WEBVTT 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:02.379 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:02.379 --> 00:00:05.700 of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory be to Jesus Christ. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:11.140 Glory be forever. Today we celebrate the ancient 00:00:11.140 --> 00:00:15.080 and glorious feast day of the falling asleep, 00:00:15.400 --> 00:00:19.719 the dormition of the Theotokos, the Virgin Mary, 00:00:20.019 --> 00:00:24.960 the Mother of our Lord. This event, of course, 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:28.649 is not recorded in the New Testament. but it's 00:00:28.649 --> 00:00:33.630 a very ancient belief that is seen in the sermons 00:00:33.630 --> 00:00:36.729 and the writings of the fathers of the church 00:00:36.729 --> 00:00:43.549 in the gospel of st luke of course gabriel is 00:00:43.549 --> 00:00:46.850 sent to the virgin mary and announces that she 00:00:46.850 --> 00:00:51.450 is to become the mother of the messiah the mother 00:00:51.450 --> 00:00:57.299 of the redeemer and then mary makes a trip to 00:00:57.299 --> 00:01:02.179 see her cousin, Elizabeth. Elizabeth, of course, 00:01:02.179 --> 00:01:06.459 who was the mother of John the Baptist. And when 00:01:06.459 --> 00:01:10.859 Elizabeth came, or rather when Mary came and 00:01:10.859 --> 00:01:15.799 Elizabeth saw her, Elizabeth said, the baby within 00:01:15.799 --> 00:01:20.900 my womb leaped for joy. Recognizing, of course, 00:01:21.319 --> 00:01:26.120 who it was that was within the womb of his mother's 00:01:26.120 --> 00:01:33.939 cousin the stories in early christian literature 00:01:33.939 --> 00:01:40.219 about the dormition of the virgin mary have a 00:01:40.219 --> 00:01:43.879 have a common idea and that is that when it was 00:01:43.879 --> 00:01:47.599 time for the virgin mary to conclude her life 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:52.799 on this earth Then the apostles were miraculously 00:01:52.799 --> 00:01:57.420 transported back to Jerusalem to see one last 00:01:57.420 --> 00:02:03.159 time the mother of the Savior. Then I'm sure 00:02:03.159 --> 00:02:08.400 you know this story. They buried her, and Thomas, 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:13.719 late Thomas, just as he wasn't there at the appearance 00:02:13.719 --> 00:02:17.159 of the Lord the night of the resurrection, Thomas 00:02:17.159 --> 00:02:21.680 arrives late. And then according to the story 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:26.419 that he said, I want to see once again the face 00:02:26.419 --> 00:02:30.120 of the mother of my Savior. So they went and 00:02:30.120 --> 00:02:33.639 brought him to the tomb of the Virgin Mary. When 00:02:33.639 --> 00:02:38.039 they went inside, her body was not there, only 00:02:38.039 --> 00:02:42.039 flowers. That is one reason why, of course, in 00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:46.000 some churches, flowers are blessed on August 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:53.819 15th. The liturgical texts make it very clear 00:02:53.819 --> 00:03:00.939 the prominence of this feast day and the logic, 00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:05.460 if you want to use that word, of the assumption 00:03:05.460 --> 00:03:10.180 and dormition of the Virgin Mary. That Mary, 00:03:10.379 --> 00:03:15.080 who contained within her womb the uncontainable 00:03:15.080 --> 00:03:20.539 God, that when she died, this body, this ark, 00:03:20.780 --> 00:03:24.659 this new temple of the presence of the Lord, 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:29.680 would not see corruption. So it is very fitting 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:34.219 that from the earliest days, this was celebrated 00:03:34.219 --> 00:03:41.879 as a feast day. I thought of another one. I should 00:03:41.879 --> 00:03:44.199 have mentioned it when I talked about when Mary 00:03:44.199 --> 00:03:51.099 went to see Elizabeth. After the greeting, Mary 00:03:51.099 --> 00:03:55.280 says her beautiful hymn, My soul magnifies the 00:03:55.280 --> 00:03:58.659 Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 00:03:58.979 --> 00:04:03.879 which is sung at the matin services in the Orthodox 00:04:03.879 --> 00:04:09.340 Church. There is one verse in there, Behold, 00:04:09.340 --> 00:04:13.759 henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:17.680 Now I, of course, grew up with this and understood, 00:04:18.430 --> 00:04:22.949 basically what it meant, but not a few Protestants 00:04:22.949 --> 00:04:27.350 who, as Protestants, when they decided to investigate 00:04:27.350 --> 00:04:32.209 the Orthodox Church, one of their struggles was 00:04:32.209 --> 00:04:36.329 to see how prominent Mary fits into the worship 00:04:36.329 --> 00:04:39.709 of our church. And I remember one especially 00:04:39.709 --> 00:04:45.420 who told me that for once, It finally dawned 00:04:45.420 --> 00:04:49.699 on him what that means. From now on, all generations 00:04:49.699 --> 00:04:53.199 will call me blessed. And indeed, therefore, 00:04:53.579 --> 00:04:57.120 the veneration and prayer to the Virgin Mary 00:04:57.120 --> 00:05:02.540 is most appropriate. So this is her feast day. 00:05:03.180 --> 00:05:07.920 Like for any Christian saint, our real birthday, 00:05:08.120 --> 00:05:11.920 we have three birthdays. One, the day we're born, 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:15.310 we celebrate our birthday. Our second birthday 00:05:15.310 --> 00:05:20.670 is when we are baptized, born again. And our 00:05:20.670 --> 00:05:24.550 third birthday is when we leave this world and 00:05:24.550 --> 00:05:28.930 are born into the next. So we have this feast 00:05:28.930 --> 00:05:33.810 day of Mary's third birthday, so to speak, when 00:05:33.810 --> 00:05:37.230 she enters into the kingdom of heaven. And it 00:05:37.230 --> 00:05:40.889 is a feast day of hers, but it is also a feast 00:05:40.889 --> 00:05:48.199 day for us. Because the resurrected and glorified 00:05:48.199 --> 00:05:52.120 body, which now sits at the right hand of her 00:05:52.120 --> 00:05:57.040 son Jesus in the kingdom of heaven, we too, at 00:05:57.040 --> 00:06:00.639 the second coming, when Jesus returns in glory 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:05.220 and our bodies, our souls are reunited with our 00:06:05.220 --> 00:06:10.319 bodies, that we too will fall asleep in this 00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:15.389 world. and enter into eternal life. So Mary, 00:06:15.470 --> 00:06:18.449 who is blessed and the mother of the life, remember 00:06:18.449 --> 00:06:22.329 each and every one of us and our church in her 00:06:22.329 --> 00:06:23.970 prayers today. Amen.