Saint Michael’s Church, Greenhill, Lichfield … stands on an earlier burial site (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
Patrick Comerford
We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and the week began with the Tenth Sunday after Trinity (13 August 2023).
Before this day begins (16 August 2023), I am taking some time this morning for prayer, reading and reflection.
In recent weeks, I have been reflecting on the churches in Tamworth. For this week and next week, I am reflecting each morning in these ways:
1, Looking at a church in Lichfield;
2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
Inside Saint Michael’s Church … the interior has been altered radically in the last two centuries (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Saint Michael’s Church, Lichfield:
Saint Michael’s Church on Greenhill stands on a sandstone ridge on the east side of Lichfield. Although the church dates from rebuilding projects in the 1840s, there has been a church on this high ground since at least 1190, and Saint Michael’s is surrounded by one of the oldest and one of the largest burial grounds in England.
The nine-acre site surrounding the parish church is the site of one of the earliest settlements in Lichfield, and was a significant burial ground from an early date.
There is a legend that this was the burial place of 999 early Christian martyrs who were the followers of the legendry Saint Amphibalus, who had converted Saint Alban to Christianity in the third or fourth century. There is no evidence to support the legend of those martyrs in the year 300 during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian. But the legend became so popular that it was often said that the name Lichfield actually means ‘field of the dead.’
This tradition develops a mediaeval story created by Geoffrey of Monmouth, and was exaggerated from the 12th century on after Lichfield became an important stopping place on pilgrim routes.
The legend was largely forgotten by the 1500s, but it was revived later in the mid-15th century when Lichfield was incorporated as a borough in 1548. The new civic council needed an image for its seal but wanted to break with the pre-Reformation image of Saint Chad. The corporation decided to use the story of the 999 martyrs on its seal, and so gave new life to a dead and unfounded story.
It may be that this legend led to George Fox, the founding Quaker, to declare: ‘Woe unto the bloody City of Lichfield.’
After his release from prison in Derby, Fox walked to Lichfield. When he was about a mile outside Lichfield, he felt a command from God to take off his shoes and to walk into the city. There in the Market Square, he stood barefoot in the snow as he cried out again and again: ‘Woe unto the bloody City of Lichfield.’
Fox later said he a vision of a channel of blood running through the streets of Lichfield and that the market place was a pool of blood, and explained later that God wanted him to preserve the memory of the thousand Christians martyrs from the reign of Diocletian.
A few decades later, the Staffordshire historian Robert Plot declared that the nearby area now known as Christian Fields was the site of their martyrdom and it has borne the name ever since. Of course, no archaeological evidence was ever found to support these stories from Geoffrey of Monmouth and Robert Plot. Today Christian Fields is a nature reserve south of Eastern Avenue, between Dimbles Lane and Curborough Road.
Despite the false foundations for this legend and the religious impulses it has inspired, there may have been a church on this site at Greenhill from an early date. Once again, local legend says the first church on the site was consecrated by Saint Augustine. Other accounts say it was because the site was so well known that Saint Chad was attracted to Lichfield, making it the centre of his new diocese in Mercia.
There is evidence on the site of crouched burials from before the Norman Conquest. However, the first church at Saint Michael’s is not recorded until 1190.
The oldest remaining parts of the present church date from the 13th century. In a recess in the north wall of the chancel under the pointed arch is the tomb of William de Walton, who in 1344 was the first recorded benefactor of Saint Michael’s. At his feet is a friendly looking dog, indicating he died in peace in his sleep rather violently or at war.
The church register dates from 1574. The font dates from 1669 and is octagonal with stylised fleur-de-lis and Tudor roses.
From the late 17th century, Saint Michael’s was associated with the family of Lichfield’s most famous writer, Samuel Johnson (1709-1784).
Johnson visited Lichfield for the last time in the autumn of 1784. He returned to London on 16 November, and composed an inscription for a floor slab in the centre of the nave to commemorate his immediate family.
On 2 December, he wrote two letters to Lichfield giving explicit directions for epitaphs to be placed over the middle aisle of Saint Michael’s Church where his father Michael Johnson (died 1731), his mother Sarah Johnson (died 1759), and his brother Nathaniel Johnson (died 1737), were buried.
