The Most Holy Theotokos as the Restoration of Fallen Adam and the Redemption of Eve (Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

(Transcribed Sermon delivered at Vespers for the Leavetaking of the Feast in the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos, Palaio-Panagia, August 22, 2025.)

We celebrate today as well, beloved fathers and brethren, most honorable rulers, the Leavetaking of the feast of the Most Holy Theotokos, specifically the feast of the Dormition of our Panagia, which is a very great feast of the Theotokos. We have the feasts that refer to Christ the Master, which are called the Despotic Feasts, and we also have the feasts that refer to the Most Holy Theotokos, which are called Theometoric Feasts.

Throughout this entire period, from August 1 until today, and tomorrow, when we will celebrate the services of Matins and the Divine Liturgy, we glorify the all-praised name and person of the Most Holy Theotokos. Every day in the holy churches we celebrate and chant the troparia, not only now, but throughout the entire year, with various feasts, and we clergy, the bishops and preachers, each time during the sacred service that we celebrate, try to contemplate some aspect of the personality of the Most Holy Theotokos. And I can say that we never tire of chanting the troparia for our Panagia and speaking about her.

If you consider it, other priests and clergy do this as well, but personally I have been speaking about our Panagia for more than fifty years. And because I have various archives and keep a record each time of what I say, I observe that only rarely do I repeat myself in sermons that I have given on other occasions. You understand, therefore, that our Panagia is a very great person. She is not simply, as we usually say, our mother who cares for us and loves us, but she has an enormously profound theological significance.

A Woman Wrapped in the Sun: 2026 Pastoral Encyclical for the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

A Woman Wrapped in the Sun
 
Pastoral Encyclical for the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos (2026)

Today we celebrate the great feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, and we celebrate it with great splendor. Contributing to this is also the season of summer and the holidays, which provide an opportunity for physical rest and relaxation from the many activities of the winter. Thus, the feast of the Most Holy Theotokos, our Panagia, as we customarily call her, urges us to contemplate even more, as much as we are able with our limited capacities, the glory that surrounds her, the honor she possesses in our Church, but also the glory she possesses in the heavens.

Much has been written about the Most Holy Theotokos by the Fathers of the Church, who theologize about her, while the sacred hymnographers have also composed many hymns that we chant in honor of her glorious person, both concerning the work she accomplished through the birth of Christ and concerning her present state in the heavens, in the glory that Christ has bestowed upon her, as well as her intercessions on behalf of us all. Today I will interpret a vision that the Evangelist John saw and recorded in the sacred book of Revelation, which reveals her honor and her glory.

The Snakes of the Panagia Have Made Their Appearance in Kefallonia (2026)

Just as every year, from the feast of the Transfiguration of Christ till the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, or from August 6th to the 15th, snakes appear in a wondrous manner in two villages of Kefallonia with chapels dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos, in Markopoulo and Arginia, that appear to worship among the pilgrims who flock to these chapels, and venerate of their own accord the icon of the Panagia. Many noted miracles are associated with these snakes.

For more information: Panagia Fidousa (Snakes of the Panagia) Resource Page

The Miracle of the Theotokos in Kefallonia on August 23, 1694

On August 23, 1694, the Panagia brought “on the wings of the wind,” from the dungeons of the Barbary Coast to Kechriona in Kefallonia, three Kefallonians - Iakovos, George and John - who had been captured at sea by Barbary pirates and were being held in chains.

The desperate Kefallonians, on the eve of the celebration of the Leavetaking of the Dormition of the Theotokos, were nostalgic for their native Kechriona. They wished they could venerate the Panagia of Kechriona. 

Homily on the Dormition of the Theotokos: The Treasurer of Inexhaustible Treasures (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

Homily on the Dormition of the Theotokos: 
The Treasurer of Inexhaustible Treasures

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

(Delivered in 2014)

The feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos rejoices our hearts, because the Panagia is the most beloved person after Christ. She, with her purity and humility, became the cause of the incarnation of Christ and therefore the cause of our salvation. We owe her much. She gave flesh to Christ, she raised Him from His infancy, as His Mother. The writings of the Fathers emphasize this offering of the Panagia. And indeed, it is a great honor for the Panagia to conceive Christ by the Holy Spirit, to carry Him in her womb, to give birth to Him, to nurse Him, to raise Him, to rejoice in His actions, to suffer during His Passion and Crucifixion, to rejoice in His Resurrection, to see Him taken up into heaven, and finally to see Him come to receive her soul after her glorious Dormition. What extraordinary and divine blessings did our Panagia receive! How great was the wealth she received!

