
Well, it wasn't that way for Enoch and Elijah, both of whom were
translated directly into heaven.  It's beyond my grasp why some object
that Mary, who was far greater than either Enoch or Elijah, should not
benefit from the same privelege they recieved.  She was after all,
Mother of God, full of grace, and immaculate.


And in St. Germain of Constantinople and St. John of Damascus, and in
St. Andrew of Crete, among others.

And it should be noted that the Monophysite Chruches of Egypt and Syria
also hold to this belief as part of divine revelation, even though they
broke away from the unity of the Chruch in 451 AD by rejecting the
Council of Chalcedon.  It might be argued by some Protestants that the
Catholics and Orthodox made this belief up, but the Monophysites, put a
big hole in that notion, as they also hold the belief, and they split
from the Chruch before the belief was first annunciated in writing (as
far as is known, much has been lost from the time of the Fathers).