882 - Jerusalem (Mount of Olives) - Ascension

41. (1) (Constantine) took in hand here other sites venerated for their two mystic caves, and he adorned these also with rich artwork. On the cave of the first divine manifestation of the Saviour, where he submitted to the experience of birth in the flesh, he bestowed appropriate honours; while at the other he dignified the monument on the mountain-top to his ascension into heaven. (2) These also he artistically honoured, perpetuating the memory of his own mother, who had bestowed so much good on human life.

...

43. (1) (Helena, mother of Constantine) immediately consecrated to the God she adored two shrines, one by the cave of his birth, the other on the mountain of the ascension. For the God with us allowed himself to suffer even birth for our sake, and the place of his birth in the flesh was announced among the Hebrews by the name of Bethlehem. - - - (3) Again the Emperor's mother erected on the Mount of Olives the monument to the journey into heaven of the Saviour of the Universe in lofty buildings; up by the ridges at the peak of the whole mountain she raised the sacred house of the church, and constructed just there a shrine for prayer to the Saviour who chose to spend his time on that spot, since just there a true report maintains that in that cave the Saviour of the Universe initiated the members of his guild in ineffable mysteries. (4) There also the Emperor bestowed all kinds of offerings and ornaments on the great King.

(transl. Cameron and Hall)

Hence, you go up the Mount of Olives, where the Lord taught the apostles before his passion: here a basilica has been built by command of Constantine. And not far off is the hillock where the Lord went up to pray, and where appeared Moses and Elijah, when he took Peter and John apart with him <Matt. 17:1-3; Mark 9:2-4; Luke 9:28-31>.

(transl. Di Segni)

Before these two <i.e. Melania the Elder and Melania the Younger> was another [woman], famous by lineage and wealth, of great modesty and God-fearing, whose name [was] Poemenia, who loved to dwell in the holy and worshipful places, so that by her ways of life and by her love those who were named [above] were made zealous. It was she who built the Church of the Holy Ascension and surrounded [it with] buildings. 

(transl. Horn and Phenix)

<Palm Sunday>

31. (1) At one o’clock all the people go up to the Eleona Church on the Mount of Olives. The bishop takes his seat, and they have hymns and antiphons suitable to the place and the day, and readings too. When three o’clock comes, they go up with hymns and sit down at the Imbomon, the place from which the Lord ascended into heaven. (For when the bishop is present everyone is told to sit down, except for the deacons, who remain standing the whole time.) And there too they have hymns and antiphons suitable to the place and the day, with readings and prayers between them. (2) At five o’clock the passage is read from the Gospel about the children who met the Lord with palm branches, saying, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” <Matth. 21:9, cf. 21:15-16>. At this the bishop and all the people rise from their places, and start off on foot down from the summit of the Mount of Olives. All the people go before him with psalms and antiphons, all the time repeating, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”

<Holy Thursday>

35. (2) Then everybody hurries home for a meal, so that, as soon as they have finished it, they can go to the church on Eleona which contains the cave which on this very day the Lord visited with the apostles. - - - (4) At about midnight they leave and go up with hymns to the Imbomon, the place from which the Lord ascended into heaven. And there they again have readings and hymns and antiphons suitable to the day, and the prayers which the bishop says are all appropriate to the day and to the place.

36. (1) When the cocks begin to crow, everyone leaves the Imbomon, and comes down with singing to the place where the Lord prayed, as the Gospels describe in the passage which begins, “And he was parted from them about a stone's cast, and prayed” <Luke 22:41>. 

<Octave>

39. (3) On each of the eight days of Easter the bishop, with all the clergy, the “infants” who have been baptized, all the apotactites both men and women, and any of the people who wish, go up to the Eleona after their meal (the Eleona contains the cave where Jesus used to teach his disciples) and in that church they have hymns and prayers, and also at the Imbomon (the place from which the Lord ascended into heaven). (4) When the psalms and prayer are finished, they go down with singing to the Anastasis in time for Lucernare. - - -

40. (1) On the eighth day of Easter, the Sunday, all the people go up with the bishop immediately after midday to the Eleona. They start in this church, taking their places for a time and having hymns and antiphons, and prayers appropriate to the day and place. Then they go up to the Imbomon and do as on the Eleona. Then the time comes for all the people and apotactites to take the bishop with singing to the Anastasis, and they arrive there for Lucernare at the usual time.

<Pentecost>

43. (3) They have the reading (on Mt Sion) from the Acts of the Apostles, and afterwards the service proceeds as usual, and they make the Offering there. Then as the people are dismissed the archdeacon makes this announcement: “Let us all be ready today on the Mount of Eleona at the Imbomon immediately after midday.” (4) So all the people go home for a rest, and, as soon as they have had their meal, they go up Eleona, the Mount of Olives, each at his own pace, till there is not a Christian left in the city. (5) Once they have climbed Eleona, the Mount of Olives, they go to the Imbomon (the place from which the Lord ascended into heaven), where the bishop takes his seat, and also the presbyters and all the people. They have readings, and between them hymns and antiphons suitable to this day and to the place. Also the prayers which come between are concerned with subjects appropriate to the day and the place. They have the Gospel reading about the Lord's ascension, and then the reading from the Acts of the Apostles about the Lord ascending into heaven after the resurrection. (6) When this is over, the catechumens are blessed, then the faithful. It is already three o'clock, and they go down with singing from there to the other church on Eleona, containing the cave where the Lord used to sit and teach the apostles.

