On August 15th we commemorate the Dormition, the "Falling Asleep" of the Mother of God and our Mother, the Most Holy Ever-Virgin Mary. Just as Her entire life is an example for us--in purity, humility, and obedience--so also Her Dormition is "a paradigm of the translation in general of the souls of Christians to the other world," as Saint John of Kronstadt says.
Truly not only Her Dormition, but Her entire life is a paradigm for all Christians. She always lived for Her Son and God, until He peacefully took Her precious human soul to His eternal Kingdom, as depicted in the icon. Then three days later, when the Apostle Thomas arrived—late, by divine providence—Her body was not found, for the Savior had also taken it into His eternal kingdom.
We can most effectively benefit from Her blessings if we keep in mind that she was always human—wholly human, without any defect of egotism or sin. Therefore we also can, from this moment forward, conduct our lives as She did. There is nothing hindering us from this, both on the earth and after we leave the earth.
This is why the Orthodox Church celebrates the Dormition of the Theotokos on the 15th of August rather than the "assumption" three days later. We know the Mother of God was taken bodily into heaven, but we refrain from making a dogmatic statement to that effect, especially inasmuch as the Roman Church did so in 1950, which has often been interpreted as saying that She did not undergo death of the body. This in conjunction with their dogma of "Immaculate Conception" in 1854, which said that She was born uncorrupted by the fall of Adam, effectively alienates Her from the rest of humanity. And if she weren't truly human, then Her Son wasn't either, which undermines the saving power of His Passion and Resurrection for all mankind.
There is much value in preserving the Orthodox Faith!
With Love in Christ,
✢ Father Menas and the Brethren with me
Our monastery: saintpaulsmonastery.org
Our icon work: saintpaulsicons.com
Comments