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New Testament History |
The resurrection and assumption of the Holy Virgin
There were 15 days between the burial and assumption of the Holy Virgin:[1] the night of 6/7 August-the night of 21/22 August. A partial solar eclipse on 21 August 54 AD at 17:24 UT[2] marked the assumption on the night of 21/22 August 54 AD = 30 Av. Liturgy celebrates the coronation of the Holy Virgin in heaven on 22 August. Maria de Agreda said that the Holy Virgin died 21 years, 4 months, and 19 days after the crucifixion:[3] Friday 3 April 33 AD-Thursday 22 August 54 AD. Since Maria de Agreda supposed only 2 days between the death and the assumption of the Holy Virgin (13-15 August),[4] she linked the time indication with the death of the Holy Virgin, though it is actually linked with the assumption. Regarding the 15 days between her death and assumption, the Holy Virgin said to Bridget of Sweden: “My body lay […] it was assumed into Heaven,”[5] while she further speaks about 3 days in the sepulchre, saying: “I lay […] I was taken up to Heaven.”[6] The impersonal 15 days (“my body” and “it”) and the personal 3 days (“I”) imply that the Holy Virgin was for 3 days with the soul in the sepulchre and for the remaining 12 days without the soul. The Holy Virgin resurrected during the night,[7] after her body had been in the sepulchre for 12 days (the night of 6/7 August-the night of 18/19 August) and 3 days before the assumption (the night of 18/19 August-the night of 21/22 August). The duration of Anne’s pregnancy of the Holy Virgin (258 days) was 12 days less than with other children (270 days), and 15 days less than with John the Baptist and Christ (273 days). The 12 and 15 days the Holy Virgin had been less in the womb at the beginning of her life were compensated by the 12 and 15 days that she stayed in the womb of the earth, our mother,[8] at the end of her life.
[1] Bridget of Sweden, Rev. 7.26 (trans. TAN): “For fifteen days my body lay buried in the earth; then, with a multitude of angels, it was assumed into Heaven.” These 15 days follow the separation of the Holy Virgin’s soul from her body: Bridget of Sweden, Rev. 6.62. The Eastern Churches commemorate the death of the Holy Virgin with the Fast of the Dormition, which lasts 14 days (from the evening of 31 July until the evening of 14 August). A.C.E. (Mary, 377) saw the assumption of the Holy Virgin during the night immediately after her death, but A.C.E. sometimes received visions in an accelerated form. [3] Maria de Agreda, Cité, 6:593 (though with a reconstruction different from 3 April 33 AD-22 August 54 AD). [4] The Holy Virgin would have died on Friday 13 August (Maria de Agreda, Cité, 6:592, 633) and ascended into heaven on Sunday 15 August (ibid., 6:633). [5] Bridget of Sweden, Rev. 7.26 (for the translation, see the first note). [6] Bridget of Sweden, Rev. 7.26 (translation by TAN): “And when dead, I lay in the sepulcher three days, then I was taken up to Heaven with infinite honor and joy.” According to Maria de Agreda, Cité, 6:605, the body of the Holy Virgin lay 3 days in the sepulchre, equalling 36 hours (ibid., 6:634). After 3 days, the soul of the Holy Virgin returned to the earth (ibid., 6:616; although she situates the Holy Virgin’s death on 13 August and the assumption on 15 August). [7] A.C.E., Mary, 377. [8] A.C.E., Life, 1:6: “He [i.e. Adam] was, as it were, born of the virgin earth. God blessed the earth, and it became his mother.”
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