He wrote to his cousin, the apothecary Richard Greene (1716-1793), who was the Senior Bailiff of Lichfield and lived in Market Street, saying:
‘I have enclosed the epitaph for my Father, Mother, and Brother, to be all engraved on the large size, and laid in the middle aisle in St. Michael’s church, which I request the clergyman and church-wardens to facilitate.
‘The first care must be taken to find the exact place of interment, that the stone might protect the bodies. Then let the stone be deep, massy and hard; and do not let the difference of ten pounds, or more, defeat your purpose.
‘I have enclosed ten pounds, and Mrs Porter will pay you ten more, which I gave her for the same purpose. What more is wanted shall be sent; and I beg that all possible haste be made, for I wish to have it done while I am yet alive. Let me know, dear Sir, that you receive this. I am, Sir, your most humble servant, Sam Johnson.’
On the same day, he wrote to Lucy Porter: ‘I am very ill, and desire your prayers. I have sent Mr Green the epitaph and a power to call on you for ten pounds.’
Within a fortnight, Johnson died on 13 December 1784. He was buried in Westminster Abbey on 20 December.
The original stone Johnson commissioned was removed when Saint Michael’s was repaved in the late 1790s, and much of the mediaeval fabric of the church was lost when the church was restored in the 1840s by a local architect Thomas Johnson and the London-born architect Sydney Smirke.
Johnson’s stone, with the same inscription, was replaced in 1884 to mark the centenary of Samuel Johnson’s death. The church we see today includes further architectural renovations designed in the 1890s by John Oldrid Scott.
A family mausoleum was erected in the church the late 18th century in the angle of the chancel and the south aisle by the Earl of Donegall (later the Marquess of Donegall). He lived at Fisherwick and also owned Comberford Hall, and gave his name to Donegal House on Bore Street, Lichfield. The mausoleum was destroyed during rebuilding and restoration works in 1842-1843.
The graves in the churchyard include an unusual ‘saddle-back’ tomb and the graves of members of the family of the poet Philip Larkin. John Brown, who sounded the trumpet for the 17th Lancers at the Charge of the Light Brigade, is also buried here.
Here too is the gravestone of the last victims of a public hanging in Lichfield. John Neve, William Wightman and James Jackson men were found guilty of forgery and were hanged at the gallows at the junction of Tamworth Road and London Road on 1 June 1810. Their gravestone, which was restored recently, only gives the initials of the three men and the date of their execution.
The mausoleum of Canon James Thomas Law (1790-1876) is a Grade II Listed Building on the northern edge of the churchyard. Law was a prebendary of Lichfield Cathedral and chancellor of the Diocese of Lichfield, a key figure in the foundation of Lichfield Theological College, and Master of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield (1821-1836).
Law had the mausoleum designed like a canopied mediaeval tomb as a memorial to his wife who died in 1864. Originally, it was surmounted by a clock with two dials that were illuminated at night by gas. Built on the side of the Trent Valley Road it was a reminder of the time to travellers on their way to the railway station. The clock is now missing, but the overgrowth that had long covered the mausoleum had been cleared away when I visited the churchyard last month.
Two months before he wrote his poem ‘Church Going’ in 1954, Philip Larkin spent a week in the Midlands, mainly with his mother, when he visited ‘family graves’ in Lichfield around February or March 1954, including the grave of his father, Sydney Larkin, who was buried there in 1948.
In a letter written that March, Larkin says this visit to Saint Michael’s churchyard was followed by a ‘queer mixture of hell and rest cure’ – by this he meant a poorly attended service in Lichfield Cathedral.
A statue of Saint Michael on the wall of Saint Michael’s Church, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
Matthew 18: 15-20 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 15 ‘If another member of the church[a] sins against you,[b] go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. 16 But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector. 18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’
Saint Michael’s Churchyard is one of the largest and one of the oldest burial grounds in England (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
Today’s Prayer:
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Reducing Stigma.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (16 August 2023) invites us to pray in these words:
Let us pray that across the world, the stigma of HIV continues to be reduced and that medical and practical support is made available to all those who require it.
