In the past three months, the Orthodox Church has celebrated the feast of various saints among them the Falling Asleep of Our Lady on 15th August. This feast of Saint Mary is the only saint feast within the Orthodox Church that requires worshippers to fast ( 1st August till 14th August). This article aims to explain the meaning of this feast, and to further enlighten readers of the life of Our Lady.

OUR LADY: THE GREATEST SAINT

The Orthodox Church regards the Virgin Mary as the greatest among all saints. There are two main reasons for giving the Virgin Mary this honor. Firstly, God chose her to bring His Son, Jesus, into the world. Theotokos means Godbearer. Accordingly, in the Orthodox Church she occupies the position of honor (next to Christ in the dome) on the front wall of the church. It is through the Theotokos that heaven and earth united.

However, before Jesus was born in her body, He had been born in her heart. She loved Him. She lived a life of prayer everyday. That is why when God chose her, she said, "Be it done according to your will". So the second reason why Saint Mary is regarded as the greatest saint is because, for her entire life she lived a pure and holy life and in full submission to God.

LET’S TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT THE LIFE OF THE THEOTOKOS.

The most holy Mother of God is the only woman whom the Old Testament prophets wrote about many centuries before her birth. They foretold her birth and her life, announcing that she was to become the Mother of our Lord Jesus.

Mary was born in Nazareth (Palestine). Her parents, Joakim and Anna, were God-fearing, pious people who followed God’s commandments. Joakim was a descendant of the royal house of King David, Anna of the priestly tribe of the Levites. But it was after being married for over 50 years that God granted them a baby daughter and told them to name her Mary and to dedicate her to the service of God (Nativity of the Theotokos: 8 th September)

At the age of 3 she was presented to the Temple (21 st November). Although traditions forbade girls to enter the Holy of Holies, Zechariah the priest, allowed it because he knew it was the will of God. Mary remained at the Temple for 12 years. Angels and the priests of the Temple cared for her, together with other young virgins and aged widows who had consecrated themselves to the Lord’s service. There she spent most of her time in prayer.

At age 15 she could no longer remain at the Temple. Her parents had died. Her relatives betrothed her to Joseph the carpenter. A devout older widower, Joseph was a descendant of the royal family of David. He and his first wife had had five children. It was during this engagement period that the Annunciation occurred (25 th March). The Annunciation is when the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would conceive of the Holy Spirit and bear Jesus Christ the Messiah. Despite not understanding what she was being told, Mary trusted the Lord fully and commended herself to His will.

From the Scriptures we know that God was very pleased with the Theotokos, and regarded her with high honor. Some examples include:

• a) The Wedding at Cana, where Jesus performs His first miracle at her request, even thought it was "not His time yet" to begin His ministry. Thereafter, during Jesus’ public ministry Mary remained at His side, but always in the background, marveling at the wonders He performed.
• b) Mary was also there with Jesus during His passion. She was there with Him at the Cross-, suffering and agonizing over His suffering. At one point it is believed that she fainted. Jesus loved His mother so much that during His own agony and suffering He was thinking of her well being. As He hung on the Cross He asked John His disciple to look after Mary as if she was his mother. (Proof that Mary had no other children).
  During the three hours of Jesus’ suffering on the cross, Mary remained watching and praying (Lamentations Sung on Holy Friday reflect Mary’s feelings of grief).
• c) Mary was among the first to hear of Jesus’ resurrection. She was also with the disciples when Jesus ascended into heaven. After Jesus ascended into heaven, Mary and other faithful women, and the apostles returned to Jerusalem and entered the house where the faithful met frequently to pray. Here they prayed and fasted for ten days, waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit. When the Day of Pentecost (50 days after Easter) came, 121 people were gathered in this small house in prayer. The Holy Spirit came into their hearts.

THE FALLING ASLEEP OF THE MOST HOLY MOTHER OF GOD.

Mary lived in the house of St. John the Apostle for many years. One day when she was about 53 years old, she went up to the Mount of Olives to pray, as she often did. There on the mount from which her Son had ascended into Heaven, she prayed to our Heavenly Father and to her Son. As always, she remembered the many great achievements of her Son, and tears of joy and thankfulness filled her eyes. While she was praying, an angel of the Lord appeared to her. He told her not to be afraid, saying that in three days she would be in Paradise with her son Jesus.

As the angel spoke to her, he handed her a branch from Paradise to be carried before her funeral procession. This was a date palm branch, which shone with a heavenly radiance. "This will be carried before your holy body on the way to the burial place in Gethsemane" the angel said. The Blessed Mother, filled with great joy, fell on her knees and thanked God for His great and heavenly mercy.

