In the late 4th century, Epiphanius of Salamis wrote of his search for reliable traditions concerning the fate of Mary and his inability to discover any.[15] His inquiry suggests that discussion of Mary’s immortality had already arisen in popular circles, and he identifies three beliefs concerning her end: that she died a normal and peaceful death; that she died a martyr; and that she did not die.[16] He suggested tentatively that Chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation, which speaks of a woman “clothed with the Sun” who escapes “the dragon” by fleeing into the wilderness to be nourished “for a time, and times, and half a time,” might possibly be a reference to her immortality, but the early church identified the woman with the church and there is no evidence that an identification with Mary existed before Epiphanius.[15] “No one knows her end,” he concludes.[16]
The Dormition/Assumption of Mary makes its first appearance in two apocryphal texts from the third and fourth centuries, the Liber Requiei Mariae (“Book of Mary’s Repose”), and the “Six Books Dormition Apocryphon”.[17] Both come from heterodox (i.e., proto-heretical) circles, the first having strong Gnostic overtones and the second associated with a sect called the Kollyridians, whom Epiphanius condemned for their excessive devotion to Mary.[17] Notable later apocrypha based on these include De Obitu S. Dominae and De Transitu Virginis, both probably from the 5th century, with further versions by Dionysius the Areopagite, and St Gregory of Tours, among others.[18] The Transitus Mariae was among apocrypha condemned in a 6th-century work called Decretum Gelasium (the “Decree of Gelasius”, although not in fact by Pope Galasius I),[19] but by the early 8th century it was so well established that John of Damascus could set out what had become the standard Eastern tradition, that “Mary died in the presence of the Apostles, but that her tomb, when opened, upon the request of St Thomas, was found empty; wherefrom the Apostles concluded that the body was taken up to heaven.”[20]
Parma Cathedral, illusionistic dome, Correggio, 1526-30
In some versions of the story, the event is said to have taken place in Ephesus, in the House of the Virgin Mary. This is a much more recent and localized tradition. The earliest traditions say that Mary’s life ended in Jerusalem (see “Mary’s Tomb”). By the 7th century, a variation emerged, according to which one of the apostles, often identified as St Thomas, was not present at the death of Mary but his late arrival precipitates a reopening of Mary’s tomb, which is found to be empty except for her grave clothes. In a later tradition, Mary drops her girdle down to the apostle from heaven as testament to the event.[21] This incident is depicted in many later paintings of the Assumption.
Teaching of the Assumption of Mary became widespread across the Christian world, having been celebrated as early as the 5th century and having been established in the East by Emperor Maurice around AD 600.[22] St. John Damascene records the following:
St. Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, at the Council of Chalcedon (451), made known to the Emperor Marcian and Pulcheria, who wished to possess the body of the Mother of God, that Mary died in the presence of all the Apostles, but that her tomb, when opened upon the request of St. Thomas, was found empty; wherefrom the Apostles concluded that the body was taken up to heaven.[23]
The Assumption of Mary was celebrated in the West under Pope Sergius I in the 8th century and Pope Leo IV confirmed the feast as official.[22] Theological debate about the Assumption continued, following the Reformation. But the people celebrated the Assumption as part of the cult of Mary that flourished from the Middle Ages.[citation needed] In 1950 Pope Pius XII defined it as dogma for the Catholic Church.[24] Catholic theologian Ludwig Ott stated, “The idea of the bodily assumption of Mary is first expressed in certain transitus-narratives of the fifth and sixth centuries. … The first Church author to speak of the bodily assumption of Mary, in association with an apocryphal transitus of the B.M.V., is St. Gregory of Tours.”[25] The Catholic writer Eamon Duffy states that “there is, clearly, no historical evidence whatever for it.”[26] However, the Catholic Church has never asserted nor denied that its teaching is based on the apocryphal accounts.[citation needed] The Church documents are silent on this matter and instead rely upon other sources and arguments as the basis for the doctrine.[citation needed]