Homily One on the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
(Delivered in 1961)
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
(Delivered in 1961)
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
Dear brothers and sisters, today the entire Christian world festively and joyfully celebrates the day of the radiant repose of the Mother of God. Although it seems that the event being celebrated is sad, full of tears, because here we encounter death, nevertheless the Holy Church is now clothed in the garments of triumph, rejoices and is glad, and calls us to this. Why should we rejoice today, on the day of the Dormition of the Mother of God? Because the very word "dormition" shows that the death of the Mother of God was extraordinary. It was a dream that was soon followed by a joyful awakening.
A few days before the Dormition, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to the Most Holy Theotokos with the news of Her imminent departure from this life. Filled with deep faith in the life to come, the eternally blessed life, She accepts this news not with fear and sorrow, but with a feeling of the liveliest joy and the greatest gratitude to God. At the same time, the almighty power of God from all over the world gathers the Apostles to Jerusalem so that they would give honor to the Mother of God and bury Her. At the very hour of death, an extraordinary light illuminates the temple of the Most Holy Theotokos, and in the open heaven those present behold the Lord of Glory Himself with the Angels and Saints, coming forth to meet His Mother. The Apostle Thomas, according to the special dispensation of God, appears after the burial of the Most-Pure One, wishes to venerate Her, the tomb is opened for his sake, but the body of the Mother of God is no longer found in it.
In such a wondrous death of the Most-Blessed Virgin Mary, to the consolation of all Christians, the power and majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ were especially solemnly manifested, Who by His Death and Resurrection crushed the sting of death and from terrible and painful made it joyful and blessed for His faithful followers.
Before the coming of Christ to earth, death was very terrible for man, because it snatched him away like a fierce beast its prey, irretrievably, and there were no means to get rid of it, for sin reigned over people. But after the appearance of the Lord in the flesh and His victory over sin and death, the horror of death disappeared, it became like a peaceful sleep, after which the joyous morning of the universal Resurrection would come. To the extent that each of us conquers the sin that still lives in us, the fear of death also disappears, so that the triumphant conquerors of sin greet it with joy and no longer die, but as if they fall asleep in peace. The most obvious example of the triumph over death we see today in the Dormition of the Most-Pure Virgin Mary. She leaned into the coffin only for a short rest. Behind the Mother of God we see the Apostles, Martyrs and all the Saints, who met death with joy, as the greatest friend, who, in return for the transient blessings of this world, its sorrows and misfortunes, grants them eternal blessedness.
The Holy Church tries to instill in us the same fearlessness towards death, exhorting us to drive away fear by gradually eradicating sins in ourselves, and calls her dead deceased, that is, as if they had fallen asleep, because immortal life in the future is so indubitable for a Christian that he truly looks upon death only as a dream. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.