Dormition of the Virgin Transitus Greek R

Liber de dormitione, transitus graecus R

Standard abbreviation: Dorm. Vir. Trans. R

Other titles: none

Clavis numbers: ECCA 428; CANT 102; CANT 112

Category: Dormition Accounts

Compiled by: Tony Burke, York University ([email protected])

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Dormition of the Virgin Transitus Greek R.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/dormition-of-the-virgin-transitus-greek-r/.

Created March 2018.

1. SUMMARY

Transitus R is believed to be the earliest Greek narrative of the Dormition, due to its parallels in the early Palm of the Tree of Life traditions extant in Syriac and Ethiopic. The text is noteworthy also as a source for the Homily for the Dormition of the Virgin by John of Thessalonica. The account is told from the perspective of the apostle John, who also appears as a character in the text. It begins with a visit to Mary by an angel who is specially appointed to take the righteous to Paradise. He tells Mary that she will soon leave the world and gives her a palm from Paradise that she is to give to the apostles for use in her funeral procession. Mary and the angel move on to the Mount of Olives where the trees bend in veneration of the palm. The angel tells Mary a prayer that she is to say when the time of her death comes; she must keep this prayer a secret, though she is able to tell the apostles.

Mary goes home and calls her relatives and acquaintances. She tells them of her coming departure and to attend her for the next day. John arrives at the house, having been brought on a cloud from his missionary journeys. Mary asks him to work with the apostles to guard her body as she has heard that there will be an attack on it. She also gives him a book that Jesus had written when he was five; in the book “the teacher revealed all the things of creation, and he also put you, the twelve.” The other apostles then arrive, including Paul, a newcomer to the faith. Later in the narrative, Paul asks Peter for instruction but Peter tells him to wait for Jesus. When Jesus arrives, he tells Paul that he will learn all he wants to know in heaven.

At dawn Mary says the prayer and then lies down and dies. Here the text shows some signs of combination of multiple traditions, as it is said that a clap of thunder makes everyone fall asleep except for three virgins, yet the apostles are awake during the following events and then later it is said that they are awoken by the virgins. In this portion of the text, Jesus arrives and Mary thanks him for coming to get her rather than the angels (as he promised) and then she dies (all of which contradicts earlier events). Jesus gives Mary’s soul to Michael and tells Peter to take the body to a new tomb outside the city.

The virgins and the apostles place Mary’s body on a bier ornamented with the palm. As Mary feared, there is an attack on her body but it is largely thwarted by angels who strike her enemies blind, except for one man, Jephonias (identified as one of those present at Peter’s denial). Jephonias grabs the bier and his arms are severed from his body. His arms are restored after he becomes a believer and kisses Mary’s body. Peter then tells him to take a leaf from the palm branch and use it to heal the blind.

After waiting several days at the tomb, the apostles are joined by Jesus, Michael, and Gabriel. They all journey on a cloud to Paradise and deposit Mary’s body beneath the Tree of Life. Michael places Mary’s body soul into the body and the text comes to a close with the apostles returning to their missionary work.

Named Historical Figures and Characters: Andrew (apostle), Gabriel (angel), Jephonias, Jesus Christ, John (son of Zebedee), Mary (Virgin), Michael (angel), Paul (apostle), Peter (apostle), Satan.

Geographical Locations: Jerusalem, Mount of Olives.

2. RESOURCES

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Greek (CANT 102; BHG 1056d)

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 1982, fols. 181^r–189^v (11th cent.)

Manns, Frédéric. La Récit de la dormition de Marie (Vatican grec 1982), contribution à l’étude de origines de l’exégese chrétienne. SBFCMa 33. Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1989 (see “Synopse des textes”; includes French translation and photographic reproduction of the MS).

Wenger, Antoine. L’Assomption de la T.S. Vierge dans la tradition byzantine du VI^e au X^e siècle. Études et documents. Archives de l’Orient chrétien 5. Paris: Institut français d’études byzantines, 1955 (edition and French translation, pp. 210–41).

3.1.2 Latin (Transitus latinus A; CANT 112; BHL 5352b)

Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek, Aug. 229, fols. 184^v–190^v (9th cent.)

3.2 Modern Translations

3.2.1 English

Shoemaker, Stephen J. Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption. Oxford Early Christian Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002 (pp. 351–69).

__________, trans. The Dormition and Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Apocryphes 17. Turnhout: Brepols, 2023 (pp. 235–56).

3.2.2 French

Mimouni, Simon C. “Assomption de Marie ou Transitus Grec R.” Pages 207–39 in vol. 2 of Écrits apocryphes chrétiens. Edited by Pierre Geoltrain and Jean-Daniel Kaestli. Paris: Gallimard, 2005.

Mimouni, Simon C.and Sever J. Voicu. La Tradition grecque de la Dormition et de l’Assomption de Marie. Sagesse chrétiennes. Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 2005 (pp. 63–98).

3.2.3 Italian

Erbetta, Mario. Gli apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 3 vols. Italy: Marietti, 1975–1981 (Greek R vol. 1.2, pp. 465–74; Latin A pp. 475–79).

Gharib, Georges. Testi mariani del primo millenio. Vol. 1. Padri e altri autori greci. Rome: Città Nuova, 1988 (pp. 893–903).

Moraldi, Luigi. Apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 2 vols. Classici delle religioni, Sezione quarta, La religione cattolica 24. Turin: Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese, 1971 (vol. 1, pp. 825–40).

3.2.4 Polish

Starowieysky, Marka. Apokryfy Nowego Testamentu, Vol. 1, Ewangelie apokryficzne. 2 vols. Lublin: Towarzystwo Naukowe Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego, 1980 (vol. 1 pp. 552–64).

3.2.5 Spanish

Vallecillo, Miguel. “El Transitus Mariae según el manuscrito Vaticano gr. 1982.” Verdad y Vida 30 (1972): 240–52.

3.3 General Works

Mimouni, Simon C. Dormition et assomption de Marie: Histoire des traditions anciennes. Théologie Historique 98. Paris: Beauchesne, 1995 (pp. 127–35).

Panagopoulos, Spyros P. “The Byzantine Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption.” Studia Patristica 54 (2012): 1–8.

Serra, A. M. “Alle origini della letteratura assunzionista. Uno studio di Frédéric Manns.” Marianum 56 (1994): 291–309.

Shoemaker, Stephen J. Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption. Oxford Early Christian Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.