The Johnson family memorial, with the inscription commissioned by Samuel Johnson commemorating his father, mother and brother (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The Collect:
Let your merciful ears, O Lord,
be open to the prayers of your humble servants;
and that they may obtain their petitions
make them to ask such things as shall please you;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post Communion Prayer:
God of our pilgrimage,
you have willed that the gate of mercy
should stand open for those who trust in you:
look upon us with your favour
that we who follow the path of your will
may never wander from the way of life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Resurrection … a stained glass window in Saint Michael’s Church, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
I ‘run my hand around the font’ (Philip Larkin) … the font in Saint Michael's Church, where generations of the Larkin family were baptised (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
16 August 2023
Death and dying:
a reflection on icons
of the Dormition
of the Virgin Mary
The icon of the Dormition by Alexandra Kaouki for a church in the old town of Rethymnon in Crete
Patrick Comerford
In the Calendar of the Orthodox Church, today [15 August] is the Feast of the Dormition (Κοίμησις) or the Falling Asleep of the Theotokos, the Virgin Mary. For Roman Catholics, it is the Feast of the Assumption, which has particular associations with Ephesus.
in the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today is marked simply as ‘The Blessed Virgin Mary’, without any indication of any event in her life or any commemoration.
Today’s Festival of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been marked in Lichfield Cathedral today at the mid-day Eucharist at 12:30 and with Solemn Choral Evensong at 5:30 sung by the Sussex Festival Singers, with Stanford’s Evening Service in C and Jacques Arcadelt’s Ave Maria. In Pusey House, Oxford, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is being marked this evening with High Mass at 6 pm, when Father Alexander McGregor is preaching. Mass was preceded by Evensong at 5.30 pm.
A reflection in the parish leaflet in Stony Stratford and Calverton described the Assumption as ‘the taking up of Mary into the glory of the Resurrection.’ It added, ‘In sharing in the fullness of God’s life and love, we remember that the same promise is made to all believers, as we turn to the Lord for grace and mercy.’
In his guidebook, The Holy Land, the late Jerome Murphy-O’Connor points out that two places in Jerusalem are traditionally associated with the end of the Virgin Mary’s earthly life: a monastery on Mount Zion is the traditional site of her death or falling asleep; and the basilica in the Garden of Gethsemane is said to be the site of her tomb.
Since the end of the 19th century, however, Mereyama, 8 km east of Selçuk, near ancient Ephesus, has been venerated by many Roman Catholics as the site of the Virgin Mary’s last earthly home. This tradition is based not on tradition or history, but on the writings of an 18th century German nun and visionary, Sister Catherine Emmerich, who never left her own country, and the interpretation of her visions by some late 19th century French Lazarist priests who were living in Smyrna (Izmir).
The pilgrim industry was boosted by a papal visit in 1967. Today, undoubtedly, Mereyama has been thronged by thousands of tourists staying in Kuşadasi, the Turkish coastal resort near Ephesus. Few of them may ever know that the commemoration of this feast has different emphases in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions. The Dormition and the Assumption may appear to be different names for the same event – the Virgin Mary’s departure from this earth – but the beliefs surrounding this day are not actually the same.
A fresco depicting the Dormition of the Virgin Mary in the parish church in Georgioupoli in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Dormition: death or dogma?
The Feast of the Dormition is one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church. However, this belief has never been formally defined as dogma by the Orthodox Church, nor is it made a precondition of baptism.
The Orthodox Church teaches that the Virgin Mary died a natural death, like any human being; that her soul was received by Christ upon death; and that her body was resurrected on the third day after her burial, at which time she was taken up, bodily only, into heaven, so that her tomb was found empty on the third day.
The death or Dormition of Mary is not recorded in the New Testament. Hippolytus of Thebes, writing in the seventh or eighth century, claims in his partially preserved chronology to the New Testament that the Virgin Mary lived for 11 years after the death of Jesus and died in AD 41.
On the other hand, Roman Catholic teaching says she was ‘assumed’ into heaven in bodily form. Some Roman Catholics agree with the Orthodox that this happened after her death, while others hold that she did not experience death. In his dogmatic definition of the Assumption in Munificentissimus Deus (1950), Pope Pius XII was not so dogmatic, for he appears to leave open the question of whether or not she actually underwent death and even alludes to the fact of her death at least five times.
