Dormition of the Theotokos: August 15

The falling asleep of the Theotokos, kept on 15 August. The Church holds that she died as all die, was buried by the Apostles, and on the third day was raised and taken up in the body, her tomb found empty. Orthodoxy confesses this in its hymns rather than defining it as dogma, which is where it differs from Rome, and it holds no doctrine of an immaculate conception: she was mortal like us, and her glory is the fruit of her free obedience. Preceded by a strict fortnight of fasting.