“The veneration of Mary is inscribed in the very depths of the human heart."
-Martin Luther
In most Lutheran calendars, August 15 is the Feast of St. Mary, Mother of our Lord, or a derivation thereof. Some churches, however, retain the ancient tradition of observing the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on this day. This practice is well-documented in the early churches of the Reformation, though its observance diminished significantly sometime after the early seventeenth century. Nevertheless, Lutheran sermons for the Assumption were recorded throughout the sixteenth century and the feast remained on several liturgical calendars.
Because the Assumption of Mary is not mentioned in Holy Scripture, Lutherans have historically celebrated this feast piously as a tradition to which one may hold, not a dogma that must be confessed by the entire Church. The latter is the position of the Roman Catholic Church, though it was not until 1950 that Pope Pius XXI declared the Feast of the Assumption to be a “divinely revealed dogma.”
But in reality, it is truly and entirely a free matter. St. Luther, in his sermon for the Feast of the Assumption in 1522, remarked, “There can be no doubt that the Virgin Mary is in heaven. How it happened we do not know. And since the Holy Spirit has told us nothing about it, we can make of it no article of faith […] It is enough to know that she lives in Christ.” While Luther personally held to the Assumption, as did the majority of Reformation theologians that followed in his steps, he made it no article of faith, as the Catholics had done four centuries later.
The Assumption of Mary became widespread during the early days of Christendom, with documented celebrations of the feast as early as the 5th century. It was established in the East by Emperor Maurice around AD 600. A well known homily, preached by John Damascene (675–749 AD), says the following concerning Mary’s assumption:
St. Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, at the Council of Chalcedon, made known to the Emperor Marcian and Pulcheria, who wished to possess the body of the Mother of God, that Mary died in the presence of all the Apostles, but that her tomb, when opened upon the request of St. Thomas, was found empty; wherefrom the Apostles concluded that the body was taken up to heaven.
Opinions concerning the very nature of Mary’s assumption have varied, with some arguing that Mary would have died before her assumption, while others hold that she was assumed directly into heaven in the presence of the Apostles. The earliest accounts of the assumption dictate that she was assumed after having died, known as the mortalistic interpretation. The position that Mary did not die before being assumed is known as the immortalistic interpretation. To this day, most liturgical, dogmatic, and material references to the Assumption hold the mortalistic interpretation.
Though this variance concerning the Assumption exists throughout the Church, the Assumption has never been Mary’s “resurrection,” especially in any respect similar to Christ’s. The Assumption deals primarily with the beatific state of Mary’s body and soul, holding that her body never suffered physical decay by means of natural death, or that her body does not await the physical raising that is to occur on the Last Day.
The broader school of Mariology, to which this feast piously belongs, is a glorification of the Virgin’s Son, Jesus Christ. The high praise that the Church ascribes to Mary is all for Christ’s gain. Every Mariological doctrine, including the Assumption and others like semper virgo, points to Christ and the perfect union of His two natures. Yet, as Luther reminds the Church, such doctrines shall not be articles of faith, but free matters for the Christian conscience. Thus, while constructive debate is informative and enlightening, these matters and doctrines need not cause widespread division amongst the Church; as Luther himself was content to do, so shall we also say, “It is a matter of free choice; adhere to the Christian conscience.”
The Eastern Orthodox celebrate the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which differs slightly from the Assumption. The Eastern Orthodox Church holds that Mary died a natural death and that her soul was received thereupon by Christ in heaven. Her body was resurrected and she was taken bodily into heaven; this is an anticipation of the general resurrection of the faithful. Official Eastern Orthodox teaching has been summarized thus:
Orthodox tradition is clear and unwavering in regard to the central point [of the Dormition]: the Holy Virgin underwent, as did her Son, a physical death, but her body—like His—was afterwards raised from the dead and she was taken up into heaven, in her body as well as in her soul. She has passed beyond death and judgement and lives wholly in the Age to Come. The Resurrection of the Body [...] has in her case been anticipated and is already an accomplished fact. That does not mean, however, that she is dissociated from the rest of humanity and placed in a wholly different category: for we all hope to share one day in that same glory of the Resurrection of the Body that she enjoys even now.
Whether one celebrates the Dormition, Assumption, or simplified Feast of St. Mary, let the Church ascribe to the Mother of God the praise and honor due her name. She most certainly is worthy of our admiration and devotion, for she is, in Luther’s estimation, “[the] highest woman and the noblest gem in Christianity after Christ […] She is nobility, wisdom, and holiness personified. We can never honor her enough. Still honor and praise must be given to her in such a way as to injure neither Christ nor the Scriptures.”
As Christ is the foundation, center, and heart of the Christian life, let us not injure Him with our honor of Mary, but magnify Him as His holy Mother had done in Luke 2. Our souls, in faithful junction with the Blessed Virgin, magnify the Lord and our spirits rejoice in God our Savior. A blessed feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
An excerpt from a sermon preached by Valerius Herberger, on the occasion of the Feast of the Assumption, 1613. The entire sermon was published earlier today on Gottesdienst:
I doubt not that many devout persons desire information concerning the feast of Mary’s ascension. Today they shall have their heart's desire. Long ago, certain scholars read the Gospel of Mary and Martha (Luke 10). I have treated this above on the feast of St. Martha, and to that it properly belongs. For it does not speak of Mary the mother of Christ. Others expounded the words which we read from the Gospel of Luke 11 as explicitly describing Mary’s blessedness before the world and also before God. It was her privilege, before all other women under the sun, to bear the promised Messiah under her virginal heart and in her arms, and with her motherly milk to quiet the infant Jesus. However, her glory and blessedness before God is that she heard the Word of God with eager ears and kept it in her remembrance; even as it plainly says of her: “But Mary kept all these words and treasured them in her heart” (Luke 2:51).
Stanza two of Lutheran Service Book (LSB) 670, a clear reference to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Bearer of the Eternal Word, our Lord Jesus Christ:
O higher than the cherubim,
More glorious than the seraphim,
Lead their praises: "Alleluia!"
Thou bearer of the eternal Word,
Most gracious, magnify the Lord:
"Alleluia, alleluia!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!"
A traditional collect to be said on the Feast of the Assumption of Mary:
Almighty and everlasting God, who didst assume the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Thy Son, body and soul to the glory of heaven: grant us, we beseech thee; that being ever intent on things above, we may be worthy to be partakers of her glory hereafter; through Jesus Christ Thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.