August 27, 2026
Beloved brethren in Christ,
Great indeed and wondrous is the
miracle unfolding today before our eyes: our sweet Panagia, our great
Mother, whose name comes spontaneously to our lips whenever our heart seeks
help, pays the common debt of mankind. In simpler words, she dies.
The God-proclaiming Apostles,
gathered together from the ends of the inhabited world, sorrowfully conduct her
funeral and reverently lay her venerable and holy body in the tomb. Yet once
again comes the wondrous reversal, for it is impossible that the Mother of Life
should be held in the tomb.
Christ the Giver of Life, her Son
and God, accompanied by a multitude of angelic hosts, receives her entire—both
soul and body—into His Heavenly Kingdom, leaving the tomb empty, yet filled
with grace by the temporary presence of the Most Holy Theotokos.
Awestruck before the mystery of
the Translation of the All-Immaculate Maiden, the two divinely inspired poets
and saints of our Church, John of Damascus and Cosmas of the Holy City,
proclaim—the former:
“O wonders surpassing
understanding, wrought through the Ever-Virgin and Mother of God! For, having
dwelt in the tomb, she revealed it to be Paradise.”
And the latter:
“The bounds of nature are
overcome in thee, O immaculate Virgin; for childbirth remains virginal, and
death is betrothed to life.”
Today’s world-rejoicing feast
triumphantly confirms that, for those who have pleased God and have struggled
to please Him, death is a dormition—a sweet sleep, a gateway to eternal life.
The time will someday come when the grave will become our bed of repose. Yet
the time will also come when we shall once again leave it empty, to live in
soul and body in the light of the Resurrection.
As human beings, we are afraid
when we contemplate death. We weep and lament over separation. Our soul is
shaken when we accompany someone dear to us to the grave. All these things are
natural and human. Yet let us consider today’s feast: for what appears to be a
death, the entire Christian world dons its festive garments, the bells ring out
joyfully, and even the streets and the air have something festal about them.
What, truly, are we celebrating?
We celebrate God’s victory over
death, which is revealed through the Theotokos to the entire human race. We
celebrate the transformation of death from a dark and icy end into a restful
dormition and a betrothal to eternal life. We celebrate the assurance of an
all-powerful intercession before God, for although our Panagia departed
from the earth, she never left the world orphaned.
In a phrase deeply rooted in the
consciousness of our people, we celebrate the “Pascha of the Summer,” during
which the Ever-Virgin Mary teaches us throughout the ages: “Let no one fear
death, for the death of the Savior has set us free.” Let no one fear death any
longer. And if death is man’s greatest fear, let no one fear anything at all,
for the God Who conquered death will also conquer anything else that threatens
us—on one condition: that we fulfill the command of the Lady Theotokos, as we
read in the Gospel account of the wedding at Cana: “Whatever He—my Son—says to
you, do it.”
And if, along the way, we
sometimes stray from this commandment because of our weaknesses, and if we once
again become immersed in concern over the problems of daily life, let us not
forget that our great Mother always stands beside her Son, conveying our
petitions to Him and persuading Him to grant them through the maternal boldness
she possesses. Let us then kneel before her icon and speak to her. We are her
children, and she will hear us, provided that our prayer comes from the heart
and that this heart has been softened by love and forgiveness.
And how do we know that she will
hear us? Her countless icons, the innumerable churches and monasteries built in
her honor, and her myriad names all bear witness to this.
Many blessed years to all!
May our Panagia be our
help!
Your Bishop,
† Chrysostomos of Attica and
Boeotia
Greek source:
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