The Dormition of the Theotokos: Life, Death, and Resurrection

The Dormition of the Theotokos marks Mary's death, resurrection, and glorification—a feast of hope, victory, and deep Orthodox meaning.

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📝 Full Episode Summary:

In this episode, All Around Growth takes a powerful turn toward Orthodox Christian life with a deep dive into the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, celebrated each year on August 15. Rob walks us through the theological depth and spiritual meaning of this major feast—often called the "Summer Pascha"—which honors the death, resurrection, and glorification of the Virgin Mary.

Drawing on trusted Orthodox sources and liturgical traditions, Rob explores the feast’s origins, its connection to Christ’s resurrection, and what it means for believers today. He shares how Mary’s departure from this world is both a mystery and a message of hope.

This episode also includes:

• A recap of the podcast’s new direction
• Insights from Orthodox Wiki and articles by Fr. Ayman Kfouf
• A look at fasting practices and the Paraclesis services
• Personal reflections on faith, tradition, and spiritual life

Whether you're new to Orthodoxy or walking the path for years, this episode offers depth, clarity, and encouragement.

Links Mentioned:

• Dormition - OrthodoxWiki
  
  
• The Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos - Fr. Ayman Kfouf
  Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
  
  
• Dormition of the Theotokos - Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
  
  

Transcript

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Okay. Hello there and welcome back to another episode of the All Around Growth Podcast. My name is Rob Kaiser, and I am your host. Today is Friday, August 15th, 2025, and it is the Feast of the Dormition. And on the last episode, August 5th, 2025, I shared a little bit more of a personal episode, and the episode was titled Soil and Spirit, the All-Around Growth Podcast. Little subtitle read A Personal Journey of Faith, Freedom, and Finding Purpose Through Orthodox Christian Living. And in that episode, I shared why the podcast is taking a new direction from DIY projects and property walks to faith orthodoxy and living a life that actually feels real. I also talked about my recent engagement. Yep. The fact that I am engaged to a member of the community and the power of spiritual community and why I am letting go of stuff that doesn't serve me anymore. And a recent conversation that was had about that very thing. So if you've been following the journey, this is the episode, or that was the episode rather, on August 5th that connects all the dots. So you can check that out, and I would encourage you to do so. And in today's episode, the episode about the Feast of the Dormition, this is an attempt at doing exactly that. We're going to talk about a bit more about Orthodoxy and how it factors into our daily life in a raw, unfiltered way. And before doing so, let's go ahead and get started. So let's just take a moment, collect ourselves, and say a little prayer so that we can move forward and do this and hopefully have as little need for editing as possible because this is something that I would like to do less of and actually perhaps never again. And is in part why I'm doing these in video formats as well. O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, who art everywhere present and fillest all things, the treasury of good things and giver of life, come and abide in us and cleanse us from every stain and save our souls, O good one. This is part of the Trisagian prayers, and seems like a fitting prayer to simply begin, get our minds right and talk about the feast of the Dormition. And one of the things that I thought would be easy to share with everybody, share with you, is some resources about the feast itself. And one of the resources that was recommended to me from when I was first exposed to the Feast of the Dormit or Orthodoxy, rather, was Orthodox Wiki, Orthodoxwiki.org. And this was suggested to me by my spiritual father, and he recommended to me actually very little when it came to Orthodox resources because the internet is vast and quite frankly it's full of trash. And orthodoxy is something that is special and important, perhaps the most important thing in our lives. And we sh it is not something we should take lightly, and we should be very cautious and discerning about the content we consume, who we consume it from, and why we are looking at what we are looking at. So he recommended a couple of simple things, a couple of authors, and a couple of websites, two of which we'll look at today. Um We'll get into those other resources later, the other books, the other introductory introductory books and resources on orthodoxy, but one of which was Orthodox Wiki. He he he trusts this, and um so we're gonna look at that as a as a as a basis for an introduction to the the Dormition, which is the feast today. The Dormition or the falling asleep of the Theotokos is one of the great feasts of the Orthodox Church, celebrated