Dormition of the Theotokos

The Church calls the death of the Mother of God a dormition — a falling asleep. And keeps the day not in mourning but in blue and white, as a feast.

After Pentecost she lived in Jerusalem in the care of the apostle John. Three days before her repose the Archangel Gabriel appeared to her — the same who had come to Nazareth — and told her the time had come. Tradition says the apostles, scattered across the world in their preaching, were carried to Jerusalem to take their leave; only Thomas did not arrive in time. In the hour of her repose the room filled with light, and Christ received his Mother's soul into his own hands.

She was buried in Gethsemane. Three days later Thomas came and asked that the tomb be opened so that he might say farewell. The tomb was empty; only the burial cloths remained. The disciple who had once refused to believe in the Resurrection became the witness that the Mother of God had been raised and taken to her Son.

The icon

The icon of the Dormition reverses what one expects. Below is the bier with the Mother of God asleep, the apostles gathered around. Above it stands Christ, holding in his arms a swaddled infant: the soul of his Mother. She who once held him as a child is now herself a child in his hands.

How it is kept

August 28 (August 15 on the old calendar), preceded by the two-week Dormition Fast, the strictest after Great Lent. In many churches the burial rite of the Mother of God is served: a flower-covered shroud bearing her image is carried around the church, as the shroud of Christ is carried in Holy Week. The afterfeast continues until September 5.

In giving birth you preserved your virginity; in falling asleep you did not forsake the world, O Theotokos. You were translated to life, O Mother of Life, and by your prayers you deliver our souls from death.