East of Byzantium

The Dormition of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary (August 15/28)

This is what the Church has received from ancient times from the tradition of the Fathers.

When the time approached that our Savior was well-pleased to take His Mother to Himself, He declared to her through an Angel that three days hence, He would translate her from this temporal life to eternity and bliss. On hearing this, she went up with haste to the Mount of Olives, where she prayed continuously. Giving thanks to God, she returned to her house and prepared whatever was necessary for her burial. While these things were taking place, the Apostles were called from the ends of the earth, where each one happened to be preaching, and brought themselves at once to the house of the Mother of God, who informed them of the cause of their sudden gathering.

As a mother, she consoled them in their affliction, and then raised her hands to Heaven and prayed for the peace of the world. She blessed the Apostles, and, reclining upon her bed with seemliness, gave up her all-holy spirit into the hands of her Son and God.

With reverence and many lights, and chanting burial hymns, the Apostles took up that God-receiving body and brought it to the sepulchre, while the Angels from Heaven chanted with them, and sent forth her who is higher than the Cherubim. But one Jew, moved by malice, stretched his hand upon the bed and immediately received from divine judgment the wages of his audacity. Those covetous hands were severed by an invisible blow. However when he repented and asked forgiveness, his hands were restored.

When they all had reached the place called Gethsemane, they buried there with honour the all-immaculate body of the Theotokos, which was the source of Life. But on the third day after the burial, when they were eating together, and raised up the artos (bread) in Jesus’ Name, in Holy Communion, the Theotokos appeared in the air, saying "Rejoice" to them.

This is how they learned of the bodily assumption of the Theotokos into the Heavens.

In birth, you preserved your virginity; in death, you did not abandon the world, O Theotokos. As mother of life, you departed to the source of life, delivering our souls from death by your intercessions

In faith, O ye people, leap for joy while clapping your hands; and gather in gladness on this day with longing and shout in radiant jubilance. For the Theotokos cometh nigh to departing from the earth unto the heights; and we glorify her with glory as the Mother of God in our unceasing hymns…

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Truly, you are blessed among women. For you have changed Eve’s curse into a blessing; and Adam, who hitherto lay under a curse, has been blessed because of you. Truly, you are blessed among women. Through you the Father’s blessing has shone forth on mankind, setting them free of their ancient curse. Truly, you are blessed among women, because through you your forebears have found salvation. For you were to give birth to the Saviour who was to win them salvation. Truly, you are blessed among women, for without seed you have borne, as your fruit, him who bestows blessings on the whole world and redeems it from that curse that made it sprout thorns. Truly, you are blessed among women, because, though a woman by nature, you will become, in reality, God’s mother. If he whom you are to bear is truly God made flesh, then rightly do we call you God’s mother. For you have truly given birth to God.

The Virgin has given birth to the Savior: a flower has sprung from Jesse’s stock and a star has risen from Jacob. O God, we praise you.

O Virgin Mary, no other daughter of Jerusalem is your equal, for you are the mother of the King of kings, you are the Queen of heaven and of angelsBlessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Hail, full of grace; the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

Having obtained thee as an unassailable rampart and wellspring of miracles,

O Most Pure Mother of God, thy servants quell the assaults of enemies.

Wherefore, we pray to thee:

Grant peace to our land, and to our souls great mercy.

During the Tatar invasion in the thirteenth century the city of Kursk was ravaged by the Horde of Batu and fell into desolation. After this, the residents of the city of Rylsk, often journeyed to the site of Kursk to hunt wild beasts.

First miracle

On September 8, 1259, a hunter noticed the icon lying on a root face downwards to the ground. The hunter lifted it and saw that the image of the icon was similar to the Novgorod "Znamenie" Icon of the Mother of God. Just as the hunter lifted up the holy icon from the earth, a strong spring of pure water surged up at that place where the icon rested.

Chapel

With the help of friends the hunter rebuilt an old small chapel and placed the newly-found icon in it. When news of this spread, many came from Rylsk to this old chapel to venerate the icon and pray about their sorrows and needs. There the Mother of God healed all who came to her icon.

