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Full liturgy for the Feast of the Dormition.

Today the Church remembers with thanksgiving the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. Historically, this day was understood to mark her dormition, or "falling asleep," which was most anciently regarded as her natural death and burial. From early on, however, the Church considered that she who conceived and gave birth to the very God of very God, by His Word and Holy Spirit, was also resurrected and ascended into heaven, in both body and soul, soon after her death. There is no word of Holy Scripture to teach these traditions as doctrine, but we should not be too...

It would be a gross understatement to say that much has been written about the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos. Yet very little has been written about the fast that precedes it. Every Orthodox Christian is aware and generally knows the reason behind the fasts for Pascha and Christmas. But while they may know of the Dormition Fast, few follow it, and more than a few question why it is there, neither knowing its purpose. First, given the pervasive misunderstanding of the purpose of fasting itself, a refresher on its purpose is always a good idea. There is...

The Dormition of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary: After the Ascension of the Lord, the Mother of God remained in the care of the Apostle John the Theologian, and during his journeys She lived at the home of his parents, near the Mount of Olives. She was a source of consolation and edification both for the Apostles and for all the believers. Conversing with them, She told them about miraculous events: the Annunciation, the seedless and undefiled Conception of Christ born of Her, about His early childhood, and about His earthly life. Like the Apostles, She helped...

Standing at your deathbed, the Apostles cried aloud in wonder: The Palace of the King withdraws: the Ark of holiness is raised on high. Let the gates be opened wide that the Gate of God may enter into abundant joy, She who asks without ceasing for great mercy on the world. Several years ago, I was sharing with an Orthodox pilgrim the thought that the Dormition fast, though short, was very intense spiritually and that hardships seemed to befall people more in those two weeks than in the long Apostles’ fast. Without hesitation he responded, “Of course! Lent is...

...The “Fiat” is more than a prayer and the “Magnificat” more than a hymn of praise. Together they constitute a lesson book, a guide, for our own lives. This lesson book is desperately needed by Christians, indeed all people of good will, in an age characterized by pride and arrogance. The pattern of the life of Mary, the first disciple of the Lord, reveals a trajectory of surrendered love. If we embrace the mystery of Mary, we will find the meaning of our own lives. We were created out of Love, in Love and for Love. As the beloved disciple...

Both love and duty today fashion my homily for your charity. It is not only that I wish, because of my love for you, and because I am obliged by the sacred canons, to bring to your God-loving ears a saving word and thus to nourish your souls, but if there be any among those things that bind by obligation and love and can be narrated with praise for the Church, it is the great deed of the Ever-Virgin Mother of God. The desire is double, not single, since it induces me, entreats and persuades me, whereas the inexorable duty...

JOHN OF DAMASCUS SERMON III ON THE ASSUMPTION (koimhsiV) [201] LOVERS are wont to speak of what they love, and to let their fancy run on it by day and night. Let no one therefore blame me, if I add a third tribute to the Mother of God, on her triumphant departure. I am not profiting her, but myself and you who are here present, putting before you a spiritual seasoning and refreshment in keeping with this holy night. We are suffering, as you see, from scarcity of eatables. Therefore I am extemporising a repast, which, if not very costly...

JOHN OF DAMASCUS SERMON II ON THE ASSUMPTION (koimhsiV) [171] THERE is no one in existence who is able to praise worthily the holy death of God's Mother, even if he should have a thousand tongues and a thousand mouths. Not if all the most eloquent tongues could be united would their praises be sufficient. She is greater than all praise. Since, however, God is pleased with the efforts of a loving zeal, and the Mother of God with what concerns the service of her Son, suffer me now to revert again to her praises. This is in obedience to...

JOHN OF DAMASCUS SERMON I ON THE ASSUMPTION (koimhsiV) [147] THE memory of the just takes place with rejoicing, said Solomon, the wisest of men; for precious in God's sight is the death of His saints, according to the royal* David. If, then, the memory of all the just is a subject of rejoicing, who will not offer praise to justice in its source, and holiness in its treasure-house? It is not mere praise; it is praising with the intention of gaining eternal glory. God's dwelling-place does not need our praise, that city of God, concerning which great things were...

The Assumption of Mary - August 15The Feast of Mary's Assumptionby: Marcellino D'Ambrosio To listen to the PodCast of The Assumption of Mary - Click here!  This discussion of the Catholic Doctrine of Mary's Assumption, defined by Pope Pius XII as a dogma of faith, originally appeared as an article on the Feast of the Assumption of Mary in Our Sunday Visitor. I once asked a college theology class if anyone could explain the doctrine of the Assumption of Mary.  A student replied, “yeah, that’s the teaching whereby the Catholic Church ‘assumes’ that Mary is in heaven.” There’s a bit more to the dogma...

