[annalex]

All Orthodox icons I have seen follow this canon: the Blessed Virgin is asleep in the Lord; her Soul is separate and held by Christ, leaving no doubt as to Her death. That is Dormition. The Catholic imagery of the Assumption, in contrast, presents a death-defying ascension into Heaven of a living Blessed Mother. I don't know how different the underlying theology is, despite the late adoption of the doctrine of Assumption by the Catholic Church, but the visual contrast between the two views is striking.

[Siobhan]

There actually are many versions of both Catholic and Orthodox imagery of the same. There are many early images in the West that show the Blessed Mother Falling Asleep for the last time in the bottom half and then the Blessed Mother seated above next to Christ or being welcomed to sit next to Christ. I have never found an image in the West that includes the exact iconography of the Blessed Mother's Dormition with the Lord Jesus Christ holding her infant soul. (And I've looked.)

In the west there are many images of the empty tomb of Our Lady corresponding to her empty tomb in Jerusalem (which is maintained by the Greek Orthodox). And these are often joined with an image of her rising to heaven being carried by angels -- but never of her own volition.

[Kolokotronis]

"I don't know how different the underlying theology is, despite the late adoption of the doctrine of Assumption by the Catholic Church, but the visual contrast between the two views is striking."

As Orthodox Christians, we are free to believe in the Assumption as a thelogoumenon, a pious belief, but the Orthodox Church has never declared that belief dogma. Most Orthodox Christians I know believe that Panagia was assumed into heaven. That belief is very ancient in the East and I suspect that it was that theologoumenon which prompted the dogmatic pronouncement of the Latin Church. As I understand the Tradition, no one saw this Assumption, only her empty tomb after the burial. All Orthodox people, so far as I know, believe that Panagia in fact died and the August 15th Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos is a feast of her death.

[Siobhan]

All Orthodox icons I have seen follow this canon: the Blessed Virgin is asleep in the Lord; her Soul is separate and held by Christ, leaving no doubt as to Her death. That is Dormition.

I meant to say earlier that this is the case after the defeat of the Iconoclasts in Byzantine iconography. It is hard to know what was canon before the Iconoclasts since so much was destroyed. Also, this manner of depiction of the Dormition is not always the case in Syriac iconography. On another tangent, the Falling-Asleep is only depicted as such in Coptic iconography that has been influenced by encounters with post-Iconoclastic Byzantine iconography.