{"id":140341,"date":"2026-08-28T19:14:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T18:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bigorski.org.mk\/slova\/%category_slova%\/smirenieto-shto-go-sobra-neboto-uspenieto-na-presvetata-bogorodica\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T14:04:56","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T13:04:56","slug":"the-humility-that-gathered-heaven-the-dormition-of-the-most-holy-godmother","status":"publish","type":"slova","link":"https:\/\/bigorski.org.mk\/en\/sermons\/bishop-parthenius\/the-humility-that-gathered-heaven-the-dormition-of-the-most-holy-godmother\/","title":{"rendered":"The Humility that Gathered Heaven: The Dormition of the Most Holy Godmother"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Homily by His Eminence Bishop Parthenius of Antania, for the feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Godmother, delivered at the Divine Liturgy in the Prechista Monastery in Kichevo, after the reading of the Holy Gospel, on August 15\/28 2026 the year of the Savior<\/em><\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the holy Gospel, my dear ones, we heard how a woman, hearing the Savior speak, cried out with a loud voice, blessing His Mother: Blessed is she who gave birth to You and from whose breasts You were fed<\/em>[1]<\/a>. And the Godmother herself prophesied that all generations will call her blessed[2]<\/a>. They called her blessed even in her time; the apostles called her blessed, were instructed and strengthened by her[3]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And on this day, she \u2013 the dear Mother, the strengthening of the Church and the refuge of Christians[4]<\/a> \u2013 departed from the apostles into the Heavenly Kingdom. Truly, only she is there in fullness, because she was taken up to the heavens also with her most pure and all-immaculate body[5]<\/a>. It was not pleasing, nor possible for her who became the dwelling place of the Savior to see corruption in the grave. And she, like her Son, on the third day was taken up into the Heavenly Kingdom, where she has even greater power.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Although the apostles on this day grieved, nevertheless they knew what had happened with their Savior and how He even more helped them from the Heavenly Kingdom, after He had ascended His deified and transfigured body. When Mary Magdalene stood weeping before the tomb, at first she did not recognize the Lord; but as soon as He called her by name, she immediately cried out: Rabbi! \u2013 Teacher!<\/em> In the moment of strongest love and admiration she wished to touch Him and to be convinced that before her truly stands the One Who died and bodily resurrected, and not merely some kind of apparition. But Christ said to her: Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father<\/em>[6]<\/a>. With that He did not reject her love, nor did He deny the reality of His body, for later He permitted Thomas to touch His wounds, and to the disciples He said: Touch Me and see<\/em>[7]<\/a>. On the contrary, He elevated her faith from the former, sensory perception toward the new way of communion with the Resurrected One. Saint John Chrysostom explains that Mary wanted to converse with Him as before, while the Lord elevated her thoughts and taught her that after the Resurrection the relationship with Him can no longer remain the same[8]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, my dear ones, it happened also with the Most Holy Godmother. With her Dormition she did not move away from the Church, but in a mysterious and grace-filled manner became even more present in her life. Just as Christ, ascending unto the Father, did not leave His disciples orphans, but promised them: I am with you in all days until the end of the world<\/em>[9]<\/a>, so also His Mother, passing from the earth into heavenly glory, does not cease to be Mother of the faithful and intercessor for the world. Saint John of Damascus says that her most pure body was not left upon the earth, but was transferred into the heavenly royal dwellings; from there she is a blessing for the world, consolation of the grieved, a harbor for those in danger, and quick help for all who pray to her[10]<\/a>. And Saint Gregory Palamas testifies that through her Dormition she rose above the angelic powers because of her unique closeness to God and that, as Mother of God, she remains a mediator of grace for the human race[11]<\/a>. Therefore her departure is not absence, but a different presence: invisible to bodily eyes, but living and effective in prayer, the Liturgy, and the entire life of the Church.