Qolo: Assumption Entrance Hymn Tune: Fsheeto Alleluia! O Mother who gave Life to us, petition on our behalf the Son who appeared from you: may he remove from us the blows of punishment, and keep away divisions and disputes. May he lead us in the path of life in which we journey at all times. On your memorial day, we sing praise to your only Son. Alleluia! Blessed are you, O Mary, for God, who feeds all creatures, was nourished by you and rested on your breast. O Wonder! The Son of God was nourished by a human creature! He...

AN EXALTED DORMITION Geoffrey Kirk preached at the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham on the Feast of the Assumption. WHEN MY EDWARDIAN predecessor erected in St Stephen’s Lewisham an elaborate tabernacle for the Blessed Sacrament he surrounded it, as you do, with Latin texts taken from the gospels. Below the door, in pride of place he wrote ‘Et verbum caro factum est. ' Words from the first chapter of St John: ‘And the word was made flesh’. My predecessor, no doubt, was wanting to make a point, still controversial in the Church of England in those days, about...

Both love and duty today fashion my homily for your charity. It is not only that I wish, because of my love for you, and because I am obliged by the sacred canons, to bring to your God-loving ears a saving word and thus to nourish your souls, but if there be any among those things that bind by obligation and love and can be narrated with praise for the Church, it is the great deed of the Ever-Virgin Mother of God. The desire is double, not single, since it induces me, entreats and persuades me, whereas the inexorable duty...

Dormition of the Mother of God August 15 We extol you, O Most Pure Mother of Christ our God, and we praise your all-glorious Dormition. (Hymn of Praise of the Feast) The very ancient, universal and profound cult of the Most Holy Mother of God left a special mark, above all, in our Liturgical Year, which is not only rich in the variety of feasts honoring Mary, but begins and ends with her feasts. The Liturgical Year opens with the Nativity of the Mother of God, and closes with her Dormition (i.e., her falling asleep), which in our liturgical books...

On the Dormition of the Mother of God Troparion of the Feast In giving birth Thou didst preserve Thy virginity; in Thy dormition Thou didst not forsake the world, O Theotokos. Thou wast translated unto life, since Thou art the Mother of Life; and by Thine intercessions dost Thou deliver our souls from death. The great and wondrous summer holiday—the Dormition of the Holy Mother of God—from olden times has been regarded by Orthodox Christians in the light of a second Pascha. Pascha itself—the Holy Resurrection of Christ—was a turning point in the history of mankind. With His resurrection the...

The Small Paraklesis is chanted in times of distress and sorrow of soul and during the first fourteen days of August. The Service of the Small Paraklesis (Supplicatory Prayer) To the Most Holy Theotokos The priest: Blessed is our God always, now and forever and unto the ages of ages.If there is no priest, then: Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us. The reader: Amen. The priest or reader: Glory to You, our God, glory to You. Heavenly King, O Comforter, the Spirit of truth, Who is everywhere present and fills...

The Great Supplicatory Canon is chanted during the first fourteen days of August during the Fast of the Theotokos (Mother of God), alternately with the Small Paraklesis. It is also be chanted in every tribulation and in sorrow of the soul. The Service of the Great Paraklesis (Supplicatory Prayer) To the Most Holy Theotokos The priest: Blessed is our God always, now and forever and unto the ages of ages.If there is no priest, then: Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us. The reader: Amen. The priest or reader: Glory to...

THE FAST OF THE DORMITION OF THE HOLY THEOTOKOS AUGUST 1st through 14th By Fr. Gabriel Barrow During the first fourteen days of August during each year, the Holy Orthodox Church enters into a strict fast period in honor of the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary. The eminent Orthodox theologian, Father Sergei Bulgakov, beautifully expresses the high regard which the Orthodox Christians have for the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, for her special role in the salvation of mankind, when he affirms, “The warm veneration of the Theotokos is the soul of Orthodox Piety.” St. John of...

A Novena of Fasting and Prayers This may be appropriate when keeping a fasting novena before the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, Mother of God Prayer of Consecration In union with all mankind, in communion with the entire Church, and with our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, we address to you O Father, this supplication especially for our country, through the heart and the hands of the Virgin Mary. Father, send your Holy Spirit, so that each one of us might become an instrument of your peace, From hunger and war, deliver us! From nuclear war, from incalculable...