Dormition Or Assumption

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Both compliment each other and there is no conflict, if this is what your asking.

Though it was almost universally believed for more than a thousand years, the Bible contains no mention of the assumption of Mary into heaven. The first Church writer to speak of Mary’s being taken up into heaven by God is Saint Gregory of Tours (594). Other early sermons on the Feast of Mary’s entry into heaven are those of Ps.-Modestus of Jerusalem (ca. 700).

On May 1, 1946, Pope Pius XII, asked all bishops in the world whether they thought this belief in the assumption of Mary into heaven should be defined as a proposition of faith, and whether they with their clergy and people desired the definition. Almost all the bishops replied in the affirmative.

On November 1, 1950, the Feast of All Saints, Pope Pius XII declared as a dogma revealed by God that “Mary, the immaculate perpetually Virgin Mother of God, after the completion of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into the glory of Heaven”.

We have no real knowledge of the day, year, and manner of Our Lady’s death. The dates which have been assigned to her death vary between three and fifteen years after Christ’s Ascension. Both Jerusalem and Ephesus claim to be the place where she died. (By tradition, Mary lived at Ephesus after the death of Jesus.) Mary’s tomb was presumably found in Jerusalem. It is believed that Mary died in the presence of all the Apostles, but that after her burial, her tomb, when opened, was found empty. Therefore, they concluded that her body had been taken up (assumed) into heaven.

Saint Gregory of Tour provided a rationale for the tradition, which is related to her having been preserved from original sin. He said that it is inconceivable to think Mary’s sinless body, likened to the Ark of the Covenant which was made of incorruptible wood, should decay in the grave. The text, ‘Rise thou and the ark of thy strength’ (Ps 132/1:8) was understood to mean that it was God’s will that, as Christ had ascended, so too Mary would be received into heaven.

There is an important difference, of course, between the ascension of Jesus into Heaven after His Resurrection, and the assumption of Mary. To ascend is to rise up under one’s own power; while to be assumed means something that is done to one. Jesus, being the Second Person of the Trinity, had no need of assistance; whereas Mary did not have this power.
 
As an Eastern Catholic I believe that Mary fell into a deep sleep, but didn’t die because she was free from Original Sin. That is our belief. But the Catholic Church has not ruled definetly on that situation. The Feast on Aug. 15 refers her Assumption into Heaven. We have flowers blessed on that day.
 
I refer to the Title of this thread as a discussion about the similiaities and differences that the Eastern and Western Catholic Churches view this blessed event.
Although they are very similar, yet the description is different. Some say she did die but taken up in a nanosexond, and some say just a deep sleep and taken up alive.

In any case, this is a blessed event and let us cherish the fact that IT DID happen!

go with God!
Edwin
 
As Marie points out, the language used to describe the Assumption simply says that Our Lady was assumed “after the completion of her earthly life.”

That language is deliberately ambiguous. Whether she was dead or merely “asleep” is a matter of speculation.

Some argue that the wages of sin are death, and since Our Lady was free of sin, she did not have to die.
 
Paul W:
. . .
Some argue that the wages of sin are death, and since Our Lady was free of sin, she did not have to die.
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The counter argument is that Jesus was also without sin and did die. Neither is conclusive.
 
Edwin,

Our Churches teach that she died-soul separated from body, end of story. We see on the Festal Ikon her body, with Jesus standing behind the bier hold a little person in swaddling clothes. This is the soul of the Theotokos. Our own Church affords her the same kinds of services as are given Our Lord on Great and Holy Friday-there is a shroud with her reposed image on it, and there is a service of Lamentations, patterned off the Jerusalem Matins of Great and Holy Saturday. At Vespers, we process with the shroud, and place it for vigil in the center of the Temple, like on Great and Holy Friday with the Shroud of our Lord, and at Matins, her shroud is taken into the Altar, to signify her Assumption. When one looks at this, as well as the hymnody of the feast itself, we cannot conclude otherwise than she died, and was raised as the first fruit of the redemption of man and Resurrection of Christ.

This is the fourth most important feast for Ruthenian Greek Catholics-since time immemorial we have had a pilgrimage on or near 15 August, both in Mukachevo and here in the US (will *you *be at Mariapovch this year?).

In Christ,
Adam
 
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akemner:
Edwin,

Our Churches teach that she died-soul separated from body, end of story. We see on the Festal Ikon her body, with Jesus standing behind the bier hold a little person in swaddling clothes. This is the soul of the Theotokos. Our own Church affords her the same kinds of services as are given Our Lord on Great and Holy Friday-there is a shroud with her reposed image on it, and there is a service of Lamentations, patterned off the Jerusalem Matins of Great and Holy Saturday. At Vespers, we process with the shroud, and place it for vigil in the center of the Temple, like on Great and Holy Friday with the Shroud of our Lord, and at Matins, her shroud is taken into the Altar, to signify her Assumption. When one looks at this, as well as the hymnody of the feast itself, we cannot conclude otherwise than she died, and was raised as the first fruit of the redemption of man and Resurrection of Christ.

This is the fourth most important feast for Ruthenian Greek Catholics-since time immemorial we have had a pilgrimage on or near 15 August, both in Mukachevo and here in the US (will *you *be at Mariapovch this year?).

In Christ,
Adam
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Adam,
Thanks for the info, since is only my second year back to the Byz Rite.
I am going to Festive Vespers tonight and will take a special look at the icon.
Also we are blessing the ‘first-fruits’.

go with God!
Edwin
 
Bumping this old one up since the feast is coming up.

Does it really matter whether the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Theotokos, either died or just assumed into heaven?
 
Joe Kelley:
The counter argument is that Jesus was also without sin and did die. Neither is conclusive.
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The counter argument to that is that Jesus did not have to die. He chose to die. He said that no one takes his life from him; he is the one who chooses to lay it down.
 
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Marie:
The first Church writer to speak of Mary’s being taken up into heaven by God is Saint Gregory of Tours (594).
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The *Euthymiac History * is the first known written reference to the dormition and assumption of the Mother of God and about 150 years earlier than Gregory of Tours. It is possible that the Eastern Churches had more knowledge of this than the West?

See the references to this here…
"The Assumption - something historical"
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=11639
 
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