Steve Hayes
2022-07-25 09:30:06 UTC
On Fri, 22 Jul 2022 08:27:22 -0700 (PDT), Nick Cobb
<***@gmail.com> wrote:
Myrrhbearer and Equal of the Apostles Mary Magdalene
Commemorated on July 22
The Holy Myrrh-Bearer Equal of the Apostles Mary Magdalene. On the
banks of Lake Genesareth (Galilee), between the cities of Capharnum
and Tiberias, was the small city of Magdala, the remains of which have
survived to our day. Now only the small village of Mejhdel stands on
the site.
A woman whose name has entered forever into the Gospel account was
born and grew up in Magdala. The Gospel tells us nothing of Mary’s
younger years, but Tradition informs us that Mary of Magdala was young
and pretty, and led a sinful life. It says in the Gospels that the
Lord expelled seven devils from Mary (Luke. 8:2). From the moment of
her healing Mary led a new life, and became a true disciple of the
Savior.
The Gospel relates that Mary followed after the Lord, when He went
with the Apostles through the cities and villages of Judea and Galilee
preaching about the Kingdom of God. Together with the pious women
Joanna, wife of Choza (steward of Herod), Susanna and others, she
served Him from her own possessions (Luke 8:1-3) and undoubtedly
shared with the Apostles the evangelic tasks in common with the other
women. The Evangelist Luke, evidently, has her in view together with
the other women, stating that at the moment of the Procession of
Christ onto Golgotha, when after the Scourging He took on Himself the
heavy Cross, collapsing under its weight, the women followed after Him
weeping and wailing, but He consoled them. The Gospel relates that
Mary Magdalene was present on Golgotha at the moment of the Lord’s
Crucifixion. While all the disciples of the Savior ran away, she
remained fearlessly at the Cross together with the Mother of God and
the Apostle John.
The Evangelists also list among those standing at the Cross the mother
of the Apostle James, and Salome, and other women followers of the
Lord from Galilee, but all mention Mary Magdalene first. Saint John,
in addition to the Mother of God, names only her and Mary Cleopas.
This indicates how much she stood out from all the women who gathered
around the Lord.
She was faithful to Him not only in the days of His Glory, but also at
the moment of His extreme humiliation and insult. As the Evangelist
Matthew relates, she was present at the Burial of the Lord. Before her
eyes Joseph and ?ik?d?mos went out to the tomb with His lifeless Body.
She watched as they covered over the entrance to the cave with a large
stone, entombing the Source of Life.
Faithful to the Law in which she was raised, Mary together with the
other women spent the following day at rest, because it was the great
day of the Sabbath, coinciding with the Feast of Passover. But all the
rest of the peaceful day the women gathered spices to go to the Grave
of the Lord at dawn on Sunday and anoint His Body according to the
custom of the Jews.
It is necessary to mention that, having agreed to go on the first day
of the week to the Tomb early in the morning, the holy women had no
possibility of meeting with one another on Saturday. They went
separately on Friday evening to their own homes. They went out only at
dawn the following day to go to the Sepulchre, not all together, but
each from her own house.
The Evangelist Matthew writes that the women came to the grave at
dawn, or as the Evangelist Mark expresses, extremely early before the
rising of the sun. The Evangelist John, elaborating upon these, says
that Mary came to the grave so early that it was still dark.
Obviously, she waited impatiently for the end of night, but it was not
yet daybreak. She ran to the place where the Lord’s Body lay.
Mary went to the tomb alone. Seeing the stone pushed away from the
cave, she ran away in fear to tell the close Apostles of Christ, Peter
and John. Hearing the strange message that the Lord was gone from the
tomb, both Apostles ran to the tomb and, seeing the shroud and winding
cloths, they were amazed. They went and said nothing to anyone, but
Mary returned to the tomb and stood about the entrance to the tomb and
wept. Here in this dark tomb so recently lay her lifeless Lord.
Wanting proof that the tomb really was empty, she went down to it and
saw a strange sight. She saw two angels in white garments, one sitting
at the head, the other at the foot, where the Body of Jesus had been
placed. They asked her, “Woman, why weepest thou?” She answered them
with the words which she had said to the Apostles, “They have taken my
Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” At that moment, she
turned around and saw the Risen Jesus standing near the grave, but she
did not recognize Him.
He asked Mary, “Woman, why weepest thou? Whom dost thou seek?” She
answered thinking that she was seeing the gardener, “Sir, if thou hast
taken him, tell where thou hast put Him, and I will take Him away.”
Then she recognized the Lord’s voice. This was the voice she heard in
those days and years, when she followed the Lord through all the
cities and places where He preached. He spoke her name, and she gave a
joyful shout, “Rabbi” (Teacher).
