Ascension of Christ

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One of the oldest depictions of the Assumption as an ivory relief, Milan or Rome around 400 (so-called "Reidersche Tafel", Bavarian National Museum , Munich)
Depiction of the Ascension in the Rabbula Gospels (sixth century, folio 13v)

Ascension of Christ ( ancient Greek ἡ Ἀνάληψις τοῦ Κυρίου “Análēpsis tou kyríou”, “the reception of the Lord”, Latin Ascensio Domini “ascent of the Lord”), in Switzerland and Liechtenstein called ascent ( Alemannic Uuffert ), denotes the return of Jesus in Christian faith Christ as Son of God to his Father in heaven. Ascension Day is celebrated on the 40th day of Easter , 39 days after Easter Sunday . That is why the festival always falls on a Thursday .

In the liturgy and customs of the Roman Catholic Church, the time before the feast of the Ascension is connected with the days of prayer , in many places also with prayer processions (also called Ösch processions ).

Ascension Chapel on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem (around 1150)

New Testament

In the biblical text, an “ascension” is only told in the Gospel of Luke 24: 50–53 EU and in the Acts of the Apostles of Luke 1: 1–11 EU as a visible process: the risen Christ disappeared before the eyes of his disciples and was lifted up into heaven . An elevation into the sky is missing in important Greek manuscripts. Only in the Acts of the Apostles is there a time of forty days, during which the risen One showed himself to his disciples beforehand .

An ascension is briefly mentioned in 1 Petr 3.22  EU , Heb 4.14  EU and 9.24 EU and - according to Christian interpretation - in Psalm 47  EU and Psalm 68 , 19 EU . The other three Gospels do not contain a story of the Ascension, the mention in Mk 16.19  EU is a later extension of the Gospel text from the 2nd century. Also in the letters of Paul of Tarsus there is no reference to an ascension independent of the resurrection .

Exegesis of the representation of the "Ascension" by Luke

Lucanian representation

The two central points of the Ascension are Luke 24.50–51 and Acts 1, 3, 9–10:

“ 3 After his suffering, he showed them through much evidence that he was alive; For forty days he appeared to them and spoke of the kingdom of God. […]
9 When he had said this, he was lifted up before their eyes, and a cloud took him up and took him away from their sight.
10 While they were steadfastly looking up to heaven after him, behold, two men in white robes stood by them ... "

“ 50 Then he led them out near Bethany. There he raised his hands and blessed them.
51 And it came to pass, while he was blessing her, that he left her and was lifted up into heaven. "

exegesis

  • In today's theology there is agreement that “ascension” is not a “change of location”, not a kind of “space launch” and that Jesus should not be portrayed as a “rocket man”.
  • The “40 days” chosen by Luke are seen as a symbolic representation, since the 40 days have a high biblical symbolic value.
  • “The cloud that Jesus hides from the eyes of the disciples is already a symbol of the powerful appearance and presence of God in the Old Testament. What is meant is that Jesus entered the world of God, which transcends space and time, into the glory of God. "
  • The “heaven” does not stand for the atmosphere, for the universe or for a “rear world” (Nietzsche), but symbolizes the “final entry of human nature into divine glory”. "What is meant is not a spatial place beyond the world, but the communion of Jesus with the Father and the common exercise of the rulership of God by the Father and the Son."

Early Christian theology

Belief in the Ascension is attested in early Christian texts and creeds, e.g. B. Polycarp of Smyrna , Justin and Irenaeus of Lyons . The belief in the Ascension is already expressed in the Romanum , the forerunner of the Apostolicum and the Nicano-Constantinopolitanum :

“I believe in [...] Jesus Christ, who [...] rose
from the dead on the third day,
ascended to heaven and
sits at the right hand of the Father,
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead . "

Resurrection and Ascension

The relationship between the resurrection and ascension of Christ was and is the subject of theological debate. In traditional theology there is a clear distinction to Easter, on which the resurrection of Jesus Christ is celebrated on the third day after his death. After his death on the cross , Jesus first descended into a hereafter located “in the depths” (“descended into the kingdom of death”, see also Jesus' journey into hell ), from which he rose again on the third day to the living. In contrast, the ascension of Jesus describes the later event that Jesus physically came into the hereafter without dying (again) and without leaving a corpse behind. During this ascension to heaven, he ascended to a hereafter “on high” (see heaven ). By adhering to the only concrete time information in the Bible, then passed between the resurrection and ascension forty days ( Acts 1,3.9f  EU ), although Lk 24,51  EU seems to suggest on Easter day an Ascension. Therefore, the feast of Ascension is celebrated 40 days after Easter.

