The Orthodox Christians in the Republic of Moldova on Thursday celebrate the Ascension of Jesus Christ, when it is 40 days since the Resurrection of the Savior. On this day, the Christians greet each other with “Christ has ascended” and respond with “He has ascended indeed”, IPN reports.

According to the canons, the church marks the moment when the Savior Jesus Christ gathered his disciples in the Mountains of Galilee, in front of everyone ascended to heaven with his body and promised them that the Holy Spirit will come on earth in ten days, an event that will be observed on Pentecost Sunday. The significance of this feast is the connection between heaven and earth, through the ascension with the body to heaven, after Christ received a body and came to earth.

Ascension Day marks the end of the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord. On this day, the Christians usually bake Easter cake, Paska and paint eggs red with which they go to church, just like on the Easter holiday. Parishioners who wish can receive holy communion on this day.

The Ascension of Jesus Christ is one of the 12 great feasts of the Orthodox Church and is celebrated on the 40th day after the Lord’s resurrection.

The tradition of greeting each other with “Christ has ascended” and “He has ascended indeed” differs from region to region. In some localities, the Christians greet each other in this way for one day, while in others for three or even ten days.

In the Eastern Church this feast is known in Greek as Analepsis, the “taking up”, and also as Ispas, deriving from the Slavic word ‘spasiteli”, which means Savior. They say that this day is as important as Easter.