August 15: The Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Marytranslated

In the Birth, you preserved your virginity, because what is born is the will of God, in the Sleep you did not leave the world, Theotokos, but you remain a constant supporter and comforter of the man who blesses you and raises your Son. You have moved to Life, mother existing of Life, and by your embassies you have redeemed our souls from death. Today Orthodox Christians celebrate the ascension to heaven of the eternal Mary. When the fullness of her earthly life came, the Angel of the Lord brought her the message of deliverance three days earlier. He went to pray on the Mount of Olives. Then he returned to the house of the Beloved Disciple, and announced his departure from earth.

The Apostles were not all in Jerusalem, however ("Thearchii beckoned, everywhere... ὑπὸ nefῶν metarsiōs ayromeni") in a wonderful way they all gathered around her venerable tabernacle and with psalms and hymns they brought her down, placing her in a tomb in Gethsemane.

"The sweetness of the angels, the joy of the sorrowful, the patroness of Christians", Maryam is our person in the Kingdom of God. Her embassies are unceasing, her protection a constant anchor of hope for…