Holy icons of the Feast of the Dormition (koimisis) of the Mother of God depict Christ in Glory, surrounded by a mandoria, looking at the body of His Mother stretched on a litter, which is a richly draped bier. The Virgin is clad in her red blued garments. We see Christ holding, in His arms, a small figure of a child clothed in white and crowned with a halo; it is the all-luminous soul of Mary, represented as a newborn infant, that He has just taken to Himself.

Emilianos (Emilian) the Confessor, Bishop of Kyzikos (Cyzicus), underwent much hardship and exile and affliction for the sake of the Orthodox veneration of the sacred icons. He endured the ferocious reign of that beastly minded lion, Emperor Leo V the Armenian, who reigned from 813 A.D. until 820 A.D. This emperor restored iconoclasm (the destruction of holy icons) after he was crowned in Hagia Sophia by Patriarch Nikephoros I (806 A.D. - 815). Predictably, Leo disposed of the Patriarch by deposing him and appointing in his place the iconoclast Theodores I Kassiteras (815-821 A.D.), John VII Grammatikos had prepared the iconoclasts for the council with mostly arguments from Hieria (754 A.D.). The 815 A.D. Council called the holy icons spurious and ordered their destruction.

Priest (inaudibly): Holy God, Who rests among the holy ones, praised by the Seraphim with the thrice-holy hymn, glorified by the Cherubim and worshipped by all the heavenly powers; Who has brought all thing out of non-existence into being and created man in You image and likeness, adorning him with all Your gifts; Who gives wisdom and understanding to those who ask, and do not reject the sinner, but have established repentance for our salvation; Who has enabled us, Your lowly and unworthy servants, to stand at this hour before the glory of Your holy altar, and to offer You due worship and praise: Master, accept the Thrice-Holy Hymn also from the lips of us sinners and visit us in Your goodness.

he tomb in the Garden of Gethsemane is east of Jerusalem, across the Kedron Valley. Finally, the Holy Apostles with all the multitude of Christians reach the Garden. When they laid down the bier with the Most Precious body, again the Christians began to weep. All bewailed their orphanhood at the loss of such a treasure. In giving the last kiss and veneration, the Christians prostrated themselves before the body of the Theotokos. Kissing it, they shed copious tears, so that only toward evening could the most honorable body he placed in the new tomb. Her Sacred Relics were interred with the greatest honor while chanting and weeping took place. When the Holy Apostles stepped before her bier to bid her farewell, each according to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they uttered psalms of triumph and thanksgiving and chanted prayers.

The Holy Transfiguration (Metamorphosis tou Soteros) which actually took place in February, forty days before the Passion. If we celebrated this feast at that time, it would be necessary to celebrate it during the Great Fast, when according to tradition such a feast should be celebrated for eight days. The feast was moved by the Church Holy Fathers to the month of August for the following reasons: since the Transfiguration took place forty days before the Passion and the Cross, by choosing the 6th of August it would be forty days before the Feast of the Elevation of the Honorable and Life-Giving Cross, celebrated by the Church on the 14th of September.