Lord, strong and mighty; The Lord mighty in battle, He is the King of glory. Nothing of our salvation has been kept silent by the prophets, nothing has been stored away in secrets. All that Christ was to suffer for us, He prefigured in prophetic voices, so that when God should come to us and suffer human things, we who had heard beforehand might not be astonished. He was to be born as a man, and Isaiah the prophet says: Behold, a virgin shall conceive in her womb and bear a son, 128 and they shall call his name Emmanuel. He foretold the miracle to the prophet.

Oratio in ascensionem domini Τοῦ ἁγίου Ἀθανασίου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Ἀλεξανδρείας εἰς τὴν ἀνάληψιν

τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ

Ὁ ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν Θεὸς Λόγος, τῶν ἡμετέρων ψυχῶν τὸ λύτρον, τοῦ διαβόλου ὁ πόλεμος, τῆς οἰκουμένης ἡ ἐλευθερία· ὁ πάντα λόγῳ τεκταινόμενος πρὸς τὸ ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν αὐτοῦ ἀξίαν χάριτι ἀναγαγεῖν· ὁ πεπτωκότας ἡμᾶς διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐγείρας τῷ ὑποκύψαι πρὸς ἡμᾶς διὰ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως· ὁ θανατωθέντας ἡμᾶς διὰ τὴν παρακοὴν ἀναγεννήσας διὰ τῆς αὐτοῦ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐπιδημίας καὶ τὸν πατέρα μὴ καταλείψας· ὁ τὴν γῆν πατήσας καὶ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς ἡνίκα ὢν σὺν ἡμῖν σωματικῶς πληρῶν ἑαυτοῦ· ὁ πάντα γενόμενος ὅσα ἡμεῖς χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας καὶ μείνας ἄτρεπτος· ὁ μηδὲν παθεῖν δι' ἡμᾶς παραιτησάμενος, ἵνα ἡμᾶς εἰς ἀπάθειαν ἀγάγῃ· ὁ σταυρῷ προσηλωθεὶς καὶ τὰ τοῦ παραδείσου κλεῖθρα ἀναπετάσας· οὗτος ὁ τὴν πρὸς τὸν διάβολον πάλην δι' ἡμᾶς ἀναδεξάμενος καὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας θλάσας τὸ κέντρον καὶ τῶν Ἰουδαίων τεφρώσας τὸ φρόνημα τῆς τε ἱεροσύνης αὐτῶν κενώσας τὰ μεγαλεῖα καὶ τὸν ναὸν αὐτῶν ἐριπώσας μετὰ τὸ βεβήλων ἄρξαι χειρῶν τὴν διαθήκην παύσας, τὴν λατρείαν στήσας καὶ τὰ ἔθνη προσκαλεσάμενος· ὁ τὸν θάνατον καταργήσας καὶ γῆν οὐρανὸν ποιήσας τῇ τῶν ἀγγελικῶν πολιτευμάτων διαγωγῇ προσηλώσας τε τὸ καθ' ἡμῶν τῆς ἁμαρτίας χειρόγραφον τῷ σταυρῷ καὶ ὑποχειρίους γεναμένους τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ εἰς υἱοθεσίαν ἀνακαλεσάμενος ἡμᾶς διὰ τῆς τοῦ Πνεύματος οἰκονομίας. Σήμερον ἀνῆλθεν ὅθεν οὐκ ἀπελείφθη.

Μὴ σκιὰν ὑπογράφῃς τὴν οἰκονομίαν, μὴ φάντασμα ἡγήσῃ τὴν σωτηρίαν, μὴ σκιὰν 127 εἴπῃς τὴν ἀλήθειαν· ἤκουσας ὅτι κατῆλθεν. Οὕτως νόησον· κατῆλθεν ἐνταῦθα καὶ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς ἑαυτοῦ οὐκ ἐκένωσεν, ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἀπερίγραπτος ἦν τὴν φύσιν, πληροῖ δὲ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν κατὰ τὸ προφητικὸν λόγιον. Καὶ παρὰ Μαρίᾳ ἦν καὶ παρὰ τῷ πατρὶ καὶ παρὰ Πιλάτῳ καὶ παρ' ἀγγέλοις καὶ ἐν οὐρανῷ, ἐν ᾅδῃ καὶ ἐν γῇ καὶ ἐν ἀέρι· Θεὸς γὰρ ἦν καὶ ἡνίοχος τῶν ἁπάντων. Ἦλθεν ὅπου ἦν, ἀνῆλθεν ὅθεν οὐκ ἀπελείφθη. Ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἦν· ἄρα οὖν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ὢν τῇ θεότητι πῶς ἦλθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον; Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ὢν τῇ θεότητι σωματικῶς οὐχ ὁρᾶτο, ἀναλαμβάνει τὸ σῶμα ἵνα διὰ τοῦ σώματος ὡς ἐκ κατόπτρου ὁρῶντες τὸν Θεὸν παιδαγωγηθῶμεν εἰς εὐσέβειαν. Ἀντιστρέψωμεν τὸν λόγον· ἄρα οὖν καὶ ἐν γῇ ὢν εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἦν; ἀνῆλθεν ὅπου ἦν; Ἀλλὰ οὐ μάχεσθαί μοι πρόκειται, οὐδὲ γὰρ δεῖ παραμεῖξαι πόλεμον τῇ εἰρήνῃ. Συνχορεῦσαι τῷ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν σήμερον νενικηκότι παραγενώμεθα, ἀνιόντι τοίνυν αὐτῷ εἰς οὐρανοὺς πάντες ἀκολουθήσωμεν, ῥίψωμεν τὰ σωματικά, ἀποταξώμεθα ταῖς ἡδοναῖς, ὅλοι γενώμεθα πνεύματα ἵνα ἀκολουθήσαντες αὐτῷ ἀκούσωμεν τῶν ἐπουρανίων δυνάμεων λεγούσων· Ἄρατε πύλας, οἱ ἄρχοντες ὑμῶν, καὶ ἐπάρθητε, πύλαι αἰώνιοι, καὶ εἰσελεύσεται ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς δόξης. Καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἐρωτώσας· Τίς ἐστιν οὗτος ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς δόξης;, ἀντιφθεγξώμεθα οἱ πεπειραμένοι τῆς εὐεργεσίας καὶ εἴπωμεν οἱ ἐλευθερωθέντες ὅτι Κύριος κραταιὸς καὶ δυνατός· Κύριος δυνατὸς ἐν πολέμῳ, αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς δόξης. Οὐδὲν σεσιώπηται τῆς εἰς ἡμᾶς σωτηρίας τοῖς προφήταις, οὐδὲν τεταμίευται ἐν ἀπορρήτοις. Πάντα ὅσα ἔμελλεν πάσχειν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ὁ Χριστός, ταῦτα προανετύπωσεν προφητικαῖς φωναῖς, ἵνα ὅταν ἔλθῃ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεὸς καὶ πάθῃ τὰ ἀνθρώπων μὴ ξενισθῶμεν οἱ προακούσαντες. Γεννᾶσθαι ἔμελλεν ὡς ἄνθρωπος καί φησιν Ἡσαΐας ὁ προφήτης· Ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ λήμψεται καὶ τέξεται υἱὸν 128 καὶ καλέσουσιν τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἰμμανουήλ. Προωμίλησεν τῷ προφήτῃ τὸ θαῦμα.