If you haven't already requested this information from John Behr, that may be a good place to start. Another suggestions would be to find an Orthodox Church and inquire your questions with a priest or attend a Bible study or question and answer session if one is offered. In this way you can get your questions answered directly from the source if you follow what I am suggesting. In Jesus name. Hope this helps.

@jessejames5335 Read Rev 5:5 and Rev 7:13-14 and you will see the Elders in heaven are talking with John. From this we can see that, while their bodies are in the earth "sleeping" their spirits are in heaven. They are able to communicate. The dead, or departed's status is often misstaught and misquoted from passages like "the dead know nothing". Lets look at that passage in the 9th chapter of Ecclesiastes. "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun." Well, its awkward to build any kind of foundation with this verse. Solomon spoke/wrote this with the divine revelation that had been given so far. We know later with the 1st Coming of Christ that the dead will in fact have a part in anything that happens under the sun. We know that Lazarus was dead, Jesus waited until he died from his sickness before coming to raise him back up. Where did the dead go before Jesus died? Jesus affirmed an older Jewish religious tradition that the righteous dead went to a place called "Abraham's bosom" but the unrighteous went to a place called Hades. Since the human has parts such as a body, and a soul or spirit, we should ask what is death? Death is the separation of body from the soul. Bodies decay away leaving bones, and even bones will turn back to dust. A soul or spirit doesn't. Jesus speaks to the thief on his right, the one who repented. "Today you will be with me in paradise." Orthodox Christianity holds an ancient doctrine called "The harrowing of Hell" or "The harrowing of Hades" After His human soul (which was fully part of the Divine Logos, or second person of the Trinity) was severed from his body at death, He descended into the underworld. He proclaimed liberty to the captive righteous dead, such as Abraham, and Adam and Eve, and took the keys of Hell itself, and led them out. You can google and research this term "The harrowing of Hell" to learn more. So, in John's book of Revelation we see all these people who had been brought from that place, and now they were abiding in the place where angels are, a place where thrones exist, and an altar. "And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand" (Rev. 8.3,4) Now we can ask what the bible verse means when it says: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us". If you ask protestant bible teacher and scholars, they will reject the ancient Fathers of the earliest church and deny that we are surrounded by Saints, who witness our lives. But the ancient church says something else. The living faith says not only do they witness our lives, they pray to God with us, when we ask them to. Not only that, but God uses these same saints to minister to the living body of Christ. Some times they bear miracles to us, or appear visibly and talk with us, delivering guidance. They very much are not dead. They live in the place of the Most High, and they work there, and here. This is rejected by rationalism, modernism and Protestantism but is very much held by all forms of Apostolic Christianity. In the 5th Century Christianity divided over doctrines of who Christ is after the council of Chalcedon in 431AD. This was a very long time before Roman Catholicism separated from the Orthodox. This 5th century group of churches are the Copts, the Ethiopians, the Arminian, Indian Malankara and the Syriac orthodox. Originally the Georgians of the country Georgia were in this group as well. They are called Oriental Orthodox, and the ones of accepted Chalcedon were called Eastern Orthodox. From the Eastern Orthodox, the Roman or Latin speaking western Church departed in schism, formally in 1054. Now, all of these are apostolic churches that go back to the very apostles themselves with unbroken lines of succession. And even though they are in profound disagreement about a lot of things, the doctrines concerning the Departed are the same. The saints who died in right standing with God, in Christ, make their way to heaven to be with Jesus and the Father, and the angels. Rome added a thing called Purgatory where the stains of sin on the soul are bleached away, before being allowed into the presence of God, but it is a recent innovation or invention. It is remarkable that such a broad and diverse group will keep these things in common and in agreement, but only protestants since Martin Luthor and Jean Calvin and protestants after them teach something else. Lastly, let us speak about Mary. Or the Blessed Theotokos (Mother and Bearer of God). At the age of about 70, the Holy Mother died. She did not remain dead. But she either was transformed into the resurrected state by Christ at the moment of her passing, or after several days. This was seen by several of the Apostles as she was seen following Christ back up into Heaven. So, she currently is what all saints will become when the Lord returns to rapture the church. The bodily new person. This is called "the Dormation of Mary" or "the Assumption of Mary" doctrine. The Dormation one is how the Orthodox teach it, and the Assumption is how the Roman Catholics teach it. St. Paul says "At His coming, we will become as He is" Whatever Jesus is after the resurrection, we will be partakers of that. I do not think we get to join the Holy Trinity, but we become something other than normal humans. Thus, in addition to the special status of having given birth to God, the Son, she is also the first to be truly ressurrected. It is in this place or state we can realize she isn't like us normal humans anymore. More God given abilities, would seem to indicate more responsibilities. Can she join us in prayer? Try asking her to find out. Bear in mind what Christ said on the Cross "Mother, behold your son" speaking to her and John. "Son, behold your mother" he also said. Now, if we are joined to Christ by Adoption, and are given all things of the house of God, be aware that we now have a Mother who cares about her adopted children, even the ones in ignorance about her. We have someone near and dear to Jesus, who will pray with us! How wonderful God is to grant us all such a blessing. Pray and ask Jesus Christ our Lord to reveal the truth of these things. I have only put forward my human understanding of the ancient teaching of the Church, and I am not perfect. Christ is. He is without blemish or wrinkle, the very spotless lamb of God. Please forgive the length of this response.