Thank you. I blush to confess I was asking out of curiosity rather than
a research-oriented interest. I am a Catholic of the Roman variety but
find a lot of Mariology difficult to come to terms with. (Pardon the
awkward sentence.)
Kathryn
[log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> KW wrote:
> Can I get some enlightenment about this tomb? If Mary was assumed into
> heaven, why a tomb? Is there an official version of this or is this all
> a matter of tradition/apocrypha? In fact the term in use when I was
> learning about all this was "dormition" rather than "death" of the
> Virgin.
> _______________
>
> KW:
> The early traditions of the death/ Dormition/( Koimesis)
> 'Falling asleep' ( See: II Thess. 4:13 - We do not want you to be
> ignorant, brethren , concerning those who have fallen asleep...) and
> bodily translation of the Mother of Jesus are detailed in:
> P. Voulet. S. Jean Damascène: Homilies sur la Nativite et la
> Dormition. Sources chretiennes, 80. Paris: 1956, pp24-36.
> To amplify on Fr. East's reference to the Transitus Mariae, (
> See the ed. by Zahn, Die Dormitio Sanct Virginis, 1899), I cite from
> Edward Hennecke ( ed W. Schneemelcher, transl R. McL. Wilson) New
> Testament Apocrypha, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, Vol.I 1963:
> The compilers of the legenda Mariae were early pressed by a
> need for more comprehensive collections of Marian 'historiae'
> "produced a comprhensive description of the 'Assumption of he Virgin
> Mary', which has survived in Greek, Latin, Syriac, Coptic, and
> Arabic, probably of Egyptian origin, and hardly olre than 400" The
> question of the attribution to Melito in not mentioned, and seems to
> me to be highly contested in later/current literature. The oldest
> version of the Transitus is likely that of Tischendorf, edited in
> Apa. 124-136 ( calling it Pseudo-Melito. See; B. Capelle. "Vestiges
> grecs et latins d'un antique 'transitus' de la Vierge": Analecta
> Boll. 67, 1949, pp21-48. ).
> Hennecke also suggests checking M. Jugie on the Transitus Mariae and
> especially the studies of B. Altaner ( Theol. Review 44, 1948,
> pp129-140; Theol. Review 45, 1949. pp129-142; Theol. Review 46, 1950,
> pp 5-20.
> Homiletic installation of the tradition ( for the Greek world
> ) is traced to the often cited and parodied homily on the Feast of
> the Dormition by the Patriarch Modestos of Jerusale; PG LXXXVI, 2,
> col 3277-3312.
> The liturgical installation of the tradition is attributable
> to the stikhera and Matinal Canon of John Of Damascus (c.675-c.749)
> and Cosmas of Maium (c 700 birth), both of which become the standard
> liturgical texts for the celebration of the Feast in the Orthodox
> Church, wherein the narrative outlined by Fr. East is richly
> amplified.
> As to the issue of:
> "Is there an official version of this or is this all
> a matter of tradition/apocrypha?"
> While those distinctions do not survive or operate well for
> Eastern Christianity,( since the liturgical texts and tradition for
> almost all the the Feasts of the Virgin are based on what you would
> likely call unofficial, apocryphal sources) I would suggests that
> closest thing to an 'official' statement, or what would become so,
> would be the installation of the full cycle of liturgical texts for
> the feast of the Dormition. These would have been relatively
> controlled in presentation,distribution and re-presentation(
> liturgically) to the widest audience. Romanos the Hymnographer (fl.
> 555) 'the Melodist'),while playing a significant part in the
> installation of more normative meditative retellings of material for
> the other major festal celebrations of the church, did not compose a
> Kontakion for the Dormition of the Virgin.
> I hope this rather specific information is useful and provides a
> wider range of possible explorations in your search.
> Josef Gulka
>
> Josef Gulka
> [log in to unmask]
> Tel: 215- 732-8420
> Fax (215) 732-8420
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