“Lift up the gates and in a beautiful manner receive her, the Mother of Light, the Mother of Light, the Mother of the everlasting Light…, for on this day heaven opens its bosom to receive her… Angels sing at your Most Holy Assumption which we celebrate with faith… Let all the earthly world tremble with the spirit and celebrate with joy the holy Assumption of the Mother of God…”
On the feast of the Assumption of the Mother of God, with the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir, the First Hierarch of the Orthodox Church of Moldova, His Grace Siluan, Bishop of Orhei and Metropolitan Vicar, celebrated the Holy and Divine Liturgy at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Nativity of the Lord in Chisinau. The arch-pastor was joined by the choir of ministers of the Cathedral.
The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is the greatest feast dedicated to the Mother of God. On this day, the “Mother of Life”, the one who gave bodily birth to the Life of the world, moves from this wicked life to the life that is unholy and eternal. The life of the Mother of God was on earth and is still a life of prayer in heaven. Ever bound to Christ by her love and prayer, the Mother of God is the heart of the Church which prays continually, but not so much for herself as for her children. The Feast of the Assumption is not dark and sad in the Orthodox Church, but it is a feast in which everyone feels this serene joy of the heart which heralds the resurrection.
The body of the Blessed Virgin was not left in the tomb, but was transferred to heaven by Christ, her Son. Thus, the death of the Mother of God was “deathless sleep”, a passage from the temporal to the divine and imperishable: “Your death was a pure transition from the eternal and better life, from the temporal to the eternal and truly divine and imperishable, being transferred, O most Precious, to the life eternal and better, you see your Son and your Lord in joy.
This feast, however, is not only about the Mother of God, but about the whole of human nature, for through Mary, humanity has offered to God all that is best in humanity. If we look carefully at the beginning and end of the Church year, we see how it is framed by two feasts dedicated to the Mother of God, her Assumption and her Nativity. Thus, associated with and subordinate to the course of Christ’s life, the life of the Blessed Virgin marked by the feasts dedicated to her expresses the itinerary and the spiritual height to which humanity filled with fidelity to God can reach.
Let us pray to the Mother of God to intercede for us, that we may live according to the commandments of her Son and that we too may rejoice in eternal Easter with Christ, with her and with all the saints.
Source: https://manastireacurchi.md/