Dormition of the Mother of God
Dormition of the Mother of God | |
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Ermoupolis) | |
Observed by | Eastern Christianity |
Date | August 15 [O.S. August 28] |
Frequency | annual |
First time | Unknown |
Part of a series on the |
Eastern Orthodox Church |
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Overview |
The Dormition of the Mother of God is a
The use of the term dormition expresses the belief that the Virgin died without suffering, in a state of spiritual peace. This belief does not rest on any scriptural basis, but is affirmed by Orthodox
Dormition fast
The Feast of the Dormition is preceded by a two-week
The Dormition Fast is a stricter fast than either the
In some places, the services on weekdays during the Dormition Fast are similar to the services during Great Lent (with some variations). Many churches and monasteries in the Russian tradition perform the lenten services on at least the first day of the Dormition Fast. In the Greek tradition, during the Fast either the Great Paraklesis (Supplicatory Canon) or the Small Paraklesis is celebrated every evening except Saturday evening and the Eves of the Transfiguration and the Dormition.[4][citation needed]
The first day of the Dormition Fast is a
Term
In Orthodoxy and Catholicism, in the language of the scripture, death is often called a "sleeping" or "falling asleep" (Greek κοίμησις; whence κοιμητήριον > coemetērium > cemetery, "a place of sleeping"; Latin: dormire, "to sleep"). A prominent example of this is the name of this feast; another is the Dormition of Anna, Mary's mother.
Origin and adoption of the tradition
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Mother of Jesus |
Chronology |
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Marian perspectives |
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Catholic Mariology |
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Marian dogmas |
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Mary in culture |
1st–5th century
The first Christian century may be silent, but anonymous traditions concerning the dormition began circulating as early as the third century and perhaps "even earlier", such as the "Book of Mary's Repose".[6] According to some, before the 4th-5th century the Dormition was not celebrated among the Christians as a holy day.[7]
Recent scholarship has shown that "The Dormition/Assumption of Mary" (attributed to
The written historical and archaeological record aside, a fairly representative example of mainstream Orthodox teaching is that Church Tradition preserved a more ubiquitous oral tradition. According to Sophia Fotopoulou, "We have no historical data to indicate how long the Mother of God remained on earth after the
While the Dormition tradition has early attestation in anonymous sources, in the first five centuries it lacked an explicit adherent among the Church Fathers. Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 310/20–403), a Jew by birth, born in Phoenicia, converted to Christianity in adulthood and lived as a monk for over 20 years in Palestine from 335–340 to 362, writes in "Panarion" in "Contra antidicomarianitas" about the death of the Virgin Mary the following:
If any think [I] am mistaken, moreover, let them search through the scriptures any neither find Mary's death, nor whether or not she died, nor whether or not she was buried—even though John surely travelled throughout Asia. And yet, nowhere does he say that he took the holy Virgin with him. Scripture simply kept silence because of the overwhelming wonder, not to throw men's minds into consternation. For I dare not say—though I have my suspicions, I keep silent. Perhaps, just as her death is not to be found, so I may have found some traces of the holy and blessed Virgin. ...The holy virgin may have died and been buried—her falling asleep was with honour, her death in purity, her crown in virginity. Or she may have been put to death—as the scripture says, 'And a sword shall pierce through her soul'—her fame is among the martyrs and her holy body, by which light rose on the world, [rests] amid blessings. Or she may have remained alive, for God is not incapable of doing whatever he wills. No one knows her end. But we must not honour the saints to excess; we must honour their Master. It is time for the error of those who have gone astray to cease.[20]
In the next chapter, Epiphanius compares Mary with three different people, who died in three different ways: Elijah, who was assumed into Heaven; John, who died a normal death; and Thecla, who was a martyr. This further shows that he was open to various options for her end, and did not know which of the options she actually experienced.
