The Orthodox Church Celebrates the Dormition of the Theotokos

Icon of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. Photo: blagovist.info

On August 28 (August 15 according to the Julian calendar), the Orthodox Church celebrates the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos – one of the most important feasts of the church year, referred to as the lesser Pascha. This day concludes the two-week Dormition Fast and reminds the faithful that for a Christian, death is not an end but a transition to eternal life.

According to Church tradition, the Most Holy Virgin Mary received from the Archangel Gabriel tidings of her approaching repose and fell asleep surrounded by the Apostles in Jerusalem. When on the third day the Apostle Thomas came to the tomb and the Apostles opened it, the body of the Mother of God was found incorrupt – She had been taken up to heaven in body and soul.

To a person far from the Church, a celebration occasioned by someone's death may seem strange. However, the Apostle Paul wrote that Christians preach «Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles» (1 Cor. 1:23), and it is precisely this apparent foolishness that proves to be the highest wisdom concerning the victory over death. The very word «dormition» derives from the Church Slavonic term for a peaceful death resembling sleep, and conveys the Greek concept of «repose» and «awakening into sleep.» Therefore, the feast unites the natural human grief of separation with joy: the Theotokos did not die, but as it were fell asleep, to awaken to eternal glory.

Theologians explain the special veneration of the Virgin Mary by the fact that in Her person the created and uncreated natures were united: by receiving the incarnation of God the Word, She became the place of encounter between the Creator and all creation. According to Church tradition, on the Cross Christ addressed His Mother and the Apostle John the Theologian with the words «behold, thy son» and «behold, thy mother,» on the basis of which the Church teaches that in the person of the Apostle John, the Theotokos adopted all Christians as her children. Her repose, like the birth of the Savior, was without pain, and her body, according to the testimony of the Apostles, did not see corruption. Saint Gregory Palamas called the Theotokos exalted above all creation – the One through Whom God became man and the human race received adoption by God.

As the Union of Orthodox Journalists reported, on August 14 the Dormition Fast began for Orthodox Christians, concluding on August 27, preceding the feast of the Dormition. The fast is considered one of the strictest in the church year.

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