TRANSITO (DORMIZIONE) DI MARIA. — An apocryphal work, very widespread in antiquity, concerning the death and assumption of the Virgin. After narrating Mary’s life of seclusion and prayer, the little work describes the miraculous arrival of the Apostles and Evangelists (those who had died are raised) from all parts of the world. John, coming from Ephesus and the fictitious author of the book, is assigned the principal role in the prayers and decisions (cf. Io. 19, 27).
Each one tells the Virgin the reason for and manner of his arrival: the Jews having compelled the Roman military authorities to act against the Virgin and the Apostles. God protects them by transporting them to Jerusalem. On Sunday Jesus appears to his Mother, saying to her: «Behold, from this moment your precious body will be transported to paradise and your holy soul to the heavens, into the treasures of my Father in transcendent splendor, where there are the peace and joy of the holy Angels». The transit is described as follows: «Then the face of the Mother of the Lord shone more brightly than light, and, rising to her feet, she blessed each of the Apostles with her own hand, and all gave thanks to God: and the Lord, stretching out his immaculate hands, received her holy and pure soul». After 3 days the body is transported from the tomb to paradise. The Apostles miraculously return to their cities.
The little book is a beautiful glorification of Mary, although it is by no means permissible to point to it as the foundation and basis of Marian theology and piety, for which much more ancient and reliable documents exist; its explicit testimony to the mystery of the Assumption is of great importance. Versions exist in Latin, Syriac, Coptic (the Sahidic and Bohairic dialects), Arabic, Ethiopic, and Armenian. The fairly profound differences between some of these translations suggest different texts even in the Greek original (4th–5th centuries), of which as many as 4 recensions are recorded.