Liber Requiei Mariae (The Book of Mary’s Repose)

Liber Requiei Mariae (The Book of Mary’s Repose) is one of the earliest narratives concerning the Assumption of Mary bodily into Heaven.  Probably composed by the fourth century, Liber Requiei Mariae may be as old as the third century placing it sometime between 250-300 A.D.  Also quite early are the very different traditions of the Six Books Dormition Narratives, which are preserved by several Syriac manuscripts of the fifth and sixth centuries, although the text itself probably belongs to the fourth century.  Later apocrypha based on these earlier texts include the De Obitu S. Dominae, attributed to St. John, a work probably from around the turn of the sixth century that is a summary of the Six Books narrative. The story also appears in De Transitu Virginis, a late fifth century work ascribed to St. Melito of Sardis that presents a theologically redacted summary of the traditions in the Liber Requiei Mariae. The Transitus Mariae (“Passing of Mary”) tells the story of the apostles being transported by white clouds to the death-bed of Mary, each from the town where he was preaching at the hour. 

All these works recount a similar body of stories. After the Crucifixion, Mary devotes herself to the new church, but one day she receives an angelic visitation that recalls the original Annunciation. Knowing she is to die, she asks that the apostles be gathered from the corners of the world, and they duly appear. They accompany her at her death and join the funeral procession, which is marked by various miracles. Christ then appeared to take Mary’s body and soul to heavenly glory.  This literature had an enormous impact in the foundation of the very widely held church doctrine of Mary’s Assumption or Dormition. Assumption is the Western and Catholic term, suggesting that she was taken to heaven prior to death; Dormition is the Eastern Orthodox term inferring that her body was raised after her bodily death.  Both Catholic and Orthodox view this as the first sign of the general Resurrection in store for all Christians. These ideas became very widespread in Christian art through the Middle Ages and shaped the Eastern icon tradition.  Although these texts are fanciful in their depictions, the fact that they were so widely accepted throughout both Eastern and Western Christianity at a time when Christians argued vehemently over the various Christologies such as Arianism, Nestorianism, Monophysitism, Monothelitism and the like, illustrates how the underlying doctrine of Mary’s body Assumption had a deep and long-held belief throughout Christianity long before these texts were written.