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Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Christian Orthodox Church (BOR) said on Tuesday, in a sermon delivered at the chapel of Saint George inside the Patriarchal Residence that, although the Mother of God was moved to heaven by the love and power of her Son, She remains present in the world through Her prayers, through which she delivers from death the souls of those who pray to her, being called on the day of death and on the day of judgment.
"She is the intercessor, together with St. John the Baptist, on the day of the Universal Judgment, for those who have sinned but have not lived to show the deeds of repentance. (...) The Mother of God does not forsake the world, because this is the world that Her Son loved and saved. And, because the Son wants humanity to be saved, His Mother also wants all people to enjoy eternal happiness in the Kingdom of the Most Holy Trinity," said the Primate of the Romanian Christian Orthodox Church, according to the Basilica News Agency of the Romanian Patriarchate.
His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel said that "the Mother of God went through death like all men", "but She no longer awaits the universal resurrection, as Christ the Lord, Her Son, did not want to leave the body of His Mother to decay and took Her with Him to heaven".
The Orthodox hierarch explained that the Church has called this feast by two names: "dormition" - to show that the death of the Mother of God was real and "the moving to heaven", into the glory of Her Son.
"This feast is called neither resurrection - for no one has seen her risen as Christ was seen, nor ascension - as some wrongly say out of ignorance, because She did not ascend to heaven by Her own power as Christ rose. She was taken up to heaven, moved," said Patriarch Daniel, detailing that this movement of the Virgin Mary "is not a simple spatial displacement from earth to heaven, but a spiritual-existential mutation".
"The Mother of God's movement is the entrance to another mode of existence, that of heavenly everlasting life, a move into the glory of the kingdom of heaven (...) It is a move to heavenly everlasting life and a glorification of the soul and body of the Mother of God, Her move into the glory of the kingdom of heaven," pointed out the Patriarch.
The Patriarch recalled that the Dormition of the Mother of God is the feast day of many churches, especially the voivodal churches, which have become the burial place for rulers and kings, mentioning: Bistrita Monastery (in Neamt), where the ruler Alexander the Good is buried, Putna Monastery, where Saint Stephen the Great is buried, etc.
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According to Church tradition, the Mother of God lived several years after the ascension of Her Son and our Lord Jesus Christ. Three days before Her death, She was told by the Archangel Gabriel that she would pass from this world to eternal life.
Although the Apostles were scattered throughout the world to preach the Gospel to all nations, they were present at the event, brought by the power of God, the Blessed Virgin informing them of what was to happen.
After bidding farewell to all those present - notes St. John of Damascus - there followed the moment when the Lord Himself descended to receive Her holy soul into His hands (a moment which is richly represented in the Orthodox Church's iconography). Then She said: "My Son, into Your hands I commend my spirit". Having said this, She breathed her last, as if She had fallen asleep. It was like falling asleep, not a death, namely without the pain of death, hence the name of the feast.
The apostles then picked up the death bed with the body of the Mother of God, carrying it to the tomb. Tradition also notes that a large crowd of people had gathered there, amazed at the sight of Her falling asleep and the arrival of the apostles. The procession went to Gethsemane, where a new stone tomb had been prepared for Her. There are two versions of this tradition: one version has it that the body was in the tomb for three days, after which it was lifted in a mysterious manner to the heavenly places; the other version has it that the body of the Mother of God was taken up to heaven from the hands of the Apostles Peter and Paul as they were preparing to place it in the tomb, with only the cloth in which it was wrapped remaining in their hands. The differences may also be due to the fact that a long period of terrible persecution against the Church soon followed, which did not allow a more thorough investigation of events and dates.
The Dormition of the Mother of God and the bodily ascension to heaven represent the last mystery in the work of human salvation. After the Resurrection of Christ, His Ascension to heaven and the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, the Dormition of the Mother of God concludes the work of salvation accomplished by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
