During our Lady’s departure, the Lord came with tens of thousands of angels, & disciples living & departed. As they were to bury her body, the Jews tried to take it & one of the soldiers, Tewfanya, attempted to grab hold of the bier and put it to the ground, but the angel of the Lord smote him with the sword of fire. The soldier pleaded with St. Mary. Through the apostle Peter received his hand, & believed in Christ.   

Then the angel of God took her body & the apostle John and placed it in the Garden of the tree of life. After her death, the Apostles continued to be sad and sorrowful, because of her separation from them, & because they were left orphans by her. While John the evangelist was preaching in the country of Asia, he returned and told them that St. Mary is in the Garden of Delight.

Out of their immense love for our Mother, the other Apostles wanted to give her an appropriate burial so they prayed and fasted 14 days to receive her body again. At the end of their 14 day fast, God allowed her body to come down for the apostles to bury her. In the presence of our Lord, prophets, righteous and thousands and thousands of angels she was buried in Gethsemane.

On the 16th day of the month of Nehase, our Lord Jesus Christ, commanded that the body of His pure mother shall go forth.”  And straightway the body of our Lady Mary went forth from the grave at the foot of the Tree of Life, and our Lord Jesus Christ comforted her, and He said to her, “Come to Me, O My beloved mother, that you may ascend to the kingdom of heaven, to the joy which is everlasting.” And straightway all the trees of the Garden bowed their heads, and the angels and archangels took her up, and the righteous bowed low to her. And David, the prophet, sang a hymn of praise, saying, 

“And the Queen shall stand at Thy right hand, and her apparel shall be of fine needlework with gold woven through it” (Psalm xlv, 9)

St. Thomas & the Seben

During her funeral service, Thomas the Apostle was not present at the time, but as he was coming on the cloud to Jerusalem, he found her body with the angels.  And one of the angels said unto him, “Quickly salute the body of the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary”; and was very upset that he “wanted to jump off from the clouds”. He thought he was the only one that didn’t see her resurrection. But our lady calmed him and told him that he was the only one that saw her resurrection. She instructed him to tell all the apostles what he saw and gave him the cloth that she was buried with. And when he came to the Apostles they told him how our Lady Mary was buried, and he said unto them, “I do not believe it until I saw her body. Peter the apostle said to him “before you doubted the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and now you are doubting the resurrection of our Lady. Come and let’s go to the grave, and when they came to the grave to see the body of our Lady Mary, and they opened the grave, and could not find her body; and were amazed and marveled exceedingly. And straightway Thomas told them how he had saluted her holy body as the angels were carrying her up to heaven and showed them the cloth she gave them. And the Holy Spirit said unto them, “God doth not wish her body to lie in the earth.”

2nd Appearance | 2nd Suba’ie

The apostles wanted to see what the apostle Thomas saw, and God promised them they will see her. After waiting for a full year, And beginning on the first day of Nehase they fasted for two weeks and made supplication to God, that He will consider them worthy and show them the body of our holy Lady, the Virgin Mary, sitting on the right hand of her beloved Son, that they may rejoice in her. In the sixteenth month of Nehase, He took to the heavens and showed them the flesh of our holy Lady, the Virgin Mary, sitting on the right hand of her beloved Son in great glory. She stretched out her hands, and blessed each one of them and the souls of the disciples rejoiced exceedingly.  And our Lord Jesus Christ served as priest, and Stephen the archdeacon ministered with Him, and John with Him, saying, “Stand up in fear”; and all the Apostles stood up around the altar.  

And there was great joy at that time, the like whereof before never was.  And when our Lord had finished, He gave them the Holy Mysteries.  And then St. Mary went up before them sitting upon the chariot of the Cherubim. And our Lord Jesus Christ said unto our Lady Mary, “Tell your children, the Apostles, to preach in all the world the commemoration of your Ascension into heaven,” as it was on this day. “Whoever celebrates your commemoration, I will destroy his sins, and he shall never see the fire at all, for mercy shall find every soul who shall take heed and shall receive the Holy Mysteries on this day, which is the day of your Ascension into heaven.”  And our Lady Mary said unto Him, “Behold, my sons, behold, they have seen with their eyes, and they have heard with their ears, and they have received with their hands, and they shall see other wonders greater than these”; and as the Virgin was saying these words she gave the salutation of “Peace” to the Apostles, and they returned to the Mount of Olives.  

And it is meet for us, O beloved brethren, to celebrate the commemoration of the Ascension of our Lady Mary into heaven with joy and gladness, so that she may make intercession for us, at all times, with her beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.  

Salutation to the Ascension of Mary into heaven, and to Mary as the tree of knowledge, and to her body!

EROTM

Miracles of St. Mary: The Virgin & the Thirsty Dog