Conversely, many theologians today emphasize the commonality of resurrection and ascension . According to Conzelmann / Lindemann , there is no fundamental difference between the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus: “In general, the resurrection of Jesus was never understood as the mere resuscitation of his corpse [...]; the Easter event means Jesus' establishment in a unique dignity (cf. Rom 1,3f  LUT ), so basically resurrection and exaltation at the same time. This also applies where, as in the hymn Phil 2, 6-11 LUT, only the exaltation is mentioned, but not the resurrection, or where, conversely, an explicit statement  about exaltation is missing (cf. 1 Cor 15.4 f.  LUT ). The accent is set differently in each case; but there is no fundamental difference. "

“Only later are resurrection and exaltation (ascension) deliberately separated from each other, but without a unified view (according to Lk 24.51  LUT the ascent to heaven took place on Easter day, according to Acts 1.3.9 f.  LUT only forty Days after). ([...] is later made between the actual Easter appearances on earth Lk 24  LUT ; Ac 1  LUT ) (and the other appearances of Christ from heaven Acts 7.55 f.  LUT ; Ac ff 9.3.  LUT ) "The basic event. is the victory. God draws his Son out and up. This is a triumph over all the powers of this world, a triumph in which all Christians share.

"Exaltation" of Christ "at the right hand of God"

From the point of view of today's theology, “exaltation” of Christ and “ascension” of Christ mean “factually the same”. “In Lukan Christology, resurrection and ascension are set apart from one another by a temporal interstitium of 40 days, but not objectively separated from one another. The Ascension coincides with the last apparition of Easter ”.

The expression that Christ “sits at the right hand of God” is “of course meant figuratively”. The picture ties in with the ancient idea that on the right hand of a king, etc., “the chancellor or the head of government sits, so to speak”. “It is meant to say that Jesus shared in the glory, lordship, power and divinity of God. He is now “the Lord” or “our Lord” (cf. 1 Cor 1: 9; 6:17, etc.). The exaltation therefore means the installation of Jesus in God-like position of power. "

“By the right hand of the Father we understand the glory and honor of the Godhead, in which the Son of God exists as God in essence with the Father from eternity and in which he now, after he became flesh in the last times, also in body sits, because his flesh is co-glorified "

- John of Damascus , fo 4,2

This is interpreted as the fulfillment of the vision of the prophet Daniel (Dan 7:14) and in eschatological analogy as a "continuation" of Christ's exaltation on the cross :

“He emptied himself and became like a slave and like men. His life was that of a man; he humbled himself and was obedient until death, until death on the cross. That is why God exalted him above all and gave him the name that is greater than all names "

- Phil 2.8-9  EU .

Liturgy and Customs

Last footprint of Christ in the Chapel of the Assumption

The solemn feast of Ascensio Domini is attested in the liturgy of Jerusalem since 383/384 through the itinerary of the pilgrim Egeria . According to the Lukan texts, the appointment is forty days after Easter or ten days before Pentecost . The three days before Ascension Day are celebrated as supplication days ( Latin rogationes or litaniae minores "small litanies ") with the so-called supplication processions , field walks as intercessions for a good harvest. The days of prayer are in a certain tension to the joyful character of Easter, which liturgically ends with the feast of Pentecost. In Swabia, solemn petition processions on Ascension Day are called “Oeschprozession” (from old German esch “grain part of the district”). Until 1955, the day before Ascension Day was celebrated as a vigil .

In Erftstadt- Gymnich the Gymnicher Ritt takes place on Ascension Day , a corridor procession in which riders and pilgrims take part. Processions were also common in some places on the Friday after Ascension Day, the “hail Friday” or “shower Friday”, or on the following Sunday. The week of Ascension was therefore also referred to as walking week, prayer week, praying week or week of the cross , because the processions were preceded by the cross . In addition to “preservation of creation” in continuation of the original agrarian orientation, work for everyone, peace, bread for the world and reverence for human life can also be motifs of the petition processions today.

In the Catholic customs of some areas (e.g. in the Bavarian Mittenwald or in the Neustift monastery in South Tyrol ) the statue of the risen Christ is pulled through the " Heiliggeistloch " onto the church granary on Ascension Day . The nine days between Ascension Day and Pentecost are the time of the Pentecost Novena , during which special prayer is made for the gifts of the Holy Spirit .

Christ in the mandorla , carried by angels. Tempera on wood by Andrea Mantegna (around 1461)
Vanishing Christ with the inscription “Omnes traham ad me ipsum” (“I will draw everyone to myself”, 1597), Ribe Cathedral

In the churches of the Byzantine rite , Easter ends on the day before the Feast of Ascension. The Divine Liturgy is celebrated again as on Easter Sunday, only the readings are different. Finally, in a solemn procession, the epitaphion (shroud) is carried away from the altar, on which it was visible to the faithful, as a symbol of the empty grave throughout Easter.