on August 15th. The feast of the Dormition, which is also sometimes called the Assumption, commemorates the death, resurrection, and glorification of Christ's mother. It proclaims that Mary has been assumed by God into the heavenly kingdom of Christ in the fullness of her spiritual and bodily existence. Now on the Orthodox Wiki page we can read more about the feast, the celebration of the feast, we can read the hymns, and also all of the external links. I will link to this in the show notes itself and let you explore this on your own. What I would like to do is take a look at the links to the Feast of the Door mission from the Antiochian Archdiocese, the jurisdiction of which I am a member, as well as the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. And quite frankly, I will say that it is my humble opinion that the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, their website and their content that is organized within the website is a little bit more organized and more it's a little bit easier to find material there than within our own website. And I particularly like reading about the feasts on the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese website because they begin with the hymns and you can actually listen to them. For example, I'm not sure how well we'll be able to hear this, but you can hear the various hymns of the Door Mission Feast, and they're just it's it's wonderful to reference. On this particular site that they have, you can read the introduction, the biblical story, and learn about the icon of the feast and all the various facets of the icon. And what I'm talking about is the various facets of the icon meaning the the the the icon of the feast there's the everything means something within orthodoxy. And you'll notice that Christ is holding a baby wrapped in linens. And the small child clothed in white here represents the soul of the Virgin Mary. And you know, the posture of the apostles that are surrounding her and everything that is taking place here, it it is it is it is fascinating. So there is even even how the her body is is being sensed, um there is great elaboration on every single facet of the icon. So I would encourage you to check out the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America website and learn more about the biblical story, the icon of the feast, the Orthodox Christian celebration of the Feast of the Door Mission, and then you can learn all of the additional resources that they used to put together this post that they've shared here on their site. However, since I am an active member within the Antiochian Archdiocese, I wanted to read to you from Father Ayman Kfoof the an article from about the Domitian of the Theotokos. And he has linked to the online liturgical guide, which just for reference looks like this. Okay, you can see the liturgics that are both bilingual and available in English. Uh, the Orthos and the Divine Liturgy. We'll look at that perhaps another time in more detail. But let's just get right into the feast itself. The Dormition of the Theotokos is one of the great feasts in the Orthodox Church celebrated on August 15th. The word dormition is a derivative from the Latin word dormito, which means falling asleep. The feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos is the commemoration of the falling asleep, burial, resurrection, and translation of the Theotokos into heaven in the body. The historical background of the feast The Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos is one of the oldest Marian feasts in the church. Marian feasts referring to the Virgin Mary. The roots of the feast go back to Jerusalem, where the apostles and the Christians of Jerusalem honored and kept alive the memory of the falling asleep of the Theotokos. Consequently, quickly her empty tomb in Gethsemane became a destination for pilgrims from Jerusalem and the surrounding neighborhoods. After the dogmatization of the doctrine of the divine motherhood of the Virgin Maryhood in the Third Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in 431, the commemoration of the falling asleep of the Theotokos became more popular amongst Christians in the vast majority of the Christian world. In the late 6th century, in the year 588, the Emperor Maurice officially adopted the commemoration of the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos into the liturgical calendar in the entire Byzantine Empire and commanded that it be celebrated on August 15th. In the second half of the 7th century, the Feast of the Dormition appeared in the West under the influence of the East. It was accepted in Rome under Pope Sergius I, and from Rome it passed over to the rest of Europe. Up until the end of the ninth century, the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos was preceded by two periods of fasting. First before the Feast of the Transfiguration, from august first until the fifth, and second after the Feast of the Transfiguration, from august seventh until august fifteenth. In the tenth century, the two fasting periods were merged into one, which includes fourteen fasting