Why does the Russian Orthodox Church honor the memory of the myrrh-bearing women? The icon of the holy myrrh-bearing women at the tomb of the Lord The icon of the myrrh-bearing wife helps in what
AT Week of the Myrrh-Bearing Women The Church remembers the holy women - witnesses of the suffering, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Among the myrrh-bearing women, we know the names of only a few, about whom the holy evangelists wrote. First - Mary Magdalene, it is said about her that the Lord cast out “seven demons” from her (according to church interpretation, here “seven” means many; by “demons” one can also understand sinful habits that are contrary to the seven basic virtues - the gifts of the Holy Spirit). Second - Salome, who was the daughter of Joseph the Betrothed and the mother of the holy apostles James and John Zebedee. Third - John, the wife of Khuzan, the steward of King Herod, the one who saved the holy head of John the Forerunner from desecration. Fourth and fifth - Mary and Martha, Sisters Lazareva. Sixth - Marya Kleopina, which, according to the laws of Jewish kinship, the evangelist calls the sister of the Most Holy Theotokos, the seventh - Sosana. Among the myrrh-bearing women there was also Holy Mother of God, Which the evangelists call "Mary Jacob" and "Mary Joseph." There were many others with them, who walked with the Lord during His earthly life and served Him.
The resurrected Savior appeared first to the myrrh-bearing women. From them came the Easter greeting " Christ is Risen!". On the night of the Resurrection of Christ, the myrrh-bearing women hurried to the tomb of the Lord with the world in their hands, in order, according to Eastern custom, to pour fragrant aromas on the Body of the Savior. The wives, heading towards the coffin, thought: Who will roll away the stone from the tomb?". Before their arrival, due to the descent of the Angel, an earthquake occurs, which rolled off the stone and plunged the guard into fear. The angel told the women that Christ had risen and would precede them in Galilee. Before all, the Lord appeared to His Most Pure Mother. But, as the holy fathers write, so that for the sake of close kinship the miraculous phenomenon would not be subjected to some doubt, the evangelists do not declare this directly, but point to Mary Magdalene. We find some difference in the description of events among different evangelists, but there is no contradiction here, because they write about different times. Evangelist Matthew about the "Sabbath supper", when the women did not yet come in peace, but to "see the tomb". Mark writes about the early morning, when the sun was already shining. Mary Magdalene, as the most zealous, came repeatedly, was not afraid to go alone, in the middle of the dark night and despising the danger from the likelihood of meeting with armed Roman soldiers: by order of Pilate, they were given full power for reprisals if any of the students dared to come to the Holy Sepulcher. The Gospel of John, at the latest, emphasizes that Mary Magdalene came to the tomb first. Returning to the apostles Peter and John, she says: “We do not know where they laid Him” (John 20:2). After the apostles Peter and John left, Mary Magdalene remained at the tomb. She thought the body had been stolen and cried. At this time, Christ appeared to her, whom she at first mistook for a gardener. He tells her not to touch Him until he has ascended to the Father, and asks her to inform the disciples about His Resurrection. Then, according to Matthew, Mary, returning with the gospel to the disciples, meets the second Mary, and Christ appears a second time, commanding to again inform all the disciples about the Resurrection. The apostles, having heard about the resurrection of Jesus, did not believe.
Some time after the Resurrection of Christ, after His Holy Mary Magdalene, as well as Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus, arrived in Rome in order to proclaim to the reigning emperor Tiberius Caesar the whole truth about past events. They presented him with many gifts and told about all the miracles and good deeds that Christ the Savior showed in the Jews and about how cruelly and inhumanly they condemned Him to death. By order of the emperor, other witnesses were then called, among them - the centurion Login, who stood at the Cross of the Lord. He had on himself the holy robe of the Lord, which he got by lot, and the emperor himself immediately received healing from it, applying it to a purulent scab on his face. Then the imperial chamber shook and shook, from which all the golden and silver idols that were there crumbled to dust. Very frightened, Caesar decided to make a detailed investigation.
