Dormition of Theotokos, by hand of Georgios Kordis, egg tempera on wood
by Saint Maximos the Greek
The Only-Begotten Son and Word of God,
who became a human person for us (though He was sinless), voluntarily
underwent the crucifixion, death and burial so that our human nature,
which the father of evil had caused to be cast out of paradise in olden
times, could be elevated. Christ rose, however, and was elevated to His
initial glory, and then sent the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to his
disciples and apostles. After the God/Man/Word ascended into heaven, the
eye-witnesses and servants of the Lord were in the upper room, as Saint
Luke tells us, and after they had received the Holy Spirit they were
unwilling to neglect preaching the Word of God in order to wait on
tables. So they appointed deacons in their place. When the preachers of
salvation sat down at table, they placed on it a napkin with a loaf on
it, which was the Saviour’s portion and similar to those He had eaten
when He was still incarnate among them, before His passion.
When the holy apostles rose from the
table, the oldest and first among them took the loaf in his hands,
raised it up and proclaimed ‘Great is the name’. The other disciples of
the Word responded ‘of the Holy Trinity’. Then the deacon who was
serving said ‘Glory to You in the name of Christ the Saviour’. And the
apostles again answered ‘Glory to You our God’. The name of the Holy
Consubstantial Trinity without beginning was said once and ‘glory to You
our God, glory to You’ twice, because of the two elements, divinity and
humanity, the two energies and two natures, and their perfect union in
the God/Man/Word.
The holy apostles performed this rite
both when they were together and when they were apart, after they’d gone
out to teach all the nations. At the Dormition of the Holy, Most Pure,
Ever-Virgin Mary, the Sinless, Uncorrupt, Mother of the Word, the Most
Honourable and Sublime of all celestial concepts, the renewal of our
race, the most precious, God-receiving vessel of the whole of the
Divinity, the apostles, who were at the ends of the known world, were
taken up in clouds and transported to Gethsemane to offer their services
at the burial of the most pure body of the Mother of God the Word. By
God’s will, which sees and arranges all things, the holy and great
Apostle Thomas was not with the others at the burial of the Mother of
the Word, just as, when the Saviour appeared to His disciples behind
closed doors after His resurrection and taught them about peace, Thomas
wasn’t there and didn’t believe the other disciples and companions.
Because of this good disbelief, he
taught us, through touching the most pure members of the Saviour’s body-
the ribs and the hands- that we should believe that He Who suffered the
Passion while still among us is indeed the perfect God. So, in this
instance, too, by the ineffable and unspoken will of Him Who orders all
things and governs all things well, Thomas wasn’t present at the funeral
of the Mother of God. He came three days later, borne on a cloud and
immediately hastened to the grave, together with the other apostles, in
order to venerate the life-receiving body of the Mother of God. And so
the whole of the human race was given salvation and the correct faith.
Just as the incarnate God rose from the
dead, so the holy body of His Mother was taken up into the heavenly
domain. On their return from the grave, the apostles talked to Thomas,
the preacher of the truth, about how he was transported on the cloud.
They recalled the words of the song of the Mother of God, her miracles
and her final resting in the grave. He in turn related the persecutions,
the temptations and the hardships he’d suffered on his journey. He
named the cities, the residents of which had come to believe through his
preaching, and also told them what he saw when he was taken up in the
cloud. He told them all of this. Then they went to eat and thereafter
began to elevate the portion which had been placed in honour of Christ
the Saviour.
When the deacon who was performing this
rite took this bread in his hands, he raised it and said ‘Great is the
name’ and the apostles replied ‘of the Holy Trinity’. And when he said
‘Glory to you our God glory to you’- oh, how ineffable and delightful
are Your mysteries, Christ our King, through which you perform miracles!
Wishing to satisfy the great desire of the Apostle Thomas to see the
All Holy and Ever-Virgin Mother of God, You allowed him to see You and
Your holy Mother, all the heavenly powers and all those who had fallen
asleep throughout the ages ascending from earth to heaven. The apostles
gazed in terror at Our Lady and her Only-Begotten Son. And instead of
saying ‘Glory to You, our God, glory to You’, they exclaimed ‘Most Holy
Mother of God, help us!’ And other apostles shouted ‘Through her
intercessions, God, have mercy upon us and save us!’ Since then, this
elevation of the ‘Panayia’, Our Most Holy Lady, has been celebrated in
commemoration of the Mother of God herself.
And so we celebrate the elevation of the
‘Panagia’ when we rise from the table, for the sanctifying of our souls
and bodies. Who can praise in an appropriate way her innumerable
miracles, which are still being performed to this day? Were we able to
concentrate the eloquence of all orators into one mouth and a single
voice, we still wouldn’t be able to find a way to tell the secrets of
her wonders, which she performs on land and sea: illnesses disappear,
demons are put to flight, prisoners are liberated from bitter
enslavement, the down-trodden are freed from the misery that oppresses
them. And from what I’ve seen and heard, anyone who raises a finger, a
stone, or some plant in her memory and her name receives the same
deliverance from tribulations as the person who elevates the bread in
honour of the Ever-Virgin Mary, the Mother of God.
Her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, took the
bread in His hands and said ‘Take, eat; this is my body’ and ‘do this
in remembrance of me’. Christ is the head, which is why those who
partake of His great mystery, if they receive it worthily, will receive
His glory and become gods by grace.
Those who instituted the sacraments were
pleased to confirm that, because of this bread which is elevated in
honour of the holy name of the Mother of God, we should be delivered
from every evil and should partake of her holy body. And, thanks to her
protection, that we should be delivered from eternal torments and be
counted worthy of the eternal blessings, through her prayers and those
of all the saints throughout the ages. Amen.
Source-Pemptousia.com
