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Ascension of Christ

Ascension of Christ

7.5
A Christian belief about Jesus rising to heaven on the 40th day after he came back to life
  • noun
  • /əˈsɛnʃən əv kraɪst/
translation icon : Ascensión de Cristo
  • For although the Christian Church, which is the holy city, continued in the faith from the Ascension of Christ, even till this time: yet it has not observed and kept the perfection of the faith all this whole season.

Examples

  • Many Christians celebrate the ascension of Christ as a pivotal moment in their faith.

  • On the one hand, believers can do this because in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ Jesus, something has changed once and for all.

    Blog text (7)
  • Christ's ascension after his resurrection is a key event in Christian theology.

  • The ascension of Christ is commemorated forty days after Easter Sunday.

Synonyms

Ascension
vsAscension of Christ
5 8.9

Jesus rises into heaven in his body forty days after Easter

is the full titled phrase rather than the shorter general term
Ascension of Jesus
vsAscension of Christ
1 6.7

An event when Jesus leaves Earth and goes up to heaven forty days after he comes back to life

has identical meaning but uses a different religious title
Ascension Day
vsAscension of Christ
1 6.5

A Christian holiday when people remember Jesus going up to heaven forty days after Easter

refers to the event itself rather than the day of celebration
Ascension of the Lord
vsAscension of Christ
8.6

A Christian holiday marking Jesus going up to heaven forty days after Easter

has identical meaning but uses another reverent title

Surface Forms

Morphology

Ascension + of + Christ

The phrase directly combines 'ascension' (the act of rising) with 'Christ' (Jesus), so its meaning — Jesus' rising/going up to heaven — is compositionally transparent. This structure is not idiomatic and is mirrored in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would be able to infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Ascension of Christ comes from the Christian story that Jesus rose up into the sky forty days after his 'resurrection'. People watched him go up into 'heaven', so the word ascension means 'going up' to 'heaven' in this religious sense.