Feast of the Assumption

During the hundred or so years after the earthly ministry of Jesus ended in 30 C.E., the Church that succeeded him kept its precious memories; and various manuscripts began to be written and to circulate.  Centuries later, they would become the New Testament when the first Christian Bible appeared in 397 C.E.

Following that initial Christian century, everything changed in 135 C.E. when the Roman Emperor Hadrian levelled the city of Jerusalem, renamed it Aelia Capitolina, and gifted it with a Temple to the god Jupiter.  He also closed all Jewish and Christian holy sites and replaced them with pagan shrines. Then, for almost two hundred years, Christianity would be illegal and suffer persecution.  But the memories, the stories, the manuscripts continued to be treasured.

Finally, in 315 C.E. the Emperor Constantine converted (sort of) to Christianity, and made the religion legal in the Roman Empire.  The ancient holy sites began to be restored and Constantine himself had the Church of the Holy Sepulchre built over the burial place of Jesus.  The tomb of the Blessed Mother was also restored and a  feast called Memory of Mary or the Dormition ("falling asleep') of our Lady was celebrated.  Soon, with the recollection that the disciples had found Mary's tomb empty and concluded she was taken or "assumed" into heaven, the feast came to be called the Assumption.  That is the common name even today, though in Episcopal circles it is officially the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

The raison d'etre of the feast was affirmed later at the Council of Chalcedon when the Emperor Marcian asked the bishop of Jerusalem to send Mary's relics to Constantinople, and the bishop replied, "I cannot.  She was assumed.  There is nothing of her to send."

The Episcopal Church has no problem with the concept.  Our official statement on the subject says, "What we can believe is that one who stood in so intimate a relationship with the incarnate Son of God on earth must, of all the human race, have the place of highest honor in the eternal life of God."  And thus, as Queen of Heaven, Mary is naturally our supreme heavenly "prayer partner."

Furthermore, her assumption is a vivid reminder of our hope and our destiny, for we are gifted by God through Jesus with eternal life, a life that is unending, unbound by time and space.  As we sang in our processional hymn, "When from death to life we've passed, show us your son, our Lord, at last, O, Maria."