Homily on the Dormition of the Theotokos: "Rejoice Dawn of the Secret Day" (Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

Homily on the Dormition of the Theotokos: 
Rejoice Dawn of the Secret Day 

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

(Delivered in 2011)

The feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos is a feast with a profound spiritual meaning, it is a continuation of the Resurrection of Christ. Christ received His body from the Panagia, resurrected it with His divinity, therefore the body of the Panagia also had to receive glory, honor and dignity. After all, all the gifts that the Panagia has are related to the fact that she is the Mother of Christ. Thus, today we celebrate the glorious Dormition of the Theotokos and her Metastasis into heaven. The Panagia experienced what all the saints will experience at the Second Coming of Christ and in the life that will follow.

The event of the Dormition of the Theotokos directs our thoughts to the basic issues of our lives related to death, repose, heaven, and God. We are usually busy with everyday life, with eating, drinking, working, having fun, going on trips and many other activities, but we ignore or bypass the problems that relate to existential questions, such as what life is, what death is, why there is death, where does man go after death, where are our loved ones who have left this world, how will we live the rest of our lives without them, and so many other questions that torment us in various ways.

Homily on the Dormition of the Theotokos: The Glory and Honor of our Panagia Inseparably Linked to Christ (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

Homily on the Dormition of the Theotokos: 
The Glory and Honor of our Panagia Inseparably Linked to Christ 

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

(Delivered in 2009)

On today’s Great Theometoric Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, a portion of the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Philippians is read as an apostolic reading, which refers to the kenosis and humility of Christ. And one may ask: Why is a reading that refers to Christ read in the Church on such a day when we honor and glorify our Panagia?

The answer is that the glory and honor of our Panagia is inseparably linked to the glory of Christ. The Panagia was not simply a good person, a virtuous woman, as there were many virtuous women in the Old Testament, but she was the Mother of Christ. After all, this is what we chant in the Theometoric hymn: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, for you have borne the savior of our souls.” Everything within the Church refers to Christ and the glory that the Panagia enjoys is due to the “fruit of her womb,” since she gave birth to Christ.

Homily Two on the Dormition of the Theotokos (Righteous Alexei Mechev)

Homily Two on the Dormition of the Theotokos*

By Righteous Alexei Mechev

(Delivered on August 15, 1914)

“From now on all generations will call me blessed” (Luke 1:48).

With these words, the Most Holy Theotokos expressed her joyful awareness of her calling and her beneficial influence on the whole world, a grateful hope in her immortality not only in heaven but also on earth. And now, at the end of her days, she witnesses the fulfillment of her hopes: the faith in her Son and God growing and spreading, the Holy Apostles conquering the world, and her Name being revered everywhere where the Name of Christ is heard. It seemed to her that her life had not been in vain, that her existence on earth had not passed without a trace. "God has looked upon My humility, has magnified the dignity of the Mother of God. In Me and in My Son He has given the world high examples of perfection - and all nations will look upon Us, learn from Us and become better under Our invisible influence, they will honor My memory: 'From now on all generations will call me blessed' (Luke 1:48)."

August: Day 15: Teaching 2: Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos

 

August: Day 15: Teaching 2:
Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos
 
(The Soul After the Separation From the Body)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. On the icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God, She is depicted as if asleep. Jesus Christ stands at Her deathbed, surrounded by angels and apostles, and receives Her soul into His arms, which flew out of Her most pure body in the form of an infant. So, is this image a dream of icon painters, or does it correspond to a real event?

No, this is not an artist’s dream. Tradition relates that when the time of death approached for the Ever-Virgin Mary, her divine Son, surrounded by the inhabitants of heaven, descended to her deathbed, and she “indescribably rejoiced and, as if falling into a sweet sleep, gave up her most holy soul into His hands. And so, solemnly from the heavenly ones her soul was conducted to the heights, carried by the hands of the Lord. And the eyes of the apostles, who were deemed worthy to look upon that most glorious vision, accompanied her.”

Homily Two on the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos (Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov)

Homily Two on the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos 

By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov

(Delivered in 1962)

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, today the entire Church of Christ, and together with it we, are spiritually triumphant and exultant, glorifying the glorious Dormition and transfer from earth to heaven of our common Christian Mother, our Sovereign Intercessor, the Most Holy Virgin Mary. Praised by the ancient Prophets and blessed by the Holy Spirit for the joy and blessedness predestined for Her by God, She, the Most Pure One, living on earth, does not yet see the fulfillment of these Divine predictions upon Herself; on the contrary, great sorrows, needs, and spiritual experiences accompany Her earthly life. In Her earthly life, the words of righteous Symeon were fulfilled over Her exactly: "And a sword shall pierce through your own soul" (Luke 2:35). How much grief did the Most Holy Virgin endure, how many hidden tears were shed by her on earth when she saw the terrible suffering and death of her Beloved Son! And now, on the very day of the Dormition of the Mother of God, Her tearful sowing and work come to an end. From the moment of Her migration from earth to heaven, Her unearthly greatness, Her glory and blessedness begin, and are revealed before the eyes of the entire universe. 

