Yes, we do. The Orthodox Church teaches that the Theotokos died a real death and was then taken up body and soul into heaven by her Son. We call this the Dormition, which means “falling asleep.”
This isn’t some optional pious opinion. It’s what we sing every August 15th and what our icons show. The liturgical texts for the feast say plainly that “neither the tomb nor death could hold the Theotokos” and that she was “translated to life” by Christ. When we celebrate the Dormition, we’re celebrating both her death and her bodily assumption into the kingdom of heaven.
How this differs from Catholic teaching
You might’ve heard Catholics talk about the Assumption. We believe basically the same thing, but there’s a key difference. The Catholic dogma, defined in 1950, leaves open whether Mary actually died. It just says she was assumed into heaven. Orthodox teaching insists she did die. She was fully human, so she experienced death like the rest of us. That matters because it means she shares completely in our human condition. But death couldn’t hold her. Christ raised her body, just as he’ll raise ours.
We also don’t make this a dogma in the Catholic sense. It’s not something a pope declared infallible in 1950. It’s just what the Church has always believed, prayed, and sung. The tradition goes back to the apostles, and our liturgical texts have proclaimed it for centuries.
What the tradition tells us
The ancient accounts say Mary died in the presence of the apostles in Jerusalem. They buried her body in Gethsemane. But when Thomas arrived late and asked to see her tomb, they opened it and found it empty. The Church understood this to mean Christ had raised his mother’s body and taken her into heaven. Icons of the Dormition show Christ holding Mary’s soul like a small child while the apostles surround her body. Then she’s shown in heaven, body and soul reunited.
Is this in Scripture? Not explicitly. But neither is the word “Trinity.” We know these truths because the Church has received them and guards them in Holy Tradition. The Dormition is part of that apostolic memory.
Why this matters for us
Orthodox theology teaches that Mary has already experienced what all of us will experience at the Second Coming: bodily resurrection. She’s the first fruits after Christ himself. This isn’t about elevating Mary above Christ’s work. It’s about showing what Christ’s resurrection accomplishes for human beings. He became incarnate from her, died, and rose bodily. She died and rose bodily. And so will we.
If you’re coming from a Protestant background, this might sound strange. Many Baptists and non-denominational Christians in Southeast Texas grew up thinking the body doesn’t matter much, that salvation is about “going to heaven when you die” as a soul. But Orthodoxy insists the body matters. God created matter and called it good. Christ took on a body and kept it after the resurrection. He didn’t shed his humanity like a coat. And he’s redeeming the whole person, not just extracting souls from bodies.
Mary’s Dormition shows us that. She’s not a disembodied spirit floating around. She’s alive, body and soul, in the presence of God. That’s our destiny too.
A pastoral note
When I explain this to inquirers at St. Michael, I sometimes get pushback. “Where’s the verse?” they ask. Fair question. But think about it this way: the apostles knew Mary. They were there when she died. The early Church remembered what happened. They didn’t need to write it in Scripture because they knew it firsthand. By the time the Church formally celebrated the Dormition, it was already an established belief, handed down from those who’d been there.
And honestly, it makes sense. Would God let the body that bore him see corruption? Would he leave his mother in the grave? The Church said no, and our liturgy proclaims that no every August when we fast for two weeks and then feast on the Dormition.
You don’t have to understand everything about this right away. Come to the services during the Dormition Fast next August. Listen to the hymns. Look at the icon. Let the Church’s prayer teach you what the Church believes. That’s how most of us learn this stuff anyway, not from systematic theology textbooks but from standing in church and letting the liturgy sink in.
The Theotokos is alive. She prays for us. And her body, like ours will be, is raised and glorified. That’s the faith we’ve received, and it’s the hope we hold onto.
