«καὶ πλατυσμόν ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσι κόρη» - Pemptousia

"As a refuge wall we have obtained, and full salvation of souls and spaciousness in tribulations, Daughter, and in Your light we always rejoice. O Lady, save us now also, from passions and dangers" (from the Small Parakletike Canon to the Most Holy Theotokos)

"We have you as our wall to overcome our difficulties, and full salvation for our souls and a wide embrace in our tribulations, Daughter, and with the light that comes from you, we rejoice with all our hearts. Panagia Lady, save us now from our passions and the dangers of life."

The "Spaciousness" (Platysmos) characterizes the Panagia, as described by the hymnographer of the Small Parakletike. She is not only the widest of the heavens—meaning her embrace holds all the heavens and even more, since she embraced as Mother the Creator of the heavens, the Son and the Word of God. It is also a spaciousness, meaning our embrace fits within the tribulations and trials that wound and consume our hearts with their arrows. And she does not accommodate us stingily or out of obligation, because she has a role assigned to her by Christ, but also because we humans have assigned her the role of the Mother of us all. The spaciousness of her embrace comes from her entire heart. She is a mother to each and every one of us, whether we know her or not. Her love is not closed, but open, without limits, for everyone. It is she who sees the Son and her God in every Adam, in every human being, and her love expands every moment, because love is not measured, but experienced without being able to be described in words, without being extended, without being limited. A single glance is enough. A single tear to Christ for each of us is enough. It is enough to feel her breath in our every difficulty and her prayer even when there is no way out.

That is why her departure from this world becomes a spaciousness. She is no longer found in a specific place or a specific time; she is connected to the people who are near her. Her embrace, her care, and her prayer spread throughout the whole world, because now she can know and love everyone. Her embrace is washed together with the Church. And it was so before, but now it is clearly visible. And her death is not only her own journey toward Christ, a passage into life itself, but also an invitation to all of us to enter her embrace, to hear her heartbeat, to share her prayer, and to follow a path of trust in Christ.

That is why we, at the Easter of summer, rejoice and celebrate. The spaciousness of the Panagia is not an achievement of faith; it is an achievement of relationship. The Panagia does not express ideological arguments. She expresses the experience of a mother who gave birth to the Infant, who raised Him, left Him free, followed Him with trust until death and resurrection, and became the Person of reference for humanity in the Church. The Apostles gathered from the ends of the earth to honor her one last time in human form. To say "Hail" to her, just as Gabriel did. "Hail," not because you will die, but because you will be physically beside your Son. Because time and place will not separate you, but His voice will be constantly in your ears, and yours in His. Because His gaze will be upon you and yours upon Him. Because, without being God by nature, you will be God by grace—that for which every human was created coming into the world, without being conquered even by death. Because you now live what we all hope for: the resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come. Because we can all fit into your world, to be your children, "to be eaten by Paradise" (Saint Cleopas of Ilia, the Romanian ascetic of the 20th century) along with you.

Many are the tribulations of this age. Often unbearable, the greatest being death—not only the death of the familiar, but also of loved ones. Not only physical loss, but every defeat in life. In a world that seeks self-absorption, when it makes sin a right, when it does not see in the denial of every relationship that exceeds selfishness, when it deifies the mind, when it transforms faith into an ideology, into self-righteousness, into fanaticism, into fear—her spaciousness is the answer and the proposal for salvation. Her Feast of the Dormition calls us to open our hearts and our embrace, to share our own cross and that of others with simplicity and generosity, without fear, starting a journey of trust in Christ, in the way of the Panagia, in the way of the Church. And He always receives the spirit, the meaning, the action, the thought, everything of our lives—firstly the sinner, to forgive them, to sanctify them through His intercessions, and to make them resurrected, eternal, and celebratory near her. And we are her children and His children.

Many blessed and happy years!