Soon all the lawless murderers were brought to a fair trial and severe retribution - both Pilate and the Jewish elders. Marya Magdalene then worked hard in the gospel of Christ, for which she received in the church the title of Equal-to-the-Apostles. Having reached old age, she reposed in the Greek city of Ephesus and was buried by the holy Apostle John the Theologian. In the year 886, under the Greek emperor Leo the Wise, her relics were solemnly transferred to the Constantinople monastery of St. Lazarus.
Kontakion, tone 2.
Having ordered the myrrh-bearing women to rejoice, you made the great-grandmother Evva cry, by your resurrection, Christ God. Commanded your apostle to preach, He is risen from the tomb.
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Holy Righteous Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus
Good-looking Joseph, as Holy Scripture calls him, was one of the seventy apostles. He came from the city of Arimathea or Ramatha (Rama) and was a rich and distinguished member of the Sanhedrin and, like Nicodemus, a secret disciple of Christ. However, when extreme circumstances demanded it, he courageously revealed his faith and decided to go to Pontius Pilate to ask for the Holy Body of the Lord for burial. As a man famous and known personally to the ruler himself, and also having sufficient funds for ransom, he had the courage to do so. Heeding the prayer of the Most Holy Theotokos, he despised all the fears and fears of a possible subsequent revenge from the Jewish elders. Having received permission to remove Jesus from the cross, he buried him in a tomb carved into the rock, which belonged to him. Together with Nicodemus, Joseph wrapped a shroud around the body of Jesus. It is believed that the burial in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea fulfilled the messianic prophecy of Isaiah:
He was assigned a tomb with evildoers, but He is buried with a rich man (Isaiah 53:9).
After participating in the burial of Christ, Nicodemus, according to the Tradition of the Church, was expelled from Judea. And Joseph of Arimathea was put in chains and thrown into a pit, from where he was saved by an angel. Subsequently, Joseph, as Sacred Tradition says, together with Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus, who was resurrected by Christ, preached the Gospel in Gaul, on the territory of modern France.
Descent from the cross. Position in the coffin. Late 16th - early 17th centuries State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
It is believed that Nicodemus is the author of one of the apocryphal gospels, the date of which has not been established. The oldest parts of the text first appeared in ancient Greek. The Gospel of Nicodemus consists of the main part, which is called the Acts of Pilate, and an appendix to it - the Descent into Hell, which is absent in the Greek version of the text, being a later addition in the Latin version.
Feast of the Holy Myrrh-bearing Women. Icons
The gospel story about the appearance of an angel to women at the Holy Sepulcher, representing the first evidence of the Resurrection of the Lord, formed the basis of the early iconography of the Resurrection of Christ. The earliest known icon painting of the Myrrh-bearing Women at the Holy Sepulcher is in the baptistery at Dura Europos (232/3 or between 232 and 256). The myrrh-bearing women are depicted walking from left to right towards the closed Tomb, holding vessels of oil and burning torches in their hands; above the Sepulcher - two stars, symbolizing angels. On the fresco of the vestibule of the burial complex in the Karmus quarter in Alexandria (second half of the 5th century), an image of a wingless angel sitting in front of the coffin appeared - this was later called "The appearance of an angel to the myrrh-bearing women."
On the relief of a silver sarcophagus (4th century) from San Nazaro Maggiore in Milan, three Myrrh-Bearing Women are shown in front of the Tomb in the form of a building, above which is the figure of a descending angel. On the avoria (c. 400), the tomb is depicted as a two-tiered stone building, with the guards leaning on it; on the left, an angel sits at the half-open door; on the right, the Myrrh-bearing Women approach, above which the Ascension of the Lord is represented.
In the Gospel of Ravvula, a sheet miniature is presented with the compositions “The appearance of an angel to the myrrh-bearing women” in the lower part and “The Crucifixion” in the upper part: in the center among the trees, on the same level with their tops, there is a small tomb with a half-open door, the guards fell on their knees before the entrance , one recoils from the light coming from behind the door. To the left of the tomb, a winged angel sits on a stone block, announcing the Resurrection of Jesus Christ to two wives, who are also standing on the left. In one of them, depicted with a halo, the Mother of God is recognized. Her similar image is presented in the scene "Crucifixion" and repeated again to the right of the tomb in "The Appearance of Jesus Christ to Mary after the Resurrection."
