Day of the Feast of Assumption of St. Mary; and the August day was complete with clear skies in an expectant atmosphere of being. From the bell tower of the Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem, bells are pealing the solemn hour of High Mass. The clear tones waft from the Valley of Kidron to the City of David; its notes calling out the glory of the day and its celebration of the Mass in St. Mary’s glorification.
“Gaudeamus Omnes in Domino...
Diem Festum Celebrantes sub honore...
MARIAE VIRGINIS
Gloria Patria Halleluiah...
(Glory to Mary Glory to the Father, Halleluliah)
The diminishing notes of the bells fall soundlessly on the solemn on the solemn ground of Mt. Zion in the Holy city of Jerusalem. Mt. Zion: on this mount Christendom issued forth from its mother religion Judaism and for here the Disciples of Jesus went forth to bring the faith in the one God of Israel to the whole world. Here, on Mt. Zion, Jesus appeared to them after His resurrection, and here they were filled with Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. (Acts 2:1-13)
And here on Mt. Zion, St. Mary, Mother of Jesus, lived the circle of the Disciples abiding in the ‘Upper room and receiving the Holy Spirit with them on the Feast of Pentecost. Here, ST. Mary fell into an eternal sleep (Dormito Sanctae Mariae – ‘The Sleep St. Mary) Christ, Himself came to summon his Mother; her soul passed visibly into His hand. “Arise my beloved, my beautiful one, and come. (Sg 2:13) St. Mary was taken into the heavens, body and soul: the Assumption.
To the north of the early Christian Church of the Apostles, the Byzantines, around the year 383 AD, built their own Zion church. It was called the ‘Church of the Pillars’ because of the ‘Scourging Pillar’ inserted into the colonnade of the building. It had been brought from the house of Caiaphas. In 415 AD, Bishop John II of Jerusalem remodeled this church into the splendid Basilica of Hagia Sion that covered a large part of Mount Zion. In its northwest corner, one is shown the place where St. Mary lived after the resurrection of her son and where She fell into an eternal sleep. (In its center of church of the Abbey, surrounded by six pillars, lies the statue of Mary, asleep. This is where, according to ancient Christian tradition, Mary lived and died after her son's resurrection.)
The Basilica of Hagia Sion was destroyed in the year 1099 AD. The Crusaders rebuilt the church by combining the remains of the Church of the Apostles with those of Hagia Sion, which they name ‘St Mary on Mt Sion’: but in 1219 AD, this church was also destroyed. Through the centuries, following the destruction of the church pilgrims visited the site where it stood. The natives called it ‘Nijaha’ (the Wake); pilgrims from abroad called it “Dormito’ of ‘Koimesis’ (Going to Sleep – Going Home).
Fully 400 years later, In October 1898, the German Catholics, through the mediation of Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, were able to obtain the piece of ground on which today’s Dormition Abbey stands. The construction of the Church was entrusted to a Community of Benedictines of the Congregation of Beuron, and on April 10, 1910, the new church, “The Dormition of Mary’ was consecrated. On the Feast of the Assumption in 1926, the monastery was elevated to the rank of Abbey.
Benedictines of various nationalities, but mostly German, belong to the community of monks of the Dormition Abbey. The monks derive their authenticity, philosophy and lifestyle with common ownership of property from teachings which inspired the original disciples that lived on Mt. Zion. The Benedictines mission is to make the Dormition Abbey the symbol of peace and reconciliation through prayer, work, and Proclamation of Salvation.
“Go about Zion, make the round;
count her towers,
consider her ramparts,
examine her castles,
That you may tell a future generation
That such is God,
Our god forever and ever;
He will guide us.” - (Ps. 48:13-15)