In ascensionem Christi

Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, on the Custom Called in the Local Dialect of the Cappadocians “Episoizomene,” Which Is the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ. How sweet a companion of human life is the prophet David, found on all the paths of life, mixing appropriately with every spiritual age, and touching every rank of those who advance: he plays with the children of God, he contends with the men, he educates the youth, he supports old age, he becomes all things to all people: the weapon of soldiers, the trainer of athletes, the wrestling-ground of those in training, the crown of the victors, the joy at table, the consolation at funerals. There is nothing in our life that does not partake of this grace. What power of prayer is there in which David does not join? What joy of a feast does the prophet not brighten? This indeed can now be seen, that the feast, already great for us, the prophet has made greater through himself, having contributed appropriately to the subject the joy from the Psalms. For in one he bids you become a sheep pastured by God, lacking none of the good things, for whom the good shepherd becomes both grass of the pasture and water of rest and food and shelter and path and guidance and everything, dividing his own grace appropriately for every need.

through all of which he instructs the church, that you must first become a sheep of the good shepherd, being led by good catechesis to the divine pastures and springs of teachings, in order to be buried with him through baptism into death, and not to fear such a death; for this is not death, but a shadow and impression of death. For if I go, he says, in the midst of the shadow of death, I will not fear what happens as an evil, because you are with me. After this, having encouraged with the staff of the Spirit (for the Paraclete is the Spirit), he sets forth the mystical table, prepared as the opposite of the table of demons; for those were the ones who, through idolatry, crushed the life of men; opposite to which is the table of the Spirit. Then he anoints the head with the oil of the Spirit, and having set before him wine that gladdens the heart, he produces that sober intoxication in the soul, having turned the thoughts from the temporal to the eternal; for he who tastes such intoxication exchanges the short-lived for the endless, extending the sojourn in the house of God to a length of days. Having bestowed such things upon us in one of the psalms, he rouses the soul to greater and more perfect joy in the following psalm, and, if you wish, let us set forth its meaning for you, abridging it briefly: The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness. Why then are you astonished, O man, that our God appeared on earth and lived among men? For the earth is his creation, because it is also his work.

Therefore, it is nothing new nor contrary to what is fitting for the master to come into his own domain; for he does not come into a foreign world, but into one which he himself established, having founded the earth upon the seas and prepared it to be suitable for the passage of rivers. For what purpose, then, is his presence? So that, having cast you out of the pits of sin, he may lead you up to the mountain of the kingdom, using as a vehicle for the ascent the life lived according to virtue; for it is not possible to ascend that mountain unless one travels with the virtues, becoming innocent in one's hands and stained by no evil deed, and pure in heart, directing one's soul toward nothing vain and contriving no deceit against one's neighbor. The reward of this ascent is the blessing; the Lord gives to this one the mercy that is stored up. This is the generation of those who seek him, of those who ascend to the height through virtue and seek the face of the God of Jacob. What follows in the psalmody is perhaps even higher than the gospel teaching itself; for the gospel narrated the Lord's sojourn and conduct on earth, but this exalted prophet, stepping out of himself, as if not to be weighed down by the drag of the body, and mingling himself with the supramundane powers, rehearses for us their voices, when, escorting the master on his descent, they command the angels of the lower regions, who are entrusted with the entrances of human life, to be lifted up, saying: "Lift up your gates, you rulers, and be raised up, eternal gates, and the king of glory will enter.

And since, when the one who contains the whole within himself comes into whatever receives him, he makes himself commensurate with that which receives him (for he becomes not only a man among men, but, as a necessary consequence, when he becomes present among angels, he also lowers himself to their nature), for this reason the gatekeepers need someone to point out: Who is this king of glory? For whose sake do they display the one who is mighty and powerful in war, the one who is about to wrestle with the one who took human nature captive and to destroy the one who holds the power of death, so that when the ultimate enemy is annihilated, the human race may be recalled to freedom and peace? Again he goes through the same cries (for the mystery of death has already been fulfilled, the victory over the enemies has been accomplished, and the trophy against them, the cross, has been raised, and again the one who takes captivity captive has ascended into the height, the one who gave both life and the kingdom, these good gifts to men), and again the gates above must be opened for him. Our guards take up the escort in turn and command that the gates above be opened for him, so that he may be glorified again within them; but the one who wears the squalid garment of our life is unknown, whose garment is stained red from the winepress of human evils.

Therefore, from them comes this interrogative utterance to those who lead the procession: "Who is this king of glory?" Then their answer is no longer: "The mighty and powerful in war," but: "The Lord of the powers, who has assumed the dominion of the whole, who has recapitulated all things in himself, who is preeminent in all, who has restored all things to the first creation—He is the king of glory." Do you see how David has made the feast sweeter for us, having mingled his own grace with the brightness of the Church? Therefore, let us also imitate the prophet, in whatever ways it is possible to achieve the imitation: in love toward God, in gentleness of life, in patience toward those who hate us, so that the prophet's teaching of the godly way of life may become a guide in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.