Putna, August 27, 2019
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The Great Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos is one of the most beloved throughout the Orthodox Church worldwide. The Mother of God is our supreme example, and assuming her body into Heaven, Christ God thereby confirmed the fruits of the Resurrection for all mankind.
This year, hierarchs representing three of the great Orthodox peoples gathered to glorify the Mother of God together on her feast of the Dormition at the historic Putna Monastery in Romania on August 15.
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The Divine Liturgy for the feast was headed by His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae of the Americas, with the concelebration of His Eminence Metropolitan Ignatius of France and Western Southern Europe (Antiochian), His Eminence Archbishop Pimen of Suceava and Rădăuţi, and His Grace Bishop Thomas of Bronnitsy, reports the Basilica News Agency.
“We call her Mother of God and we have faith that she is also our mother of all, who prays for us and protects us,” Met. Nicolae said, noting that the feast is a “source of hope and joy,” because “it strengthens our hope that our soul will be welcomed into the arms of the Savior Jesus Christ.”
His Eminence also noted that the icon of the feast, depicting Christ taking the soul of His Mother into His arms, demonstrates the belief that in Christ we fall asleep rather than die: “Those of us who believe express our hope that the souls of those who are asleep are received by Christ in His arms, as the icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God entrusts to us.”
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Moreover, the troparion of the feast condenses the entire earthly mission of the Theotokos and strengthens our hope that through her prayers our souls will be saved, the Romanian hierarch preached.
Putna Monastery is known as the “Jerusalem of the Romanian People” and is home to the relics of St. Stephen the Great, the most beloved Romanian ruler, who built the monastery in 1469.
