His Beatitude explained why the death of the Mother of God is called the Dormition
According to Metropolitan Onuphrius, a righteous life according to the commandments frees a person from the fear of death.
Primate of the UOC His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphrius presided over the Divine Liturgy on the feast day of the patron saint of the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Following the reading of the Holy Gospel, His Beatitude addressed the faithful with a homily, explaining the spiritual meaning of the feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. This was reported by the Information and Educational Department of the UOC.
His Beatitude reminded the faithful that the Creator descended to earth and took on human nature from the Most Blessed Virgin Mary for the salvation of mankind and their elevation to heaven. The Mother of God served as the spiritual ladder by which God descended to humanity, and became the vessel that contained the Bread of Life.
In his homily, the Primate gave a detailed account of Her earthly life after the Ascension of Christ, the appearance of Archangel Gabriel, and the miraculous gathering of the Apostles in the Upper Room of Zion. He recalled how the Apostles buried the body of the Mother of God in Gethsemane and how the Lord miraculously took Her most pure body to heaven, revealing the empty tomb to the weeping Apostle Thomas.
Metropolitan Onuphrius cited the words of Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, who personally beheld the countenance of the Mother of God, addressed to the Apostle Paul: "If I had not been taught by you, if I did not know that Christ is God, that He is our Savior and Lord, I would have taken the Mother of God for a Deity and rendered Her divine worship."
"We sinners, when we die, experience various sorrows, pains, and sufferings, but the Mother of God died without pain, as though she had fallen asleep. That is why the repose of the Mother of God is called the Dormition," the Primate explained.
His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphrius called upon the faithful to emulate the righteous life of the Mother of God. He emphasized that a righteous life according to the commandments frees a person from the fear of a bitter death and transforms one's passing into a blessed dormition.
"Every country, every person must live on earth in such a way that their passing is not a bitter death, but a blessed dormition. And this comes about when we live according to the divine commandments, when we live according to God's laws, which help a person in overcoming all the difficulties of this life," the Primate concluded.
As the SPJ reported, His Beatitude explained how humility differs from weakness.
