Feast of the Assumption

[mardukm]

Which Eastern/Oriental Catholic Churches celebrate a Feast of the Assumption (not the Dormition)?

I already know the Coptic and Ethiopian Churches do. What about other Eastern/Oriental Catholic Churches?

Blessings,
Marduk

 

[Ungcsertez]

Which Eastern/Oriental Catholic Churches celebrate a Feast of the Assumption (not the Dormition)?

I already know the Coptic and Ethiopian Churches do. What about other Eastern/Oriental Catholic Churches?

Blessings,
Marduk

I thought all Eastern and Oriental-East Christians celebrated the Dormition of The Mother of God??

 

[mardukm]

Dear brother Ungcsertez,

I thought all Eastern and Oriental-East Christians celebrated the Dormition of The Mother of God??

I’m talking about two separate Feasts.

The Feast of the Dormition and the Feast of the Assumption.

When I was Coptic Orthodox not in communion with Rome, we celebrated these two feasts separately.

Blessings,
Marduk

 

[malphono]

The Maronite and Syriac Churches observe one feast, on 15 August. It’s called either neeho d-yoldat aloho (the “resting” (i.e. Dormition) of the Mother of God), which is the more ancient designation (and FWIW, the only one I use) or shounoyeh d-yoldat aloho (the “taking up” (i.e. Assumption) of the Mother of God) which of course is a more contemporary term.

Maybe Rony or Anthony can supply the Chaldean-Assyrian usage.

 

[mardukm]

Dear brother malphono,

The Maronite and Syriac Churches observe one feast, on 15 August. It’s called either neeho d-yoldat aloho (the “resting” (i.e. Dormition) of the Mother of God), which is the more ancient designation (and FWIW, the only one I use) or shounoyeh d-yoldat aloho (the “taking up” (i.e. Assumption) of the Mother of God) which of course is a more contemporary term.

Maybe Rony or Anthony can supply the Chaldean-Assyrian usage.

From what I know of the Syriac ORTHODOX Churches, they celebrate the Feast of the Dormition AND a separate Feast of the Glorification of the Theotokos. I THINK the Feast of the Glorification of the Theotokos is analogous to the Feast of the Assumption(?)

Are you saying the Catholic Churches of the Syriac Tradition no longer have this separate Feast? If so, why?

The Armenian Apostolic Church (Oriental Orthodox) also celebrate a separate Feast of the Assumption aside from the Feast of the Dormition, IIRC.

Is this a classic case of Byzantinization of the Catholic Churches of the Oriental Tradition, possibly brought about by Rome’s lack of distinction between the Oriental and Eastern Traditions?

Or is this a case of anti-Latinization gone awry - thinking that the Feast of the Assumption was a merely Latin Tradition, and therefore should be removed, perhaps forgetting the genuine Tradition of the ORIENTAL Churches (as distinct from the Eastern)?

Blessings,
Marduk

 

[malphono]

Dear brother malphono,

From what I know of the Syriac ORTHODOX Churches, they celebrate the Feast of the Dormition AND a separate Feast of the Glorification of the Theotokos. I THINK the Feast of the Glorification of the Theotokos is analogous to the Feast of the Assumption(?)

Are you saying the Catholic Churches of the Syriac Tradition no longer have this separate Feast? If so, why?

Is this a classic case of Byzantinization of the Catholic Churches of the Oriental Tradition, possibly brought about by Rome’s lack of distinction between the Oriental and Eastern Traditions? The Armenian Apostolic Church (Oriental Orthodox) also celebrate a separate Feast of the Assumption aside from the Feast of the Dormition, IIRC.

Blessings,
Marduk

No, I don’t think it’s quite that drastic.

The Syriac Orthodox also observe 15 August, using the exact same designations. Can you provide a calendar reference for the other observance? If so, I’ll do a little nosing around my references.

 

[mardukm]

No, I don’t think it’s quite that drastic.

The Syriac Orthodox also observe 15 August, using the exact same designations. Can you provide a calendar reference for the other observance? If so, I’ll do a little nosing around my references.

OK, I made a boo-boo. And you are right, brother Malphono. I did some more reading, and it turns out that the Feast of the glorification of the Theotokos is NOT analogous to Assumption. The Feast of the Glorification of Theotokos involves the glorification of Mary at the annunciation. I got confused because I read some online Byzantine sources that refer to the Feast of the Dormition as a celebration of BOTH the falling asleep of Mary and her glorification into heaven. So I assumed when I read that the Syriac Orthodox Church has a separate Feast of the Glorification of the Theotokos, it referred to the Assumption as distinct from the Dormition.

I also made another boo-boo. I stated that the Armenian Apostolic Church has a separate Feast of the Assumption aside from the Feast of the Dormition. Another misreading and misinterpretation on my part, I’m afraid.

Question: I know that in the Byzantine Catholic Churches, the celebration is normally called “Feast of the Dormition.” You stated that the term “Feast of the Assumption” is a more “modern” term in the Catholic Churches of the Syrian Tradition. How modern is it? The Syriac Orthodox websites I’ve seen generally use the term “Feast of the Assumption.”

Blessings,
Marduk

 

[Cluny]

In the Byzantine tradition, the Feast of the Dormition continues for a week (as well as one day of pre-feast), with the texts generally referring to her falling asleep.

However, on the 17th and a few other days, there are definite references to her bodily Assumption.

 

[malphono]

OK, I made a boo-boo. And you are right, brother Malphono. I did some more reading, and it turns out that the Feast of the glorification of the Theotokos is NOT analogous to Assumption. The Feast of the Glorification of Theotokos involves the glorification of Mary at the annunciation. I got confused because I read some online Byzantine sources that refer to the Feast of the Dormition as a celebration of BOTH the falling asleep of Mary and her glorification into heaven. So I assumed when I read that the Syriac Orthodox Church has a separate Feast of the Glorification of the Theotokos, it referred to the Assumption as distinct from the Dormition.

I also made another boo-boo. I stated that the Armenian Apostolic Church has a separate Feast of the Assumption aside from the Feast of the Dormition. Another misreading and misinterpretation on my part, I’m afraid.

Question: I know that in the Byzantine Catholic Churches, the celebration is normally called “Feast of the Dormition.” You stated that the term “Feast of the Assumption” is a more “modern” term in the Catholic Churches of the Syrian Tradition. How modern is it? The Syriac Orthodox websites I’ve seen generally use the term “Feast of the Assumption.”

Blessings,
Marduk

Ok, cool. I was beginning to wonder if I missed an important feast of the Holy Virgin.

Anyway, the designation “Assumption” seems to have been around in the Syriac Churches (all of them, including the Orthodox) well before 1950, but precisely when it came into use I wouldn’t even venture to say. My best guess is that it was likely imported from the Latin usage (keep in mind that it was used in the Latin Church long before 1950 too) and spread, but I do know that both designations were (and are, to an extent) used side-by-side.

As I said earlier, personally I prefer the Syriac equivalent of “Dormition” mainly because I love the traditional Syriac connotation of the word. It’s one of those Semitic words where the full meaning somewhat defies translation.