C
Chuck1
Guest
Hi , I was looking at my calendar and I saw that on Monday it is the assumption of the BVM ? I was wondering what that is all about and why don’t other denominations celebrate it ?
- Status
T
TeenageConvert
Guest
It’s a celebration about the day our Holy Mother was “assumed” body and soul into Heaven, beause she was sinless, so death couldn’t overcome her.
They don’t celebrate it because they don’t believe in the immaculate conception, or any veneration of Mary.
They don’t celebrate it because they don’t believe in the immaculate conception, or any veneration of Mary.
B
Bluegoat
Guest
Other denominations do celebrate it, and it has nothing to do with the Immaculate Conception.
T
TeenageConvert
Guest
But the denominations who don’t do not believe in venerating Mary, or that she was sinless, so they wouldn’t have a reason for celebrating it. Doesn’t her being sinless, which is why she was assumed ody and soul into Heaven, have to do with the immaculate conception?
T
TrueLight
Guest
Well, you’re Anglican, so you probably have a healthy dose of reverence for the BVM.
Evangelicals/fundamentalists don’t celebrate it. They don’t believe in the Assumption. In fact, I never heard of the Assumption before joining CAF.
Where, I live we have more Evangelicals than other “high church” denominations, so when I think of Protestant, I tend to think of Evangelicals. I have to remind myself there are other Protestant denominatons.
F
Friar_David_O.Carm
Guest
The Church Teaches that Mary was assumed bodily into Heaven. The Church is silent on whether or not she died.
The tradition in the East is that Mary did “fall asleep in the Lord”. Which is why we celebrate the Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary instead of the Assumption though basically it is the same thing.
C
CB_Catholic
Guest
This coming Monday is not the Feast of the Assumption. It’s next Monday, August 15. You are a week early.
T
thistle
Guest
When you say “other denominations” that implies we are a denomination. The Catholic Church is not a denomination. It is the only Church.
B
Bluegoat
Guest
Good catch, I missed that. Indeed, the Catholic Church does not teach that Mary was not subject to death.
B
Bluegoat
Guest
In Catholic teaching, her exemption from Original Sin is explained by the Immaculate Conception. However, the Orthodox celebrate the Assumption, do not believe in Original sin, and believe that she was sinless, died, and was assumed bodily into Heaven. Some Protestants also celebrate/believe in her bodily assumption; of them many believe she was sinless, and they may use the language of original sin, but they do not use the language of the Immaculate Conception.
F
Friar_David_O.Carm
Guest
The Orthodox do believe in Original Sin.
What they do not believe in is the stain of Original Sin.
B
Bluegoat
Guest
Yes, I meant in the context of requiring a doctrine like the Immaculate Conception.
C
ConstantineTG
Guest
fixed
C
ConstantineTG
Guest
Most Orthodox will say they do not believe in Original Sin. To be accurate, Eastern Christians do not explain The Fall the same way as the West.
Also the Orthodox/Eastern Catholics do not celebrate the Assumption. We celebrate the Dormition. The Assumption is just part of the Feast of the Dormition, not the entirety of it.
F
Friar_David_O.Carm
Guest
Not really fixed. The Church, as in universal Church, is silent on whether or not Mary died. The death of may is not dogmatic.fixed
The communion of Churches that make up the Catholic Church share the same dogmas, no one Church has a dogma that another Church does not have.
C
ConstantineTG
Guest
The term “Dormition” by itself already points to a passing from this life. You should know better than me
F
Friar_David_O.Carm
Guest
I thought about it after I posted but it was to late to edit my post. You are right, the Latin Church is silent on it, the Eastern Churches are not silent but it is not dogmatic. An Eastern Catholic is free to believe that Mary did not die.The term “Dormition” by itself already points to a passing from this life. You should know better than me
But with the Dormition, or falling asleep in the Lord, it would be a hard thing to reconcile within one’s mind.
C
ConstantineTG
Guest
I don’t know why it is so hard. Icons already give us a visual. It would be rather silly for the iconographers to put someone who’s alive into a tomb…
http://www.dormition.ca/images/dormition.jpg
F
Friar_David_O.Carm
Guest
What I mean about it being hard is for one in the East to believe that Mary never died yet celebrate the Dormition.
Again, it is not a dogmatic teaching that she did die so any faithful Catholic is free to believe that she did not, but as pointed out, it would be hard for someone in the East to believe this and reconcile it with the Dormtion as celebrated and depicted in the icon.
R
Roy5
Guest
I am reasonably well acquainted with Protestantism and don’t know a single Protestant group that teaches the Assumption, a doctrine defined by Pius XII in 1950. Their argument is that there is no reference to it in scripture and that it gradually grew out of Catholic theology and not from the Bible. The exception may be a few high-church Anglicans. I recall an Episcopal church near Times Square - St. Mary the Virgin - that could embrace the Assumption, though I’m not sure.
Code:
Protestants generally honor Mary as the mother of Jesus. They are divided on the Virgin Birth. Evangelical Protestants definitely believe it. Mainline Protestantism includes millions of Protestants who have serious doubts about such doctrines. They are selective in the scriptures they view as sacrosanct. Many are religious liberals who seek to be sincere followers of Christ but may sympathize with those scholars (higher criticism, etc) who have sought to demythologize Christianity. In other words, they regard even the gospels as a mixture of fact and hyperbole/exaggeration. For example, did Jesus walk on water? Did Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead? Did Jesus rise literally or was it a spiritual resurrection, symbolizing the victory of good over evil, truth over falsehood, and life over death? They would include people who may degrees dialogue about such questions, permitting different views, holding different opinion amiably.
Protestants may point out several things. Here are a few. (1) Mary is only mentioned twice in the gospels between the trip to Jerusalem when Jesus was 12 and the crucifixion. (2) Even that experience at the temple raises questions. How could a devoted mother be unaware that her only son wasn't with them until after traveling a day's distance from Jerusalem? (3) In the two references to Mary - Matt. 12:46-50 and John 2:4 - Jesus could seem to be a bit dismissive of his mother. Re-read them and see why they may think that. (4) In all the letters of Paul and other epistles Mary is not mentioned once. It would seem logical that if Mary was to be so central in the Church the epistle writers would have at least made reference to her.
Many Protestants feel that the veneration of Mary was influenced by the strength of feminine goddesses in pagan religions that rivaled early Christianity, and that these influences gradually elevated Mary to the position she occupies in the Church today.- Status