The Assumption of the Body of the Theotokos

Feast · theotokos

• Mesori 16 (Coptic Orthodox Church)

The Coptic church keeps the Theotokos twice, and this is the second day. She dies on Tobi 21 and the apostles grieve at being parted from her; the Lord promises they will see her in the body, and on Mesori 16 they do — enthroned at her Son’s right hand, blessing them, and taken up before their eyes. Byzantium and Rome fold the departure and the taking-up into one feast on 15 August, so a single Coptic date for "the Dormition" has to choose between two days that the Alexandrian book deliberately keeps apart.

After Le Synaxaire arabe jacobite (rédaction copte).