The rank of the Burial of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a special service in the Orthodox Church, during which the assumption and burial in Gethsemane of the Mother of God is remembered. This is a special service that all faithful Orthodox Christians try to attend.
The order of the Burial of the Blessed Virgin Mary includes both sad chants dedicated to the assumption (death) of the Virgin Mary, and liturgical texts that give a person hope for fulfilling the promise of the Virgin Mary herself about the intercession of God before God until the end of time.
The worship services of the Burial of the Mother of God is a pious custom included in the liturgical life of the Church. In the Typicon (the main book reflecting the liturgical charter of the Church) there is no follow-up of the order of the Burial of the Mother of God and indications of its completion in Orthodox churches. However, such silence of the Typicon about this service is not a serious obstacle to worship, because in such an action manifests a person’s special love for the Mother of God and reverence for the zealous patroness of Christians.
The first manuscripts with the rank of Burial of the Blessed Virgin Mary date from about the XV - XVI centuries. According to the established pious custom, this rite is performed in Jerusalem at the tomb of the Virgin in the morning on the eve of the feast of the Assumption of the Mother of God. Historically, in other Churches of the Orthodox East, this worship was performed in conjunction with the festive service of the Assumption of the Virgin (August 28, according to a new style), that is, on the holiday of the Assumption. However, the Charter of the Great Church of Constantinople prohibits such a combination of the rank of Burial of the Most Holy Theotokos with the festive service of the Assumption. In Russia, however, the practice of celebrating the Assumption service in combining the all-night vigil (on the eve of the Assumption) with a separate part of the divine service from the rank of the Burial remained. In this case, the rank of Burial falls on the evening of August 27th. Such practice takes place in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra and in the Kostroma Epiphany Monastery.
In most churches of the Russian Orthodox Church, the order of the Burial of the Most Holy Theotokos is customary to be performed in the coming days of the Assumption celebrations. Most often, this service is celebrated on the third day after the feast of the Assumption of the Mother of God. If we consider that the worship of the diurnal circle begins on the eve of the evening of the celebrated event, then the all-night vigil with the rank of Burial is performed on the second day in the evening after the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin - on August 29th.
The practice of performing the rite of the Burial of the Virgin on the third day after the Assumption has been firmly entrenched in Russia since the mid-19th century, when this service began to be sent in the Gethsemane Monastery at the Trinity-Sergeeva Lavra in exactly this sequence.
However, it is worth considering that sometimes the third day of the Assumption of the Virgin coincides with Sunday. In this case, the order of the Burial of the Mother of God is not performed along with the Sunday Sunday service, but is postponed to the fourth day after the Assumption (accordingly, the all-night vigil, performed the night before, is sent on the third day). This happened in 2015. The feast of the Assumption of the Mother of God fell on Friday the 28th of August, respectively, the third day coincides with Sunday. But on the eve of Sunday, a festive Sunday service takes place on Saturday evening. Therefore, the Divine Service Charter recommends transferring the services of the Burial of the Most Holy Theotokos to 4 days after the Assumption (Monday, August 31). Accordingly, the order of the Burial is served in 2015 on August 30 on Sunday evening.
It is also worth noting that, with the blessing of the rector of the parish, due to any good reason, the order of the Burial of the Mother of God can be served on other days of the celebration of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
