{"id":32517,"date":"2015-08-15T11:05:51","date_gmt":"2015-08-15T15:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/?p=32517"},"modified":"2015-08-15T11:07:58","modified_gmt":"2015-08-15T15:07:58","slug":"marys-transitus-to-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2015\/08\/marys-transitus-to-heaven\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary’s transitus to heaven"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Assumption\"<\/a>The perfect union\u00a0of the Blessed Virgin Mary with God<\/strong>
\n<\/em>Mid-August finds a good many of the Eastern and Western churches commemorating the move of Mary\u00a0to heaven. In the East the feast is called the Dormition (ko\u00edmesis); in the West it is called the Assumption (assumptio). This is a favorite feast for me.<\/p>\n

St. Germanus of Constantinople preached: \u201cYou, O Mother, are close to all and protect all, and though our eyes cannot see you, we know, O Most Holy One, that you dwell among us and make yourself present in the most varied ways… Your virginal body is entirely holy, entirely chaste, entirely God\u2019s dwelling place so for this reason it is absolutely incorruptible. It is unchangeable since what was human in it has been taken up in incorruptibility, remaining alive and absolutely glorious, undamaged, and sharing in perfect life. Indeed, it was impossible that the one who had become the vase of God and the living temple of the most holy divinity of the Only Begotten One be enclosed in a tomb of the dead. Rather, we certainly believe you continue to walk with us.”<\/p>\n

The observance of the\u00a0feast dates back to the first millennium and defined in the 20th century. Mary is\u00a0a figure of the heavenly Jerusalem!<\/p>\n

We know from liturgical historical scholarship that Several Armenian lectionaries found in Jerusalem witness to a celebration of Mary as Theot\u00f3kos on August 15; the documents tell us this feast arose in the fifth century, probably after the Council of Ephesus in 431. The Eastern feast was\u00a0imposed on the entire Byzantine Empire by the Emperor Mauritius at the end of the sixth century. It spread to the West and since the eighth century it has been known as the “assumption” of the Blessed Virgin Mary.\u00a0In comparison, the Coptic Church liturgically commemorates the Virgin’s death and assumption on two different days. You will recall that the Catholic official teaching –definitely defined– happened not in the early centuries of Church history, but on November 1, 1950. Pope Pius XII taught that according to the tradition Mary was raised body and soul to the glory of heaven was proclaimed a dogma.<\/p>\n

The 4 canonical Gospels do not speak of Mary’s later years. But it’s the apocryphal Gospels which speak \u00a0of Mary dying with the apostles gathered around her, and of her later appearing to them as they celebrate the Eucharistic sacrifice. What do we have about Mary’s ultimate existence on earth? The Church uses the apocryphal Gospels together with the fact that no certain relic of Mary’s body exists thus giving the Church room\u00a0to contemplate the last moments of Mary’s life on earth in the light of Christ’s victory over death. Hence, we bless flowers and herbs on this feast (indicating no mortal remains was left in the tomb carved for Mary) and we teach that what was gifted to Mary is gifted by the Savior to us who believe in Him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The perfect union\u00a0of the Blessed Virgin Mary with God Mid-August finds a good many of the Eastern and Western churches commemorating the move of Mary\u00a0to heaven. In the East the feast is called the Dormition (ko\u00edmesis); in the West it is called the Assumption (assumptio). This is a favorite feast for me. St. Germanus of … Continue reading Mary’s transitus to heaven<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1733,32088,2498],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32517"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32517"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32520,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32517\/revisions\/32520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}