days beginning on august first through august fourteenth. The narrative of the feast. The main source of the narrative of the feast of the Dormition is based on the oral and written tradition of the church, which include the writings of the saints Dionysus of Areopaget, John the Damascene, and Andrew of Crete, the hymnography and iconography of the Church, in addition to an apocryphal narrative of the feast by Saint John the Theologian. According to the Orthodox tradition, the Virgin Mary lived after Pentecost in the house of the Apostle John in Jerusalem. As the mother of our Lord, she became the source of encouragement and help for the apostles and all Christians. Three days before her death, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary and revealed to her the date of her departure into eternal life. Immediately the Theotokos returned to her home and prepared herself for this event through fasting and prayer. On the day of her repose, even though the apostles were scattered throughout the world, they were miraculously transported to be at her side. Exceptionally, the apostle Thomas did not arrive on time to bid his final farewell to the Theotokos. While the apostles were singing hymns in honor of the Mother of God, they saw a vision showing Christ accompanied by angels and saints coming to escort the soul of his most holy mother into heaven. With songs of praises, the apostles carried the body of the most pure Theotokos to the grave in Gethsemane to be buried near her parents. At Gethsemane the disciples gathered and remained around her tomb and kept a vigil for three days. On the third day the apostle Thomas arrived and asked to view for the last time the most holy mother of God. When the apostles opened the grave of the Theotokos, the body was not there. The apostles realized then that she was taken into heaven and the body to be reunited with her soul. The liturgical background of the feast. The feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos is preceded by a two week fasting period, which referred to as which is referred to as the Dormition Fast. The Dormition Fast starts on august first and ends on august fourteenth. It is considered to be a very strict fast, even stricter than both the Nativity and the Apostles' fasts. In the Dormition Fast, all kinds of meat, fish, oil, and wine are forbidden to eat, with the following exceptions. On the Feast of the Transfiguration, August sixth, when fish is allowed, on Saturdays and Sundays when oil and wine are allowed. And during the Dormition Fast, either the small paraclesis, a suppli supplicatory canon, or the great paraclesis are celebrated every evening with the following exceptions, on Saturdays and on the eve of the feast of the Transfiguration, and on the eve of the feast of the Dormition itself, where the festal services are celebrated. In some churches and monasteries, the service of the burial of the Theotokos is celebrated during an all night vigil. The order of the service is based on the service of the burial of Christ, which consists of chanting the lamentations of the beer of the Mother of God, and a solemn procession made with an epitheon of the Theotokos. According to our Antiochian practice, the lamentations of the Dormition of the Theotokos may be chanted at Great Vespers on the heat of the feast. Please note that this beautiful service of the burial of the Theotokos is not a standard service in most parishes or even most cathedrals or monasteries. The meaning of the feast The hymnography and liturgical test text of the feast of the Dormition portrays the feast as mystical eschatological and paschal in nature. One, mystical and eschalotive for me to say. Eschatological The Hymnography of the feast envisions the dormition of the Theotokos as an eschatological event that confirms the destruction of Hades and the defeat of death. The Dormition of the Theotokos confirms the reality of the transformation of death from a fearful enemy into a joyous passage to eternal life. The eschatological nature of the feast of the Dormition is evident, not only with the hymnography of the feast, but also in the mysterious gathering of the apostles, who gathered to witness how Christ himself comes to escort his mother to the kingdom. They are mysteriously gathered to witness again to the truthfulness of resurrection of Christ and his victory over death. Paschal The liturgical text of the feast of the Dormition depicts depicts the Fasc let me start over again. The liturgical text of the feast of the Dormition depicts the feast as a paschal event. The hymns of the feast assert that the Virgin Mary experienced her own personal pasca by passing through death and rising to eternal life. Being alive in heaven as a queen and mother of Christ, we now can ask her intercessions to help us transform our own forthcoming death into a paschal victory over death. In the ecclesiastical tradition, the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos is called the Summer Pasca. This name is derived from the fact that the Theotokos experienced her own pasca or Passover from this life into life eternal.

