The forty days of our celebration of the Holy Pascha came to end. During this time, the Lord appeared many times to the Most Holy Mother of God, the disciples, and the myrrh-bearing women in Judea and Galilee instructing them about the Kingdom of God. As they were transmitted orally from generation to generation, the stories about those events became what has become known today as the Holy Church tradition.

The last appearance of the Risen Lord has taken place on the fortieth day. On that day, following a conversation in the Upper Room on Mount Zion, Christ, His Most Holy Mother of God, and the disciples stepped out to the streets of Jerusalem. Crossing of the Kedron Valley, they ascended the Mount of Olives. The Garden of Gethsemane, where the Savior prayed to Heavenly Father, is located at the bottom of it. This is the garden where Judas betrayed Him. When they reached the summit of the Mount of Olives, the Lord stopped and blessed His Most Pure Mother, the apostles, and the myrrh-bearing women. As He was blessing them, he was taken up in the air ascending further and further away so that the cloud covered Him. Still, Christ is ever-present in our midst, for He said: “I am with you always, even to the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20).

On the eve of the feast and on the feast day, the services at the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery were celebrated at the Trinity, the Transfiguration, and the Annunciation Cathedrals, as well as the Church to the Nativity of the Mother of God.