In the XIII-XIV centuries. there are various modifications of the iconography developed in the previous period. They often revive early Byzantine forms of individual objects. On the fresco of the monastery church in Mileshev (before 1228, Serbia), the Myrrh-Bearing Women are depicted to the right of the angel, whose large figure dominates the composition. The angel, seated on a large marble cubic block in shining white robes, is depicted frontally and looks straight ahead. In his right hand he has a wand, with his left hand he points to an empty tomb in the form of a vertical rectangular building with a pitched roof and a barred arched opening, inside of which there is a rolled shroud. To the right of the stone are small figures of two Myrrh-Bearing Women. In the hands of one is a small kacea censer. Sleeping guards are depicted below. On the icon of the XIV century. presented in one composition "Descent into hell" and "The appearance of an angel to myrrh-bearing women"; women are depicted twice: sitting in front of the tomb and standing in front of an angel who, sitting on a slab, points them to a cave with linen.
Myrrh-bearing women at the Holy Sepulcher. Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral of the Mirozhsky Monastery, Pskov. Fresco on the east wall of the north transept. Before 1156
In Russian, as well as in Byzantine, monuments, the scene “The Appearance of an Angel to the Myrrh-Bearing Women” is included in the passionate cycles, adjoining either the “Descent into Hell” or the “Appearance of Christ to the Myrrh-Bearing Women”, and is also found in the festive row of the iconostasis.
In general, the composition follows the scheme developed in the Middle Byzantine period, although there are various options for depicting the tomb and shrouds, the number of myrrh-bearing women and guards. So, in the painting of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin of the Snetogorsk Monastery (1313), the Wives are traditionally depicted as coming from the left, but the Holy Sepulcher is presented in a very special way: in the form of a rectangular slab under the ciborium, on which two conventionally depicted shrouds lie horizontally in a row. Lamps on chains hang over the coffin. This detail of the composition could reflect the real impressions of the pilgrims from visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and the decoration of the Anointing Stone.
Myrrh-bearing women at the Holy Sepulcher. From a festive occasion. Vologda. St. Petersburg, State Russian Museum. Late XV - early XVI centuries.
Another version of the iconography “The Appearance of an Angel to the Myrrh-Bearing Women” is presented on an icon from the iconostasis of the Trinity Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra (1425). The scene takes place against the backdrop of a mountainous landscape. An angel with wings raised vertically is depicted sitting on a round stone next to a diagonally located sarcophagus with shrouds, the upper part of which is located in a cave. To the left of the sarcophagus, looking into it, are three Myrrh-Bearing Women. Their figures are given in a complex turn to the angel. This iconographic rendition, the main feature of which is the image of a rectangular sarcophagus, has become especially popular in Russian art.
Myrrh-bearing women at the Holy Sepulcher. From a festive occasion. Moscow. 1425–1427 Trinity Cathedral of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra
A similar iconography of the plot on the Novgorod tablet icon (end of the 15th century), only the sarcophagus is located at a different angle. On the icon from the iconostasis of the Assumption Cathedral of the Kirillov Belozersky Monastery (1497), an angel sits at the head of the sarcophagus, there is no cave, the Myrrh-Bearing Women stand to the left, to the right of the sarcophagus are depicted figures of sleeping young men - the guards of the Sepulcher. On the icons of the 16th century, three warriors in armor are depicted sleeping (an icon of the second half of the 16th century), guards are depicted in greater numbers. On icons. XV - beginning. 16th century the number of Myrrh-Bearing Women was increased to seven, and not only at the Tomb, but also in the scene of the appearance of the risen Christ, which was often combined with the plot “The Appearance of an Angel to the Myrrh-Bearing Women” (one of the earliest examples is an icon from the Gostinopol Monastery, 1457) .
This iconographic variant became widespread in the 16th century. A feature that determined the tradition of Russian art was the image of two angels sitting on round stones at the head and at the foot of the sarcophagus (icons of the 15th and early 16th centuries). These iconographic types persisted throughout the 17th-18th centuries.
