68 Ascension
Ascension This feast, observed by the church from
at least the fourth century, commemorates the last
appearance and ascent of Christ from the Mount of
Olives into heaven on the 40th day after Easter. Its
celebration included processions and dramatic presen-
tation. The first representations of the Ascension date
from the end of the fourth century. In detail, they
depicted Christ ascending into heaven from a mountain
and being taken up by the hand of GODthe Father.
During the Middle Ages, the hand tended to disappear,
replaced by an image containing angels more or less
accompanying a rising Christ watched by the Blessed
VIRGIN, reassuring the apostles. These images some-
times focused on Christ’s feet disappearing over the
scene of the Virgin and apostles. In ITA LYChrist’s face
was retained in his ascent over the just also rising on
the Day of or LASTJUDGMENT.
Further reading: J. G. Davies, He Ascended into
Heaven: A Study in the History of Doctrine(London: But-
terworth Press, 1958); Brian K. Donne, Christ Ascended: A
Study in the Significance of the Ascension of Jesus Christ in
the New Testament(Exeter, England: Paternoster Press,
1983); Douglas Farrow, Ascension and Ecclesia: On the Sig-
nificance of the Doctrine of the Ascension for Ecclesiology
and Christian Cosmology (Edinburgh: T & T Clark,
1999); William H. Marrevee, The Ascension of Christ in the
Works of St. Augustine (Ottawa: University of Ottawa
Press, 1967).Ascension of Christ into Heaven,Giotto di Bondone (1266–1336), in the Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy (Scala/Art Resource)