His Beatitude explains why Theotokos death is called Dormition

His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry. Photo: UOC

The Primate of the UOC, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, celebrated the Divine Liturgy on the patronal feast of the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. After the reading of the Holy Gospel, His Beatitude addressed the faithful with a sermon explaining the spiritual meaning of the feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, the UOC Information and Education Department reports.

His Beatitude reminded the faithful that the Creator descended to earth and took on human nature from the Most Blessed Virgin Mary in order to save mankind and raise it to heaven. The Theotokos became the spiritual ladder by which God descended to humanity and the vessel that contained the Bread of Life.

In his sermon, the Primate recounted in detail the story of her earthly life after Christ’s Ascension, the appearance of the Archangel Gabriel, and the miraculous transportation of the apostles to the Upper Room on Mount Zion. He recalled how the apostles buried the body of the Theotokos in Gethsemane and how the Lord miraculously took her most pure body into heaven, leaving the tomb empty when it was opened for the grieving Apostle Thomas.

Metropolitan Onuphry also cited the words of St. Dionysius the Areopagite, who had personally seen the Mother of God, addressed to the Apostle Paul: “If I had not been taught by you, if I had not known that Christ is God, that He is our Savior and Lord, I would have taken the Mother of God for a deity and offered her divine worship.”

“When we sinners die, we experience various sorrows, pains and sufferings, while the Mother of God died painlessly, as though she had fallen asleep. That is why the passing of the Mother of God is called the Dormition,” the Primate explained.

His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry called on believers to imitate the righteous life of the Mother of God. He stressed that living righteously according to the commandments frees a person from the fear of a terrible death and turns one’s passing into a blessed dormition.

“Every country, every person should live on earth in such a way that their passing is not a terrible death, but a blessed dormition. And this happens when we live according to the divine commandments, when we live according to God’s laws, which help a person overcome all the difficulties of this life,” the Primate concluded.

As the UOJ reported, His Beatitude previously explained how humility differs from weakness.

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