Appearance of an angel to the myrrh-bearing women. Second half of the 16th century Yaroslavl Art Museum, Yaroslavl
Appearance of an angel to the myrrh-bearing women. Rostov. Late 16th - early 17th centuries Museums of the Moscow Kremlin, Moscow. Icon of the Holy Myrrh-Bearing Women. Annunciation Cathedral in Solvychegodsk, late 16th century
Holy Myrrh-Bearing Women. Paintings
World painters such as Annibale Carracci, Duccio di Buoninsegna, M.V. Nesterov and others.
Maesta. Reverse side. Myrrh-bearing women at the tomb of the Lord. Duccio di Buoninsegna. 308-11 Siena Cathedral Museum
Myrrh-bearing women at the tomb of the Lord. Carracci Annibale, 1597-1598
Myrrh-bearing women. M.V. Nesterov. 1889
Temples in honor of the Myrrh-Bearing Women
A church in Veliky Novgorod was consecrated in honor of the Holy Myrrh-bearing Women. The temple was erected in 1510 on the site of the wooden church of the same name, which burned down in 1508. It is known that there was an even earlier building, indicated in the annals in 1299 among 12 burnt churches. The construction of the church was ordered and financed by the Novgorod merchant Ivan Syrkov. In 1536, a chapel was built in the name of the Evangelist Matthew, and then in honor of the Presentation of the Lord. At the end of the 16th century, part of the treasury of Ivan the Terrible was stored in the warehouses of the church. Now the church houses the Regional Children's Cultural Center.
Church of the Myrrh-Bearing Women in Veliky Novgorod
A temple in Pskov was consecrated in honor of the Holy Myrrh-bearing Women. The stone Mironositskaya church was built in 1546 in the center of the necropolis, in place of the wooden one on the skudelnits (i.e., in a cemetery with common graves of those killed and those who died during the pestilence). It was erected at the expense of the Moscow (at that time Novgorod) Metropolitan Macarius. In 1878, a fellow faith chapel was built at the church, which has not survived to this day. The Mironositskaya Church was closed in the 1930s. In 1989 it was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church.
Church of the Myrrh-Bearing Women from Skudelnitsy
In the Republic of Mari El, in the village of Yezhovo, Tsarevokokshay district, there was the Mironositsky Monastery. Its construction was carried out by decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and is associated with the legend of the appearance of the miraculous icon with the Myrrh-Bearing Women on the site of the future monastery. The icon was delivered in 1647 to the Tsar in Moscow and subsequently placed in the church of the monastery. The monastery was founded in the same year, but after the October Revolution it was closed.
In the city of Serpukhov there was a church in honor of the Holy Myrrh-bearing Women. The first news about the "being" here of the temple in the name of the Holy Myrrh-bearing Women dates back to 1552. Around 1685 the temple was built in stone. The Mironositskaya Church was destroyed in the 1930s.
There are currently no functioning Old Believer churches in honor of the Holy Myrrh-bearing Women.
Week of the Myrrh-Bearing Women. folk traditions
Margoski or Margoska week - this is how the second week after Easter was called in the black earth provinces (for example, in Oryol) - the week of the Myrrh-bearing Women. This festival is set exclusively for women. Easter eggs acquired a special meaning here, occupying the main place in the festive ceremony. Near Moscow, this women's holiday was expressed in the fact that the churches were overcrowded with married women, widows and girls much more than on any other holiday, and at the same time, each of the worshipers, approaching the cross after mass, necessarily christened with the priest and gave him an egg , just as at Matins of Bright Sunday the same rite was performed exclusively by men.
According to Vyatka, the peace-bearing holiday was celebrated in its own way and was called "Shapshikha". The custom was reduced to a women's feast, which was arranged by one of the participants, by lot. Most often it was either a widow or a small family. The hostesses were brewing beer and preparing dinner for the time the others returned from church. Late in the evening the feast ended with dancing.
Where there were few churches and parishes were removed to a considerable distance, on the same Sunday in the morning, women and girls climbed into the nearby woods, or even at least to a place where bushes of willows were tied up, with ritual offerings in their hands, pockets or in their bosoms - a couple of raw eggs and a couple of baked and dyed. They walked with songs, but on arrival they fell silent, in view of the onset of the solemn sacred rite of Christ and nepotism. Each took off the cross from her neck and hung it on a tree; another came up to him, crossed herself, kissed him and exchanged him for her own cross; then she kissed the owner of it, made a fuss - they began to reckon and be called "godfathers", "gossips" until Spirit Day. After that, the women sang songs, fried eggs, drank kvass.