Respect and love, fondness and deep veneration, a feeling of
thankfulness and recognition at His Splendor as great Teacher, all
came together in this single outcry. She was able to say nothing more
and she threw herself down at the feet of her Teacher to wash them
with tears of joy. But the Lord said to her: “Touch me not; for I am
not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and tell them: ‘I
ascend to My Father, and your Father; to My God and to your God.’”
She came to herself and again ran to the Apostles, to do the will of
Him sending her to preach. Again she ran into the house, where the
Apostles still remained in dismay, and proclaimed to them the joyous
message, “I have seen the Lord!” This was the first preaching in the
world about the Resurrection.
The Apostles proclaimed the Glad Tidings to the world, but she
proclaimed it to the Apostles themselves.
Holy Scripture does not tell us about the life of Mary Magdalene after
the Resurrection of Christ, but it is impossible to doubt, that if in
the terrifying minutes of Christ’s Crucifixion she was at the foot of
His Cross with His All-Pure Mother and Saint John, she must have
stayed with them during the happier time after the Resurrection and
Ascension of Christ. Thus in the Acts of the Apostles Saint Luke
writes that all the Apostles with one mind stayed in prayer and
supplication, with certain women and Mary the Mother of Jesus and His
brethren.
Holy Tradition testifies that when the Apostles departed from
Jerusalem to preach to all the ends of the earth, then Mary Magdalene
also went with them. A daring woman, whose heart was full of
reminiscence of the Resurrection, she went beyond her native borders
and went to preach in pagan Rome. Everywhere she proclaimed to people
about Christ and His teaching. When many did not believe that Christ
is risen, she repeated to them what she had said to the Apostles on
the radiant morning of the Resurrection: “I have seen the Lord!” With
this message she went all over Italy.
Tradition relates that in Italy Mary Magdalene visited Emperor
Tiberias (14-37 A.D.) and proclaimed to him Christ’s Resurrection.
According to Tradition, she brought him a red egg as a symbol of the
Resurrection, a symbol of new life with the words: “Christ is Risen!”
Then she told the emperor that in his Province of Judea the unjustly
condemned Jesus the Galilean, a holy man, a miracleworker, powerful
before God and all mankind, had been executed at the instigation of
the Jewish High Priests, and the sentence confirmed by the procurator
appointed by Tiberias, Pontius Pilate.
Mary repeated the words of the Apostles, that we are redeemed from the
vanity of life not with perishable silver or gold, but rather by the
precious Blood of Christ.
Thanks to Mary Magdalene the custom to give each other paschal eggs on
the day of the Radiant Resurrection of Christ spread among Christians
over all the world. In one ancient Greek manuscript, written on
parchment, kept in the monastery library of Saint Athanasius near
Thessalonica, is a prayer read on the day of Holy Pascha for the
blessing of eggs and cheese. In it is indicated that the igumen in
passing out the blessed eggs says to the brethren: “Thus have we
received from the holy Fathers, who preserved this custom from the
very time of the holy Apostles, therefore the holy Equal of the
Apostles Mary Magdalene first showed believers the example of this
joyful offering.”
Mary Magdalene continued her preaching in Italy and in the city of
Rome itself. Evidently, the Apostle Paul has her in mind in his
Epistle to the Romans (16: 6), where together with other ascetics of
evangelic preaching he mentions Mary (Mariam), who as he expresses
“has bestowed much labor on us.” Evidently, she extensively served the
Church in its means of subsistence and its difficulties, being exposed
to dangers, and sharing with the Apostles the labors of preaching.
According to Church Tradition, she remained in Rome until the arrival
of the Apostle Paul, and for two more years following his departure
from Rome after the first court judgment upon him. From Rome, Saint
Mary Magdalene, already bent with age, moved to Ephesus where the holy
Apostle John unceasingly labored. There the saint finished her earthly
life and was buried.
Her holy relics were transferred in the ninth century to
Constantinople, and placed in the monastery Church of Saint Lazarus.
In the era of the Crusader campaigns they were transferred to Italy
and placed at Rome under the altar of the Lateran Cathedral. Part of
the relics of Mary Magdalene are said to be in Provage, France near
Marseilles, where over them at the foot of a steep mountain a splendid
church is built in her honor.
The Orthodox Church honors the holy memory of Saint Mary Magdalene,
the woman called by the Lord Himself from darkness to light, and from
the power of Satan to God.
Formerly immersed in sin and having received healing, she sincerely
and irrevocably began a new life and never wavered from that path.
Mary loved the Lord Who called her to a new life. She was faithful to
Him not only when He was surrounded by enthusiastic crowds and winning
recognition as a miracle-worker, but also when all the disciples
deserted Him in fear and He, humiliated and crucified, hung in torment
upon the Cross. This is why the Lord, knowing her faithfulness,
appeared to her first, and esteemed her worthy to be first to proclaim
His Resurrection.
