On Friday, 28 August 2026, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos in Gethsemane, at her venerable Tomb.
On this Feast, the whole Church, and especially the Church of Jerusalem, remembers and celebrates with joy and compunction the Translation, in both soul and body, of the Most Holy Theotokos into Heaven, as proclaimed by the Holy Scriptures and interpreted by the Fathers of the Church.
For this Feast, Vespers was celebrated in the afternoon at the Holy Church of the Tomb of the Mother of God, presided over by His Eminence Metropolitan Hesychios of Kapitolias. In the morning, following the reception in the courtyard of the Church, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated, presided over by Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem, concelebrated with Metropolitan Hesychios of Kapitolias; the Elder Chief Secretary, Archbishop Aristarchos of Constantina; Archbishop Demetrios of Lydda; and Archbishop Philoumenos of Pella.
They were joined by Holy Sepulchre Hieromonks, headed by the Elder Kamarasis, Archimandrite Nektarios, local Priests, and visiting Clergy from the Churches of the Orthodox countries of Russia, Romania and Georgia. Also participating were the Head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem (MISSIA), Archimandrite Vassianos, Archdeacon Mark, Hierodeacons Prodromos, Eulogios and others.
The chanting in Greek was led by the chief cantor of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Deacon Eustathios, together with chanters from Greece, while the Byzantine Choir of the Cathedral Church of Saint James and chanters from other Arabic-speaking Communities chanted in Arabic. A great multitude of faithful people prayed with compunction to the Theotokos, in the presence of the Consul General of Greece in Jerusalem, Mr Dimitrios Angelosopoulos, and Mrs Anna Mantika, as well as the Ambassador of Georgia, Mr Beka Tvali, and the Consul of Georgia, Mrs Maka Odzelashvili.
His Beatitude then preached the Divine Word to the congregation, as follows:
“Inspire us with the grace of the Spirit, O Word of God, that we also may, albeit faintly, proclaim in some measure the greatness of Thy most beloved Mother. For she, chosen from generations of old according to the foreordained counsel and good pleasure of God and Father, Who begot Thee timelessly, without flux and without passion, conceived in the latter times Thee, Who art propitiation and salvation, righteousness and redemption; Thee, the Life from Life, and the Light from Light, true God from true God, incarnate of her. Her childbearing was wondrous, her birth-giving beyond nature and understanding and salvific for the world; while her Dormition was glorious, truly sacred and all-praised,” Saint John of Damascus proclaims, praising the Ever-Virgin Theotokos and Mother of God.
Beloved brethren in Christ,
Pious Christians and pilgrims,
The grace of the Holy Spirit has gathered us all from the ends of the earth at this most venerable Tomb of the Mother of God, the place of the glorious Dormition of the Most Blessed Theotokos Mary in the village of Gethsemane, that with boldness we may celebrate this great and wondrous miracle, namely her sacred and all-praised Dormition.
Truly, the Dormition of the all-praised Theotokos is a wondrous miracle. Therefore, the hymnographer, marvelling at this mystery, cries aloud, saying: “In thy Birth-giving was conception without seed; in thy Dormition, death without corruption; a twofold miracle joined in one miracle, O Theotokos. For how dost thou, who knewest not a man, nurse an infant while preserving thy purity? And how dost thou, who art the Mother of God, bear the dead and yet exhale fragrance?”
Cosmas the hymnographer resolves this perplexity, crying aloud and saying: “O Pure One, thou didst receive victorious prizes over nature by conceiving God; yet, in imitation of thy Creator and Son, thou dost submit beyond nature to the laws of nature. Therefore, though thou diest, thou dost rise with thy Son unto everlasting life.”
In other words, if the Word of God, Christ, Who was incarnate and became man from the pure blood of the Virgin Mary, the Maiden of God, underwent incorruptibly the death that belongs to corruptible human nature, being perfect God and perfect Man, how much more was it fitting for her all-radiant soul to submit to the laws of created nature, she who was translated into the immaculate hands of her Son and God? This is also affirmed by the hymnographer: “She who is of the seed of David, through whom we were deified, is gloriously and beyond understanding translated into the hands of her own Son and Master.” And again: “If her incomprehensible Fruit, through Whom Heaven came to be, voluntarily underwent burial as a mortal, how should she who conceived without knowing wedlock refuse the tomb?”
We call the Theotokos blessed, for, on the one hand, Christ our God, Whom nothing can contain, was pleased to be contained within her; and, on the other hand, her death became a ladder and a passage from earth unto Heaven, as Saint John of Damascus melodiously and most clearly declares: “Thy death, O Pure One, became for thee a passage unto a life eternal and better, translating thee from this transitory life unto one truly divine and incorruptible, O immaculate one, that in gladness thou mightest behold thy Son and Lord.”
We call the Theotokos blessed because she was revealed as the Mother of Life and of the Light of the world, that is to say, of Christ, Who said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), and: “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12).
Behold, therefore, my beloved brethren, this truth is preached, proclaimed and witnessed by the miraculous empty Tomb before our very eyes in this place of Gethsemane, where today we celebrated the Bloodless Sacrifice, namely the mystery of the Divine Eucharist. Therefore, the Holy Church of Jerusalem cries aloud, saying: “Come, ye faithful, let us draw near to the Tomb of the Mother of God and embrace it, sincerely applying thereto the lips of our hearts, our eyes and our foreheads, and let us draw forth abundant gifts of healing, ever-flowing from an unfailing fountain.”
Following the Dismissal of the Divine Liturgy, refreshments were offered at the rectory by the worthy Hegoumen, His Eminence Metropolitan Joachim of Helenoupolis.
The Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos was likewise celebrated festively at the Church of the Community of the village of Aboud, presided over by Archbishop Theodosios of Sebasteia.