In the Orthodox tradition, Mary died as all people die, for she had a mortal human nature like all of us. The Orthodox Church teaches that Mary was subject to being saved from the trials, sufferings, and death of this world by Christ. Having died truly, she was raised by him and she already takes part in the eternal life that is promised to all who ‘hear the word of God and keep it’ (Luke 11: 27-28). But what happens to Mary happens to all who imitate her holy life of humility, obedience and love.
The icon of the Dormition was completed by El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos) in Crete, probably before 1567
An ancient tradition
In the Orthodox tradition, it is said that after the Day of Pentecost, the Theotokos remained in Jerusalem with the infant Church, living in the house of Saint John the Evangelist. That tradition says she was in her 50s at the time of her death. As the early Christians stood around her deathbed, she commended her spirit to the Lord, and tradition says Christ then descended from Heaven, taking up her soul in his arms. The apostles sang funeral hymns in her honour and carried her body to a tomb in Cedron near Gethsemane. When a man tried to interrupt their solemn procession, an angel came and cut off his hands, but he was healed later.
The story says that the Apostle Thomas arrived on the third day and wished to see the Virgin Mary for the last time. The stone was rolled back, and an empty tomb was discovered. Orthodox tradition says that the Theotokos was resurrected bodily and taken to heaven, and teaches that the same reward awaits all the righteous on the Last Day.
Icons of the Dormition date from the 10th century, although there may have been earlier representations. In traditional icons of the Dormition, the Theotokos is shown on the funeral bier. Christ, who is standing behind her, has come to receive his mother’s soul into heaven. In his left arm, he holds her as an infant in white, symbolising the soul of the Theotokos reborn in her glory in heaven.
Greek icons of the Dormition, Η Κοιμηcισ τησ Θεοτοκου, follow a 1,000-year-old tradition that some say dates back to early texts.
Behind the bier, Christ stands robed in white and – as in icons of the Transfiguration, the Resurrection and the Last Judgment – he appears surrounded by the aureole, or elongated halo, depicting the Light of his Divinity and signifying his heavenly glory.
Christ receives the soul of the Mother of God, but here the imagery reverses the traditional picture of mother and son, as he holds her soul, like a child, in his arms.
The Twelve Apostles are present; sometimes they are shown twice: grouped around the bier, and transported to the scene on clouds accompanied by angels.
The Apostles are usually seen on either side of the bier – the group on the left led by Saint Peter, who stands at the head of the bier; the group on the right led by Saint Paul, who stands at the foot of the bier.
In many icons, we also see four early Christian writers, who are identified by their bishops’ robes decorated with crosses – James, Dionysios the Areopagite, Hierotheos and Timotheos of Ephesus. In the background, mourning women are a reminder too, perhaps, of the women who wept when they met Christ carrying his cross to Calvary, or who arrived at his tomb early on Easter morning ready to anoint his dead body.
The cherubim in blue, the seraphim in red and the golden stars in these icons refer to the hierarchy of cosmic powers, described by Dionysios the Areopagite, who serve the Lord. Archangels are present in the foreground in the lower left and right corners. In the centre foreground, the Archangel Michael threatens the non-believing Jephonias who dared to touch her bier in an attempt to disrupt her funeral. The story is told that his hands were cut off but that later they were miraculously restored when he repented, was converted to Christianity, and was baptised.
The best-known version of this icon is the work of El Greco, or Doménikos Theotokópoulos (1541-1614), painted in Crete probably before 1567.
Christ holding his mother’s soul wrapped like a new-born baby … a detail from Alexandra Kaouki’s icon of the Dormition as it neared completion
Watching the creation of an icon
It was my privilege in Crete some years ago to watch a new icon on this theme in Orthodoxy being shaped and created by Alexandra Kaouki, perhaps the most talented and innovative iconographer in Crete today, as she worked in her studio, then below the Venetian Fortezza in the in the old town of Rethymnon.
She was creating this new icon for the Church of Our Lady of the Angels, or the Little Church of Our Lady, on a small square in the old town.
It was a careful, slow, step-by-step work in progress, based on El Greco’s celebrated icon. But, as her work progressed, Alexandra made what she describes as ‘necessary corrections’ to allow her to ‘entirely follow the Byzantine rules.’
In her studio, we discussed why El Greco places three candelabra in front of the bier. Perhaps he is using them as a Trinitarian symbol. However, Alexandra has returned to the traditional depiction of only one to remain true to Byzantine traditions.
