Byzantine icon in ivory
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Christ hands Mary's soul up to the angel on the left, who is about to receive it into the cloth that drapes over his hands. John of Thessalonika's 7th-century homily on the Dormition identifies the angel as Michael. (See Daley, On the Dormition of Mary.)

The apostle in the left foreground is St. Paul (hairline receding from front); The first apostle behind the Virgin's halo on the right has been identified as St. Peter.

The Greek inscription below the angels is E KOIMESIS -- meaning "Dormition."

More of the Dormition