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The Library

Forty Centuries of Christian Writing

1774 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.

401–500

The Fifth Century

1 work

c. 400–500; several recensions

Greek and Syriac

The Falling Asleep of Mary

Transitus Mariae

Anonymous

The apostles are carried on clouds from wherever they are preaching to Mary's bedside in Jerusalem. She dies without pain, her soul is received by her Son, and the body is taken up before it can be buried — in some versions after a hostile bystander's hands are severed at the bier.

Contested · NarrativeLukeActsJohnRevelationRead elsewhere