And if I should say anything more in her praise, [she is] like Elijah, who was virgin from his mother’s womb, he always remained so perpetually, and was assumed and has not seen death. She is like John who leaned on the Lord’s breast, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” She is like St. Thecla; and Mary is still more honored than she, because of the providence vouchsafed her.[21]
Ambrose, however, who was a contemporary of Epiphanius, dismissed the view that Mary was martyred when exegeting Saint Simeon's prophecy in (Luke 2.35), seemingly critiquing those who took the prophecy literally, and reducing the number of options to either natural death or assumption:
Neither the letter of Scripture nor history teaches that Mary passed from this life by suffering execution, for it is not the soul but the body [some speculate] which is pierced through and through by the material sword.[22]
Late 5th until 7th century
More Dormition traditions began surfacing in manuscripts during the late 5th century. Stephen Shoemaker characterised them as the "Palm of the Tree of Life" narratives, the "Bethlehem" narratives, and the "Coptic" narratives—aside from a handful of atypical narratives.[23][page needed]
The events of the Dormition of the Virgin and her burial are dealt with in several known
According to Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos in his "History of the Church," Emperor
In Rome the feast called Dormitio Beatae Virginis was established by Pope Sergius I (687–701), borrowed from Constantinople.[30]
Narrative
According to later tradition, Mary, having spent her life after
Thomas was taken to his fellow apostles, whom he asked to see her grave, so that he could bid her goodbye. Mary had been buried in
Related sites
The Dormition tradition is associated with various places, most notably with
Dormition versus Assumption
Eastern Christians celebrate the Dormition of the Theotokos on August 15 (August 28,
Orthodox view
The Orthodox Church specifically holds one of the two Roman Catholic alternative beliefs, teaching that Mary died a natural death, like any human being; that her soul was received by Christ upon death; and that her body was resurrected on the third day after her repose, at which time she was taken up, both in body and soul, into heaven when the apostles, miraculously transported from the ends of the earth, found her tomb to be empty.[36] The specific belief of the Orthodox is expressed in their liturgical texts used at the feast of the Dormition.[35]
The Eastern Catholic observance of the feast corresponds to that of their Orthodox counterparts, whether Eastern Orthodox or Oriental Orthodox.
Catholic view
The Catholic doctrine of the Assumption covers Mary's bodily movement to heaven, but the
On 25 June 1997 during a General Audience Pope John Paul II stated that Mary experienced natural death prior to her assumption into Heaven, stating:
It is true that in Revelation death is presented as a punishment for sin. However, the fact that the Church proclaims Mary free from original sin by a unique divine privilege does not lead to the conclusion that she also received physical immortality. The Mother is not superior to the Son who underwent death, giving it a new meaning and changing it into a means of salvation. Involved in Christ's redemptive work and associated in his saving sacrifice, Mary was able to share in his suffering and death for the sake of humanity's Redemption. What Severus of Antioch says about Christ also applies to her: “Without a preliminary death, how could the Resurrection have taken place?” (Antijulianistica, Beirut 1931, 194f.). To share in Christ's Resurrection, Mary had first to share in his death. The New Testament provides no information on the circumstances of Mary's death. This silence leads one to suppose that it happened naturally, with no detail particularly worthy of mention. If this were not the case, how could the information about it have remained hidden from her contemporaries and not have been passed down to us in some way? As to the cause of Mary's death, the opinions that wish to exclude her from death by natural causes seem groundless. It is more important to look for the Blessed Virgin's spiritual attitude at the moment of her departure from this world. In this regard, St Francis de Sales maintains that Mary's death was due to a transport of love. He speaks of a dying “in love, from love and through love”, going so far as to say that the Mother of God died of love for her Son Jesus (Treatise on the Love of God, bk. 7, ch. XIII–XIV). Whatever from the physical point of view was the organic, biological cause of the end of her bodily life, it can be said that for Mary the passage from this life to the next was the full development of grace in glory, so that no death can ever be so fittingly described as a “dormition” as hers."[37]
Liturgical practices
This section needs additional citations for verification. (August 2019) |
Byzantine Rite
The Feast of the Dormition has a one-day
Rite of Burial of the Theotokos
In some places,[
This practice began in Jerusalem, and from there it was carried to Russia, where it was followed in various Dormition Cathedrals, in particular that of Moscow. The practice slowly spread among the Russian Orthodox, though it is not by any means a standard service in all parishes, or even most cathedrals or monasteries. In Jerusalem, the service is chanted during the Vigil of the Dormition. In some Russian churches and monasteries, it is served on the third day after Dormition.[citation needed]
Malankara Rite
The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, which is an Oriental Orthodox Church, celebrates the Feast of Dormition on August 15 with great importance, as that day is the national independence day of India.