Before telling anyone about the angel’s visit, Mary went again to the Mount of Olives to pray. As she prayed and did her prostration, a great miracle occurred. Each time she bent to pray, the olive trees bent down in reverence to God and to the Mother of our Lord, who had lived a godly life, ministering to the poor and the sick and spending many hours in prayer each day.

Mary returned to the house of St. John and began preparations for her funeral. She lit candles in the house and invited John and all her friends and relatives, so that she could tell them about her departure from this world into the Kingdom of Heaven. They all wept at the news that their gentle, kind and helpful friend, the Theotokos, would be leaving them. She asked that she be buried in Gethsemane, overlooking the Mount of Olives, where her parents and Joseph were also buried.

While the most pure Virgin was making her last arrangements, a cloud descended about the house. At God’s command, angels brought all the disciples, except for St. Thomas, from around the world, to be present at the burial of the Theotokos.

Saint John welcomed them, telling them that the Theotokos would soon die. Their hearts were filled with sorrow, and they too wept at this bad news. But the Holy Mother Mary said to them, "Do not weep and do not sadden the happiest day of my life. I am not leaving you. I will always be with you in spirit, praying for you and helping you in your difficult journeys." Then the angelic cloud also brought Paul with his disciples. St. Paul fell at the feet of the Holy Virgin and praised and blessed her.

The Virgin Mary called each of the apostles to her, praising their work and blessing them. She then laid upon her bed and prepared to depart. All the apostles and friends gathered about the bed holding lighted candles. Then the most Holy Mother surrendered her soul into the hands of her son, our Lord Jesus Christ, without pain or suffering. It was as though she had fallen into a sweet sleep (hence, why we call this feast the Falling Asleep of our Lady). At once a wonderful angelic singing filled the air with the greeting of the angel Gabriel: "Rejoice, Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women" (Luke 2:28).

A radiant light covered Mary’s face, and a wonderful sweet aroma came from her body, filling the room with its fragrance. All the faithful in the room kissed and venerated her body with great respect.

The funeral began with St. John carrying the palm branch and Peter carrying the censer leading the way. The apostles and a large crowd, all carrying lighted candles and singing sacred songs, followed the holy body of Theotokos. Healing power went out to all those who were afflicted. The sick became well, the blind regained their sight, the ears of the deaf were opened, the crippled walked, and devils were driven out. Every kind of disease disappeared when those afflicted touched the bier of the Most Holy Mother.

As the funeral procession moved toward Gethsemane, those who did not believe in Jesus tried unsuccessfully to break up the procession. Athonius, one of the Jewish priests, came near the bier and attempted to push her body off. Jesus could not permit anyone to treat His Holy Mother in this manner, so He sent His angel to cut off Athonius’ hands with a sword. Athonius fell to the ground in terrible pain, crying out for help. Peter approached him, saying "Do you believe that this is the Mother of Jesus, the Son of God?" Athonius replied "Yes, now I do believe. Please ask God to forgive me and to heal my hands." Peter prayed, picked up Athonius’ hands and placed them back as they had been, totally healed and without pain. Athonius followed the crowd, singing and praising the Mother of Jesus. Later he was baptised and tried to bring many other Jews to the Christian faith.

When the funeral procession reached Gethsemane, which was not far from John’s house, they laid the body of Mary to rest, rolling a large stone over the entrance to the tomb.

The Orthodox Church celebrates the Falling Asleep of the Virgin Mary each August 15. The assumption of the theotokos. The Church’s tradition and the hymns of the Church tell us that all the apostles remained in Gethsemane for a few days before leaving to preach in other cities. During those days they could hear the angels singing and praising the Mother of Jesus. On the third day, by the will of God, Thomas the Apostle, who had not believed that Christ had risen until he touched Christ’s hands and side, was walking to Jerusalem when he saw a woman’s figure ascending toward Heaven. As she passed near him, she dropped her belt to him.

When he reached Jerusalem, he learned that the Theotokos, had died. He was overcome with grief and sorrow that he had not been there to say farewell to her. He begged the other apostles to roll away the stone from the tomb so that he could pay his last respects to her. They took pity on him and did as he asked. To their amazement, the body of Mary was not there. All that remained was the burial clothes and a beautiful fragrance, which lingers in the tomb to this day. he apostles prayed for God to reveal to them where the body had been taken. Later they looked up into Heaven and saw Mary in the air, surrounded by thousands of angels. She said to them, "Rejoice, for I will be with you always."

NB: The Scriptures do not mention the Assumption of the Theotokos. However, this story has been preserved in the sacred tradition of the Orthodox Church and has come down to us through church services and early icons depicting this event.

Prayer: O most glorious, Ever-Virgin Blessed Theotokos, present our prayers to your Son and God, and entreat Him that through you He may save our souls. Amen.

Reference: The Illustrated Life of the Theotokos for Children: Georgia and Helen Hronas, Light and Life Publishing Company