The Christians of the four first centuries
were ignorant of the death and burial of Mary. The tradition of Ephesus is affirmed by the synod, (
Concil. tom. iii. p. 1102;) yet it has been superseded by the claim of
Jerusalem; and her empty sepulchre, as it was shown to the
pilgrims, produced the fable of her resurrection and
assumption, in which the Greek and Latin churches have
piously acquiesced. See Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 48,
No. 6, etc.) and Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. i. p. 467 -
477.)