"...and the tomb becomes a ladder toward heaven"
(Sticheron of the Tone M, Vespers of the Dormition of the Mother of God)
During this period, the faithful flock to the Holy Temples and Holy Monasteries to hymn the Mother of God and entrust to Her our sorrows and anxieties.
All the faithful flee to Her Grace through the "Paraklesis" (Supplications) and feel, according to our faith, Her help and Her presence in our lives. And rightly so, for the Theotokos is the logical ladder that brought God down to man and raised man to God. She is the link that connected heaven with earth, who gave God flesh so that, out of extreme philanthropy, the Word of God became "consubstantial with us according to humanity" (Fourth Ecumenical Council).
With courage, then, and the love of children toward their Mother, the people of God turn to the Theotokos, invoking once again Her maternal boldness; for although She has been translated to heaven, She has not abandoned the world, but constantly carries our requests to Her Son. For this very reason, She is the "unshakeable protection of Christians" and the "unalterable intercession toward the Creator," who does not overlook our pleas for mercy, but protects and rushes to the aid of those in need.
The Holy Silouan the Athonite used to say that "Truly, the Panagia is our help before God, and only Her name gladdens the soul. But also all heaven and all earth rejoice in Her love. An admirable and incomprehensible miracle. She lives in the heavens and incessantly beholds the glory of God, yet She does not forget us poor ones, and She embraces with Her compassion all the earth and all the peoples."
The Panagia is our heavenly ladder "through which God descended." Just as the ladder that Jacob saw in his dream united heaven with earth, and upon which the Angels of God ascended and descended, so too the Virgin, as another intelligible ladder, united heaven with earth, since through Her God descended into the world. At the same time, however, She became the intelligible bridge through which humans were enabled to pass into heaven, into Paradise.
The Theotokos bridged the chasm opened by human disobedience. She abolished the distance that separated man from God. The childbirth of the Theotokos "united what was once divided," abolished the enmity of sin, according to the Apostle Paul (Eph. 2:15), destroyed the sting of death, and removed the bitterness of corruption.
The Christian who believes deeply and truly bows before the empty tomb of our Panagia during this period, is informed of Her divine translation, and sees, in the depths of these divine mysteries, the hope of his own resurrection and translation. And thus, this tomb becomes not only a "ladder toward heaven" for the Panagia, but also for every believer who struggles under the Cross of Christ.
Let us pray, then, during this period, that the Theotokos may enlighten us, grant us all repentance, a longing for Christ, and a longing for salvation, and teach us how to love Christ, how to keep His commandments, and how to constantly have our Christ and our Panagia in our hearts. Amen.