Feasts of Saint Virgin Mary
January 28, 2022
The assumption of the body of our pure, holy, and honorable Holy Virgin Mary, the God-bearer, who is indeed the Lady of all the women of this world, took place on January 29.
Our Lady prayed continually at the holy grave of our Lord Christ; the Holy Spirit made known to her that she was to depart from this fleeting world, and then told the virgins who were with her from Dabra Zayt, even as our Lord told them. Then our Lady Mary prayed, saying, “O my Lord Jesus Christ, hearken Thou unto me, and unto my prayer at this time, and unto my petition, and bring unto me thy disciple, John the evangelist, and likewise all Thy disciples, both those who are living and those whose souls Thou hast taken, for Thou art the God of the living and of the dead, and unto Thee belong glory forever and ever, Amen.” Behold a cloud straightway took up John in the spirit from the city of Ephesus, and brought him to our Lady the holy Virgin Mary; and when he stood before her she glorified our Lord Jesus Christ. John said unto her, “Rejoice, O thou who art full of grace, who didst bear our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Holy Spirit spoke by his mouth, saying, “You shall go forth from this world with great honor and glory, and after many great signs and wonders which our Lord and God shall make manifest by thee.” When our holy Lady the Virgin Mary heard these words, she rejoiced exceedingly, and she prayed, saying, “Glory unto Thee, O my Lord and God Jesus Christ, Who hast granted unto me what I asked. Now, honor me by Thy coming with your angels, so that they may take my soul and bear it up with Thee into the heavens.” And straightway the voice of the Holy Spirit from heaven was heard, saying, “At this time all the angels shall come from heaven, and the Apostles from all the ends of the earth, riding upon the clouds, and they shall come to Bethlehem, for the sake of the holy and blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Straightway all the Apostles came, for those who were dead rose up from their graves, and they stood before our holy Lady the Virgin Mary, and said unto her, “Rejoice, O thou who art full of grace, for our God was born of thee. He shall take thee out of this fleeting world with great glory even as He promised thee.”
Straightway our Lady Mary sat down upon her bed, and said unto the Apostles, “Now do I know that my God and your God, Jesus Christ, will come to me, and that I shall see Him as I see you, and then I shall depart from this world. Now I desire you to tell me whence ye knew that I was to depart from this world, and so hastened your coming to me.” Peter and all the Apostles said unto her, “The Holy Spirit commanded us to come unto thee, and straightway we mounted upon a cloud of light, and we arrived where thou art in the twinkling of an eye.” When our Lady Mary heard this from the Apostles, she lifted up her voice and said, “I praise and hymn Thy Holy Name, O my Lord Jesus Christ, my God, because Thou hast seen my suffering, and hast revealed unto me wonders, for Thou art Almighty; henceforth all generations shall hold me blessed.” When the Virgin had finished her prayer and supplications, she said unto the Apostles, “Bring me incense and a censer, and summon our Lord Jesus,” and they did as she commanded them; and straightway our Lord Jesus Christ came. Thousands of thousands, and tens of thousands of tens of thousands of angels, surrounded Him, and archangels, and our Lord Jesus Christ comforted her, and told her of the rest and joy which were prepared for her. At that moment many miracles took place; the blind received their sight, and the dumb spoke, and the lame stood up straight and walked, and the lepers were cleansed, and from those who were possessed of devils the evil spirits went forth quickly. all those who were suffering from sicknesses of divers kinds, as soon as ever they came to the place where was our holy Lady the Virgin Mary, were healed straightway of their sicknesses, no matter of whatever kinds they were. Then our holy Lady the Virgin Mary said unto her beloved Son, “O my Lord Jesus Christ, I am afraid of the awful and terrifying angels who are in the air of the Land of Fire.” Our Lord said unto her, “Which of them can have dominion over thee?” When the time for her to depart from her body drew nigh, the Apostles and the virgins who were there weeping asked her to bless them, and she laid her hands upon them, and blessed them.
Immediately our Lord Christ took her pure soul in His Divine Hands, and He wrapped it up in a cloth of light, and took it up with Him to the habitation above. Her Son, our Lord, commanded the Apostles to bury her body in a fitting manner, and they carried it to Gethsemane. Before her soul departed, our Lady looked and saw a great light, which it is impossible for the tongue of man to describe. Our Lord Christ said unto her, “Henceforth thy body shall depart to the Garden of Delight, and thy soul shall dwell in the abode of joy, wherein the angels shall praise [God] before thee.” Our Lady said unto Him, “I beseech Thee, in the operation of Thy wisdom, to hearken unto my petition. Whosoever shall pray unto Thee in my name do Thou in Thy mercy receive his petition. Whosoever is in tribulation and shall pray to Thee in my name, deliver Thou him from all his tribulation, for Thou art Almighty in heaven and on earth. Bless everywhere those who shall celebrate the commemoration of my name, and accept the offerings of all those who shall offer gifts in my name.” Our Lord Jesus answered and said unto her, “Behold, I have done for thee all which thou didst ask of Me. Rejoice, for every gift and every honor I will give thee from my holy Father. Everyone who shall pray unto Me in thy name henceforward shall never perish, neither in this world nor in that which is to come, for I will be to him a kindly intercessor with My heavenly Father.”
After our holy Lady the Virgin Mary was dead the Apostles prepared her for burial, and they carried her on a bier so that they might take her to Gethsemane, as our Lord commanded. When the Jews heard of this and they knew that it was our Lady Mary [on the bier], they went out to her, and one of them seized her bier with his hand in order to throw her off from it on the ground; and the angel of God smote him with a sword of fire, and cut off his hands, and they remained hanging on the bier. Then the Jew believed on our Lord Christ, and he entreated our Lady Mary with tears and repentance for what he had done, and he wept bitterly, saying, “Verily, O pure Virgin, thou art the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, Thou God in truth, I beseech Thee to have compassion upon me.” And through the prayers of the holy Apostles his hands were restored to their former positions. When the Apostles had buried her they remained there three days; now her death took place on Sunday, the twenty-first day of the month of Ter. And our Lord Jesus sent angels of light, and they carried her body away from the grave, and laid it under the Tree of Life, which is in the Garden of Delight. Now Thomas the Apostle was not present at the time of her death, but as he was coming on the cloud, he found her body with the angels. And one of the angels said unto him, “Make haste and salute the body of the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary”; and he made haste and saluted her. When he came to the Apostles they told him how our Lady Mary was dead, and he said unto them, “I did not know it until I saw her body, even as ye made me to know when I doubted the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. When he came to the grave to see the body of our Lady Mary, and they opened the grave, they could not find her body; and they were amazed and marveled exceedingly.
Instantaneously Thomas told them how he had saluted her holy body as the angels were carrying her up [to heaven]. The Holy Spirit said unto them, “God doth not wish her body to lie in the earth.” God made a covenant with the Apostles that even as he had shown himself, so He would show her to his servants a second time, and He bade them wait until the seventeenth day of the month and he fulfilled the covenant. All the days of her life were sixty years; twelve years she lived in the Temple, three and thirty years she lived with Joseph, and after the Resurrection of our Lord Christ she lived for fifteen years in the house of John the evangelist, even as our Lord commanded her when He said unto her, “Behold thy son,” and to John, “Behold thy mother.”
May the intercession of Our Holy Mother Saint Virgin Mary be with us, Amen!
Source: The Ethiopian Synaxarium page 301-303