How many of the Twelve should be depicted?
Should Saint Thomas be shown, or was he too late?
Why did she omit stories from later developments in the tradition, yet introduce women?
Alexandra completed her icon in time for the Feast of the Dormition in Rethymnon on 15 August that year.
A traditional depiction of the Dormition in a fresco in a Greek church
Ecumenical agreement
The name Theotokos was given to the Virgin Mary by the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus in 431 CE. That council decreed that she should be honoured by this name which confirms the Orthodox belief in the Incarnation: that Christ was both true God and true man.
As so often happened in those days, this action was a response to heretical teachings that needed to be addressed. Thus, once and for all, the Church affirmed its teachings about Christ and Mary.
It is a custom in some Orthodox parishes to bring fragrant herbs or flowers to the church to be blessed on the Feast of the Dormition. These are then used to decorate an icon or the family table.
In some places, the Rite of the ‘Burial of the Theotokos’ is commemorated an all-night vigil, with an order of service based on the service of the Burial of Christ on Great Saturday.
Tinos, one of the largest islands in the Greek Cyclades, is best-known for its large Church of Panagia Megalochori (The Virgin with All Graces), on a hill above the capital, Chora. Each year, the church attracts thousands of pilgrims from all over Greece to Tinos on 15 August.
A fresco depicting the Dormition of the Virgin Mary in a church in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The Collect:
Almighty God,
who looked upon the lowliness of the Blessed Virgin Mary
and chose her to be the mother of your only Son:
grant that we who are redeemed by his blood
may share with her in the glory of your eternal kingdom;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post Communion Prayer:
God Most High,
whose handmaid bore the Word made flesh:
we thank you that in this sacrament of our redemption
you visit us with your Holy Spirit
and overshadow us by your power;
strengthen us to walk with Mary the joyful path of obedience
and so to bring forth the fruits of holiness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Troparion (Tone 1)
In giving birth, you preserved your virginity!
In falling asleep you did not forsake the world, O Theotokos!
You were translated to life, O Mother of Life,
and by your prayers you deliver our souls from death!
Kontakion (Tone 2)
Neither the tomb, nor death, could hold the Theotokos,
who is constant in prayer and our firm hope in her intercessions.
For being the Mother of Life,
she was translated to life by the One who dwelt in her virginal womb!
An icon depicting the Dormition of the Virgin Mary in the Church of Aghiou Philippou in Athens (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
In the Calendar of the Orthodox Church, today [15 August] is the Feast of the Dormition (Κοίμησις) or the Falling Asleep of the Theotokos, the Virgin Mary. For Roman Catholics, it is the Feast of the Assumption, which has particular associations with Ephesus.
in the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today is marked simply as ‘The Blessed Virgin Mary’, without any indication of any event in her life or any commemoration.
Today’s Festival of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been marked in Lichfield Cathedral today at the mid-day Eucharist at 12:30 and with Solemn Choral Evensong at 5:30 sung by the Sussex Festival Singers, with Stanford’s Evening Service in C and Jacques Arcadelt’s Ave Maria. In Pusey House, Oxford, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is being marked this evening with High Mass at 6 pm, when Father Alexander McGregor is preaching. Mass was preceded by Evensong at 5.30 pm.
A reflection in the parish leaflet in Stony Stratford and Calverton described the Assumption as ‘the taking up of Mary into the glory of the Resurrection.’ It added, ‘In sharing in the fullness of God’s life and love, we remember that the same promise is made to all believers, as we turn to the Lord for grace and mercy.’
In his guidebook, The Holy Land, the late Jerome Murphy-O’Connor points out that two places in Jerusalem are traditionally associated with the end of the Virgin Mary’s earthly life: a monastery on Mount Zion is the traditional site of her death or falling asleep; and the basilica in the Garden of Gethsemane is said to be the site of her tomb.
Since the end of the 19th century, however, Mereyama, 8 km east of Selçuk, near ancient Ephesus, has been venerated by many Roman Catholics as the site of the Virgin Mary’s last earthly home. This tradition is based not on tradition or history, but on the writings of an 18th century German nun and visionary, Sister Catherine Emmerich, who never left her own country, and the interpretation of her visions by some late 19th century French Lazarist priests who were living in Smyrna (Izmir).