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John of Damascus confirms this paschal nature of the feast of the Dormition by calling the death of the Theotokos the deathless death. He called it the deathless death because of the fact that death resulted in her translation into life eternal, into glorification and union with the Lord. Quote O how does the source of life pass through death to life? She dies according to the flesh, destroys death by death, and through corruption gains incorruption and makes her death the source of resurrection says Saint John of Damascus. And we see another icon, another depiction of the feast of the Dormition here. In conclusion, the Dormition of the Theotokos is a confirmation of the resurrection of Christ and a source of hope for the faithful in the promise of their personal resurrection, their personal Posca, the death of the Theotokos and her translation into heaven confirms the divine promise of Christ to his faithful children, that they will enjoy life eternal in everlasting communion with God. What a paradox. And while this feast is called the falling asleep of the Theotokos, it is in reality a celebration of her life and victory over death. It is a celebration of her Passover from this life into life eternal. It is a celebration of the confirmation of the promise of our own resurrection in Christ. Amen. And again, everyone, this is from the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America. That was something by Father Ayman Kfuf. And it was titled The Feast of the Dormition of the Theotogos. I will link to that in today's show notes. And in closing, I just have a couple of thoughts of my own about the Dormition. The Feast of the Dormition and the church itself and the change to the change to the podcast. And why we're talking about all of the things that we're talking about. The conclusion of that article read that the dormition of the Theotogos is a confirmation of the resurrection of Christ and a source of hope for the faithful in the promise of their personal resurrection, their personal pasca. The resurrection is the the the pinnacle of our faith. It it it it is the central it it is the point of our faith. In many faith traditions throughout the world, many people have died, and many people remain in the ground. In our faith tradition, Christ didn't simply remain in the ground, but he was resurrected on the third day, ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, and will come in glory to judge the living and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end. We say this regularly weekly at the very least, daily if we can. It is our creed. It is what we believe. It is who we are It is what we are It is a source of hope for our own personal resurrection, our own personal pasca. Every Sunday at Divine Liturgy when we experience the Eucharist together, we experience that very moment. We live for the resurrection. They give us meaning in our life, and they provide us with a foundation on which to build our life. Upon something bigger, greater, stronger, timeless. I have deep love in my heart for the church. I am a changed man because of Christ and his church. And I love the ability to use this platform to share it with you. To share this experience with you. Earlier today I shared something that I think about when I think about that intimidation and fear. And it's something that we say every s every every time we receive the Eucharist. It's a prayer of thanksgiving, and it sounds like this, and it reads as follows. I thank thee, O Lord my God, that thou hast not rejected me a sinner, but hast vouchsafed me to become a communicant of thy holy things. I thank thee that thou hast not I thank thee that thou hast vouchsafed me, the unworthy, to partake of thine immaculate and heavenly gifts. But O master who lovest mankind, who didst both die for us and rise again, and didst bestow upon us the thy dread and life giving mysteries for the benefit and sanctification of our souls and bodies, grant that they may be for me also unto healing of soul and body, unto the averting of everything contrary thereto, unto the enlightenment of the eyes of my heart, unto the peace of my spiritual powers, unto faith unashamed, unto love unfeigned, unto the increase of wisdom, unto the keeping of thy commandments, unto growth in the divine grace, in the attainment of thy heavenly kingdom, that preserved by them in thy holiness, I may ever remember thy grace and henceforth live not unto myself, but unto thee, our master and benefactor. And thus when this life is ended in the hope of eternal life, I may attain unto everlasting rest, where the sound of those who keep festival is unceasing, and the delight of those who behold the ineffable beauty of thy countenance is boundless. For thou art the true desire and unutterable joy of those who love thee, O Christ our God, in all creation him thee forever. Amen. But we pray for those who hate us and for those who love us. And I find, and this is something for another day, that the more outspoken I become about my faith, the more I hear about people's hatred for religion, the more of their hate for God. And it makes my heart sad because I truly believe that they don't understand what they hate because it's impossible to hate what you don't know. My friends, may your hearts not be hardened. May they not be like clay that hardens in the sun, but may they be like wax that warms and softens in the sun. I hope that you enjoyed today's episode. I hope that you enjoy the direction of the show moving forward. I look forward to hearing your feedback in the future in comments. Uh if you want to hear anything specific with regard to topics, please let me know in the comments if you want to see the videos and watch along with me. See what I'm looking at, see the screen shares, and the specific things that I am looking at as I share them with you, then by all means feel free to join me over on patreon.com slash allaroundgrowth and gain access to the videos, the links to these Zoom calls, the links to the videos after the fact, and also links to the private telegram group where you can engage with us and all of the other offshoot groups that talk about whatever it is that we talk about, because there are also existing groups that I'm not even aware of. I'm very grateful for you, I'm grateful for your support, and I wouldn't be doing any of this if it wasn't for your help and support. So thank you very much. I appreciate you. I'm humbled by your support, and I look forward to the next time. I hope you have a great weekend ahead. And until next time, this is Rob Kaiser. Thank you and God bless.