With hymns, honors, glory and joy, our Church celebrates glorious Assumptionone of the greatest celebrations of Orthodoxy. In Greece, the Orthodox Greeks bathe in the light, fill their souls with love and optimism and celebrate the 15th of August who rightly named “Easter of Summer”. Each place has its own customs for this day.
Thousands of faithful worship the Holy Icons of Our Lady, ask for her help, pray and praise. The Assumption of the Virgin is not a mournful fact, because the Virgin Mary “transformed to life”. “Death radiates eternity and immortality. Death is no longer a rupture, but a union. It’s not sad, but joy. These are what we celebrate on the day of the Dormition of Our Lady of Virgin “, according to Alexander Smemann, who is one of the great forms of theology of the 20th century. The form of the Virgin Mary is worshiped on every side of Greece, the customs for his feast August 15th They differ and show the personality of each place through this sacred feast.
Ecclesiastical tradition
For the Assumption of Theotokos There is no information from the New Testament. For this we learn from the stories of important ecclesiastical men, such as St. John the Theologian, Dionysius the Areopagite, Modestos Jerusalem, Andrea Crete, German Constantinople, Ioannis Damaskinou and others.
These texts are preserved the “ancient and true” tradition of the Church for this theoretical event.
In the ecclesiastical tradition, Our Lady was domestic at the house of the evangelist Johnwhere the mother of God was staying. After her eyes were closed, the Apostles carried her death to the Garden of Gethsemane, where they buried her.
The love and commemoration of the Church are not focused on the historical and real context, neither on the date and place where the mother of all mothers completed her earthly life. Instead, the Church enters the essence and meaning of her death, Menting of the death of this that her son, according to Christian faith, paid death, resurrected from the dead, and promised the final resurrection and victory of immortal life.
In the Assumption, all the joyous mystery of this death is revealed and it becomes joy, because the Virgin Mary is one of us. Death itself becomes a life triumphant. So at the feast there is no sadness, no funeral fiberies, no distress, but only light and life.
Hymnography and names
Ecclesiastical Hymnography is very rich in the designation of the Virgin Mary, but also full of praise and hymns to her face.
But the greatest praise of the Virgin Mary is the Unscrupulous hymnthe take -off of hymnology in the face of the Virgin, as it tells in a poetic and lyrical way all this plan of salvation.
The names Most of the Virgin Mary: Mariam brought the Savior of the people to the world, hence her name as the Virgin Mary but also as Theotokos.
But there is also a plethora of “Theotokonians”, as they are said, Depending on its qualities or gifts, by place or way where found a picture of her or lies her temple, by Temple style Of her, by the iconographic type of representationby the oldness of her imageby the beauty and beauty Of her, from the praise of her, by the time celebrated by the church of etc.
It is celebrated every year, according to the new calendar today, August 15 August 28 according to the old (old calendars).
In the other Orthodox and Catholic countries of the world, its Assumption is honored less emphatically, in most of which the 15th of August is an official holiday, as in Greece.
In fact, the Protestant bonds They consider the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, because it is not based on biblical references.
This difference appears to be embossed in Germany, where the 15th of August is an official holiday only in the Catholic states of Zarland and Bavaria.
Fasting and celebrations
During Orthodox Delivery, a period of time fasting For this particular feast, established in the 7th century. Initially it was divided into two periods, the one before the feast of the Transfiguration of the Savior and that before the Feast of the Assumption. In the 10th century, they joined a fasting that includes 14 days and starts on August 1st. During this fasting, Fasting oil outside Saturday and Sundaywhile in The celebration of the Transfiguration of the Savior is overthrown.
During the Feast of the Assumption of Theotokos they are overthrown everythingunless the celebration falls on Wednesday or Friday, so only the fish is overthrown.
In Tinos, where the largest pilgrimage to the Assumption is made, The celebration of the Virgin Mary was established by royal decree of 1836 being eight days and lasting until the “Nine Days of Theotokos” on August 23, when hymns and praises are chanted in the Epitaph and image in an atmosphere of emotion.
