The Road to Perfection

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. God is one. Amen

Christ is risen! We celebrate today one of the great feasts of the Church year, the Ascension of Our Lord. It is indeed a time for celebration. The vespers for this feast are drawn from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 62, beginning with verse 10: “Go through My gates, and make a way for My people, and cast the stones off the road, lift up a standard for the Gentiles [that is, those who are not Jewish]. For behold, the Lord caused this to be heard to the ends of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your Saviour is come, and has His own reward, and His work before His face.’ One shall call them a holy people, the redeemed of the Lord….”

A note in The Orthodox Study Bible states that: “‘The standard for the Gentiles’ is the Cross, ‘the Saviour’ is Christ, and ‘the redeemed of the Lord’ are the Church.” [p. 1106]. That’s us—“a holy people, the redeemed of the Lord”—living after the Crucifixion, saved by Christ, and now in His Church. As St Leo the Great wrote, during this time between the Resurrection and the Ascension of our Lord, “our faith” has been made “entire and clear of all darkness” [cited by Joanna Manley, The Bible and the Holy Fathers for Orthodox, p. 112]. The epistle today from the opening verses of the Book of Acts tells of how Jesus Christ gathered His Apostles together and “commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father”—that is, the Holy Spirit. The reason for this time of waiting was, and I quote: To “receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Earlier, Jesus had told the disciples firmly to avoid Samaria—that is, to avoid preaching to the Gentiles (Matthew 10.5). Now, He is saying to them that once they receive power from the Holy Spirit, they are to preach not only to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles and to the whole world.

St John Chrysostom points out, and I quote, that the Apostles “saw in the Resurrection the end but not the beginning, and they saw in the Ascension the beginning, but not the end” [Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles 2, cited in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (ACCS), New Testament (NT) V, Acts, p. 10]. St John is pointing out that the Resurrection is, in a sense, the end of the life of Jesus Christ on earth, while the Ascension is, in a sense, the beginning of Christ’s outreach to all humanity, not just to the people of Palestine.

Furthermore, the Ascension is also the beginning of the Apostles and many others asking when Christ would “restore the kingdom to Israel” (Acts 1.6). The Apostles were still thinking in a political and military context about how to defeat the Romans. Yet, in today’s epistle, Jesus Christ tells the apostles, “It is not for you to know the times and the seasons” of future events (Acts 1.6-7). In the 4th century, St Ephrem the Syrian explained to his readers, and I quote, that it has been hidden “from us so that we might think that this [Second] coming [of Christ]  would take place during our life. For, if the time of His coming were to be revealed, His coming would be in vain, and it would not have been desired by the nations and the ages in which it was to take place. He has indeed said that He will come, but He did not define when, and thus all generations and ages thirst for Him,” concluded St Ephrem [Commentary on the Tatian’s Diatessaron, ACCS, NT, Vol. V, p. 8]. For us today, it is helpful to see with St Cyril that, and I quote: “: “The Word made this new pathway for us when He appeared in human form. After this, and in due time, He will come again in the glory of His Father with the angels and will take us up to be with Him. Let us glorify Him,” concluded St Cyril [ACCS, NT, Vol 3, p. 392].

Today’s Gospel from St Luke, chapter 24, describes the precise moment when Jesus Christ blessed the Apostles, “parted from them, and was carried up into heaven” (Luke 24.50-53). St Bede explains, and I quote, that: Christ “pledged that power would come down upon [the Apostles] from on high, because, although they already possessed the Holy Spirit, they received Him more fully once Christ ascended into heaven” [Homilies on the Gospels 11.5, ACCS, NT, Vol. 3, Luke, p. 390].

I find St Bede’s insight helpful. Each of us have already received the Holy Spirit in baptism. Yet, perhaps at times, when we are confronted with difficult decisions, we too must wait “to receive the Holy Spirit more fully.” As we wait, we can pray more carefully, listen more closely to the Lord, and time more cautiously any changes we make in our own lives or interventions in the lives of others. That is a challenging combination—waiting, praying, listening and timing—four guidelines that merge into one decision of when to speak and act. Some help in making those difficult decisions comes from St Thomas, who consistently questioned the Lord until he understood what was asked of him. In the Gospel of St John, chapter 14, which is read tomorrow, St Thomas admits honestly, and I quote, “Lord, we do not know where You are going; how can we know the way?” And Jesus replies, “I am the way, and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by Me” [End quote] (John 14.5-6). St Basil the Great explains, and I quote: “We understand ‘the way’ to be the road to perfection, advancing in order step by step through the words of righteousness and the illumination of knowledge, always yearning for that which lies ahead and straining toward the last mile, until we reach that blessed end, the knowledge of God, with which the Lord blesses those who believe in Him. For truly our Lord is a good way, a straight road with no confusing forks or turns, leading us directly to the Father. For ‘no one comes to the Father,’ He says, ‘except through Me.’ Such is our way up to God through His Son,” concluded St Thomas [ACCS IVb, John 11-21, p. 124]. We too can continue to travel “the way” as a community, here at St Aidan’s, with the Theotokos and many saints, “step by step,” whether in church or on social media.

And so, we ascribe as is justly due all might, majesty, dominion, power and praise to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, always now and ever and unto the ages of ages.              Father Emmanuel Kahn