Scripture tells us that forty days after the Resurrection, Christ invited his disciples and his Mother to the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem. While they were standing together, suddenly angels appeared and gathered Christ into Heaven. As the crowd watched, trying to figure out what was happening, the angels asked a startling question, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?” (Acts 1:11 ESV).

In the icon, we see the ascending Christ robed in gold and seated on a mystical rainbow in front of a mandorla of blue rings, representing the glory of God. Below Christ, in the middle of it all, stands the Theotokos with her hands outstretched in the traditional position of prayer. Unlike the chastened disciples, who are still waiting to be told what to do next, the Theotokos knows what to do. As once she awaited the birth of her son, she now awaits, in expectant prayer, the birth of the Christian Church. (Indeed, the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is only ten days away.)

It is interesting to note that while the disciples gaze up, the iconographer has chosen to devote more space to the earthly mountain and its human turbulence than to the heavenly certainty above. In an echo of the Annunciation, here we witness the disciples’ own “moment of doubt,” where the understanding of God’s plan is unclear; they must wait and ponder. They had lived with Christ for three years, witnessing his miracles, hearing his teachings, basking in his presence. Although Christ was crucified and died, he was resurrected—he seemed to return to them. The ascension of Christ signifies, for the disciples, the beginning of a changed relationship with their beloved teacher, one where their desire and memories impel them into apostolic action, which, once again, will bring them into the presence of the One they love.

The viewer’s own gaze cannot help but settle on the bright intensity of the angels, whose faces are focused on the frail humans, yet whose wings and hands gesture insistently toward Christ above.

When you fulfilled the dispensation for our sake and united earth to heaven, you ascended in glory, O Christ our God, not being parted from those who love you, but remaining with them and crying: I am with you and no one will be against you! 

~ Festal Kontakian

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