On the island the Greeks honor and those who were lost, when the Italians torpedoed and sank the “Elli” in the port on the day of Our Lady.
To Panagia Sumelaa symbol of Pontian faith, the Pan -Hellenic pilgrimage is the icon of the Virgin Mary, the work of Evangelist Luke, the cross of Emperor Emmanuel Komninos and the Holy Gospel of Father Christopher, also a gift from Emperor David.
There, on the slopes of Vermio, thousands of pilgrims, as well as representatives of federations and Pontian associations from Greece and abroad will also participate in the sacred sequences and cultural events this year.
To Paroscelebrates Our Lady of Ekatontapyliani. Its temple, for which there are two names, “Katapoliani” and “Ekatontapyliani”, is located in the capital of the island, Parikia.
According to tradition, Katopoliani has 99 obvious doorswhile The centimeter is closed and does not appear. This door will look and open When the Greeks take the city.
Other legends refer to the St. Helen Which, on the road to the Holy Land, in order to find the Holy Cross, arrived in Paros and prayed in a small temple that was in place of Ekatontapyliani.
During her prayer she made it to Tama that if he finds the Holy Cross he would build a large temple in this place. Her prayer was heard. He found the Holy Cross and, by making its Tama, erected the magnificent Temple of Ekatontapyliani, which, however, was destroyed for most of it, probably by fire, and rebuilt on Justinian in the mid -6th century.
It is also rumored that the Tama of St. Helen Saint Constantine’s son completedEmperor of Byzantium, as she did not catch up.
To Kozaniis the celebration of the 15th of August at Historical Monastery of Our Lady in Mikkastroof the Municipality of Vojo, where every year thousands of faithful worship the icon of Our Lady, dating from 1603, while recent research dates it to the 13th century.
Faithful from all parts of Greece visit the monastery to worship its image.
Worthy of speech, The custom of the “Radies of Siatista” which attracts thousands of visitors, as horsemen from Siatista and the surrounding area visit the monastery on their repressed horses. The festival has its roots during the Turkish occupation, when it was an opportunity for the enslaved to show their leventia and desire for freedom and has been described as a festival of Leventia and Boldness.
On the island of Papadiamantis, the Skiathosfrom the evening of the stay becomes the Exit of the Epitaph of Our Lady Under the moving melody of the praises of the Virgin Mary that all the Skiathians chant together.
On the island of Orthodoxy, the Patmoswhere the Historical Monastery of Revelation, The Epitaph wanders by the monks in the alleys of the island, while the bells sound constantly.
In Zagorohoriarenowned all over Greece for the festivals of August 15th, the events in memory of the Assumption are three days and give the opportunity for a tricolor feast with traditional continental purposes.
To Thassosin the village of Panagia, after the icon is ritualized, accompanied by a large band, the faithful gathered in the courtyard of the church where they sit in the festive including potatoes, rice and beef stew.
To LesvosOur Lady of Agiakotissa offers one of the most beautiful festivals in the eastern Aegean. Many pilgrims starting from the city of Mytilene walk 25 whole kilometers to reach the courtyard of the church, where they stay overnight. In the picturesque town of Agiassos one experiences all the atmosphere of a genuine island festival.
To Karpathosthe island of Dodecanese, the Virgin Mary in Olympus is celebrated in the most devastating way. Here, The functions are deeply linked to mourning for the Virgin Mary who “left”. The highlight of the celebration is the traditional Dancing which starts from men in a fixed, slow step and a devastating mood.
Here are the women dressed in their stunning beauty traditional festive costumes.
In Kefalonia, near the village of Markopoulos, the snakes of the Virgin Mary They attract thousands of pilgrims each year, who confirm a unique phenomenon with their eyes. Every August 15, small snakes appear in the dome of the church.
According to legend, this is about nuns of an old monastery which existed in the area, which in order not to fall into the hands of the pirates begged the Virgin Mary to transform them into snakes.
And everyone is praying … and invoke “Theotokos, save us”.