Homily One on the Dormition of the Theotokos (Righteous Alexei Mechev)

Homily One on the Dormition of the Theotokos*

By Righteous Alexei Mechev

(Delivered on August 15, 1914)

The Mother of God lived on earth for 60 years. She eagerly awaited the passage from earth to heaven, to Her Son and God, and She earnestly prayed to Him about this. The Lord heard the prayers of His Mother, and three days before Her departure He informed Her of this. On the day of Her departure, the Most Blessed One wished to see the Apostles: and all of them, except Thomas, were brought from different countries of the world on clouds to Her house. Here all who knew Her gathered. They grieved and wept over separation from Her. She consoled everyone and assured them that She would not forget them, that She would pray to God for them more successfully and ask for mercy and salvation from Him. At the very hour of the end of her earthly life, the Most Holy Virgin cleaned her upper room, lit many lamps, burned incense, lay down on her bed and passed away: the Savior appeared with the Angels, received her Holy soul and brought it to the place of His glory, to the heavenly abodes. The Apostles took the body of the Mother of God, and with singing and prayers laid it in a cave in the Garden of Gethsemane. Three days later, the Apostle Thomas came to Jerusalem; upon learning of what had happened, he wept and grieved. In order to calm him, the Apostles decided to show him the body of the Mother of God, but when they opened the tomb, it turned out to be empty - they found only the vestments of the Most Holy One in it. This surprised everyone. They began to pray to find out what had happened. in the evening of that day the Mother of God appeared in the air with the Angels and said to the perplexed: "Rejoice! I am here and will not stop praying for the Christian world."

August: Day 15: Teaching 1: Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos

August: Day 15: Teaching 1:
Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos
 
(Means By Which One Can Meet Death Not With Fear, But With Joy)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The highly festive feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, which we have gathered here today to honor, at the call of our loving mother and wise educator – the Church, evokes in the mind of a Christian the most joyful hopes.

Church tradition tells us that after the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ into heaven, His Most Pure Mother visited with special love those places near Jerusalem that were marked by the prayer, suffering and death of Her beloved Divine Son. The Mount of Olives, Golgotha, the garden where the body of the Divine dead man was buried, became the favorite places of Her prayers and outpourings of the holy feelings of Her heart.

The Snakes of the Panagia Have Made Their Appearance in Kefallonia (2025)

Just as every year, from the feast of the Transfiguration of Christ till the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, or from August 6th to the 15th, snakes appear in a wondrous manner in two villages of Kefallonia with chapels dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos, in Markopoulo and Arginia, that appear to worship among the pilgrims who flock to these chapels, and venerate of their own accord the icon of the Panagia. Many noted miracles are associated with these snakes.

For more information: Panagia Fidousa (Snakes of the Panagia) Resource Page

The Most Holy Theotokos as a Living Holy Scripture: 2025 Pastoral Encyclical for the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

The Most Holy Theotokos as a Living Holy Scripture
 

Pastoral Encyclical for the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos (2025)

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

First of all, I would like to wish you, my beloved brethren, "Many Years" with the blessing of God and the intercession of the Theotokos, on today's bright day of her Dormition, the Mother of Christ, that you have a good time during your holidays in our Diocese and in the mountainous villages of Nafpaktia and Agiou Vlasiou, with health of body and soul. Every Sunday of Summer, in the sermons that were sent and are read during the Divine Liturgy, the divinely-inspired books of Holy Scripture, both of the Old and New Testaments, are briefly presented, which narrate the creation of the world and man, but also his re-creation, and God's love and philanthropy are intensely seen, especially towards man who is His most perfect creation.

Homily Two on the Forefeast of the Dormition of the Theotokos (Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov)

 

 

Homily on the Forefeast of the Dormition of the Theotokos 

By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov

(Delivered on August 13, 1960)

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

Today, dear brothers and sisters, celebrating the Leave-taking of the Transfiguration, we have descended from Tabor, and today, having entered into the pre-festive period of the Dormition, we must then proceed to Gethsemane – to the tomb of the Mother of God, to witness the ultimate mysteries that she embodies. Tabor is delightful, and Gethsemane is soul-soothing. The Holy Church calls the Dormition of the Mother of God the last mystery in Her life, the last of those mysteries that accompanied Her entire earthly existence. The whole life of the Most Holy Virgin, in its appearance and essence, was something mysterious and wondrous, bearing the marks of the Divine seal. For the glorification of the Mother of God and for our edification, let us remember, with faith and love, what those mysteries were that were accomplished by Divine Providence in Her.

