The Most Holy Theotokos is the main intercessor and intercessor for the human race before her Son and God. That is why the Orthodox Church calls her the most honest cherubim and the most glorious seraphim. The memory of the main events in the life of the Mother of God has been preserved in many great Orthodox holidays.
The celebration of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, performed by most of the Orthodox Churches on August 28 in the new style, is the last great twelve feast in the church calendar. This day "crowns" the entire liturgical year of Orthodox celebrations.
The Gospels do not tell about the death (dormition) of the Mother of God. The Holy Scriptures contain a narrative that after the crucifixion of Christ, the Mother of God lived with the Apostle John the Theologian, staying together with other disciples of Christ in prayers. The Mother of God was also present on the day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. The silence of the Gospels about the details of the Assumption of the Virgin can be considered one of the reasons that the holiday itself appears in the Christian tradition quite late - in the 5th-6th centuries.
In the 5th century, the holiday was solemnly celebrated in Syria under the name "Memory of the Blessed", in the 6th century the celebration was renamed "The Feast of the Death of the Mother of God".
The events of the death of the Virgin are described in some apocrypha. However, the Holy Tradition of the Church has not preserved all the information from such sources, since in many cases the authorship of the apocryphal texts has not been established for certain, therefore the content itself may seem dubious. It is known from the pious Christian tradition that at the time of her death the Mother of God was in Jerusalem. She often visited Calvary and the Holy Sepulcher for prayer. Three days before the death of the Virgin Mary, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to her, announcing the imminent peaceful and blessed death. The Archangel handed over to the Mother of God the "branch of paradise" and commanded that she be carried in front of the coffin at burial. At present, the tradition has been preserved in the divine service to march in front of the Shroud of the Virgin Mary with flowers and a "paradise branch" at the burial ceremony of the Virgin Mary.
Three days after the appearance of the archangel, the Mother of God peacefully departed to the Lord. Before her death, the Virgin Mary prayed that all the apostles would be present at her burial. Miraculously, the Lord fulfilled her request. All the apostles gathered for the burial, except for the apostle Thomas. When the apostles approached the place of the Assumption, they heard angelic singing, which continued for three days after the death of the Virgin Mary.
Before the burial of the Mother of God, the apostles informed the high priests of the solemn procession. The body of the Mother of God was carried through Jerusalem and buried in a tomb next to the parents of the Mother of God Joachim and Anna and Joseph the Betrothed (in Gethsemane). However, the high priests tried to prevent the funeral procession itself, but a miracle happened - a cloud descended on the funeral procession, and, as it were, protected the procession from the high priest's guard. However, one of the high priests approached the tomb of the Mother of God and wanted to overturn the bed with his hand, but his hands were immediately cut off by an invisible force. Subsequently, this high priest became a Christian. His name is Aphonia. After the burial of the Mother of God, the apostles filled up the entrance to the cave with a stone and left with prayer to the Lord.
On the third day after the death of the Mother of God, the Apostle Thomas appeared in Jerusalem. With other disciples of Christ, Thomas went to the tomb to worship the Virgin Mary. However, when the stone was rolled away from the tomb, the body of the Virgin was not found. The Lord miraculously took the Mother of God to heaven as the assurance of the general resurrection. Only the burial shroud remained in the tomb, and the fragrance spread. On the same day in the evening, the Mother of God appeared to the holy apostles and announced to them the wonderful news that she herself would be with the human race all the days until the end of the age. It is such a joyful promise of the intercession of the Mother of God after death that found its reflection in the main hymn of the troparion holiday: "You kept your virginity at Christmas, you did not leave the Mother of God in the Assumption of the world."
The special honor of this holiday is reflected in the Orthodox culture. In particular, in many Orthodox Churches, many churches have been erected, consecrated in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos.
