The Dormition of the Mother of God – Transition to Life [2]

Elder Efraim, Abbot of the Holy and Great Monastery of Vatopaidi, the Holy Mountain

After the Lord’s Resurrection, it was Our Most Holy Lady who was the support of the Apostles and the newly-founded Church of Christ. It was she who taught the new Christians, guided them and comforted them in their sorrows. In the longer version of her Life, we read that, three days before her dormition, she was visited by the Archangel Gabriel, just as she had been at the Annunciation, and he told her of her imminent, glorious transition from death to life. Thereafter, in a wondrous manner, the Holy Spirit gathered all the Apostles in Gethsemane, in the house of the Mother of God, so that could get her blessing and be present at her sacred burial. Once they had sung the praises of God’s Mother, they asked her to entrust them with one last teaching. Our Lady then told them a parable, in which this world is like a trade fair, and those who make the best deals, that, is the best buys, are the…