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Precisely in this mysterious change \u2013 from visible presence toward a deeper, grace-filled closeness \u2013 something is revealed to us that does not refer only to the Godmother, but also to all of us. Her Dormition is not an end, but a passage; it is not disappearance, but entrance into the fullness of life in Christ. That which in her has already been fulfilled, the Church expects also for every human being: resurrection of the body, transfiguration of our whole being, and eternal communion with God. Therefore our dear Godmother is not only a holy person from the past, whom with gratitude we remember, but a living sign of our future and a sure hope that death does not have the last word. Everything that refers to her, through her Son and our Savior Christ, directly refers also to us: her humility shows us the path, her glorification reveals the goal, and her maternal intercession accompanies us on that path toward the Heavenly Kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She is a central person in God’s dispensation[12]<\/a>, because by her free will and by her ascetic struggle she sanctified herself, and her “yes” brought the Lord to the earth[13]<\/a>. Such a person was awaited, worthy, so that through her the Son of God would become incarnate.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Godmother knows what pain is. With that, God shows us that in this life, that is, in the world that we, by our free will and by our choice, have made such as it is \u2013 a valley of weeping and pain[14]<\/a>\u2013 we will not be left abandoned. We have a God Who became like one of us. We also have a Mother greater than our mothers: Mother of our mothers and Mother of all mothers, who will always hear us and who knows what pain is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although she spent her whole life in humility and was deemed worthy to be the Mother of God, during His crucifixion, the Lord from the Cross says to her: Mother, behold your son<\/em>[15]<\/a> and entrusts her to Saint John the Theologian[16]<\/a>. Saint John the Theologian lived in the same neighborhood where the high priests Annas and Caiaphas did, who crucified her Son. Thus, the house into which the Godmother went after the crucifixion and the resurrection was in the neighborhood of the greatest enemies of her Son \u2013 of those who humiliated Him, spat upon Him, and brought the verdict for His murder.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Imagine: the humble, great Mother lived in their neighborhood and surely greeted the high priest, for she knew what a hierarch means and respected the hierarchal grace. What humility! Her life is humility; her life is the greatest ascetic struggle[17]<\/a>. In her we have a great intercessor and example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All that which happened to her, in relation to the Heavenly Kingdom, will happen also to us: one day our souls and bodies will reunite again[18]<\/a> and in fullness we will be in the Heavenly Kingdom. Today only she is beside Christ \u2013 a human being in fullness in the Heavenly Kingdom. God’s saints are there only with their souls, in the place where the souls of the righteous abide[19]<\/a>, and the Godmother is right next to the Holy Trinity[20]<\/a>: a deified person, Mother of the whole world, who helps all of us here and strengthens us in the ascetic struggle, so that we become true children of her Son and our Savior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This evening we dedicated to her who is constantly with us and strengthens the Church. The vigil is truly a great ascetic struggle. The holy fathers say that one such Athonite vigil \u2013 a vigil according to the Athonite tradition, which lasts for hours, perhaps twelve or thirteen hours in the temple \u2013 replaces an entire forty-day fast.[21]<\/a> That, of course, does not mean that we should comfort ourselves with that and not fast. Still, the more we struggle ascetically and dedicate our life to God, the greater grace, joy, and spiritual satisfaction we will feel and the more we will ascend toward the Heavenly Kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Godmother rejoices because of the ascetic struggle that all of you made this evening and this morning, standing before the Face of the Lord[22]<\/a>, in honor and glory of His majestic Mother, our Most Holy Lady Theotokos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May her prayers shelter us, not only us who stood at this all-night vigil, but also all your close ones who have need, as well as all whom we mentioned at the holy Offering. May the Queen Mother gracefully shelter all who have need and the entire world, for which we see that it especially needs her shelter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May there be as many penitents as possible in the world. If there are more penitents, people of prayer, and people who struggle ascetically, be certain that also this world will be better. In that our Most Holy Lady Godmother can help us the most. Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[1]<\/a> Luke 11:27<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/a> Luke 1:48 (Exaltation, Luke 1:46-55) the words are of the Godmother herself in her meeting Elisabeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/a> Acts 1:14; cf. Acts 2:1-4, The Godmother is together with the apostles during Pentecost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4]<\/a> Cf Saint John of Damascus Homilia I in dormitionem<\/em> BMV, PG 96, 700\u2013721; Saint German of Constantinople In dormitionem<\/em> BMV I\u2013III, PG 98, 340\u2013372; Saint Andrew of Crete, In dormitionem<\/em> BMV I\u2013III, PG 97, 1045\u20131110 \u2013 the three basic homily corpora on which the theology of the feast rests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[5]<\/a> Saint John of Damascus, Homilia II in dormitionem<\/em> BMV 18, PG 96, 748\u2013752, presents the report of Juvenal of Jerusalem to Empress Pulcheria (the so-called “History of Euthymius”) \u2013 the earliest source of the teaching. The bodily ascension of the Godmother in orthodox theology is the content of the liturgical tradition; cf. Saint John of Damascus, Hom. II in dorm. 2\u20133.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[6]<\/a> John 20:17<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[7]<\/a> Luke 24:39<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[8]<\/a> Saint John the Goldenmouth, Homily 86 on the Gospel of John<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[9]<\/a> Matthew 28:20<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[10]<\/a> Saint John of Damascus, Second Homily on the Dormition of the Most-Holy Godmother<\/em> cf. Psalms115:6 and Proverbs 10:7<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[11]<\/a> Saint Gregory of Palama, Homily 37:  For the all-honorable Assumption of our Most Pure Lady, the Mother of God and Ever Virgin Mary<\/em>; cf. Psalms 115:6, Proverbs 10:7 \u0438 Romans 9:5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[12]<\/a> The classic parallel Eve \u2013 Maria. Saint Irenaeus of Lyon Adversus haereses<\/em> III.22.4 (SC 211, 438\u2013444) \u0438 V.19.1 (SC 153) \u2013 the entangled with the what is bound by Eve’s disobedience is untied by Mary’s obedience; previously Saint Justin the Philosopher Dialogus cum Tryphone<\/em> 100.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[13]<\/a> Luke 1:38, Then Mary said, \u201cBehold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[14]<\/a> Psalms 83:7; cf. Genesis 3:16\u201319; Romans 8:20\u201322.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[15]<\/a> John 19:26\u201327. In the biblical text  the addressing was \u201eWoman, behold your son!\u201c, and to the pupil: \u201eBehold your mother!\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[16]<\/a> The Exegesis on John 19:26-27 from Origen, Commentarii in Ioannem I.6 (GCS IV, 8\u20139) \u2013 the pupil becomes the son of the Virgin Mary by grace; Sain John the Goldenmouth, In Ioannem homilia<\/em> 85, PG 59, 461\u2013464.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[17]<\/a> Humility as the Foundation of Theological Theology; Saint Gregory of Palama Homilia in dormitionem<\/em> BMV, PG 151, 460\u2013472; Saint John of Damascus, Hom. I in dorm<\/em>. 9, PG 96, 712\u2013713; cf. Saint Isaac of Syria, Ascetical homilies<\/em>, cf. 68 (edition Specials, Nikiforos Theotokis, Leipzig 1770).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[18]<\/a> 1 Corinthians 15:42\u201344, 51\u201353; 1 Thessalonians 4:16\u201317; cf. John 5:28\u201329<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[19]<\/a> Hebrews 12:23; Revelations 6:9\u201311; cf. Luke 23:43<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[20]<\/a> Saint Gregory of Palama defines the virgin Mary as \u201eboundary between created and uncreated nature \u201c (Homilia in praesentationem<\/em> BMV, PG 151, 165\u2013177); cf. Saint John of Damascus, Hom. II in dorm<\/em>. 2, PG 96, 725\u2013728. On the state of souls until the general resurrection: Saint Gregory of Nyssa, De anima et resurrectione<\/em>, PG 46, 11\u2013160; St John of Damascus, Expositio fidei<\/em> IV.27<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[21]<\/a> For the theological benefit of the vigil: Saint Symeon of Thessaloniki, De sacra precatione<\/em>, PG 155, 535\u2013670; Saint John of the Ladder, Scala paradisi<\/em> 19, PG 88, 937\u2013940.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[22]<\/a> Cf. Luke 1:19; Psalms 42:3; Revelations 7:15 \u2013 staying in front of God\u2019s face in unending glorification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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