Mary is considered the precursor of us all, in some ways. In Catholic doctrine, she was conceived without sin, meaning that she was not marred by Original Sin. Her death, therefore, was different, because it was like the death of someone before the Fall.
For Catholics, this is a restatement of the reality of eternal life, the goal of earthly life, and the fact that Mary (who was not God or part of the Divine Nature) has gone before us and will be helping us from Heaven, as any good mother - or even older sister - would do. Catholics see the saints as their older brothers and sisters, who are not dead but have gone before and will intercede for them. The reason Catholics can address the saints and pray for and even address the dead, who may or may not be in Paradise, is that death is no more, and in eternity, we are all alive in Christ.
"In Catholic doctrine, she was conceived without sin, meaning that she was not marred by Original Sin. Her death, therefore, was different, because it was like the death of someone before the Fall."
Are you saying she died without ever sinning?
Thanks for that explanation. I guess I was reading it too literally because I thought it was a reference to a visible act or sign.
Devotion to Panagia is one of the crown jewels of The Church here on Earth. For us Orthodox Christians, the idea of living and working without the close proximity of our icons of Panagia is very nearly unthinkable. She is in every way the shining example of a Christian life lead by a loving mother who is the fully human example of complete theosis. I have always thought it a great tragedy that so many Protestant Christians neither share nor understand our devotion to her.
When I was a child I went to Catholic elementary school. When the nuns taught us to pray the rosary, they also taught us the "Sorrowful Mysteries". My wife, who for the past 29 years has been very Orthodox, grew up a Congregationalist. After we were married she read the "Sorrowful Mysteries" and after the birth of our much loved second child with Down Syndrome and a serious heart defect, her devotion to Panagia blossomed as she recognized in her a mother who had endured great sorrows for the glory of God. When her very old father lay dying a few years back during Great Lent, my wife attended all the Akathist services at our parish. As she put it, she just sat there crying to her mother Panagia because she knew "she understands".
On a side note, in Orthodoxy we celebrate the Dormition (Falling Asleep) of the Most Holy Theotokos on August 15th. While virtually all Orthodox Christians believe in the Assumption, it is not taught as dogma but rather as a theologoumenon, or "optional" pious belief.
For me the Assumption points up the Resurrection and most poignantly the evil of death, when body and soul are torn apart, and the longing of the saints in heaven for reunion with the flesh, when they shall be made whole. There seems to be at work today a facile platonism, which treats the body as a shell, something to be got ride of. It could be that the pain of leaving it is greater than any bodily torments we suffer.