The Dormition of the Theotokos — literally, the 'falling asleep' of the Mother of God — is the great Marian feast of the East and one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox year. The tradition, preserved from the earliest Christian centuries, holds that at the end of her earthly life, Mary fell asleep peacefully in the presence of the apostles, and her body was assumed into heaven after three days.
The feast is preceded by the Dormition Fast, two weeks of abstinence from August 1 through August 14 — one of the four great fasts of the Orthodox year. The Western Assumption celebrates the same mystery; East and West together confess that the woman who bore the Author of Life shares already, body and soul, in his resurrection.