Over the past two weeks, our Sunday Gospels have stressed the truth that to be a faithful disciple of Christ we must keep our focus – in good times and bad – on Jesus. On August 15th, the solemnity of the Assumption/Dormition of Mary, the Church again directs our gaze – for in focusing on Mary we see not only our Queen – but the one true sign – the Great Sign – who points the way to her Son.

Her signature was that of a perfect disciple – for she possessed the confident competence and the courageous commitment – of true faith.

In the “fullness of time” – after millennia of human history – the Father of Mercies saw in Mary – a loving and lovable woman who possessed great courage – the person – who in her simplicity and purity would be completely open, totally surrendering, and free from the pollution of pride or self-will.  She was the woman who would be the New Eve – the mother of the living – the mother of a new creation. She is, as the Eastern Rite proclaims, the All Holy One – the Panagia, who as our spiritual mother shows us the way by guiding us to her Son – and through His grace – enables us to be reborn into eternal life.

It is through our own rebirth, through water and the Spirit, that we are able to bear fruit and imitate Mary in bringing the newborn Christ to others. St. Maximus the Confessor speaks of this when he says “Every soul that believes, conceives and gives birth to the Word of God according to faith. Christ is the fruit – and all of us – are mothers of the Christ.” (quote found in Vladimir Zelinsky’s  “Mary in the Mystery of the Church: The Orthodox Search for Unity” which is contained in Mary CoRedmptrix, Mediatrix, Advocate – Theological Foundations II. M.I. Miravalle, S.T.D., editor).

This beautiful sacred icon was done by one of my teachers – the master Marek Czarnecki of Seraphic Restoration Studio in Meriden, Connecticut. It is done in the traditional egg tempera and measures 13 by 17 inches. It is different from one of the most famous sacred images of  the Italian Renaissance – The Assunta by the master – Titian – yet Czarnecki’s sacred icon is theologically, aesthetically, and semantically correct. Titian painted his Assunta between 1516-18.

Our Catechism (of the Catholic Church, paragraph 966), proclaims that “The Immaculate Virgin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up – body and soul – into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords, and the conqueror of sin and death”

This proclaims the wonderful news that the Assumption of Mary is a participation in the act of her Son being raised from the dead – and so is a Sign – a Sign that points to our own resurrection and union with God. The Eastern Rite liturgy says on its August 15th celebration of this solemnity: “In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormition you did not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were joined to the Source of Life.”

Our Blessed Mother’s words in her beautiful Canticle, and her personal destiny, are inseparably linked to our own – for she is one of us; and by keeping our focus on her Son  – we too – through the grace of God – will experience His mercy which lasts from age to age on those who fear Him.

Below Titian’s masterpiece is a traditional Orthodox icon of the Dormition (or falling asleep) of Mary with the grieving apostles surrounding her bed. This icon was painted (“written”) by Irina Kolbneva.

One of the purposes of this blog is that we will explore how a sacred icon is painted (“written”) in the Eastern Church’s tradition and how the Western Church began to explore new avenues of visual expression after being in harmony with the Eastern Church for the first thousand years of our existence.

(Additional sources: The Book of Revelation, Chapter 19; Lumen Gentium, 59; and Pope Pius 12^th in his Munificentissimus Deus (November, 1950).  Our Lady of the Assumption, pray for us.

Copyright © 2011 Deacon Paul O. Iacono All Rights Reserved.