The Story Of The Assumption Of Mary — At the time of her death, so it is believed, the Mother of God was living in the house of Saint John on Mount Zion. The Twelve were preaching the Gospel in different parts of the world. But so they might see the Virgin once more before her death, all of them except Thomas were carried miraculously on clouds to the Holy City.
Besides the Twelve, the Apostle Paul, along with the bishops Dionysios the Aeropagite, Hierotheos and Timothy, were also present at her bedside.
As they stood around her, the Holy Virgin commended her spirit into the keep of her Son and God. He Himself descended from heaven and took her soul up with Him in His arms.
Led by Peter, the apostles sang funeral hymns in her honor, and carried her body down to the valley of Cedron close to Gethsemane, where she laid in a tomb especially prepared for her.
The Jews tried to interrupt the funeral processions, one of them even attempting to upset the bier. His hands were cut off by an angel, but he was subsequently healed.
Thomas arrived on the third day after the burial. Since he was anxious to look for a last time on the Theotokos, the apostles opened the tomb — and found it empty.
Without insisting on the literal truth of every element in this account, Easter tradition is clear and unwavering in regard to the central point: The Holy Virgin underwent, as did her Son, a physical death, but her body, like His, was afterwards raised from the dead and she was taken up into heaven, in her body as well as in her soul.
Bishop Kallistos of Diocletia
