Ascension of the Lord

“After fulfilling for us Your Plan of Redemption and joining the things of earth with those of heaven, You gloriously ascended, O Christ our God, without abandoning us, but remained with us forever and proclaimed to those love You: ‘Behold, I am with you; no one has power against you!'”

On May 21 we commemorate the Holy Great Sovereigns and Equals to the Apostles Constantine and Helen.

“O Constantine, the first of Christian Emperors, you received the royal scepter from God. For the Cross, the hidden symbol of salvation, appeared to you in the sky while you were on earth. With this life-giving Cross as your standard, O blessed saint, you brought all the nations into one and subjected them to our God.”

“With longing and love for Christ, Helen, the mother of the royal Emperor, came in haste to holy Sion, to the sacred place where our Savior was crucified in His desire to save us. Raising the holy Cross there, she cried out with rejoicing, “Glory to You who have granted me the object of my hope!'”