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Someone please help !!
As I understand it both the East and West celebrate the Dormition/Assumption of the Theotokos on August 15th.

I also understand that there is another feast in the west honouring the Birth of the Blessed Virgin on September 8th.

I have just come to know that on September 12th in an old western tradition is the feast of the name of Mary.

My EO sister in law (Mary) celebrates her name day on the 15th of August. Is this a correct day.
Is the Birth of the Blessed Virgin a feast day in the EO Calendar ?

Brad..

[As I understand it both the East and West celebrate the Dormition/Assumption of the Theotokos on August 15th.]

We Orthodox Catholics celebrate the Dormition of the Theotokos on August 15th. We see the 'Dormition' and the 'Assumption as two separate and distinct events. We believe that her Assumption occured three days after her Dormition (Falling Asleep). But it is her Dormition that is commemorated rather than her Assumption.

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The Orthodox Church teaches that the Virgin Mary died a fully human death. In the apocryphal accounts, St. Thomas, once again, is not around when the event occurs. He is 3 days late for Mary's funeral. He requested to see the body of the Theotokos. When her grave was opened, her body was not found. This is not seen to be a resurrection like her Son is risen, but rather as the first fruits of our own bodily resurrection. In one of the most complicated of Christian Hymns (utilizing all 8 tones) the Orthodox are shown the story of her journeying to heaven as her funeral procession. The apostles act as her pall bearers. As she arrives at heaven she is the first given the task of all the glorified saints, that of praying for us to her Son and our Lord. The Orthodox Church does not make a dogma of this point. As a part of the interior mysteries of the Church this is not a point of dogma or debate. Even as we bury the Theotokos and see her translated to a life of intercession, we are reminded that it is through her that the Word was made flesh. (many thanks to Steven Clark for this information)

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[My EO sister in law (Mary) celebrates her name day on the 15th of August. Is this a correct day.]

Yes, since it is a feast dedicated to the Theotokos.

[Is the Birth of the Blessed Virgin a feast day in the EO Calendar ?]

It's the first of the 12 great feasts of the Orthodox Catholic Church to occur in the new year which begins September 1st.

OrthoMan

Yes, the Nativity of the Theotokos IS a major feast on the EO Calendar, but Dormition is correct for the "name day" of those named Mary, Maria, or variants of same, because in the EO tradition, the saint's main feast day is on the date of his or her death...hence, Dormition for the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Gaudior, in hopes that helps

yes, September 8 is celebrated as the Nativity/Birth of the Theotokos.

Dear Friend,

And although the Dormition and Assumption are two distinct events, both are celebrated on August 15/28 liturgically.

In the West, there was the local tradition that the Mother of God died on August 13th and was assumed into Heaven on August 15th.

There was the practice of marking the repose of the Mother of God by honouring the 13th day of EACH month throughout the year (the apparitions of Fatima, for example, likewise occurred on the 13th day of the month).

(The superstition about Friday the 13th comes from the bad luck the Knights Templar had when their Order was put down in France on a Friday 13th)

I understand that in the East Slavic tradition, it was never the practice to name a girl "Mary" after the Mother of God - only after another "St Mary."

Does anyone know anything about this?

Alex

I thought the tradition or superstition of Friday the 13th came from that Judas was the 13th guest at the Last Supper and Our Lord died on a Friday.

Dear Mike,

Nope!

Have a great evening!

Alex

Brad,

Here's a list of feasts of the Theotokos in the Latin Church. Note that Sept 12, about which you commented, is the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary; as I recollect from my Latin youth, many decades ago, it was referred to as "Mary's Nameday".

The site from which I copied this has additional information as to veneration of the Theotokos, primarily oriented toward the Latin Church. See:

Patron Saints Index - Blessed Virgin Mary [catholic-forum.com]

And, of perhaps particular interest to Alex, there are a list of 333 titles of the Theotokos. The majority are from the West, but a few from the East are included:

Titles of the Blessed Virgin Mary [catholic-forum.com]

The comments by Bob and Gaudior as to Orthodox practice and belief apply equally to the Byzantine Catholic Churches (and, in the case that the feast day of a Saint is ordinarily on his or her day of repose, rather than birth, the Latin Church as well). These are the principal feasts of the Theotokos in the Byzantine Catholic Churches (the major feasts are in bold):

1 September - Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos venerated in her Icon of Miasenes
8 September - Nativity of the Theotokos
1 October - Protection of the Theotokos
21 November - Entrance of Theotokos into the Temple
9 December - Maternity of the Ancestor of Christ, Ann
26 December - Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos
2 February - Purification of the Theotokos
25 March - Annunciation of the Theotokos
25 April - Visitation of The Theotokos to Elizabeth
2 July - Transfer of the Mantle of the Theotokos at Blachermae
15 August - Dormition of the Theotokos

There are also innumerable feasts associated with various titles of the Theotokos; these vary somewhat from Church to Church, appropos to her particular titles (most also reflected in iconographic depictions) that are most meaningful to the various Churches.

