James Puthuparampi, a Catholic priest (part of the Syro-Malankara rite), wrote a scholary tome on the Mariology of Jacob of Serugh (alt. Serug). On the topic of Jacob's belief in the assumption of the soul of Mary, he wrote that:
Mary Now in Heaven
The resurrection and ascension
of our Lord is the foundation of the conception of Mary’s glorious entrance
into heaven. There is no biblical evidence concerning the assumption of Mary
just as there is no biblical reference to her death. When we go through the
homily On the Death and Burial of Mary, we understand Mar Jacob’s conviction
that the Virgin who, never for a moment was under the slightest shadow of sin
and who “believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her
from the Lord”, was taken to heaven. The Bible being reticent about the assumption,
the apocryphal writings were the source for him. Mar Jacob narrates Mary’s
assumption like this:
The heavenly company performed
their “Holy, Holy, Holy,” unto the
glorious soul of this Mother of the Son of God.
Fiery seraphim surrounded the soul of the departed and raised the loud
sound of their joyful shouts.
Here he does not use the
expression “bodily assumption”, but describes her glorious entry into heaven.
Just as at the ascension of Christ, so also when speaking about Mary’s entry
into heaven, Mar Jacob puts Psalm 24:7 in the mouth of the angels, standing at
the doors of heaven.
They shouted and said: “Lift
up, O gates, all your heads, because the
Mother of the King seeks to enter the bridal
chamber of light.”
When Mary entered into
heavenly glory, she became a sign to the poor and the humble that they also
will attain in fullness what Christ promised in the Beatitudes (Mt 5:3-10).
Christians hope for the resurrection of the dead as St. Paul preached: “For as in
Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own
order: Christ the first fruit, then at his coming those who belong to Christ”
(1 Cor 15:22-23). This hope was realized in Mary as she entered into heavenly
glory. Mary praised the Lord -in the Magnificat for having “exalted those of
low degree” (Lk 1:52); and this exaltation became a reality in the fullest
sense at her glorious entry, which is a prefigure of our future glory. Mary who
experienced death, has now become one who shares in her Son’s role as a giver
of new life. (James Puthuparampil, Mariological Thought of Mar Jacob of
Serugh (451-521) [MŌRĀN 'ETH'Ō Series 25; Kerala, India: St. Ephrem
Ecumenical Research Institute, 2005], 337-39)
After the sentence, “Here he does not use the expression ‘bodily
assumption’, but describes her glorious entry into heaven,” we have the
following endnote:
When we analyse the Syriac
word napsa, the word for the soul, we understand that it signifies more
than soul, for in Syriac this word has different meanings such as breath of
life, a soul, living person and oneself. (Cf. J. Payne Smith, A Compendious
Syriac Dictionary, 346-347. B. P. Sony analyses the meaning of soul (napsa)
in the study on Mar Jacob’s understanding of creation and anthropology. B. P. Sony, La doctrine
de Jacques de Saroug sur la creation et Vanthropologie, 238). Perhaps this term has a greater significance
than the soul. So, napsa could refer to Mary herself, not just to the
soul. We suggest this because Mar Jacob does not use the word napsa in
the following passages, rather he uses expressions such as “Mother of the King”
and “Mother of Mercy.” (Ibid., 338 n. 182)
Elsewhere, on how the
preaching of the bodily assumption of Mary is a late development, the author
noted that:
It is at a later period that the theme of Mary’s
assumption into heaven has come into the preaching of the Fathers. For example, in the 8th
century Germanum of Constantinople (+733), Andrew of Crete (+740) and John Damascene
(+749) spoke about the Mary’s assumption and her heavenly mediation. (Ibid.,
337-38 n. 180)