The pilgrim industry was boosted by a papal visit in 1967. Today, undoubtedly, Mereyama has been thronged by thousands of tourists staying in Kuşadasi, the Turkish coastal resort near Ephesus. Few of them may ever know that the commemoration of this feast has different emphases in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions. The Dormition and the Assumption may appear to be different names for the same event – the Virgin Mary’s departure from this earth – but the beliefs surrounding this day are not actually the same.
A fresco depicting the Dormition of the Virgin Mary in the parish church in Georgioupoli in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Dormition: death or dogma?
The Feast of the Dormition is one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church. However, this belief has never been formally defined as dogma by the Orthodox Church, nor is it made a precondition of baptism.
The Orthodox Church teaches that the Virgin Mary died a natural death, like any human being; that her soul was received by Christ upon death; and that her body was resurrected on the third day after her burial, at which time she was taken up, bodily only, into heaven, so that her tomb was found empty on the third day.
The death or Dormition of Mary is not recorded in the New Testament. Hippolytus of Thebes, writing in the seventh or eighth century, claims in his partially preserved chronology to the New Testament that the Virgin Mary lived for 11 years after the death of Jesus and died in AD 41.
On the other hand, Roman Catholic teaching says she was ‘assumed’ into heaven in bodily form. Some Roman Catholics agree with the Orthodox that this happened after her death, while others hold that she did not experience death. In his dogmatic definition of the Assumption in Munificentissimus Deus (1950), Pope Pius XII was not so dogmatic, for he appears to leave open the question of whether or not she actually underwent death and even alludes to the fact of her death at least five times.
In the Orthodox tradition, Mary died as all people die, for she had a mortal human nature like all of us. The Orthodox Church teaches that Mary was subject to being saved from the trials, sufferings, and death of this world by Christ. Having died truly, she was raised by him and she already takes part in the eternal life that is promised to all who ‘hear the word of God and keep it’ (Luke 11: 27-28). But what happens to Mary happens to all who imitate her holy life of humility, obedience and love.
The icon of the Dormition was completed by El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos) in Crete, probably before 1567
An ancient tradition
In the Orthodox tradition, it is said that after the Day of Pentecost, the Theotokos remained in Jerusalem with the infant Church, living in the house of Saint John the Evangelist. That tradition says she was in her 50s at the time of her death. As the early Christians stood around her deathbed, she commended her spirit to the Lord, and tradition says Christ then descended from Heaven, taking up her soul in his arms. The apostles sang funeral hymns in her honour and carried her body to a tomb in Cedron near Gethsemane. When a man tried to interrupt their solemn procession, an angel came and cut off his hands, but he was healed later.
The story says that the Apostle Thomas arrived on the third day and wished to see the Virgin Mary for the last time. The stone was rolled back, and an empty tomb was discovered. Orthodox tradition says that the Theotokos was resurrected bodily and taken to heaven, and teaches that the same reward awaits all the righteous on the Last Day.
Icons of the Dormition date from the 10th century, although there may have been earlier representations. In traditional icons of the Dormition, the Theotokos is shown on the funeral bier. Christ, who is standing behind her, has come to receive his mother’s soul into heaven. In his left arm, he holds her as an infant in white, symbolising the soul of the Theotokos reborn in her glory in heaven.
Greek icons of the Dormition, Η Κοιμηcισ τησ Θεοτοκου, follow a 1,000-year-old tradition that some say dates back to early texts.
Behind the bier, Christ stands robed in white and – as in icons of the Transfiguration, the Resurrection and the Last Judgment – he appears surrounded by the aureole, or elongated halo, depicting the Light of his Divinity and signifying his heavenly glory.
Christ receives the soul of the Mother of God, but here the imagery reverses the traditional picture of mother and son, as he holds her soul, like a child, in his arms.
The Twelve Apostles are present; sometimes they are shown twice: grouped around the bier, and transported to the scene on clouds accompanied by angels.
The Apostles are usually seen on either side of the bier – the group on the left led by Saint Peter, who stands at the head of the bier; the group on the right led by Saint Paul, who stands at the foot of the bier.