(transl. Wilkinson)

Now I go back towards Jerusalem, and (after passing) through Thecoa and (the tomb of) Amos I shall see the sparkling cross on the Mount of Olives from which the Saviour ascended to the Father. (That is the mountain) on which each year was burnt as an offering to the Lord a red heifer, and its ashes made atonement for the people of Israel <Num. 19>; and to which, according to Ezekiel, the Cherubim flew out of the Temple and founded the Church of the Lord <Ez. 11:22–23>.

(transl. Di Segni)

(1) I also knew Adolius at Jerusalem. He was a Tarsian by birth who had come to Jerusalem by an altogether different way, not at all by the way we traveled, but cut out for himself a strange way of life. For his ascetic practice was beyond man to such a degree that the very demons trembled at his strictness of life and no one dared to rival him. Because of his excessive self-control and all-night vigils he was actually suspected of being a monster. (2) For in Lent he would eat only every five days, although at other times he ate every other day. But the big thing he did was this: From the time of evening until the brotherhood gathered again in its house of prayer, he would stand on the Mount of Olives, on the Hill of Ascension, the place where Jesus was taken up. There he would stand, singing psalms and praying, and even if it snowed or rained, or there was a frost, he would remain there unshaken.

(transl. Meyer)

After these things occurred, aroused by divine zeal, (Melania) wished to build a monastery for holy men that they might carry out their nightly and daily psalmody without interruption at the place of the Ascension of the Lord and in the grotto where the Savior talked with his holy disciples about the end of time. Some people balked at her good proposal, however, alleging that she would not be able to complete such a great undertaking because of her extreme poverty. But the Lord, who is rich in everything, fulfilled the wishes of that holy soul by arranging for a certain man who loved Christ to offer her two hundred coins. Receiving them with great joy, she called the priest with her, whom she had taken from the world and presented to God as an offering — and that man was my own pitiable self — and said to him, "Since you believe that you will receive the compensation for this labor from the Lord in the ages to come, take these few coins and buy stones for us, so that we may begin the construction of the men's monastery, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus while I am still in the flesh I may see both the divine service being offered without interruption in the church and the bones of my mother and my master find rest through their chanting." And when, under God, she began this project, the Lord who worked with her in all things completed the vast undertaking in one year, so that everyone was astounded to learn that truly it was by a heavenly influence that the work had been accomplished. She lodged there holy men, lovers of God, who cheerfully performed the divine service in the Church of Christ's Ascension and in that of the Apostles, where the blessed ones were also buried.

(transl. Clark)

Round Jerusalem the country has a rough hilly character, and on the east the city looks out at the Mount of Olives. On this there are two very famous churches, one sited at the spot where Jesus addressed his disciples, and the other at the spot where it is said that he ascended into heaven.

(transl. Wilkinson)

On the summit of the Mount (of Olives), from whence the Lord ascended, we saw many remarkable things, including the cell where Saint Pelagia lived the enclosed life, and lies buried. Many saints lie buried on this mountain, including James, Zebedee, and Cleophas.

(transl. Wilkinson)