Soon after, the icon was transferred to Rylsk and put it in a new church in honor of the Nativity of the Theotokos. But the icon did not long remain there. It disappeared and returned to the place of its first appearance. The inhabitants of Rylsk repeatedly took it and carried it back to their city, but the icon incomprehensibly returned to its former place. It was realized, that the Theotokos preferred the place of appearance of her icon.

Glorified icon

This icon, and the help granted by the Mother of God, is linked with important events in Russian history: with the war of liberation of the Russian nation during the Polish-Lithuanian incursion in 1612, and the 1812 Fatherland war

Come you faithful,

Let us radiantly celebrate the wondrous appearance of the most precious Image of the Mother of God,

And drawing grace there from, let us cry out with compunction:

Rejoice, O Mother of God, Blessed Mary, Mother of God!

Most Holy Theotokos, Joy of All Who Sorrow

"To Thee, the champion leader, do we Thy servants dedicate a hymn of victory and thanksgiving, as ones who have been delivered from eternal death by the Grace of Christ our God Who was born of Thee and by Thy maternal mediation before Him. As Thou dost have invincible might, free us from all misfortunes and sorrowful circumstances who cry aloud:

Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos, full of Grace, Joy of all who sorrow!"

O Virgin Pure (Agni Parthene)

Rejoice, O Unwedded Bride!

O Virgin pure, immaculate/ O Lady Theotokos

O Virgin Mother, Queen of all/ and fleece which is all dewy

More radiant than the rays of sun/ and higher than the heavens

Delight of virgin choruses/ superior to Angels.

Much brighter than the firmament/ and purer than the sun’s light

More holy than the multitude/ of all the heav’nly armies.

Rejoice, O Unwedded Bride!

O Ever Virgin Mary/ of all the world, the Lady

O bride all pure, immaculate/ O Lady Panagia

O Mary bride and Queen of all/ our cause of jubilation

Majestic maiden, Queen of all/ O our most holy Mother

More hon’rable than Cherubim/ beyond compare more glorious

than immaterial Seraphim/ and greater than angelic thrones.

Rejoice, O Unwedded Bride!

Rejoice, O song of Cherubim/ Rejoice, O hymn of angels

Rejoice, O ode of Seraphim/ the joy of the archangels

Rejoice, O peace and happiness/ the harbor of salvation

O sacred chamber of the Word/ flow’r of incorruption

Rejoice, delightful paradise/ of blessed life eternal

Rejoice, O wood and tree of life/ the fount of immortality.

Rejoice, O Unwedded Bride!

I supplicate you, Lady/ now do I call upon you

And I beseech you, Queen of all/ I beg of you your favor

Majestic maiden, spotless one/ O Lady Panagia

I call upon you fervently/ O sacred, hallowed temple

Assist me and deliver me/ protect me from the enemy

And make me an inheritor/ of blessed life eternal.

Rejoice, O Unwedded Bride!

Agni Parthene*, sung by the Simonopetra Monastery.

Right click the link and select "Save As…" to download the mp3. Don’t click on the link directly.

Of All Creation

In You, O Woman, Full of Grace,

the angelic choirs and the human race -

all creation rejoices! All creation rejoices!

O Sanctified Temple, Mystical Paradise and

Glory of Virgins, He, Who is our God, from

before all ages, took flesh from You and became

a child! He made Your womb a throne! A throne

greater than the heavens! In You, O Woman,

Full of Grace, In You, O Woman, Full of Grace,

all creation rejoices, all creation rejoices! All

praise be to You! All praise be to You! All

praise be to you!

As the night bus weaved itself amongst the high-rises and flyovers, the heavens shook with thunder and lightning streaked across the skies. All was obscured by the concrete and steel around us, though the rain fell on all. The neon flickered, but it was the lightning flash that lit all in its weird blue. Threading itself between apartment blocks, the bus seemed to be playing a game of hide-and-seek upon the slippery roads. The power and aggression of the thunderstorm was seen, yet that power was not for our benefit, merely for our entertainment. With cow-stares, all of us packed onto the bus looked to the skies and thought how this was almost as good as the thunderstorms seen on TV. The bus was weaving between the footsteps of a giant, yet he wasn’t interested in us and so no danger was there. As the titan strode purposely on, unaware of the insignificance beneath him, the bus danced along with him, always just out of sight.