In many icons, we also see four early Christian writers, who are identified by their bishops’ robes decorated with crosses – James, Dionysios the Areopagite, Hierotheos and Timotheos of Ephesus. In the background, mourning women are a reminder too, perhaps, of the women who wept when they met Christ carrying his cross to Calvary, or who arrived at his tomb early on Easter morning ready to anoint his dead body.
The cherubim in blue, the seraphim in red and the golden stars in these icons refer to the hierarchy of cosmic powers, described by Dionysios the Areopagite, who serve the Lord. Archangels are present in the foreground in the lower left and right corners. In the centre foreground, the Archangel Michael threatens the non-believing Jephonias who dared to touch her bier in an attempt to disrupt her funeral. The story is told that his hands were cut off but that later they were miraculously restored when he repented, was converted to Christianity, and was baptised.
The best-known version of this icon is the work of El Greco, or Doménikos Theotokópoulos (1541-1614), painted in Crete probably before 1567.
Christ holding his mother’s soul wrapped like a new-born baby … a detail from Alexandra Kaouki’s icon of the Dormition as it neared completion
Watching the creation of an icon
It was my privilege in Crete some years ago to watch a new icon on this theme in Orthodoxy being shaped and created by Alexandra Kaouki, perhaps the most talented and innovative iconographer in Crete today, as she worked in her studio, then below the Venetian Fortezza in the in the old town of Rethymnon.
She was creating this new icon for the Church of Our Lady of the Angels, or the Little Church of Our Lady, on a small square in the old town.
It was a careful, slow, step-by-step work in progress, based on El Greco’s celebrated icon. But, as her work progressed, Alexandra made what she describes as ‘necessary corrections’ to allow her to ‘entirely follow the Byzantine rules.’
In her studio, we discussed why El Greco places three candelabra in front of the bier. Perhaps he is using them as a Trinitarian symbol. However, Alexandra has returned to the traditional depiction of only one to remain true to Byzantine traditions.
How many of the Twelve should be depicted?
Should Saint Thomas be shown, or was he too late?
Why did she omit stories from later developments in the tradition, yet introduce women?
Alexandra completed her icon in time for the Feast of the Dormition in Rethymnon on 15 August that year.
A traditional depiction of the Dormition in a fresco in a Greek church
Ecumenical agreement
The name Theotokos was given to the Virgin Mary by the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus in 431 CE. That council decreed that she should be honoured by this name which confirms the Orthodox belief in the Incarnation: that Christ was both true God and true man.
As so often happened in those days, this action was a response to heretical teachings that needed to be addressed. Thus, once and for all, the Church affirmed its teachings about Christ and Mary.
It is a custom in some Orthodox parishes to bring fragrant herbs or flowers to the church to be blessed on the Feast of the Dormition. These are then used to decorate an icon or the family table.
In some places, the Rite of the ‘Burial of the Theotokos’ is commemorated an all-night vigil, with an order of service based on the service of the Burial of Christ on Great Saturday.
Tinos, one of the largest islands in the Greek Cyclades, is best-known for its large Church of Panagia Megalochori (The Virgin with All Graces), on a hill above the capital, Chora. Each year, the church attracts thousands of pilgrims from all over Greece to Tinos on 15 August.
A fresco depicting the Dormition of the Virgin Mary in a church in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The Collect:
Almighty God,
who looked upon the lowliness of the Blessed Virgin Mary
and chose her to be the mother of your only Son:
grant that we who are redeemed by his blood
may share with her in the glory of your eternal kingdom;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post Communion Prayer:
God Most High,
whose handmaid bore the Word made flesh:
we thank you that in this sacrament of our redemption
you visit us with your Holy Spirit
and overshadow us by your power;
strengthen us to walk with Mary the joyful path of obedience
and so to bring forth the fruits of holiness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Troparion (Tone 1)
In giving birth, you preserved your virginity!
In falling asleep you did not forsake the world, O Theotokos!
You were translated to life, O Mother of Life,
and by your prayers you deliver our souls from death!
Kontakion (Tone 2)
Neither the tomb, nor death, could hold the Theotokos,
who is constant in prayer and our firm hope in her intercessions.
For being the Mother of Life,
she was translated to life by the One who dwelt in her virginal womb!
An icon depicting the Dormition of the Virgin Mary in the Church of Aghiou Philippou in Athens (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
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