The Feast of the Assumption [Arm. Verapokhoomn] and Dormition [Arm. N’nchoomn] is one of the Five Tabernacle [daghavar] Feasts of the Armenian Church.[i]
After the Ascension of her divine Son, the remainder of St. Mary's life comes to us through Holy Tradition. It states she lived out the rest of her days in Jerusalem cared for by St. John the Evangelist. She died In Jerusalem some 15 years after Christ's Ascension and was buried in her family tomb in Gethsemane.
The other tradition which states that the Holy Mother died in the City Ephesus is not a very reliable one and was most likely formulated because St. John the Evangelist had lived in that city. Nevertheless, the church on the occasion of her "death" offers the greatest respect with great solemnity and rituals. This non-variable commemoration is the oldest of all those dedicated to the Holy Mother and is celebrated by all churches on August 15. The Armenian Church celebrates this feast on the nearest Sunday to the 15th of August [August 12-18] which was adopted at the time of St. Nerses the Gracefilled if not later. Its commemoration lasts for nine days and not three as it did previously.
The Holy Tradition concerning the death of the Holy Mother appears nearly identically in the traditions of all the ancient churches and was presented in the abridged fashion in the Sharagan "Arevelk Kerarpin" by Giragos Vartabed:
The Holy Virgin lived in Jerusalem after our Lord's crucifixion for fifteen years after which she passed away. All the Apostles, save Bartholomew, who was absent at that time, conducted her funeral with great ceremony and hymns at her cave-like tomb in the Garden of Gethsemane. After a short while, St. Bartholomew returned and wished so dearly to see the Holy Mother one last time that he convinced the Apostles to open the tomb. Upon opening the tomb, they could not find the body of the Holy Mother. Angels' voices were heard for three days and nights. They interpreted the angels' singing as a sign that our Lord had assumed [taken up] His Mother into heaven as He had promised her. They found the empty tomb a confirmation of that promise for she had not been dead but had fallen asleep. For this reason, the church refers to the end of her earthly life as "the dormition" rather than "death."[in the Byzantine tradition the Feast is called Dormition and in the Roman, it is called Assumption] The concept of her Assumption is a most ancient one as is witnessed in sacred prose and poetry dedicated to the Holy Mother. Yet, it did not become a basic teaching (doctrine) of the church until the ninth century. And it wasn't until the 12th century that the feast was titled "the Assumption." We should note that the Service of the Blessing of the Grapes is customarily performed on the Feast of the Assumption. This however is a special service dedicated to the autumnal harvest of which the grape is usually the first fruit (in Armenia usually harvested middle to late August) and also from which the wine of Holy Communion is made. There is however no canon stating that this service must be performed on that particular Sunday.[ii]
Little is known of her personal history from the New Testament. Her purported genealogy is given in Luke 3. According to Luke, she was of the tribe of Judah and the lineage of David (Ps. 132:11; Luke 1:32). She was cousin by marriage to Elisabeth, who was of the lineage of Aaron (Luke 1:36). According to the Gospel of James (not part of the New Testament), and commonly accepted in Christian tradition, she was the daughter of Joakim and Anna. Before Mary's conception, Anna had been barren, and her parents were quite old when she was conceived. They took her to live in the Temple in Jerusalem when she was three years old, much like Hanna took Samuel to the Temple as recorded in the Old Testament.
While she resided at Nazareth with her parents, before she became the wife of Joseph, the angel Gabriel announced to her that she was to be the mother of the promised Messiah while remaining a virgin (Luke 1:35). After this she went to visit her cousin Elisabeth, who was living with her husband Zacharias (probably at Juttah, Josh. 15:55; 21:16, in the neighbourhood of Maon), at a considerable distance, about 100 miles, from Nazareth. Immediately on entering the house she was saluted by Elisabeth as the mother of her Lord, and then forthwith gave utterance to her hymn of thanksgiving (Luke 1:46-56; comp. 1 Sam. 2:1-10). (This hymn is commonly known as the Medzatsousteh [Latin, Magnificat.] After three months Mary returned to Nazareth to her own home. Joseph was told in a dream (Matt. 1:18-25) of her condition, and took her to his own home. Soon after this the decree of Augustus (Luke 2:1) required that they should proceed to Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), some 80 or 90 miles from Nazareth; and while they were there they found shelter in the inn provided for strangers (Luke 2:6, 7). But as the inn was crowded, Mary had to retire to a place among the cattle, and there she brought forth her son, who was called Jesus (Matt. 1:21), because he was to save his people from their sins. This was followed by the presentation in the temple, the flight into Egypt, and their return in the following year and residence at Nazareth (Matt. 2). Mary apparently remained in Nazareth for thirty uneventful years. During these years only one event in the history of Jesus is recorded, viz., his going up to Jerusalem when twelve years of age, where he was found among the doctors in the temple (Luke 2:41-52). Probably also during this period Joseph died, for he is not mentioned again. (This history is selective; a very different history can be presented depending on which of the gospels is preferred.)
After the commencement of Jesus' public ministry little notice is taken of Mary by the Gospel writers. She was present at the marriage in Cana. Very few gospel stories mention her until we find her at the cross along with her sister Mary, and Mary Magdalene, and Salome, and other women (John 19:26). She was with the little company in the upper room after the Ascension on the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:14). From this time she wholly disappears from the biblical accounts. Her death is not recorded in Scripture. According to Latin and Eastern Church tradition, between three and fifteen years after Christ's Ascension, in either Jerusalem or Ephesus, she died while surrounded by the apostles. Later when the apostles opened her tomb, they found it empty and concluded that she had been bodily assumed into Heaven. [A tomb in Jerusalem is attributed to Mary, but it was unknown until the 6th century.]
In the West [Latin], the belief in the corporeal assumption of Mary was formally declared to be dogma by Pope Benedict XIV in the encyclical De Festis B.V.M.; Roman Catholics must therefore hold the doctrine as being necessary to salvation. Pope Pius XII, in Munificentissimus Deus, reiterated "We pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory." The establishment of this dogma as "necessary to salvation" is widely taken to be an example of the Pope's invoking papal infallibility.
The Armenian and other Orthodox traditions, likewise teach that after Mary's death [falling asleep in the Lord] and burial, she was assumed and taken up bodily into heaven; this is called the Dormition and Assumption [Arm. N’nchoomn and Verapokhoomn]. These traditions, however, have not pronounced the Assumption as a dogma of the Church, nor have they held that this doctrine is necessary to salvation.
[i] According to the Gospels, Mary was the mother of Jesus Christ and was betrothed to Joseph. [The Gospel of John, however, never mentions her name.] It is generally agreed that she was a young woman when she first became a mother, and that she died between 3 and 15 years after the death of Jesus. She is often called the Virgin Mary, Mother of God [Arm. Asdvadzamayr], or Theotokos [Eng. God-bearer; Arm. Asdvadzadzin], in addition to being given many other titles.
[ii] The Feast of the Assumption comprises a week of fasting leading up to the feast, Navagadik on the day prior to the Feast and a memorial day on the day following the feast. In earlier centuries this feast was observed for three days, but today it comprises a nine-day feast. In addition, for the three weeks following the feast [including the day of the feast] there shall be no fasting.
Excerpt from: Samoorian, V. Rev. Fr. Ghevont. DOMAR: A Compendium of Directorium and Calendar of the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church according to the traditions of the Apostolic See of Jerusalem. Armenian Orthodox Theological Research Institute [AOTRI], 2006.
