The Feast of the Assumption, August 15

It is also the Feast of the Dormition for the Orthodox and Eastern-rite Catholics.

From a Worker in the Vineyard:


From "Assumption" Greek Orthodox Church (puzzling why they would use the Latin feast and name for their church):


From Ukrainian Catholic Church Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

This accompanies "A Reflection on the Feast of the Assumption" by Virginia Kimball:


Icon from the Coptic Church of Saint Menas, Cairo:


Icons depicting the Assumption are rare compared to those for the Dormition.

As the Orthodox take pains to emphasize, the Feast of the Dormition is not the same as the Feast of the Assumption. Orthodox claim that the Church has definitively taught that the Blessed Mother died before being resurrected, apparently citing the support of liturgical texts. I don't know of any other 'dogmatic sources.' Her soul was separated from her body and what took place was a real resurrection. Catholics believed that the Blessed Mother was assumed into heaven, body and soul; nothing definitively has been taught by the Church as to whether she died or not before being assumed. If she did not die, there would be no separation of the soul from the body, and hence no real resurrection, but instant glorification.

For a presentation of Catholic teaching on the Assumption, what better source than Pope Pius XII's Munificentissimus Deus, the ex cathedra definition of the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin?

[GOARCH page on the Feast of the Dormition of our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-virgin Mary. Page from Ss Peter and Paul Church. Ukrainian Orthodoxy on the Feast.]

One tradition maintains that Mary spent her final years in Ephesus with St. John the Evangelist (who was eventually exiled to the island Patmos). Another maintains that she was in Jerusalem during that last day of her earthly life.

[Shrine of Mary, Ephesus, Turkey; another page on the house
(The real deal? According to the Old CE: "As to tradition, there is some testimony for Mary's temporary residence in or near Ephesus, but the evidence for her permanent home in Jerusalem is much stronger.")]

At the end, all of the apostles were gathered around her (although another tradition maintains that St. Thomas was absent--see for example, this from the University of Balamand).

Various links:
The Dormition of Mary by Fr. William Saunders
Byzantine Catholic Church of America: reflection on the Feast of the Dormition
Antiochian Orthodox page on the Feast of the Dormition
Holy Dormition Monastery (Byzantine Franciscans!)
Dormition of the Mother of God Orthodox Monastery
Holy Dormition Pskov-Caves Monastery (Russia)
Tikhvin Men's Monastery of the Dormition fo the Theotokos (Russia) -- (photos!)
Dormition Skete
Dormition Church (Greek) in Somerville, MA
Dormition of the Theotokos Church, Greensboro, NC
Check out Samples of the Modern Georgian Icon Writers