(reformatted for legibility)
<***@gmail.com> wrote:
Myrrhbearer and Equal of the Apostles Mary Magdalene
Commemorated on July 22
The Holy Myrrh-Bearer Equal of the Apostles Mary Magdalene. On the
banks of Lake Genesareth (Galilee), between the cities of Capharnum
and Tiberias, was the small city of Magdala, the remains of which have
survived to our day. Now only the small village of Mejhdel stands on
the site.
A woman whose name has entered forever into the Gospel account was
born and grew up in Magdala. The Gospel tells us nothing of Mary’s
younger years, but Tradition informs us that Mary of Magdala was young
and pretty, and led a sinful life. It says in the Gospels that the
Lord expelled seven devils from Mary (Luke. 8:2). From the moment of
her healing Mary led a new life, and became a true disciple of the
Savior.
The Gospel relates that Mary followed after the Lord, when He went
with the Apostles through the cities and villages of Judea and Galilee
preaching about the Kingdom of God. Together with the pious women
Joanna, wife of Choza (steward of Herod), Susanna and others, she
served Him from her own possessions (Luke 8:1-3) and undoubtedly
shared with the Apostles the evangelic tasks in common with the other
women. The Evangelist Luke, evidently, has her in view together with
the other women, stating that at the moment of the Procession of
Christ onto Golgotha, when after the Scourging He took on Himself the
heavy Cross, collapsing under its weight, the women followed after Him
weeping and wailing, but He consoled them. The Gospel relates that
Mary Magdalene was present on Golgotha at the moment of the Lord’s
Crucifixion. While all the disciples of the Savior ran away, she
remained fearlessly at the Cross together with the Mother of God and
the Apostle John.
The Evangelists also list among those standing at the Cross the mother
of the Apostle James, and Salome, and other women followers of the
Lord from Galilee, but all mention Mary Magdalene first. Saint John,
in addition to the Mother of God, names only her and Mary Cleopas.
This indicates how much she stood out from all the women who gathered
around the Lord.
She was faithful to Him not only in the days of His Glory, but also at
the moment of His extreme humiliation and insult. As the Evangelist
Matthew relates, she was present at the Burial of the Lord. Before her
eyes Joseph and ?ik?d?mos went out to the tomb with His lifeless Body.
She watched as they covered over the entrance to the cave with a large
stone, entombing the Source of Life.
Faithful to the Law in which she was raised, Mary together with the
other women spent the following day at rest, because it was the great
day of the Sabbath, coinciding with the Feast of Passover. But all the
rest of the peaceful day the women gathered spices to go to the Grave
of the Lord at dawn on Sunday and anoint His Body according to the
custom of the Jews.
It is necessary to mention that, having agreed to go on the first day
of the week to the Tomb early in the morning, the holy women had no
possibility of meeting with one another on Saturday. They went
separately on Friday evening to their own homes. They went out only at
dawn the following day to go to the Sepulchre, not all together, but
each from her own house.
The Evangelist Matthew writes that the women came to the grave at
dawn, or as the Evangelist Mark expresses, extremely early before the
rising of the sun. The Evangelist John, elaborating upon these, says
that Mary came to the grave so early that it was still dark.
Obviously, she waited impatiently for the end of night, but it was not
yet daybreak. She ran to the place where the Lord’s Body lay.
Mary went to the tomb alone. Seeing the stone pushed away from the
cave, she ran away in fear to tell the close Apostles of Christ, Peter
and John. Hearing the strange message that the Lord was gone from the
tomb, both Apostles ran to the tomb and, seeing the shroud and winding
cloths, they were amazed. They went and said nothing to anyone, but
Mary returned to the tomb and stood about the entrance to the tomb and
wept. Here in this dark tomb so recently lay her lifeless Lord.
Wanting proof that the tomb really was empty, she went down to it and
saw a strange sight. She saw two angels in white garments, one sitting
at the head, the other at the foot, where the Body of Jesus had been
placed. They asked her, “Woman, why weepest thou?” She answered them
with the words which she had said to the Apostles, “They have taken my
Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” At that moment, she
turned around and saw the Risen Jesus standing near the grave, but she
did not recognize Him.
He asked Mary, “Woman, why weepest thou? Whom dost thou seek?” She
answered thinking that she was seeing the gardener, “Sir, if thou hast
taken him, tell where thou hast put Him, and I will take Him away.”
Then she recognized the Lord’s voice. This was the voice she heard in
those days and years, when she followed the Lord through all the
cities and places where He preached. He spoke her name, and she gave a
joyful shout, “Rabbi” (Teacher).
