Ascension Day commemorates Christ's bodily ascension into heaven forty days after the Resurrection (Acts 1:1-11, Luke 24:50-53). The feast always falls on a Thursday — forty days counted inclusively from Easter Sunday. The observance is ancient. Augustine of Hippo (Ep. 54 to Januarius, c. 400) already regarded the Ascension as a feast of apostolic origin, placing it alongside Easter and Pentecost as celebrations 'which the whole Church observes throughout the world.' Eusebius of Caesarea mentions it in the early fourth century. The Ascension stands as the christological complement to the Incarnation: at Christmas, God descends to take human nature; at the Ascension, human nature is taken up into the life of God. The theological implications are enormous — our flesh, our humanity, is now at the right hand of the Father. The BCP 2019 lists Ascension among the seven Principal Feasts, giving it the highest possible liturgical precedence. The ten days between Ascension and Pentecost have traditionally been kept as days of prayer and expectation, recalling the disciples' waiting in the upper room (Acts 1:12-14). Some Anglican and Roman churches transfer the observance to the following Sunday, though the BCP 2019 does not explicitly authorize this practice.

The Ascension has shaped both the liturgical calendar and Christian architecture. The tradition of extinguishing the Paschal Candle after the Gospel reading on Ascension Day — symbolizing Christ's departure from visible presence — was widespread in the medieval West, though modern practice varies. Egeria records a vigil service at the Imbomon (the traditional site of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives) in the 380s, and the feast was well established in both East and West by the fifth century. In the Byzantine tradition, the Ascension is one of the Twelve Great Feasts, and its icon — Christ ascending in a mandorla of glory while the apostles gaze upward and angels announce his return — is among the most theologically rich in the Eastern iconographic tradition. The two men in white (Acts 1:10-11) who promise Christ's return connect the Ascension forward to the Second Coming, making it both a feast of accomplished salvation and eschatological hope. The collect in the BCP 2019 focuses on the ascent of hearts and minds: 'May our hearts and minds also there ascend, and with him continually dwell.' The season between Ascension and Pentecost — sometimes called the 'Great Novena' — is a period of prayer for the coming of the Spirit.

Gregory was born around 329 in Nazianzus, a town in Cappadocia, to a Christian family of considerable wealth and culture. His father, also named Gregory, was a bishop; his mother, Nonna, was a woman of profound faith. Gregory received an excellent classical education, studying rhetoric and philosophy at Athens, where he formed a lasting friendship with the future Saint Basil the Great.

Despite his family's ecclesiastical connections and his evident intellectual gifts, Gregory showed a lifelong reluctance toward positions of authority. After his baptism and ordination as a priest around 361, he withdrew to a monastic community where he devoted himself to theological study and contemplative prayer. This pattern — reluctant conscription into ministry, brilliant performance, and eventual withdrawal — characterizes his entire career.

In 372, Basil consecrated Gregory as bishop of Sasima, a small see in Cappadocia, intending to strengthen his own position. Gregory protested the appointment and eventually abandoned the see, returning to live as a monk in his family's monastery. When he reluctantly returned to serve his father's church at Nazianzus around 375, he became known throughout Cappadocia as a powerful preacher and theological teacher.

In 379, Gregory was summoned to Constantinople to defend orthodox Trinitarian theology against the Arian bishop Demophilus, who had dominated the imperial capital for decades. During the next few years, Gregory delivered his most famous works: the Five Theological Orations (Orations 27–31), which systematically established the full divinity of the Holy Spirit, explained the nature of the Trinity, and refuted Arian logic with unprecedented philosophical and theological rigor.

When the Council of Constantinople convened in 381 to ratify Nicene orthodoxy, Gregory was named to preside over it. The council confirmed the Nicene faith, condemned various heresies, and elevated Gregory's status in the Church. However, the council became embroiled in jurisdictional disputes regarding the Eastern sees, and Gregory — unable to bear the conflict — resigned from his episcopal see and returned to his monastic life in Nazianzus, where he spent his final years in prayer, writing, and theological composition. He died in 389 and was immediately recognized as one of the greatest theological minds in the Church.

What makes Gregory's achievement remarkable is not merely the rigor of his theology but its integration with deep spirituality and literary beauty. His writings — including his autobiographical poem De Vita Sua — reveal a man of extraordinary self-awareness and honest faith. He grapples with doubt, burnout, and the tension between the contemplative and active life, making him one of the most psychologically complex figures in patristic literature.

Traditionally, Gregory's lifelong reluctance toward ecclesiastical office was understood as humility and a preference for the contemplative over the active life — a theme he himself emphasized in his writings. His retreat from public ministry after the Council of Constantinople was interpreted as a prophetic witness against ecclesiastical ambition. Eastern tradition particularly honors him as 'The Theologian' — a title suggesting that his theological work was understood as divinely inspired.