Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God

This feast that commemorates the bodily death and resurrection of the Most Holy Mother of God, along with the feast of the Lord’s Transfiguration, coincide with the yearly fruit harvests in the eastern Mediterranean. Under the Old Law, these harvests were marked by the ancient biblical feast of Succoth, or the Feast of Tabernacles, which commemorates the passage of the people of Israel through the desert during the Exodus.  The event of the Lord’s Transfiguration actually occurred at the start of the Feast of Tabernacles in the Lord’s last year of His earthly life.  It is in this context that St. Peter’s suggestion to build booths for the Lord, Moses and Elijah makes sense.

     According to the Tradition, the Most Holy Mother of God died in Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles.  It was during that feast, which commemorates the wandering of the people of Israel in the desert and their final entry into the Promised Land that the Lord chose as the end of His Most Holy Mother’s earthly sojourn and her entry into the everlasting Promised Land of Paradise.

     The fruit harvest in the eastern Mediterranean is the second harvest.  Earlier in the year, in May and June, the wheat harvest was brought in.  This first harvest was marked by the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, which commemorated the fact that the Lord gave the Law to Israel on Mount Sinai.  Now, of course, the feast commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles.  The first harvest represents the Lord’s Resurrection from the dead, which is the source and beginning of our salvation, but the second harvest is a promise to us all.  We are promised a share in the life of God, which comes to us through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 

    Sharing the life of God is not something that we wait for death to do.  The beginning of the life of God is not our bodily death.  The life of God begins for us with out baptism, and continues with our personal commitment to the work of our salvation.  It is a personal commitment to purifying our hearts by ascetical effort.  We need to purify our hearts for a serious life of prayer, and it is prayer that brings us our share in the Life of God.

     In the life and death and resurrection of the Most Holy Mother of God, we see that there is no division between the life of prayer and good works.  The principle good work is prayer, and no good work exists without prayer.  Any work that is performed without prayer is performed for selfish motives.  The work that is done with sincere prayer is life-giving both to ourselves and to our neighbours.  Through cooperation with Divine Grace, by our strenuous effort to please God, we begin the path from glory to glory—to becoming uncreated in the perfection of the image and likeness of God.  This path begins with humility, and with the admission that we are sinners.  It is in the proportion that we humble ourselves that we will be exalted. 

     The example of the Most Holy Mother of God should bring us by means of encouragement to humble ourselves everyday in prayer.  Let us put ourselves in hell, without despair, and call out to God assiduously and faithfully for mercy.  We only have this opportunity to cooperate with Divine Grace, and willingly receive the Life that God is trying to give us.  We have only this one chance to become people of prayer.