The texts of the Ascension Day themselves are an expression of joy: the ascent is understood as a triumph over the earthly and entrance into the glory of the Father and is connected with the joyful expectation of the sending of the Spirit. The Kontakion expresses the festive secret with these words: “After you have fulfilled the plan of salvation for us and have reunited the earthly with the heavenly, you ascend into glory, Christ our God. But you did not leave us, no, inseparably you call out to those who love you: I am with you and no one can be against you. "

iconography

The ascension motif is not found in early Christian catacomb painting . From the fourth century onwards it unfolds in different varieties:

  • Christ walks up to heaven and is received by the hand of God .
  • From the sixth century onwards, Christ is surrounded by a mandorla - also in depictions of the Ascension - which is usually lifted upwards by four angels .
  • Around 1000 the type of the disappearing Christ appears. Often only the legs or feet including the footprint remain visible, from the 14th century only the footprints are visible.

In the Catholic iconography of the Baroque period , the motif of the Ascension of Christ recedes somewhat in favor of the Assumption of Mary into heaven and the glorification of other popular saints.

Musical processing

meeting

The feast of Ascension is celebrated as a solemn feast in the liturgy of the Catholic Church , the Orthodox Church and the Anglican Church . The date of the solemn festival depends on the date of the movable Easter festival . The earliest possible date is April 30th, the latest June 3rd.

Ascension Day from 2016 to 2026
  • 2016: May 5th
  • 2017: May 25th
  • 2018: May 10th
  • 2019: May 30th
  • 2020: May 21
  • 2021: May 13th
  • 2022: May 26th
  • 2023: May 18th
  • 2024: May 9th
  • 2025: May 29th
  • 2026: May 14th

holiday

Ascension Day has been a public holiday in Germany since 1934 , also in Switzerland (referred to there as Ascension ), in Austria as well as in Belgium , Denmark , Finland , France , Greenland , Haiti , Indonesia , Iceland , Colombia , Liechtenstein , Luxembourg , Madagascar , Namibia , the Netherlands , Norway and Sweden .

In Italy , Poland and Hungary the festival has been abolished as a public holiday and is only celebrated in church on the following Sunday. Efforts are underway in Italy to reintroduce Ascension Day as a public holiday.

In the secular area, the public holiday in Germany became Father's Day , regionally also referred to as men's day . On this day there are customs such as the “Herrenpartie” (a carriage ride or a hike in nature with the consumption of alcohol) or day trips with the whole family.

In 2008, Ascension Day fell on “ Labor Day ” (May 1st). However, this only happens very rarely, previously in 1913 and then again in 2160.

Ascension is a year in Aachen City Hall of the Charlemagne Prize awarded.

See also

literature

New Testament and theological

  • Alfons Weiser , Horst Georg Pöhlmann :  Ascension of Christ I. New Testament II. Church history / systematic-theological . In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie (TRE). Volume 15, de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1986, ISBN 3-11-008585-2 , pp. 330–341.
  • AW Zwiep: The Ascension of the Messiah in Lukan Christology. Supplements to Novum Testamentum 87. Brill, Leiden 1997, ISBN 90-04-10897-1 .
  • Markus Mühling: Basic information eschatology. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-525-03619-8 , pp. 101-122, especially pp. 117-119.
  • Thomas Marschler : Resurrection and Ascension of Christ in Scholastic Theology up to Thomas Aquinas (= contributions to the history of philosophy and theology of the Middle Ages . NF 64, 1–2). Aschendorff, Münster 2003, ISBN 3-402-04017-4 .
  • Douglas Farrow: Ascension and Ecclesia. On the Significance of the Doctrine of the Ascension for Ecclesiology and Christian Cosmology. T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh 1999, ISBN 0-567-08676-3 .
  • Jens Herzer : Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Christmas. What do we know about the origins of Christianity? (=  Focus: The Bible  4). Evangelical Main Biblical Society and von Cansteinsche Bibelanstalt, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-7461-0144-1 (generally understandable and scientifically sound).
  • Fritz Rienecker (Ed.): Lexicon for the Bible. SCM R. Brockhaus, Witten 2013 (first edition Wuppertal 1960), ISBN 978-3-417-26550-7 .
  • Hans Conzelmann : Outline of the theology of the New Testament, edited by Andreas Lindemann. 4th edition. UTB 1446, Tübingen 1987, ISBN 3-16-145161-9 .