Homily One on the Forefeast of the Dormition of the Theotokos (Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov)

 

Homily at the Paraklesis of the Theotokos:
On the Heavenly Glory of the Most Holy Mother of God

By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov

(Delivered on August 13, 1960)

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

Dear brothers and sisters, celebrating today the Leave-taking of the Transfiguration, we descended from Tabor, illuminated by the last rays of the Divine glory of the Transfigured Lord, and today, on the new ecclesiastical day that has begun, entering the forefeast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, we approach Gethsemane, to the tomb in which lay the most pure body of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. But we will find the tomb empty, because it could not contain the Mother of Life. She, like Her Divine Son, is not held by the bonds of death; Her body does not see decay even in the tomb, and after three days She ascends to heaven with glory.

Homily at the Paraklesis of the Theotokos: On the Humility of the Most Holy Theotokos (Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov)

Homily at the Paraklesis of the Theotokos: 
On the Humility of the Most Holy Theotokos

By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov

(Delivered in 1962)

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

"For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For He  who is mighty has done great things unto me, and holy is His name" (Luke 1:48–49), answered the Most Holy Theotokos to the greeting of righteous Elizabeth, and the long succession of centuries that have passed since the moment these words were spoken serves as confirmation of their immutability. The name of the Mother of God is revered and glorified by all Christians. Her selection for the great mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God, the purity and high holiness of her life, her service to God's dispensation for the salvation of men, her intercession before the Throne of God for the whole world, and her uninterrupted series of good deeds to those who require her help — these are the rays of the incomparable glory that belong to the Mother of God.

Location Where the Archangel Gabriel Announced to the Theotokos Her Dormition Three Days Prior

The Temple is called "My Soul Magnifies the Lord," or the Church of the Annunciation of the Theotokos, and is dedicated to the Most Holy Theotokos. It is located in what is called Small Galilee on the Mount of Olives. The feast day is celebrated on August 12th.

The very place where this church stands was said to be the place of prayer of the Most Holy Theotokos in the years she lived after the Crucifixion and Resurrection of the Lord. And three days before her Dormition and Metastasis the Archangel Gabriel appeared to her here to announce her repose in three days and she was given a palm branch as a sign of her imminent repose.

At present the place belongs to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. In 1880 Patriarch Hierotheos of Jerusalem purchased the land of Small Galilee from Muslim owners, and it quickly became a monastic community. The current church of "My Soul Magnifies the Lord", a small cubical chapel crowned with a dome, was built on the foundation of a Byzantine church of the 4th-5th centuries by Archbishop Epiphanios of Jordan and consecrated in 1889.

Homily at the Paraklesis of the Theotokos: The Most Holy Virgin – Our Unashamed Hope (Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov)

Homily at the Paraklesis of the Theotokos: 
The Most Holy Virgin – Our Unashamed Hope

By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov

(Delivered in 1961, the Thirteenth Week After Pentecost)

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

"Unashamed protection of Christians, unwavering mediator to the Maker, do not disregard the prayerful cries of sinners, but hasten, as one who is good, to our aid, as we faithfully call upon you: Be speedy to intercede, and be quick to entreat, the ever-protectress, Theotokos, of those who honor you."

So we often sing with special tenderness in honor and praise of the Most Holy Virgin Theotokos, casting before Her all our unworthy prayers and referring to Her all timely help from above alone.

Homily at the Paraklesis of the Theotokos: On the Significance of 'Trivialities' in our Lives (Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov)

Homily at the Paraklesis of the Theotokos: 
On the Significance of 'Trivialities' in our Lives

By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov

(Delivered in 1961, the Third Week After Pentecost)

"Unashamed protection of Christians, unwavering mediator to the Maker, do not disregard the prayerful cries of sinners, but hasten, as one who is good, to our aid, as we faithfully call upon you: Be speedy to intercede, and be quick to entreat, the ever-protectress, Theotokos, of those who honor you."

So very often with special tenderness the Holy Church proclaims in honor and praise of the Most Blessed Virgin Theotokos, casting before Her all our unworthy prayers and referring to Her alone all timely help from above.

The Church accepts as an indisputable truth that the protection of the Most Holy Theotokos extends over the entire human race, and especially over the Christian race, and over all of us in particular. The Most Holy Virgin, as a loving Mother, loves the human race, and most of all, Christians; can She remain indifferent to the lives and destinies of people, not care for them, not provide them with Her protection? The prayers of the Queen of Heaven for us are graciously accepted by Her Son and God. At Her intercession, He performed His first miracle, turning water into wine in Cana of Galilee. And this Gospel lesson serves as the most joyful proof for Christians, an assurance of the truth that the Mother of God invariably intercedes for Christians before Her Son.