This is a list of the feasts observed by the Coptic Churches, which have a particular devotion to the Virgin Saint Mary, the Theotokos. (I believe these feasts are common to both the Orthodox and Catholic Copts, although I'm unsure whether the Catholics observe April 2, the commemmoration of the appearance of the Theotokos in 1968 at Zeitoun).

10 December - 8 January The Month of Mary - Special prayers of praise daily for Saint Mary, the Theotokos
12 December - Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple
29 January - Departure of Saint Mary from This Life
2 April - The Appearance of the Holy Theotokos at El-Zeitoun
7 May - The Annunciation
9 May - Birth of the Theotokos
1 June - Entry of the Theotokos into Egypt with the Lord Jesus Christ and Holy Saint Joseph
28 June - The Feast of the Miracle Wrought by the Holy Theotokos in the Dissolution of the Chains of Saint Matthias, the Apostle and Remembrance of the Consecration of the First Church Named for the Virgin Theotokos at Philippi
7 August - Beginning of Saint Mary's Fast
13 August - Annunciation of the Birth of the Theotokos to Holy Joachim
22 August - Saint Mary's Feast - Ascension of Her Holy Body into Heaven

On the 21st day of each Coptic month, there is a remembrance of the Virgin Theotokos Mary

On the 29th day of each Coptic month (except 2), Copts remember the Annunciation, Nativity, and Resurrection by particular prayers, as each of these falls on the 29th day of a Coptic month

BTW, in the "things you never knew and didn't know you wanted to know" category - Rev. Father Boutros Gayed, of blessed memory, pastor of the Virgin Mary Church at Zeitoun during the time of the apparitions, was the biological brother of HH Pope Shenouda III.

Many years,

Neil

Neil,

Is the April 25th Feast of the Visitation a Melkite peculiarity? I have never seen it in the Pittsburgh calendars or books.

Also don't forget the Aug 31 Transfer of the Cincture of the Virgin Mary.

Fr. Deacon Lance

Deacon Lance,

Actually, I guess it was, but I'm not even certain that we're still observing it. It was on a list that I had at hand and has a note to it that it was established by His Beatitude Patriarch Maximos III Mazloom in 1844. I never thought about the fact that other Byzantines don't observe it, nor about the fact that I don't remember being aware of it in recent years.

I just checked both Father Peter Boutros' Melkite Cyber-Typikon [typicon.com] and Father Ron Golini's Melkite Synaxarion [rongolini.com] and neither lists it; I'm going to hazard a guess that it was suppressed back in the 70s, when the Holy Synod made some revisions to our calendar.

Thanks for the correction. I went right by that one.

Many years,

Neil

Dear Brother Neil and Fr. Deacon Lance,

Isn't life just so wonderful?

This is a topic that just puts a big, fat smile on my face!!

The feast of the Visitation - I had no idea the Melkites had it in their calendar.

But that is not altogether strange - I've seen Orthodox troparia in honour of the Visitation, but the feast isn't listed on any Russian or other calendar.

The West tended to regard the Visitation as a feast of the sanctification of John the Baptist in the womb of his mother, St Elizabeth ie. sanctification and purification from the "stain of Original Sin" (I refuse to get into that whole topic again!)

The Byzantine East, as Fr. Holweck shows, celebrate the feast of St John's Conception as the time of his sanctification - it would almost be a kind of "Immaculate Conception of John the Baptist" IF the East accepted the whole "stain" view of Original Sin as a kind of inheritance of the actual sin of Adam (again, please see note in brackets above).

The Marian Library of the University of Dayton has a calendar where there is a feast of the Virgin Mary on every day of the year somewhere in the world.

(the earliest feast for an image of our Lady is at Chartres - the image of Our Lady of Chartres dated . . . circa 100 BC!)

And Prof. Poselianin wrote his "Bogomater" where he has all the Orthodox icons listed with many illustrations for every month - including many, many icons on various Marian feasts.

There are also many miraculous icons that have no feast-day, although they are slowly receiving one.

Apparently, it is true that according to strict East Slavic observance, the name of "Mary" as referring to the Theotokos is never given to girls at Baptism - only the name of another St Mary. The same holds true for the Name of our Lord, although the name "Chrestos" can be found in the Greek tradition together with saints with that name.

But the name of Mary in connection with the Most Holy Theotokos is, in fact, used and even the Name of Jesus - in 2000 at the Sobor of Orthodoxy in Moscow, a monastic with that Name was glorified a saint.

And also, one may find icons of "The Holy Prophet Jesus Navi, Son of Nun."

Joan Carroll Cruz has a marvellous book on "Miraculous Images of Our Lady."

But, please be careful reading it - it was published by . . . TAN!

Alex