07 — Thomas and the Dormition
The liturgical and hagiographical tradition that links Thomas to the Falling-Asleep of the Theotokos: the story that he alone of the apostles arrived late — after the burial — and that, the tomb being opened for him, it was found empty save for the burial shroud, confirming the Mother of God’s bodily translation; and the related tradition that the Theotokos gave him her sash or belt as she was taken up, the relic later honored as the Cincture of the Theotokos. These files pin the tradition to its (late) attestation in the Dormition narratives and the Euthymiac History, presenting it as venerable liturgical tradition, not asserted history.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Apostle)
There is a deep fittingness — not lost on the Church — in the fact that the apostle whose doubt confirmed the bodily Resurrection of Christ is the one whose lateness confirms the bodily translation of the Theotokos. The tradition is old in the Church’s prayer and iconography but late in its written attestation, surviving in the apocryphal Dormition (Transitus) literature and the Euthymiac History quoted by John of Damascus; it is not found in Scripture and is not a dogmatic datum. This section sets out the two strands — the late arrival and the empty tomb, and the giving of the sash — with care to mark them as the hagiographical and liturgical tradition they are, neither dismissed nor historicized, in keeping with the methodology’s handling of pinned attestation.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| Thomas and the Dormition | The tradition of Thomas arriving after the burial of the Theotokos, the opening of the tomb, and the empty tomb confirming her bodily assumption; its attestation in the Transitus literature and the Euthymiac History (John of Damascus, Homily II on the Dormition). |
| The Sash of the Theotokos | The tradition of the Theotokos giving her sash (zone, cincture) to Thomas as she was taken up; the Cincture of the Theotokos venerated at Vatopedi on Athos; the feast of the Placing of the Sash; provenance and attestation weighed. |
See Also
- The Doubt — the apostle’s earlier “doubt” that the Dormition tradition deliberately echoes
- The Theotokos — the dogmatic and liturgical context of the Dormition
- The Great Feasts — the Feast of the Dormition (August 15)
- The Indian Church Tradition — the parallel pinning of late tradition to its earliest witness
References
- John of Damascus. Homily II on the Dormition. In On the Dormition of Mary: Early Patristic Homilies, trans. Brian E. Daley. Crestwood: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1998. (Quotes the Euthymiac History.)
- Shoemaker, Stephen J. Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
- The Festal Menaion. Trans. Mother Mary and Kallistos Ware. London: Faber & Faber, 1969. (The Dormition; the Placing of the Sash.)