The Dormition Fast is a short and strict fast of two weeks, from August 1 to the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos on August 15. Brief as it is, the Church keeps it with care, honouring the Mother of God by preparing for her feast as one would prepare for the Lord's own.
The fast is marked by the singing of the Paraklesis, the moving service of supplication to the Theotokos, prayed on the evenings of the fast. In it the faithful bring their needs and griefs to her intercession, keeping her company in these days as she is honoured in her falling-asleep and her being taken up to her Son.
That the church year should end, in August, with a fast in honour of the Theotokos, she in whom the promise of the Resurrection is already kept, sets the whole year within her hope. The keeping of it, like every fast, is received from one's priest according to one's strength.