Maronite
The
Depiction in art
Byzantine art
In
There are similarities between the traditional depictions of the Dormition of the Theotokos in Byzantine icons and the account of the death of the Egyptian
Catholic art
The Dormition is known as the Death of the Virgin in Catholic art, where it is a reasonably common subject, mostly drawing on Byzantine models, until the end of the Middle Ages. But often the moment just after death is shown, without Christ, but with the apostles crowded around the bed. The Death of the Virgin by Caravaggio, of 1606, is probably the last famous Western painting of the subject. After this depictions of the Assumption become usual, with the Virgin shown alive, rising to Heaven.
Gallery
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The Dormition: ivory plaque, late 10th to early 11th century (Musée de Cluny)
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12th-century rendition of the Dormition by aNovgorodartist
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Uspenje presvete Bogorodice, 40-square-metre fresco from 1265, Sopoćani Monastery, Serbia
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Koimesis Mosaic at theChora Church, Constantinople
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Procession of the Epitaphios of the Theotokos, Toronto
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Procession of the Epitaphios of the Theotokos, Ottawa
See also
- Assumption of Mary
- Cathedral of the Dormition of the Theotokos – many cathedrals, especially in Russia, are dedicated to this feast.
- Assumption Cathedral
- Death of the Virgin – the same subject in Western art
Notes
- ISBN 9780802841667. Retrieved 2011-08-20..
- ^ "Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius XII Munificentissimus Deus Defining the Dogma of the Assumption". 1950-11-01. Archived from the original on 2019-11-29.
- ^ "Dormition of the Theotokos". Library – Feasts of the Church. [Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]. Archived from the original on 2017-05-21. Retrieved 2020-08-15.
- ^ Outside the Dormition Fast it is always the Small Supplicatory Canon (Paraklesis) which is chanted. During the Dormition Fast, however, the Typikon[citation needed] prescribes that the Small and Great Supplicatory Canons be chanted on alternate evenings: If August 1st falls on a Monday through Friday, the cycle begins with the Small Supplicatory Canon; if August 1st falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the cycle begins with the Great Supplicatory Canon.
- ^ "Orthodox Calendar. Holy Trinity Russian Orthodoxy Church, a parish of the Patriarchate of Moscow". www.holytrinityorthodox.com.
- ^ "Stephen Shoemaker, "'Mary in Early Christian Faith and Devotion' presented by Stephen Shoemaker, 1/31/17 Transcript," 45:03" (PDF).
- ^ Прот. Владимир Сорокин. Догмат Римско-Католической Церкви о взятии Божией Матери в небесную славу с православной точки зрения. // Богословские труды. Вып. 10. Московская Патриархия, 1973. С. 71, 74
- ^ Patrick Truglia, "Original Sin in The Byzantine Dormition Narratives" Revista Teologica, Issue 4 (2021): 9 (Footnote 30).
- ^ "Apocrypha of the New Testament", 'Introductory Notice to the Apocrypha of the New Testament, Vol 8, The Ante-Nicene Fathers.
- ^ Christa Müller-Kessler, "Three Early Witnesses of the ‘Dormition of Mary’ in Christian Palestinian Aramaic from the Cairo Genizah (Taylor-Schechter Collection) and the New Finds in St Catherine’s Monastery," Apocrypha 29 (2018), pp. 69–95.
- ^ Christa Müller-Kessler, "An Overlooked Christian Palestinian Aramaic Witness of the Dormition of Mary in Codex Climaci Rescriptus (CCR IV)," Collectanea Christiana Orientalia 16 (2019), pp. 81–98.
- ^ Stephen J. Shoemaker, "New Syriac Dormition Fragments from Palimpsests in the Schøyen Collection and the British Library," Le Muséon 124 (2011), pp. 258–278.
- ^ Sebastian P. Brock and Grigory Kessel, "The ‘Departure of Mary’ in Two Palimpsests at the Monastery of St. Catherine (Sinai Syr. 30 & Sinai Arabic 514)," Christian Orient: Journal of Studies in the Christian Cultures of Asia and Africa 8 (2017), pp. 115–152.
