28 August 2024
Dear brothers and sisters, happy Great Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos!
Only a believing and loving heart can truly understand and feel the joy of this day. The Mother of God, praised by the Church in songs as 'more honourable than the Cherubim and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim', was an exceptional person, but still, a person. And like every person after the fall of Adam and Eve, She had to go through an inevitable consequence of the original sin — death. Even the pure and sinless Theotokos could not become an exception. So what do Orthodox Christians rejoice in on this day?
Firstly, we rejoice in the fact that after the Resurrection of Christ, death has ceased to be a verdict, a blind alley, but has become a transition to new eternal life with God. Worthily ending Her path of earthly ministry, full of griefs and feats, the Mother of God also went through death. But She went through it as through Dormition — for some moment, it was like She fell asleep, and She immediately met Her Divine Son, Jesus Christ, Who took Her holy soul in His hands. According to the Church Tradition, the Lord raised up His Most Pure Mother, and the Theotokos was the first from among those born of earthly parents to ascend to Heaven in a perfect and renewed body.
Secondly, we rejoice in the fact that all of us now have a loving Protector and Intercessor in the Kingdom of God — the Mother of all Christians, Who in falling asleep did not forsake the world, as the Holy Church sings about it.
Many generations of our ancestors felt the gracious and effective help of the Most Holy Theotokos, Who had chosen Kyiv as one of Her holy domains. In gratitude and with love in response, all our Lavras were named 'of the Dormition', many monasteries and churches were consecrated in honour of the Mother of God for centuries, and every home was adorned with icons of the Ever-Virgin Mary. Wonderful songs — canons and akathists — were written and sung in Her honour. On feasts dedicated to the Theotokos, both the nobility and the military and the elderly and the young were always diligent to come for a joint church prayer so as to praise the Most Pure Mother of Jesus Christ and ask for Her all-powerful help.
Today, when the whole world seems to be shaking and crumbling, we need the help and intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos more than ever.
We need to ardently pray Her to save our people and land from extermination and destruction. To protect the Holy Orthodox Church from all persecutions facing her. To strengthen our hierarchs, priests, monastics, and laity in unity, firmness, and devotion to the Truth. To let us remain, after going through fiery trials, faithful to God, our Christian traditions, the memory of our fathers and mothers, and our holy calling to be people of God.
I wholeheartedly greet all of you, dear brothers and sisters, on the Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God!
Happy great triumph of Christian faith, hope, and love! Faith that God never forsakes us. Hope for a gracious change of our souls and our salvation. Love which never fails nor dies.
All related news Only a believing and loving heart can truly understand and feel the joy of this day. The Mother of God, praised by the Church in songs as 'more honourable than the Cherubim and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim', was an exceptional person, but still, a person. And like every person after the fall of Adam and Eve, She had to go through an inevitable consequence of the original sin — death. Even the pure and sinless Theotokos could not become an exception. So what do Orthodox Christians rejoice in on this day?
Firstly, we rejoice in the fact that after the Resurrection of Christ, death has ceased to be a verdict, a blind alley, but has become a transition to new eternal life with God. Worthily ending Her path of earthly ministry, full of griefs and feats, the Mother of God also went through death. But She went through it as through Dormition — for some moment, it was like She fell asleep, and She immediately met Her Divine Son, Jesus Christ, Who took Her holy soul in His hands. According to the Church Tradition, the Lord raised up His Most Pure Mother, and the Theotokos was the first from among those born of earthly parents to ascend to Heaven in a perfect and renewed body.
Secondly, we rejoice in the fact that all of us now have a loving Protector and Intercessor in the Kingdom of God — the Mother of all Christians, Who in falling asleep did not forsake the world, as the Holy Church sings about it.
Many generations of our ancestors felt the gracious and effective help of the Most Holy Theotokos, Who had chosen Kyiv as one of Her holy domains. In gratitude and with love in response, all our Lavras were named 'of the Dormition', many monasteries and churches were consecrated in honour of the Mother of God for centuries, and every home was adorned with icons of the Ever-Virgin Mary. Wonderful songs — canons and akathists — were written and sung in Her honour. On feasts dedicated to the Theotokos, both the nobility and the military and the elderly and the young were always diligent to come for a joint church prayer so as to praise the Most Pure Mother of Jesus Christ and ask for Her all-powerful help.
Today, when the whole world seems to be shaking and crumbling, we need the help and intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos more than ever.
We need to ardently pray Her to save our people and land from extermination and destruction. To protect the Holy Orthodox Church from all persecutions facing her. To strengthen our hierarchs, priests, monastics, and laity in unity, firmness, and devotion to the Truth. To let us remain, after going through fiery trials, faithful to God, our Christian traditions, the memory of our fathers and mothers, and our holy calling to be people of God.
I wholeheartedly greet all of you, dear brothers and sisters, on the Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God!
Happy great triumph of Christian faith, hope, and love! Faith that God never forsakes us. Hope for a gracious change of our souls and our salvation. Love which never fails nor dies.
