On August 16th, 2025, at Great Vespers, Fr. Michael offered an introduction to the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos.

Speaking to the many non-Orthodox visitors and returning guests present in our parish, he explained the meaning of Dormition: how the Church honors the falling asleep of the Mother of God, her bodily assumption into heaven, and the hope this gives to all Christians of life in Christ beyond the grave. Fr. Michael highlighted how the feast is not about death as an end, but about death being transformed by Christ into a passage to eternal life, with the Virgin Mary as the first among the faithful to follow Him.