THE PLACE OF THE LORD'S ASCENSION, AND THE CHURCH BUILT THERE

(1) Nowhere on the whole Mount of Olives does one find a higher place than the one from which it is said that the Lord ascended into the heavens. A great round church stands there, which has round it three porticoes with vaulted roofs. (2) But there is no vault or roof over the central part; it is out of doors and open to the sky. At the east of it has been built an altar with a small roof over it. (3) The reason why there is no roof over the inner part of this building is so as not to hinder those who pray there from seeing the way, from the last place where the Lord's feet were standing, when he was taken up to heaven in a cloud, to the heavenly height. (4) At the time when they were building this church we have been describing, it was impossible, as you will find written in other documents, to extend the paved part over the place of the Lord's footprints. Indeed the earth was unused to bear anything human and cast back the flagstones in the face of those who were laying them. (5) Moreover the dust on which God stood provides a testimony which is permanent, since his footprints are to be seen in it, and even though people flock there, and in their zeal take away the soil where the Lord stood, it never becomes less, and to this day there are marks like footprints on the earth. (6) Holy Arculf was a constant pilgrim at this place, and reports that it is  situated, as we have explained, inside a large circular bronze railing, which is about the height of a man's neck, according to the measurements. (7) In the centre there is a sizable opening through which one looks down and sees the Lord's foot prints plainly and clearly impressed in the dust. (8) On the west of the circular railing is a kind of floor, which is always open, and enables people to go in and approach the place of the holy dust, reach their hands down through a hole in the railing, and take grains of the holy dust. (9) Thus our friend Arculf's account of the place of the Lord's footprints agrees exactly with what others have written, namely, that it cannot be covered either with a roof, nor with any other sort of covering, high up or low down, in order that it shall always remain visible to pilgrims, and that the prints of the Lord's feet can clearly be pointed out there. (10) A great lamp hangs above the circular railing from a pulley, and lights the footprints of the Lord, burning day and night. (11) On the west of the round building described above are eight upper windows paned with glass. Inside the windows, and in corresponding positions, are eight lamps. positioned so that each one of them seems to hang neither above nor below its window, but just inside it. (12) These lamps shine out from their windows on the summit of the Mount of Olives with such brilliance, that they light up not only the part of the Mount to the west, near this round stone church, but also the steps leading all the way up from the Valley of Jehoshaphat to the city of Jerusalem, which are lighted, however dark the night. Most of the nearer part of the city is lighted as well. (13) The remarkable brilliance of these eight lamps shining out by night from the holy Mount and the place of the Lord's Ascension brings to believing hearts a readiness for the love of God, and brings awe to their mind and deep reverence to their soul. (14) We must also pass on the reply which Arculf gave about this round church when we were discussing it, and I questioned him in more detail. (15) "Every year, on the anniversary of the Lord's Ascension, when it is noon, and the holy ceremonies of the Mass in this church are over, a violent storm of wind bursts in, so violent that no one can either stand or sit in the church or anywhere near it. People remain lying on their faces until this terrifying storm has passed over. (16) The Lord's footprints are clearly to be seen in the opening in the middle of the circular railing we have described, and this remains open to the sky. But this terrible gale accounts for the fact that there can be no roof over this part of the building. (17) Any one who tried to construct a roof over it would find that the beams were destroyed by the force of this wind which God sends." (18) Telling us about this fearsome storm, holy Arculf said to us that he himself was there in this church on the Mount of Olives on the Day of the Lord's Ascension at the time when this gale burst upon it. (19) The shape of this round church is represented helow, admittedly in rather a poor sketch, and also the circular railing in its centre. (20) We also learned from what holy Arculf told us that, on the night of the feast of the Lord's Ascension, they add innumerable other lamps. there, besides the eight which burn in this round church every night. Their solemn and marvellous brilliance pours out through the window panes not only to illuminate the Mount of Olives, but also, as it seems, to set it on fire and to light up the whole area of the city below and its surroundings.

(transl. Wilkinson)

(1) - - In its topmost point (of Mount Olivet), where the Lord ascended into the heavens, there is a large round church. It has three porticoes with rooms and roofs. The inside of the house because of the route taken by the Lord's body, cannot be roofed or covered. Its altar is on the east protected by a narrow roof, and in the centre the Lord's last footprints are to be seen, with the sky above into which he went up. And thou believers daily take away the earth, none the less it remains there, and retains the same appearance as before as if marked deeply with footprints. Round this is a brass railing as high as your chin, entered from the west, and above a great lamp hangs on chains which is alight all day and all night. (2) On the west of this church there are eight windows and in this area the same number of chained lamps, which shine towards Jerusalem though the. windows. Their light is said to make the hearts of those who see them more alert and fearfully penitent. Usually on the Day of the Lord's Ascension every year, when the service is over, a mighty gale of wind comes down, and everyone present in the church lies on the ground. And that night so many lamps are alight that it does not just light the Mount and its sun-oundings, they seem to burn. I should like to draw the plan of this basilica so you can see it.

(transl. Wilkinson)

There is now a church on the Mount of Olives at tfle place where, before his Passion, the Lord prayed, and said to his disciples, "Watch and pray, so that you do not enter into temptation" <Matth. 26:41>. From that he went to a church on the mountain itself, where the Lord ascended into heaven: in the centre of it is a square brass thing which is beautifully engraved. It is in the centre of the church where the Lord ascended into heaven. And in the middle of the brass thing is a square lantern with a small candle inside: the lantern encloses the candle on all sides. It is enclosed in this way so it will continue to burn, rain or fine. That church has no roof, and is open to the sky. Inside it, against the north and south walls stand two columns, to remind people of the two men who said, "Ye men of Galilee, why gaze ye into the sky?" <Acts 1:11>. Any one who can creep between the wall and the column is freed from his sins.

(transl. Wilkinson)

There too is the Mount of Olives where he was taken up. Columns stand in a circle. and in the middle is an altar, with, on the outside, a peristyle of marble with columns. And to the east of the columns, not far away, is an apse, and there an altar stands where the Patriarch performs the service on the day of the Feast of the Ascension.

- - -

Not far to the north of the Place of Teaching is a church, in the middle of which is the stone where Christ stood when he was taken up, and it is called the Holy Stone.

(transl. Wilkinson)

On the holy Mount of Olives, three churches: one, the Ascension of the Lord, priests and clerics: 3. - - -

(transl. McCormick)

On the top of this mountain (i.e. Mount Olivet), and a mile away from the Valley of Jehoshaphat, is the place where the Lord ascended to the Father. The church there is round and has no roof, and in the middle of it, at the place of the Lord's ascension. is an open-air altar at which they celebrate the rites of the Mass.

(transl. Wilkinson)