Today is the Feast of the Dormition, dormition meaning falling asleep.
It's the day we have a funeral, so to speak, for the Mother of our Lord,
the Theotokos.
Our rector in his homily mentioned a couple of things that made an impression on me. Mary is not "the great exception" as some might teach. But she is our Great Example. She loved God and said "Yes" to Him, she bore Him in her heart and soul as well as in her body, and because of this love she suffered painfully with him as she stood by the cross.
Loving God was everything to her.
This love was expressed at the Incarnation and in its icon where we see her holding Christ in her arms. But in the icon of the Dormition, the detail shows Christ holding her in His arms. And of course that is where we also want to be when we fall asleep, with the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.
A blessed feast to all!
3 comments:
blessed feast also to you!
GJ, this was comforting for me to read. Today is also the third anniversary of the falling asleep in the Lord of my mother-in-law, on her father's birthday. Memory Eternal.
A wonderful post. I attended the Orthros and service yesterday. Much of it was beyond me, being mostly in Greek, but it was certainly an interesting experience being there. The church was packed full and the Metropolitan was there. I didn't stay for the luncheon afterwards though; a little overwhelming not knowing anyone . . .
Post a Comment