The Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos

Life

The Lord, who on Sinai gave the fifth commandment — Honor thy father and thy mother — showed by His own example how one must honor one's mother. Hanging on the Cross in His torments, He remembered His Mother, and pointing to the Apostle John, said to her: Woman, behold thy son! Then He said to John: Behold thy mother! And thus, having provided for His Mother, He breathed His last. John had a house on Zion in Jerusalem, in which the Theotokos settled and continued to live until the end of her days on earth. By her prayers, kindly counsel, meekness, and patience, she greatly assisted the apostles of her Son. In the main, she spent all the time until her death in Jerusalem, often visiting those places which reminded her of the great events and the great deeds of her Son. She especially visited Golgotha, Bethlehem, and the Mount of Olives. Of her longer journeys, mention is made of her visit to Saint Ignatius the God-Bearer in Antioch, her visit to Saint Lazarus the Four-Days-Dead, Bishop of Cyprus, her visit to the Holy Mountain, which she blessed, and her stay in Ephesus with Saint John during the great persecution of Christians in Jerusalem. In her old age she often prayed to the Lord and her God on the Mount of Olives, at the place of His Ascension, that He would take her from this world as soon as possible. On one occasion the Archangel Gabriel appeared to her and announced that she would be laid to rest in three days. And the angel of God gave her a palm branch, which would be carried at her funeral procession. With great joy she returned home, desiring in her heart to see once more in this life all the apostles of Christ. The Lord fulfilled this wish for her, and all the apostles, borne by angels and clouds, suddenly gathered in the house of John on Zion. With great joy she beheld the holy apostles, encouraged them, counseled them, and comforted them; and then she peacefully surrendered her spirit to God, without any pain or bodily suffering. The apostles took the coffin with her body, from which an aromatic fragrance issued, and accompanied by a multitude of Christians bore it to the Garden of Gethsemane, to the tomb of Saints Joachim and Anna. By the Providence of God, a cloud shielded them from the malice of the Jews. A certain Jewish priest, Athonius, seized the coffin with his hands intending to overturn it, but at that moment an angel of God cut off both his hands. Then he cried out to the apostles for help, and was healed after he declared his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Thomas was absent, again by God's Providence, so that a new and most glorious mystery concerning the Holy Theotokos might be revealed. On the third day Thomas arrived as well and wished to venerate the body of the All-Pure One. But when the apostles opened the tomb, they found only the burial cloth, and the body was not in the tomb. That evening she appeared to the apostles — surrounded by a multitude of angels — and said to them: "Rejoice, I shall be with you forever." It is not known exactly how old the Theotokos was at the time of her Dormition, but the prevailing opinion is that she had passed her sixtieth year of her earthly life.

From the Hymn of Praise

The Lord Most High thus spoke:"From thy heart, O pure Virgin,Let living water flow,That the thirsty may drink of Christ."O life-bearing fountain,We all boast of thee!