The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Description:
The feast of the Assumption dates back to the first centuries of Christianity and in the IV century is already celebrated everywhere. Since 595, the holiday began to be celebrated on August 15 in honor of the victory won on this day by the Byzantine emperor Mauritius over the Persians.
In the East and West, this holiday has different names. The Greeks called it "koimesis" - "immersion in sleep" (church-Slav. - succession). In the West, the Latin name “assumptio” – “taking”, “acceptance” – was fixed, so among Russian Catholics of the Latin rite, the name “Taking the Blessed Virgin Mary into heavenly glory” is used along with the established in the Russian tradition “Dormition”.
Early Christian monuments contain various and often contradictory information about where, how long and how the Mother of God lived after the end of Christ’s earthly life. There is no evidence of the death and burial of the Mother of God.
Most texts mention the following plot: after the ascension of Jesus Christ to heaven, the Virgin Mary lived in Jerusalem under the tutelage and care of John the Theologian, praying in anticipation of meeting with the Son. Three days before the death of the Virgin Mary, the archangel Gabriel appeared to her and announced the imminent transition to blessed succession.
According to tradition, on the day of the death of the Virgin Mary, all the apostles were miraculously transported on clouds from different countries of the earth to Jerusalem.
Jesus Christ Himself, with angels and saints, came to meet the soul of His Mother.
According to the will of the Mother of God, her body was buried in Gethsemane near Jerusalem, between the graves of her parents and Joseph the Betrothed.
Three days later, the Apostle Thomas came to the tomb, who was absent from Jerusalem on the day of her death, but the body of the Virgin Mary was no longer in the tomb.
According to the Christian doctrine, after her death, the Virgin Mary was bodily ascended to heaven, as the queen appeared before the Son and, taking under her protection the entire human race, intercedes for him before God.