Who Was Mary?

In the 5th century, at the holy Ecumenical Council of Ephesus, the Holy Mother's position as "Mother of God" and "Bearer of God" (Asdvadzamayr-Asdvadzadzin) was doctrinally established.  Only those aspects of St. Mary's life which are directly related to Christ are mentioned in the Holy Gospels.  The remainder of her biography is attributed to tradition, which is found in much of the most ancient of ecclesiastical literature.

St. Mary was the daughter of Joachim and Anna of Nazareth (originally Bethlehem).  Anna, being barren, prayed and made special vows for a child.  She then had her only child, a daughter named Mariam (or Mary).  Although Mary was born naturally (having both a father and mother) she is considered morally pure and immaculate.  It is for this reason that the church not only celebrates her birth but also her conception, which the Armenian and the Greek Orthodox churches celebrate on December 9th and the Roman Catholic church celebrates on the 8th.

The concept of her being morally immaculate later developed into the question of her Immaculate Conception (from Anna), a doctrine adopted by the Roman Catholic Church in 1854.  The Armenian Church, on the other hand, does not accept this, as it attributes to Mary that which belongs only to Christ; only Christ was immaculately conceived.  Yet, her purity is unquestioned.  According to the teaching of the Armenian Church, at the time of the Annunciation when the Holy Spirit entered her she was cleansed of all sin (original sin) as she was to be the vessel in which God manifest was to be incarnated.

After the Ascension of her divine son, the remainder of Mary's life comes to us through tradition.  It states she lived out the rest of her days in Jerusalem, cared for by St. John the Evangelist.  She died in Jerusalem some 15 years after Christ's Ascension and was buried in her family tomb in Gethsemane.

After she passed away, all the apostles -- save Bartholomew who was absent at that time -- conducted her funeral with great ceremony at a cave-like tomb in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Later, St. Bartholomew returned and wished to see Mary one last time.  He convinced the Apostles to open the tomb.

Upon opening the tomb, they could not find her body.  Angels' voices were heard for three days and nights.  They interpreted the angels' singing as a sign that our Lord had assumed (taken up) His Mother into heaven as He had promised her.  They found the empty tomb a confirmation of that promise for she had not been dead but had fallen asleep.  For this reason, the church refers to the end of her earthly life as "the dormition" rather than "death."