Posted by by Fr. Steven Kostoff (dcalvert) on 8/17/2007, 9:54 am
Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,
Neither the tomb nor death, could hold the Theotokos ... (Kontakion of the Feast)
At the Vesperal Liturgy on Tuesday evening we had a truly splendid celebration of the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos. It prompted one of our long-standing parishoners to share with me after the Liturgy: "That is one of the most beautiful liturgies I can recall since being here!" The Church, as the "Bride of Christ," was decorated and adorned with the tomb of the Mother of God and her burial shroud at the focal point of our prayer and veneration. But a truly festal spirit is only possible with the presence of flesh and blood "lovers of the Feast," and the church was filled with the faithful as never before for this particular Feast. There was a real sense of people being drawn to venerate the Mother of God in her blessed repose. "As incense" arising before the Lord, we offered our prayers in the sure hope that they were received before the Throne of God. After such an experience, it is difficult to leave the church without a certain inner glow. I recall Fr. Alexander Schmemann coming out of the old chapel at St. Vladimir's following the Liturgy on a particular Feast Day, pausing for a moment as he absorbed the bright atmosphere of the sun and the blossoming flowers, and then saying to those of us present: "You know, on a day like this, life seems to make real sense." The Feast Days manifest the true nature of the Church as the realm of grace and joy in an unrivaled manner.
Was is this Feast of the Dormition all about? Dormition is the translation of a Greek word - koimisis - which means "falling asleep," but more specifically the "falling asleep" in death which is how Christians have referred to death from apostolic times based on the teachings of the Lord and the Apostles. As is our common human destiny - our "yielding to nature" as the Fathers put it - the Virgin Mary died and was buried. Pious tradition tells us that the apostles were all gathered together for this solemn event. They accompanied the most pure body of the Theotokos to the grave with the chanting of burial hymns and songs. As in the face of all death, there was great grief and sadness. We liturgically reactualize the experience of being present for the burial of the Theotokos on this Feast. Such an experience is also meant to bring to mind our own impending death and burial, as it may recall to mind the deaths of our loved ones who have gone before us.
"Falling asleep," though, implies reawakening. In our paschal hymnography, we refer to Christ Himself "as One fallen asleep" before His Resurrection. So we commemorate the death of the Virgin Mary on this Feast of the Dormition, but together with her "reawakening" and even bodily "translation" to Heaven. This is based upon another tradition that claims that her tomb was discovered to be empty when looked into shortly following her burial. Burial hymns are mingled with festal shouts of joy because "the Mother of Life" has been "translated to life by the One who dwelt in her virginal womb!" (Kontakion of the Feast) So we further liturgically reactualize the glorious experience of the victory over death manifested in the Mother of God, ultimately based upon Her own Son's Resurrection. We anticipate our own "translation" to life in God's Kingdom. The hymnography can barely restrain its ecstatic joy before this event:
O marvelous wonder! The source of life is laid in the tomb, and the tomb itself
becomes a ladder to heaven. Make glad, O Gethsemane, thou sacred abode of the
Mother of God. Come, O ye faithful, and with Gabriel to lead us let us cry: 'Hail, thou
who art full of grace: the Lord is with thee, granting the world through thee great mercy.
(Sticheron at Great Vespers)
At the risk of sounding terribly naive or simplistic, we could say that in this Feast we celebrate the fact that the Virgin Mary "died and went to Heaven!" With a bit more sobriety and realism we could say that the Virgin Mary indeed entered into Heaven, but she had to die first. That is inescapable with all of its attendant grief and sense of separation. (Through the centuries, many Roman Catholic theologians have had a difficult time acknowledging the actual death of the Virgin Mary before her "assumption" into Heaven. This was based on the very questionable claims made about her in the Roman Catholic dogma of her "immaculate conception"). But her Son and Lord rescued her out of the helplessness and hopelessness of death. That is why we believe that the Theotokos represents our deepest longings and desires for unending life in the presence of God. Where else but the Church can we truly "celebrate" the death of another human being?
The Dormition has an Afterfeast that takes us to the Leavetaking on August 23. Remember to incorporate the hymnography for the Feast into your prayer life, as we continue to celebrate the Feast liturgically in the church.
Come, O gathering of those who love to keep the feasts, come and let us form a choir.
Come, let us crown the Church with songs, as the Ark of God goes to her rest. (cf. Psalm
132:8) For today is heaven opened wide as it receives the Mother of Him who cannot be
contained. The earth, as it yields up the Source of life, is robed in blessing and majesty.
The hosts of angels, present with the fellowship of apostles, gaze in great fear at her who
bore the Cause of Life, now that she is translated from life to life. Let us venerate and
implore: Forgive not, O Lady, thy ties of kinship with those who commemorate the feast
of thine all-holy Dormition. (Litya at Great Vespers)
Fr. Steven C. Kostoff
Christ the Savior/Holy Spirit Orthodox Church
http://www.christthesavioroca.org
Responses:
