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New Testament History |
The ascension until PentecostThe ascension (Mark 16:19; Luke 24:50-51; Acts 1:9-11) took place on the top of the Mount of Olives.[1] It was near Jerusalem (Luke 24:52; Acts 1:12), near Bethany (Luke 24:50). Christ and the disciples began to walk towards the Mount of Olives at dawn.[2] The ascension took place around noon.[3] Christ had been appearing during 40 (inclusive) days (Acts 1:3),[4] from Sunday Julian 5 April until Thursday Julian 14 May 33 AD = actual 11 May = 25 Iyar. The publication of the visions on the public ministry, based on the visions of the year 1821, describes the subsequent Saturday evening office, the election of Matthias during two successive days, and the Friday and Saturday preceding Pentecost.[5] The diaries of the years 1819 and 1820 give more details. The Apostles were in the Cenacle on Friday 15 May 33 AD (the vision of Friday 21 May 1819).[6] There was a celebration on the night of Saturday/Sunday 16/17 May (the vision of Saturday/Sunday 13/14 May 1820).[7] The Apostles were still assembled with the women on Sunday 17 May (the vision of Sunday 23 May 1819).[8] The Holy Women did the Way of the Cross on the night of Sunday/Monday 17/18 May (the vision of Sunday/Monday 23/24 May 1819).[9] The Apostles talked about the election of a new Apostle (Acts 1:15-25) on Monday 18 May (the vision of Monday 24 May 1819), but the lots were not yet cast.[10] This was done on the following day (Acts 1:26),[11] on the night of Tuesday/Wednesday 19/20 May (the vision of Tuesday/Wednesday 16/17 May 1820) = at the start of 2 Sivan,[12] i.e. after the close of the Festival of the New Moon. The Cenacle was prepared for Pentecost on the evening of Thursday 21 May and on Friday 22 May (the visions of Thursday-Friday 18-19 May 1820).[13] The Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost (Acts 2:1)[14] = 6 Sivan 33 AD = Sunday Julian 24 May = actual 21 May. Given that the ascension was seen on Thursday 3 May 1821, A.C.E. saw Pentecost 10 days later, on Sunday 13 May in 1821.[15] Some time after the next Sabbath had begun on the evening of Friday 29 May,[16] Peter celebrated the Holy Eucharist for the first time and imposed his hands on six disciples.[17] The publication of the visions on the public ministry omits the date for the event, and the diaries do not relate the celebration. By analogy with the moment of the resurrection and with the Sunday liturgy, it must have taken place during the night of Saturday/Sunday. On the preceding morning (i.e. on Saturday 12 Sivan), the Apostles had gone to the Temple, where a feast was going on.[18] The seventh day of the Pentecost Festival (12 Sivan) was a special day, the last day on which the Pentecost offering could be brought.[19] After the Holy Eucharist and the ordinations during the night of Saturday/Sunday 30/31 May, teaching and baptising took place,[20] apparently on Sunday 13 Sivan. On 14 Sivan = Monday 1 June (the vision of Monday 21 May 1821), there were baptisms in the early morning, Peter then celebrated the Holy Mass, and people received the Holy Communion.[21] The publication of the visions on the public ministry provides dates until Monday 30 April 1821[22] and again from Monday 21 May 1821.[23] Dates are missing from Tuesday 1 May 1821 until Sunday 20 May 1821. A.C.E. saw during these 3 weeks events that took 4 weeks (Tuesday 5 May-Sunday 31 May 33 AD). In the diary, A.C.E. saw the ascension on Thursday 3 May 1821,[24] which is 33 instead of 40 (inclusive) days after the resurrection seen on Sunday 1 April 1821.[25] The acceleration in the visions is thus situated between Monday 30 April 1821 (relating to Monday 4 May 33 AD) and Thursday 3 May 1821 (relating to Thursday 14 May 33 AD).[26] The week between Tuesday 5 May 33 AD and Wednesday 13 May 33 AD was compressed into one passage (apparently seen on Tuesday-Wednesday 1-2 May 1821), which describes a lot of voyages during the day and the night.[27] Sunday 27 May 1821 was the last vision relative to the end of the ministry.[28] A.C.E. saw the beginning of the ministry of Christ beginning from Saturday 2 June 1821 (Saturday 28 May 29 AD = 26 Iyar).[29] The intervening week (Monday 28 May-Friday 1 June 1821) compensated for the one week of acceleration on 1-2 May 1821. [1] A.C.E., Life, 4:425. [2] A.C.E., Life, 4:423. [3] A.C.E., Life, 4:424, 427. [4] A.C.E., Life, 4:398: “during the whole period of these forty days.” [5] A.C.E., Vie, 6:245-247. [6] A.C.E., Visionen Mai 1819, 174. [7] A.C.E., Visionen Mai 1820, 66-67. [8] A.C.E., Visionen Mai 1819, 181. [9] A.C.E., Visionen Mai 1819, 183. [10] A.C.E., Visionen Mai 1819, 185. [11] A.C.E., Visionen Mai 1819, 229; A.C.E., Life, 4:428: “Peter proposed Joses Barsabas and Matthias […]. Next day the lots were cast.” [12] A.C.E., Visionen Mai 1820, 142: “Matthiä Wahl glaubt sie vom 16. – 17., von Dienstag auf Mittwochnacht in der Exaudi-Woche gesehen zu haben.” [13] A.C.E., Visionen Mai 1820, 142. The Cenacle was decorated with greenery (A.C.E., Life, 4:428). At Pentecost, houses and synagogues are decorated with plants, flowers, and leafy branches (Feliks 2007: 91; Jacobs 2007: 423). [14] A.C.E., Life, 4:433: “The Jews offered today in the Temple little baskets containing two small loaves made of this year’s grain. The baskets were deposited one upon another, until they formed high heaps, and they were afterward distributed to the poor. Once I saw that the High Priest had in his hand a bunch of ears, thick like maize. […] The Apostles offered only the two loaves through Peter.”
