Ascension
For other meanings see Ascension (disambiguation)
The Ascension is one of the great feasts in the Christian liturgical calendar, and commemorates the bodily Ascension of Jesus Christ into Heaven forty days after His resurrection from the dead. The event is recorded in the New Testament in Acts Chapter 1. In the Eastern Orthodox Church the Ascension is one of twelve Great Feasts.
Ascension Day is always a Thursday; in some churches (especially in the United States) it is commemorated on the subsequent Sunday (the Sunday before Pentecost). The three days before Ascension Thursday are sometimes referred to as the Rogation days (and the previous Sunday as Rogation Sunday). In some countries (e.g. Scandinavia or Germany) it is a public holiday.
The term is also used to refer to the disappearances into heaven of Enoch and Elijah.