Christian festival calendar

  • Hans-Christoph Schmidt-Lauber :  Ascension Day . In: Theological Real Encyclopedia (TRE). Volume 15, de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1986, ISBN 3-11-008585-2 , pp. 341-344.
  • Hans Jürgen Milchner (Ed.): Ascension - celebrate the closeness of Christ. Sermons and liturgical drafts (= service to the word 72). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1996, ISBN 3-525-59337-6 .
  • Hermann Ühlein: hymn and text history. Literary tradition formation using the example of the German Ascension Song from the Enlightenment to the present (= Pietas liturgica, Studia 10). Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg / EOS, St. Ottilien 1995, ISBN 3-8260-1081-7 .
  • Friedrich Benesch : The event of the ascension of Christ. The forty days. 4th edition, Urachhaus, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-87838-285-5 .
  • Hermann Kirchhoff : Ascension to Saint Martin in Christian customs. Kösel, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-466-36256-3 .
  • Joachim Conrad : The Ascension of Christ. Practical theological considerations for a fading festival (Heidelberg Studies on Practical Theology, Vol. 3), Hamburg 2002

Web links

Commons : Ascension Day  - collection of images
Wiktionary: Ascension Day  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Johannes M. Vorteilel: Ascension of Christ. I. New Testament . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 5 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1996, Sp. 122 .
  2. ↑ Uta Ranke-Heinemann: Instructions for the doubt of faith. Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1992, p. 346.
  3. ↑ Uta Ranke-Heinemann : Instructions for the doubt of faith. Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1992, p. 345.
  4. ↑ Gerhard Lohfink , Catholica 1/1963, p. 49.
  5. ^ Gerhard Ludwig Müller : Catholic dogmatics: for study and practice of theology. 2nd edition of the special edition (7th complete edition), Herder, Freiburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-451-28652-0 , p. 305
  6. ↑ German Bishops' Conference (ed.): Catholic adult catechism. Volume 1: The Church's Creed. 4th edition. Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer, 1989, p. 210 online
  7. ↑ Stefan Oster : The Credo. Instructions for use for life. Stuttgart, Katholisches Bibelwerk 2019, ISBN 978-3-460-25603-3 , p. 228
  8. ↑ German Bishops' Conference (ed.): Catholic adult catechism. Volume 1: The Church's Creed. 4th edition. Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer, 1989, p. 210 online
  9. ↑ German Bishops' Conference (ed.): Catholic adult catechism. Volume 1: The Church's Creed. 4th edition. Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer, 1989, p. 210 online
  10. ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church (1997) No. 659 online
  11. ^ Gerhard Ludwig Müller : Catholic dogmatics: for study and practice of theology. 2nd edition of the special edition (7th complete edition), Herder, Freiburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-451-28652-0 , p. 304
  12. ↑ a b Conzelmann, p. 49.
  13. ↑ German Bishops' Conference (ed.): Catholic adult catechism. Volume 1: The Church's Creed. 4th edition. Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer, 1989, p. 210 online
  14. ^ Gerhard Ludwig Müller : Catholic dogmatics: for study and practice of theology. 2nd edition of the special edition (7th complete edition), Herder, Freiburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-451-28652-0 , p. 304
  15. ↑ German Bishops' Conference (ed.): Catholic adult catechism. Volume 1: The Church's Creed. 4th edition. Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer, 1989, p. 209 online
  16. ↑ Stefan Oster : The Credo. Instructions for use for life. Stuttgart, Katholisches Bibelwerk 2019, ISBN 978-3-460-25603-3 , p. 243
  17. ↑ German Bishops' Conference (ed.): Catholic adult catechism. Volume 1: The Church's Creed. 4th edition. Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer, 1989, p. 209 online
  18. ↑ Catholic Church : Catechism of the Catholic Church. Oldenbourg [ua], Munich [ua] 1993, ISBN 3-486-55999-0 , no. 663 online
  19. ↑ Catholic Church : Catechism of the Catholic Church. Oldenbourg [u. a.], Munich [u. a.] 1993, ISBN 3-486-55999-0 , no. 664 online
  20. ↑ Catholic Church : Catechism of the Catholic Church. Oldenbourg [u. a.], Munich [u. a.] 1993, ISBN 3-486-55999-0 , no. 662 online
  21. ↑ Kluge: Etymological dictionary of the German language. De Gruyter, Berlin, New York, 23rd edition, 1999, p. 233.
    Dieter Manz: The pious city. The episcopal city of Rottenburg a. N. in the mirror of their church and piety history. Kunstverlag Josef Fink, Lindenberg im Allgäu 2009, ISBN 978-3-89870-596-7 , p. 211.
  22. ↑ Andreas Heinz : Petition processions. In: Wolfgang Meurer (ed.): People of God on the way. Movement elements in worship. Matthias Grünewald Verlag, Mainz 1989, ISBN 3-7867-1433-9 , p. 130.
  23. ↑ Apostle: Acts 18: 22-28  EU ; Gospel: Joh 12,36-47  EU
  24. ↑ Christian iconography in key words. Koehler and Amelang, Berlin 1973, p. 177 f.