Troparia and kontakia for August 15

The Dormition of our Most Holy Lady the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary

Troparion — Tone 1

In giving birth, you preserved your virginity, / and in falling asleep you did not forsake the world, O Theotokos. / You passed into life as the Mother of Life, / and by your prayers, you deliver our souls from death.

Kontakion — Tone 2

Neither the tomb, nor death had power over the Theotokos, / who is unsleeping1 in her intercessions and an unchanging hope in her protection. / For as the Mother of Life, / she was translated into life by Him who dwelt in her ever-virginal womb.


1 Unsleeping (ἀκοίμητος in Greek), which is a poetic contrast to the name of the Feast (Κοίμησις), the Dormition, or Falling Asleep.

Saint Makarios the Roman

Troparion — Tone 8

(Podoben: “Come, let us worship the Word...”)
With the streams of your tears, you cultivated the barrenness of the desert, / and by your sighings from the depths, your labors bore fruit a hundredfold, / and you became a luminary of the world, radiant with miracles. / O Makarios our Father, intercede with Christ God for the salvation of our souls.

Kontakion — Tone 4

Having left your homeland, O blessed one, / you settled in the wilderness on an island in the marshes of Lezna, / and there you shone forth in a life of severity; / and having astounded many by your life, you received the gift of miracles from Christ. / Remember us who revere your memory as we cry to you: “Rejoice, Makarios our Father.”

Icon of Sophia, the Wisdom of God (Novgorod)

Troparion — Tone 1

O Christ our God, the Eternal Wisdom, / by Your Divine Providence, You bowed down the Heavens, / and deigned to dwell in the womb of the Pure Virgin, / having broken the enmity,1 You have sanctified our nature and revealed Your Kingdom to us; / therefore You, our Creator and Savior, and the Pure Virgin who gave birth to You, / serve as the mystery of our salvation, and we glorify you in the Orthodox way.


1 Ephesians 2:14