[15] Cf. A.C.E., Visionen Mai 1821, 7 (the vision of Saturday 12 May 1821): “Bruchstück von Pfingsten. [16] A.C.E., Vie, 6:271. [17] A.C.E., Life, 4:441-442. [18] A.C.E., Life, 4:439: “At daybreak they went with many of the disciples into the Temple […]. There appeared to be a feast going on, for in front of the entrance a triumphal arch had been erected upon which stood a figure holding a conqueror’s sword.” Cf. 4:440: “After that I saw solemn service celebrated in the Last Supper room. […] In the sanctuary over the altar hung a festal wreath of green leaves and flowers.” [19] b. Ḥag. 17a. [20] A.C.E., Life, 4:442. [21] A.C.E., Life, 4:443-444. The diary of the year 1820 relates these events on Saturday 27 May (A.C.E., Visionen Mai 1820, 213-218) and Monday 29 May (A.C.E., Visionen Mai 1820, 221). [22] A.C.E., Vie, 6:226. [23] A.C.E., Vie, 6:278. [24] A.C.E., Visionen Mai 1821, 3. [25] A.C.E., Visionen April 1821, 1. [26] Cf. the day-by-day description of the period lasting from the ascension until Pentecost in the diaries of the years 1819 and 1820: the ascension was seen on Thursday 20 May 1819 (A.C.E., Visionen Mai 1819, 161) and Thursday 11 May 1820 (A.C.E., Visionen Mai 1820, 41); Pentecost was seen on Sunday 30 May 1819 (A.C.E., Visionen Mai 1819, 223) and Sunday 21 May 1820 (A.C.E., Visionen Mai 1820, 141). There was one week between Pentecost and the Sunday of the first Holy Eucharist: A.C.E., Passion, 88-89: “He told them that when they should have received the Holy Spirit they were to consecrate the bread and wine, and anoint the other Apostles. It was made known to me then that, on the day of Pentecost, Peter and John imposed their hands upon the other Apostles, and a week later upon several of the disciples.” Peter imposed his hands on five Apostles at Pentecost (A.C.E., Life, 4:431) and on six disciples on the eve of the following Sunday (A.C.E., Life, 4:441). [27] A.C.E., Vie, 6:227-228: “Le Sauveur parcourut avec les apôtres différents chemins aux alentours de Jérusalem […]. Pendant la nuit, je l’ai vu apparaître en d’autres lieux, qu’il voulait favoriser de bénédictions particulières ; ainsi à Bethléem, à Nazareth […]. J’ai vu encore de ses apparitions en beaucoup d’autres lieux. […] Ces derniers jours, la plus grande simplicité a toujours régné dans les rapports du Sauveur et des apôtres ; il a mangé et prié avec eux et les a enseignés. Il a parcouru différents chemins avec eux et est revenu sur des choses qu’il leur avait dites antérieurement. Pendant la nuit seulement il visitait d’autres localités, sans qu’ils sussent où il allait.” [28] A.C.E., Vie, 6:288. The visions seen in June and July 1821 describe the first reunion in Jerusalem and the martyrdom of Stephen, which both occurred in 36 AD. [29] A.C.E., Lehrjahre, 1:13. In early April 1821, A.C.E. already received a vision about the death of Joseph (A.C.E., Leven, 1:31) – which event immediately preceded the ministry of Christ – and on Sunday 29 April 1821 a vision about the start of John the Baptist’s ministry (A.C.E., Lehrjahre, 1:5).
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