Death and the Dormition

(10th Sunday after Pentecost) (The Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos)

Here’s a news flash: Unless the Lord returns before it happens, we are all, one day, going to die. Our life in this world will come to an end. We all know this, of course; but we don’t always live as we should in the light of this knowledge. The Fathers tell us that this thought should always be uppermost in our minds, and that it should guide every thought, every word, every deed.

Today the Church celebrates the Dormition of our Lady Theotokos; the day she “fell asleep” in the Lord, the day she departed from this life – the day she died. As we can be instructed by her life, we can also be instructed by her departing from this life. After the Crucifixion of her Son, she lived with the apostle John, to whose care He had given her. She rejoiced in the apostles, and often went to pray at the places that had been the location of significant events in the life and ministry of our Lord. Chief among these were the Mount of Olives, and Golgotha. In her old age, her prayers, especially in these two places, were to be released from this life. These prayers however, also included the fervent request that, when her soul and body were parted, that she be spared the darkness and its terrors and punishment; and that she might not encounter the power of Satan, but be delivered from the accusations brought against her.

This should make us stop and think. If the one who gave birth to our Lord Jesus Christ, Who broke the gates of hell and trampled down death by death felt the need to pray for such protection, what about us, who are sinners? If she, whom we say is “…without corruption” – that is, without sin – “gavest birth to God the Word,” needed to pray for deliverance, what about us, who are sinners? In the same humility which, at the time of the Annunciation, led her to proclaim herself as the handmaiden of the Lord, at the time of her death, she did not put any value upon the role she had fulfilled as the Birth-giver of God, but instead entrusted herself to the mercy of God, and not in her works. She was mindful of death; she took no pleasure in this world, but desired instead the world to come; she prepared herself for the day of her departure from this life; and she prayed for mercy.

Can we do any less than our glorious Lady Theotokos? We, too, must be mindful of death. We should remember that the life in this world is temporary, and so not allow ourselves to be attached to any of its pleasures. We should prepare ourselves for the great and terrible Day of Judgment, and repent, and do all that is within our power to do the will of God, and turn away from the passions and the weakness and wickedness of our flesh. We should do all that is within our power to be faithful in prayer, and in fasting, in giving alms, and in struggling to acquire the godly virtues, if only to prepare for the day of our death; and we should always pray for God’s mercy, especially at the time of death: for ourselves, for those whom we love, for all Orthodox Christians, and for all who are made in the image of God.

Brother and sisters, called to be saints: Let us commit ourselves, and one another, and all our life, into Christ our God. Let us follow the example of the life and prayers of our most holy, most pure, most blessed, glorious Lady Theotokos and Ever-virgin Mary. Let us be mindful of death, and be instructed by her Dormition, so that we also will prepare ourselves for that day; to the glory of God, and the salvation of souls.

Most Holy Theotokos, save us!