It is true that in the Orthodox world, and especially in our homeland, August 15th is celebrated much more intensely than in the Western world, even though it is assumed that among Catholics the Virgin Mary is 'honored' more (the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, the Virgin as the co-redeemer of the human race, etc.). However, things are only so phenomenally. Let us see what is actually happening.
First of all, we should say that the great exodus of residents from urban centers to the countryside does not actually have a sociological character. It is not folklore. As strange as it may seem, even if they are not aware of it, all these people feel unanchored in the city and go to find their "home." The city, according to one philosopher, is connected to alienation; despite its comforts, it has lost the goods of the "pre-industrial" society—when, let's put it very simply, man knew where he "stood." In our homeland, the bond with Orthodoxy is very great, even in those who seem completely indifferent or even irreligious.
The province is the guardian of tradition. This does not mean that the people there are better Christians, but that generally, the countryside has a tendency to hold onto traditions better. And people go there and celebrate, even if sometimes they do not know exactly what it is they are celebrating. We have briefly referred to Heidegger's philosophy.
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Let us now move on to more theological matters. Since the Virgin Mary was not born to us without original sin (in fact, this Catholic dogma shows a problematic view of original sin) nor is there a dogma regarding the Immaculate Conception, how is it that we honor her Dormition more? We must therefore say that these dogmas actually severed, in a way, the Virgin Mary from the common people. They made her seem like something foreign, alien, unrelated to the everyday person and their problems. And they do not honor the Virgin Mary more either.
If the Virgin Mary was born without "original sin," this means that she did not need to struggle in her life, that her holiness is not her own work but simply a grace of God, which in reality creates favoritism. For the Orthodox, the Virgin Mary was born having the common human nature, which after the fall of the first parents carries the consequences of corruption and mortality, as well, as strange as it may seem, the inclination toward evil (the impulse of fallen nature).
The Virgin Mary had the ability to sin—the Catholics deny this. However, this is her greatness: that freely—for God does not intervene in human freedom—she had such brilliant, inseparable, elevating humility that she never sinned. So, in reality, she struggled—it may seem to us that she did not need to struggle, but humility, in a sense, implies struggle. She had so much humility that some saints, such as Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite, tell us that if we gathered all the virtue of men and angels, the virtue of the Virgin Mary is greater. Humility, which is known to be "elevating," gave her all other virtues to the highest degree, and of course, she was full of divine love, a virtue of hers that we also cannot understand. She had so much love that it was clearly seen also at the Crucifixion of her Son, when she forgave His crucifiers. The Theotokos, as Saint Silouan teaches, never sinned, not even in thought.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that with her virtue, she somehow "compelled" God to become incarnate. We mean that she "magnetized" God Himself, drew Him, made Him want to rest within her womb, because God "rests among the humble." And of course, through the Evangelism, He was conceived. Then she passed into the imperturbability of virtue throughout all time. And she became the Queen of all. As Saint Sophia of Kleisoura used to say, there is one King, Christ, and one Queen, the Virgin Mary. All the rest of us are siblings.
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We have not yet explained why August 15th is honored much more in the Eastern Church than in the Western. Well, the fact that the Virgin Mary became the Theotokos being one of us makes her much, much closer and more accessible to people, despite her virtue, than the dogma of the "Immaculate Conception," which unfortunately alienated her from the faithful—that is the bitter truth. She may be the Queen, but the believer feels her now as a mother, as a refuge, as a consolation in temptations. They feel she is theirs. And she, of course, does not refuse to be the mother of every believer. There is, in fact, an icon of Her in Mount Athos, the *Gorgoyipikos* [Quick-to-Hear]—and not *Gorgoyepikos* [Quick-to-Listen]—because the Virgin Mary wants to show that, even as a Queen, she "obeys" quickly like a mother to the cries of her children. Such humility!
And one last matter: with the dogma regarding the Assumption of the Virgin, the Catholic Church did not clarify whether the Virgin Mary died or not. We, of course, believe that the Virgin Mary first died, to be precise "fell asleep" (because after the Resurrection, Hades was abolished) and subsequently was assumed. And in many places, in fact, they have a beautiful custom of decorating her epitaph and reading encomiums.
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If we wanted to define Orthodoxy, Father Lev Gillet says, we would say that it is the Church that knows how to celebrate Easter. We could add that it is the Church that also knows how to celebrate August 15th.
Happy Panagia! Many years!