Sermon of His Grace, Bishop Partenij of Antania, Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Bigorski, delivered during the All-night Vigil for the Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, following the reading of the Gospel at the Divine Liturgy, August 28, 2023
“In you, O Pure Virgin, the laws of nature are overcome: for your birthgiving remains virginal, and your death becomes a source of life. After giving birth, you remain a Virgin, and after your falling asleep, you are alive, ever saving your inheritance, O Theotokos.”
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
Beloved, we give thanks to the Queen and Mother, who has deemed us worthy, once again this year, after the holy fast in her honor, to bow before her honorable Dormition, standing reverently before her mystical tomb. In Orthodox theology, today’s feast is also known as the Resurrection and Translation of the Most Holy Theotokos, for on the third day after her repose, God did not allow her body to undergo corruption, as happens with all human beings. Rather, He raised her bodily to the heavens, setting her by His side as His Mother.
The sacred hymnographers, who with great love and devotion sing praises to her Dormition, have invited us this evening, through their hymns, to draw near to her mysterious tomb: “Come, faithful, let us approach the tomb of the Mother of God and embrace it with heart and lips, with eyes and pure faces, and draw healing from the abundant gift of the eternal fountain.” Beloved, her tomb is not only in the glorious Garden of Gethsemane but is present wherever her holy image resides. It can also be found in every human heart that honors and venerates the one who, through Christ, as the Mother of Life, grants us life and resurrection. Like the Holy Sepulchre of the Savior, the revered tomb of the Theotokos offers us life and renewal.
The Church’s poetry, written in honor of today’s feast, invites us to immerse ourselves even more deeply into the mystery of the Dormition and to recognize that in the person of the Most Holy Theotokos, the natural laws are transcended. “Wondrous are Your mysteries, O Theotokos! You appeared upon the throne of the Most High, and today You have been transferred from Earth to the Heavens.” Indeed, everything connected with the life of the Blessed One is a miracle and a sacred mystery. Her very conception by the elderly Joachim and Anna was a mystery. Her dwelling in the Temple of Jerusalem, where she conversed with angels, was also a mystery. And the conception and birth of her Son and our God is a mystery above all mysteries from the beginning of time. Before giving birth, she was a Virgin; in giving birth, she remained a Virgin; and even after giving birth, she remained a Virgin. And now, we see that even in her Dormition, she remains alive. “In giving birth, you preserved your virginity, and in your Dormition, you did not forsake the world,” we sing in the troparion of the Feast.
Beloved, the Most Holy Theotokos became the ladder by which humanity ascends to Heaven. During the readings from the Old Testament in tonight’s divine service, we heard of the ladder that the Patriarch Jacob saw in his dream at the place he later named Bethel, meaning “House of God”: “Behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it” (Genesis 28:12). The Theotokos, our Immaculate Lady, is precisely that Divine ladder. Through her worthiness, asceticism, holiness, virginity, and spotless purity, she was deemed worthy to receive within her body the King of all, giving Him flesh and blood. In doing so, she opened the Kingdom of Heaven to mankind and became a ladder leading us there.
The beautiful and theologically profound Exaposteilarion of the feast, sung immediately after the Katavasia, touches the heart: “Apostles, gathered from the ends of the earth, here in the valley of Gethsemane, lay my body to rest, and You, my Son and my God, receive my spirit.” These timeless words, once spoken to the Holy Apostles, continue to echo, addressed now to each of us. For the Theotokos, like a loving mother, gathers all her children. Through her maternal love and kindness, she teaches us and leads us into all the mysteries of Christianity. She gathers us together, making us participants in the mystery of Christ’s Resurrection. And tonight, she has gathered us before her mystical, life-giving tomb, so that we may bow before her and glorify her as the Mother of Life.
If we keep her in our hearts, if we honor her as our Mother and entrust ourselves to her with faith and love, then those beautiful words from the Exaposteilarion will apply to us as well. We will find ourselves spiritually present in Gethsemane, in the heavenly assembly of the Queen of Angels, sharing in the splendor of her ineffable glory. And, through her intercession, we will transcend the limitations of natural laws. For to those who pray to, honor, and serve the Mother of God, she grants grace to rise above earthly attachments and the constraints of natural order.
As Christians, we strive even against what is natural to this world, because we are called to become citizens of a new, imperishable world—of the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the deepest longing of our souls. Let us take, for example, the monks, who struggle to overcome even natural desires that are otherwise considered normal for the people of this world. Yet it is the Theotokos who, like a loving Mother, helps them overcome even these natural impulses.
Therefore, beloved, the Theotokos calls each of us to lay her in our hearts. Once we do so, she will strengthen, bless, and comfort us, becoming our guide—the Hodegetria. And through her, her Son, who today receives her spirit, also receives her unceasing intercessions for us, elevating our hearts and souls to heavenly heights. Beloved, those who pray to and love the Most Holy Theotokos have experienced time and again how the impossible becomes possible, for she holds great freedom and power before her Son, our God and Savior.
In the times in which we live, it is more necessary than ever for us Christians to pray fervently, to entrust ourselves to the Most Holy Theotokos, and to keep in our hearts and minds the sweetest names of Christ and the Theotokos, along with all the sacred beauties of our God-revealed faith. In this way, we will help not only ourselves but also those around us and the world so deeply troubled today. Humanity’s identity and God-given dignity are in unprecedented crisis. The self-willed human has become a slave to his own creations. Yet the Theotokos, as a loving Mother, will not abandon us if we truly entrust our hearts to her. She will lead us into the mysteries of our exalted and salvific faith and guide us toward the Kingdom of Heaven, which is our true and eternal homeland.
May all of you receive the Theotokos into your hearts and feel the blessing and spiritual sweetness of this all-night vigil, which is truly a beautiful act of devotion and thanksgiving to the Mother of Life. As some of the holy fathers have said, such a blessed endeavor in God’s glory is equivalent to many days of fasting. Therefore, may you, who have labored in prayer and thanksgiving before the mystical, life-giving tomb of the Most Holy Theotokos tonight, receive great blessings for yourselves and your loved ones. And let us pray to our Lady Theotokos, the Mother of all humanity, to send mercy, blessings, forgiveness, and enlightenment upon the whole world.
Amen!
