Thy sacred Hands, and having bidden them farewell, Thou wast taken up, by the Power of God, in Thy glorified Body, to the Heaven of Heavens, at whose threshold an innumerable company of saints and angels and of all the inhabitants of heaven (patriarchs and prophets and holy men of old, whom Thou hadst mightily delivered from the power of Hell and made to dwell for ever in a Paradise of delight) came forth to meet Thee, singing and rejoicing together with pipes and harps. Amid all these glorious and rejoicing crowds of holy ones Thou didst mount, joyfully, openly, mightily, and sublimely, to that kingly and highly exalted Throne in the Heavens, which from all eternity had of right been set apart for Thee alone.
I praise Thee, and from the bottom of my heart I thank Thee, Thou only begotten Son of God, for that heavenly and enduring blessing with which Thou didst bless Thy most holy Mother and all Thy holy Apostles and other disciples gathered together on the summit of the Mount of Olives. There didst Thou stand, and there, as it is reported, hast Thou left, for a memorial of Thy Name, holy footprints of Thy Feet impressed upon the soil.
Wherefore now upon my bended knees I adore, I praise, and I humbly worship Thee, my Lord, King of Glory, kissing the Holy Rood, and making the sign of the cross upon the earth or on the floor, in remembrance of Thy love, and for the comfort of my heart in this my exile here below. I rejoice with Thee, O my God, in all, and for all Thy Saints on account of the surpassing joy of this day's festival; for never before was the like seen or heard of in heaven or upon earth — man's nature raised to the Right Hand of the Father, in Majesty everlasting.
