Ascension of the Lord Forty Days after Pascha Acts 1:3-11 The risen Christ (red for his humanity interspersed with gold showing his divinity and radiating the brightness of His recent Resurrection), is shown above in a mandorla. The mandorla (shapes like an almond from which it is named) is used to show events that transcend time and space. The concept that at some point the holiness of an event or person cannot be illustrated in brightness and thus passes to holy darkness is shown by the lighter outside ring with the darker interior. Christ blesses with His right hand and holds a scroll symbolizing His teaching in the left. Two angels accompany Christ in a position of flight which visually supports Christ’s ‘ascension’ or going up to heaven. Two angels also stand on either side of the Theotokos and who tell the apostles that Christ will return from the sky at the Second Coming. They hold a staff to symbolize their authority. Twelve apostles are pictured along with the Virgin Mary, in a posture of uplifted hands in prayer (orans). Together they represent the Church on earth of which Mary is a central part. The icon is ‘timeless’ in that Acts does not record her physical presence at the event and the Apostle Paul, to her left, was not even a Christian at the time. The rocks and trees show the event was outdoors. Mary is dressed in her customary blue undergarment (her spiritual life) and red cloak (her humanity which came first).