the orthodox church specifically holds one of the two roman catholic alternative beliefs, teaching that mary died a natural death, like any human being; that her soul was received by christ upon death; and that her body was resurrected on the third day after her repose, at which time she was taken up, bodily only, into heaven when the apostles, miraculously transported from the ends of the earth, found her tomb to be empty. the specific belief of the orthodox is expressed in their liturgical texts used at the feast of the dormition.