Then the bus turned onto the road before the huge courtyard of the PLA’s Musical Academy. I was suddenly confronted with the largest patch of uninterrupted sky that I had found in Beijing. Bereft of man-made intrusions, the sky was for a brief moment laid before me shattered and alight with thunderbolts. With a large mural and low set Stalinesque buildings upon the horizon I could get but a hint. Cocooned within a bus that didn’t even slow, I caught but a glimpse. Yet for a small instance I got a taste of a time past. A time when huddled into the cracks of the landscape, the people built their squat homes where they could; a time when the skies rained down manna, or destruction; a time when God, with violence, split the sky in two before His people. The titan suddenly brought the force of his gaze upon what was below him. For just that briefest of moments, God’s countenance was on me. I felt the fear of the past. Not fear born of ignorance, but the fear born of knowledge; the full knowledge of God’s energy. Call me a superstitious fool, but this was the wrath of God. At least, this was the power of God. A thunderstorm, yes, but why separate the two as though they are unrelated? Who is seeing clearly? The man who looks at the sky through the gauze of modernity – lights, comfort, the haze of pollution, all in a pretty metropolitan frame – hiding beneath an umbrella? Or is it the man eating honey and locusts in the wilderness, looking at a cold, dark, empty sky suddenly become alive and throw down water upon the earth. Strip away all those petty distractions that keep our eyes down and the contempt for the past would be ripped from us too. Awesome power is precisely that. Lord have mercy.

But it was gone too quickly, though perhaps that was a mercy to me. The rolling cityscape never missed a beat and we were all swallowed up in concrete again. Mobile phones rang, the bus’s plasma screen gave tomorrow’s weather, eyes and ears were pulled gently from the rage of the storm. Forget all that, you’ll be home soon. Watch this instead. Empty skies are forecast tomorrow. My own phone shuddered in my pocket and checking new messages I too was brought back under the city.

Praise the Lord that I was given the sight of what our fathers saw of God’s power. Then we knew we were but mere sojourners upon the Lord’s earth. Unable to hide from God’s wrath, instead the reminder of human life’s frailty was above, below, behind and before us. The fear was there, the respect for God’s powerful love, but with it came the longing for rebellion. As is taught, God shakes the earth to teach His children like the mother rocks the crib to quiet the infant (St. John Chrysostom). It shouldn’t be any wonder then that as soon as they were able, as soon as they saw the opportunity, our fathers fled from God – from the power they hated; from the protection they needed. Once, they were exposed to God’s power and knew, but then things changed.

Then the kings of the earth and the great ones, and the generals and the rich, and with them everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and threw up the rocks of the mountains.
“Hide us from the face of Him who is seated on the throne and from His wrath…for we fear the great Day of Judgment when none will stand.”

They did a good job in hiding amongst rocks and caves. But this city still cowers beneath Heaven. God still shakes this city with earthly tremors. He still cracks open the sky with violent thunderstorms. Here we are, pretending none of this happens; pretending the Gobi isn’t coming to engulf us; pretending that we’re not poisoning ourselves with car fumes. Can no one see the mercy of each new day? Can I? Are we buried beneath the rocks, the wires, and the mountains of food so deeply?

How then can we ever hope to ascend?