- ^ Christa Müller-Kessler, "Obsequies of My Lady Mary (I): Unpublished Early Syriac Palimpsest Fragments from the British Library (BL, Add 17.137, no. 2)," Hugoye 23 (2020), pp. 31–59.
- hdl:10396/24113.
- ^ Shoemaker, Stephen (2002). Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary's Dormition and Assumption. Oxford University Press. p. 42.
- ^ Shoemaker, Stephen (2016). Mary in Early Christian Faith and Devotion. Yale University Press. p. 25.
- ISBN 9781538111291.
- ^ "The Dormition of the Theotokos" Archived 2012-02-13 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ "Panarion Of St Epiphanius Against Heresies Catholic Vatican Complete" – via Internet Archive.
- S2CID 170628132– via www.academia.edu.
- ^ Migne, Jacques-Paul (August 16, 1845). "Patrologiae cursus completus: sive biblioteca universalis, integra, uniformis, commoda, oeconomica, omnium SS. Patrum, doctorum scriptorumque eccelesiasticorum qui ab aevo apostolico ad usque Innocentii III tempora floruerunt ... [Series Latina, in qua prodeunt Patres, doctores scriptoresque Ecclesiae Latinae, a Tertulliano ad Innocentium III]" – via Google Books.
- ^ Stephen J. Shoemaker, 2003. Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary's Dormition and Assumption' (Oxford University Press)
- ^ Migne, Jacques-Paul (August 16, 1857). "Patrologiae cursus completus, series graeca" – via Google Books.
- ^ Truglia, Patrick (2021). "Original Sin in The Byzantine Dormition Narratives" (PDF). Revista Teologica (4): 10–11.
- ^ Truglia, Patrick (2021). "Original Sin in The Byzantine Dormition Narratives" (PDF). Revista Teologica (4): 13–15.
- ^ Migne, Jacques-Paul (August 16, 1865). "Patrologiae cursus completus, series graeca" – via Google Books.
- ^ "Leontiou tou Byzantiou ta heuriskomena panta". Migne. August 16, 1865 – via Google Books.
- ^ Patrick Truglia, "Original Sin in The Byzantine Dormition Narratives" Revista Teologica, Issue 4 (2021): 20.
- ^ "М. Поснов. История Христианской Церкви" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2005-05-15. Retrieved 2018-12-28.
- ^ Roberts, Alexander; Donaldson, James; Coxe, A. Cleveland; Knight, Kevin, eds. (1886). Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 8. Translated by Walker, Alexander. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co. Archived from the original on 2019-01-19. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
- ^ "Dormition (Keemeesis) of the Theotokos". The Life of the Virgin Mary, The Theotokos. Holy Apostles Convent and Dormition Skete. Archived from the original on 2011-05-17. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
- ISBN 0-571-11137-8
- ^ a b Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus item 44 at the Vatican web site Archived 4 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b "15 August". Archived from the original on 2013-05-26. Retrieved 2013-08-12. "The Menaia – 15 August – Commemoration of the Falling Asleep of our Most Holy Lady, the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary." Retrieved 2013-08-12.
- ^ Bishop Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia. Festal Menaion. London: Faber and Faber, 1969, p. 64.
- ^ "General Audience – 25 June 1997, sections 3 and 4". Vatican.va. 1997-06-25. Archived from the original on 2000-04-21. Retrieved 2013-11-03.
- ^ On Mount Athos, 16 days
- ^ [1] Archived May 1, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
Further reading
- Shoemaker, Stephen J. (2002). Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary's Dormition and Assumption. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. OCLC 50101584.
External links
- Full liturgical and hymnographic texts and readings for the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos
- Service of the Burial / Lamentations of the Theotokos, forming part of the Feast of the Dormition
- The Dormition of our Most Holy Lady the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary – Orthodox synaxarion
- Icons of the Feast of Dormition Archived 2013-06-23 at the Wayback Machine
- Icons of the Dormition
- Epitaphios of the Theotokos Russia
- Celebrating Dormition in the Holy Land Jerusalem
- Translation of the Dormition Icon of the Mother of God from Constantinople to the Kiev Caves, Far Caves (Feast celebrated May 3)