"Let no one be surprised if any privileges above our lot have been given to the Mother of God by the divine nature. Let us simply celebrate, with shining hearts and splendid rites, the memory of the holy entombment of that tabernacle where our life began."
In this sixth of our meditations leading up to the feast of the Dormition (August 15), St Andrew of Crete - best known for his 'Great Canon,' which marks the season of Lent - expounds the mystery of the Falling Asleep of the Mother of God. The text is adapted from his first Homily on the Dormition, excerpted from Brian Daley, On the Dormition of Mary: Early Patristic Homilies (SVS Press, 1997), 103-116.
Watch all meditations on the feast:
Meditation 1: The Apolytikion of the Feast
Meditation 2: St John of Damascus on the Dormition
Meditation 3: The Coming of Christ to Retrieve his Mother
Meditation 4: The Kontakion of the Feast
Meditation 5: The Dormition and the Zodiac
Meditation 6: St Andrew of Crete on the Dormition
Meditation 7: The Megalynarion of the Feast
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