“O Heavenly Father I ask that you will remind us all that we are but sojourners on this earth. Reveal to we cosseted and anesthetized sinners our wretchedness so that we can escape the snares of the world and come to the joy of sorrowful repentance. Strip away the impurities of our lives by the violence of Your love for us. Destroy what is worthless by earthquake, hurricane or flood, so that the true blessings of You are all that remain. In those, may we bless You all the days granted to us. Be this Your will, be it done to us; and through the prayers of the Holy Theotokos and all the saints give us the strength to endure.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen”

A brief digression from both Church calender and even the theme of this blog (such as it has one) to tell this “tale that is not a tale”:

Listen to a tale which is not just a tale but a true account of John the apostle, handed down and carefully remembered. When the tyrant was dead, and John had moved from Patmos to Ephesus, he used to go when asked to the neighboring districts of the Gentile peoples, sometimes to appoint bishops, sometimes to organize whole churches, sometimes to ordain one person of those pointed out by the Spirit. So it happened that he arrived at a city not far off, named by some as Smyrna, and after settling various problems of the brethren, he finally looked at the bishop already appointed, and indicating a youngster he had noticed of excellent physique, attractive appearance, and ardent spirit, he said: “I leave this young an in your keeping, with all earnestness, in the presence of the Church and Christ as my witness.” When the Bishop accepted him and promised everything, John addressed the same appeal and adjuration a second time.

He then returned to Ephesus, and the cleric took home the youngster entrusted to his care, brought him up, kept him in his company, looked after him, and finally gave him the grace of baptism. After this he relaxed his constant care and watchfulness, having put on him the seal of the Lord as the perfect protection. But the youngster snatched at freedom to soon and was led sadly astray by others of his own age who were idle, dissolute, and evil-livers. First they led him on by expensive entertainments; then they took him with them when they went out at night to commit robbery; then they urged him to take part in even greater crimes. Little by little he fell into their ways; and like a hard-mouthed powerful horse he dashed off the straight road, and taking the bit between his teeth rushed down the precipice more violently because of his immense vitality. Completely renouncing God’s salvation, he was no longer satisfied with petty offences, but, as his life was already in ruins, he decided to commit a major crime and share the same fate as the others. He took these same young renegades and formed them into a gang of bandits of which his was the master mind, surpassing them all in violence, cruelty, and bloodthirstiness.

Time went by and, some necessity having arisen, John was asked to pay another visit. When he had dealt with the business for which he had come, he said: “Come now, bishop, pay me back the deposit which Christ and I left in your keeping, in the presence of the Church over which you preside as my witness.” At first the bishop was taken aback, thinking he was being dunned for money he had never received. He could neither comply with a demand for what he did not possess, nor refuse to comply with John’s request. But when John said: “It is the young man I am asking for, and the soul of our brother,” the old man sighed deeply and shed a tear.

“He is dead.”

“How did he die?”

“He is dead to God: he turned out wicked and profligate, in short, a bandit; and now, instead of the Church, he has taken to the mountain with an armed gang of men like himself.”

The Apostle rent his garment, groaned aloud, and beat his head. “A fine guardian,” he cried, “I left of our brother’s soul! However, let me have a horse immediately, and someone to show me the way.” He galloped off from the church, then and there, just as he was. When he arrived at the place, and was seized by the bandits’ sentry-group, he made no attempt to escape or ask for mercy, but shouted: “This is what I have come for: take me to your leader.” For the time being the young man waited, armed as he was; but as John approached he recognized him, and filled with shame, he turned to flee. But John ran after him as hard as he could, forgetting his years and calling out: “Why do you run away from me child – from your own father, unarmed and very old? Be sorry for me, child, not afraid of me. You still have hopes of life. I will account to Christ for you. If needs be, I will gladly suffer your death, as the Lord suffered for us; to save you I will give my own life. Stop! Believe! Christ sent me.”

When he heard this, the young man stopped and stood with his eyes on the ground; then he threw down his weapons; then he trembled and began to weep bitterly. When the old man came up he flung his arms around him, pleading for himself with groans as best he could, and baptized a second time with his tears, but keeping his right hand out of sight. But John solemnly pledged that he had found pardon from him from the Savior: he prayed, knelt down, and kissed that very hand as being cleansed by his repentance. Then he brought him back to the church, interceded for him with many prayers, shared with him in the ordeal of continuous fasting, brought his mind under control with all the enchanting power of his words, and did not leave him, we are told, till he had restored him to the Church, giving a perfect example of true repentance and a perfect proof of regeneration, the trophy of a visible resurrection.

-from The Rich Man Who Finds Salvation – Clement of Alexandria (c. 2nd century)