The Tomb of the Theotokos
The Tomb of the Theotokos lies at the bottom of the Mount of Olives at Gethsemane. Over the crypt, cut into the live rock, the Church of the Assumption was constructed in the fifth century. It was rebuilt in 1130 by the Crusaders and since then it has been shared by Greeks, Armenians, Syrians, Copts and Muslims.
Verses from Great Vespers
for the Feast of the Dormition
O great and marvelous wonder!
The source of Life is laid in the grave,
and the tomb becomes a ladder into heaven!
Rejoice, Gethsemane, the holy abode of the Theotokos!
Come, O faithful, with Gabriel leading, let us cry aloud:
“Rejoice, O full of grace, the Lord is with thee,
granting the world great mercy through thee!”
Glorious are thy mysteries, pure Lady:
thou wast made the throne of the Most High,
and today thou art translated from earth to heaven!
Thy glory is full of majesty, shining with divine brightness!
Virgins, ascend on high with the Mother of the King!
Rejoice, O full of grace, the Lord is with thee,
granting the world great mercy through thee!”
The spotless bride, the Mother of Him in Whom the Father was well pleased,
she who was preordained by God
to be the dwelling place of His union of two natures without confusion,
today delivers her blameless soul to her Creator and her God.
The spiritual powers receive her with the honors due to God,
and she who is truly the Mother of Life departs to life,
the lamp of the unapproachable Light
the salvation of the faithful and hope of our souls.
Come, all who love to keep the feasts,
come, let us form a choir!
Come, let us crown the Church with songs,
as the ark of God goes to her rest.
For today heaven opens wide
as it receives the Mother of Him Who cannot be contained.
The earth, as it yields up the source of Life, is robed in blessing and majesty.
The hosts of Angels, present with the fellowship of the Apostles,
gaze in great fear at her who bore the Author of life,
now that she is translated from life to life.
Let us all venerate and implore her:
“O Lady, forget not thy ties of kinship
with those with faith who keep the feast of thine all-holy Dormition!”
Verses from Psalm 46 (LXX)
At Thy right hand stood the queen, arrayed in a vesture of inwoven gold, adorned in varied colours.
Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thine ear; and forget thine own people and thy father’s house.
And the King shall greatly desire thy beauty, for He Himself is thy Lord, and thou shalt worship Him.
And Him shall the daughters of Tyre worship with gifts; the rich among the people shall entreat thy countenance.
All the glory of the daughter of the King is within, with gold-fringed garments is she arrayed, adorned in varied colours.
The virgins that follow after her shall be brought unto the King, those near her shall be brought unto Thee.
They shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing, they shall be brought into the temple of the King.
In the stead of thy fathers, sons are born to thee; thou shalt make them princes over all the earth.
I shall commemorate thy name in every generation and generation.
Therefore shall peoples give praise unto thee for ever, and unto the ages of ages.