Respect and love, fondness and deep veneration, a feeling of
thankfulness and recognition at His Splendor as great Teacher, all
came together in this single outcry. She was able to say nothing more
and she threw herself down at the feet of her Teacher to wash them
with tears of joy. But the Lord said to her: “Touch me not; for I am
not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and tell them: ‘I
ascend to My Father, and your Father; to My God and to your God.’”
She came to herself and again ran to the Apostles, to do the will of
Him sending her to preach. Again she ran into the house, where the
Apostles still remained in dismay, and proclaimed to them the joyous
message, “I have seen the Lord!” This was the first preaching in the
world about the Resurrection.
The Apostles proclaimed the Glad Tidings to the world, but she
proclaimed it to the Apostles themselves.
Holy Scripture does not tell us about the life of Mary Magdalene after
the Resurrection of Christ, but it is impossible to doubt, that if in
the terrifying minutes of Christ’s Crucifixion she was at the foot of
His Cross with His All-Pure Mother and Saint John, she must have
stayed with them during the happier time after the Resurrection and
Ascension of Christ. Thus in the Acts of the Apostles Saint Luke
writes that all the Apostles with one mind stayed in prayer and
supplication, with certain women and Mary the Mother of Jesus and His
brethren.
Holy Tradition testifies that when the Apostles departed from
Jerusalem to preach to all the ends of the earth, then Mary Magdalene
also went with them. A daring woman, whose heart was full of
reminiscence of the Resurrection, she went beyond her native borders
and went to preach in pagan Rome. Everywhere she proclaimed to people
about Christ and His teaching. When many did not believe that Christ
is risen, she repeated to them what she had said to the Apostles on
the radiant morning of the Resurrection: “I have seen the Lord!” With
this message she went all over Italy.
Tradition relates that in Italy Mary Magdalene visited Emperor
Tiberias (14-37 A.D.) and proclaimed to him Christ’s Resurrection.
According to Tradition, she brought him a red egg as a symbol of the
Resurrection, a symbol of new life with the words: “Christ is Risen!”
Then she told the emperor that in his Province of Judea the unjustly
condemned Jesus the Galilean, a holy man, a miracleworker, powerful
before God and all mankind, had been executed at the instigation of
the Jewish High Priests, and the sentence confirmed by the procurator
appointed by Tiberias, Pontius Pilate.
Mary repeated the words of the Apostles, that we are redeemed from the
vanity of life not with perishable silver or gold, but rather by the
precious Blood of Christ.
Thanks to Mary Magdalene the custom to give each other paschal eggs on
the day of the Radiant Resurrection of Christ spread among Christians
over all the world. In one ancient Greek manuscript, written on
parchment, kept in the monastery library of Saint Athanasius near
Thessalonica, is a prayer read on the day of Holy Pascha for the
blessing of eggs and cheese. In it is indicated that the igumen in
passing out the blessed eggs says to the brethren: “Thus have we
received from the holy Fathers, who preserved this custom from the
very time of the holy Apostles, therefore the holy Equal of the
Apostles Mary Magdalene first showed believers the example of this
joyful offering.”
Mary Magdalene continued her preaching in Italy and in the city of
Rome itself. Evidently, the Apostle Paul has her in mind in his
Epistle to the Romans (16: 6), where together with other ascetics of
evangelic preaching he mentions Mary (Mariam), who as he expresses
“has bestowed much labor on us.” Evidently, she extensively served the
Church in its means of subsistence and its difficulties, being exposed
to dangers, and sharing with the Apostles the labors of preaching.
According to Church Tradition, she remained in Rome until the arrival
of the Apostle Paul, and for two more years following his departure
from Rome after the first court judgment upon him. From Rome, Saint
Mary Magdalene, already bent with age, moved to Ephesus where the holy
Apostle John unceasingly labored. There the saint finished her earthly
life and was buried.
Her holy relics were transferred in the ninth century to
Constantinople, and placed in the monastery Church of Saint Lazarus.
In the era of the Crusader campaigns they were transferred to Italy
and placed at Rome under the altar of the Lateran Cathedral. Part of
the relics of Mary Magdalene are said to be in Provage, France near
Marseilles, where over them at the foot of a steep mountain a splendid
church is built in her honor.
The Orthodox Church honors the holy memory of Saint Mary Magdalene,
the woman called by the Lord Himself from darkness to light, and from
the power of Satan to God.
Formerly immersed in sin and having received healing, she sincerely
and irrevocably began a new life and never wavered from that path.
Mary loved the Lord Who called her to a new life. She was faithful to
Him not only when He was surrounded by enthusiastic crowds and winning
recognition as a miracle-worker, but also when all the disciples
deserted Him in fear and He, humiliated and crucified, hung in torment
upon the Cross. This is why the Lord, knowing her faithfulness,
appeared to her first, and esteemed her worthy to be first to proclaim
His Resurrection.
(reformatted for legibility)