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Although the blessed
Mary had already been called [to live apart] from this world, finally
the passage of her life was completed, and all the apostles gathered
from their particular regions at her house. When they heard that
she must be taken from the world, they all kept watch with her.
And behold, the Lord Jesus came with his angels, and after taking her
soul he gave it to the angel Michael and left. At dawn the
apostles lifted her body on a bed, placed it in a tomb, and kept guard
over it, in anticipation of the arrival of the Lord. And behold,
again the Lord approached them. He took the holy body in a cloud
and ordered it to be brought to Paradise, where, after regaining her
soul, Mary now rejoices with his elect and enjoys the goodness of
eternity that will never perish. |
This is the earliest
western statement on the Assumption of the Virgin. Van Dam suggests that Gregory learned
of this belief from someone who had visited the East.
More of the Assumption