Teenage girls were usually greeted like this: “Grow up and bloom more,” and the girl who got married was told: “Before the raid (next year), weave your braid in two so that the matchmakers and matchmakers do not leave the hut, so as not to sit on the back of the bench for you” (in girls), and wishes of a different nature were expressed to women: “For the summer you will give birth to a son, for that year you yourself will be the third.”
Soulful teaching during the week of the Myrrh-Bearing Women
A great feat, patience and courage were able to show weak and weak by nature women, when it seemed that impenetrable sinful darkness had already irretrievably engulfed the entire Universe, because He Whom we call the “Sun of Truth” and “Light of the World” was crucified and buried. The closest disciples of Christ retreated for a while, but it was the women who followed Christ in the most difficult hour along His way of the Cross and were honored for this with the greatest joy - to hear the angelic gospel and be the first to see the Risen Savior. For “It should be for the tribe that fell under sin before, and the oath to the one who inherited, first to see the Resurrection, and inspire joy” (Sinoksar).
When night guards were sitting at the Tomb, there was no way for women to approach him. But they wanted to give their last honor to their beloved Teacher, over whom, with the onset of the Sabbath day, they did not have time, as it was supposed to, to perform a full burial rite: Joseph and Nicodemus, due to lack of time, were able to anoint the Body of the Lord only with oil and myrrh. Therefore, women, moved by great love and compassion, desiring to better serve even the buried Lord than to have temporary sinful pleasure, prepared valuable fragrant aromas and impatiently awaited the beginning of Sunday, when, according to the law, they could continue the work they had begun. The Jewish priests, who constantly reproached the Savior for violating the Sabbath, in this case, on the contrary, fully revealed their malicious hypocrisy, for, neglecting the prohibition for the sake of the Sabbath rest, they were engaged in various chores in order to put guards and strengthen the Lord's Sepulcher with iron seals.
The great earthquake and the appearance of angels greatly frightened the Roman soldiers. As soon as they came to their senses, they went to announce an unprecedented miraculous event, so the women were able to calmly and freely approach the Tomb. The appearance of two angels in the Tomb spoke of the God-human nature of the Savior: the angel sitting in the heads pointed to the Divine, the other, sitting at the feet, to the humble incarnation of the Word.
Joseph and Nicodemus ask Pilate for the body of the Lord. Fragment of a four-part Novgorod tablet from St. Sophia Cathedral. 15th centuryA special word must be said here about Joseph of Arimathea, a story about which all the evangelists have. “Blessed Joseph of Arimathea, while still serving the law, recognized Christ as God, which is why he dared to a laudable feat. Formerly Joseph hid, but now he dares to do a great deed, laying down his soul for the Body of the Teacher and taking on such a hard struggle with all the Jews. As a great gift, Pilate gives him the Body. For the body of Christ, as a mortified rebel, was to be thrown unburied. However, Joseph, being rich, it is possible that he gave gold to Pilate. Having received the Body, Joseph honors it by placing it in a new tomb, in which no one has ever been laid. And this was by the providence of God, so that after the Resurrection of the Lord no one would say that another dead man, buried there before Him, had risen instead of Him. For this reason, the tomb is new.
He did not begin to think: “Here I am rich and I can lose wealth if I ask for the body of the One Who is condemned for appropriating royal power to Himself, and I will become hated by the Jews,” Joseph of Arimathea so he did not think about anything like that with himself, but, leaving everything as less important, he asked one Joseph of Arimathea to bury the body of the condemned. Pilate was surprised that He had already died, for he thought that Christ would endure suffering for a long time, like the thieves, why did he ask the centurion, how long had he died? That is, did he die prematurely? Having received the body, Joseph bought a shroud and, having taken off the Honest Body, wrapped it around it, committing it to burial. For he was himself a disciple of Christ and knew how to honor the Lord. He was "gentle," that is, a respectable, pious, irreproachable man. As for the title of member of the council, it was a certain dignity, or rather, a civil service and office, which had to manage the affairs of the court, and here they were often exposed to dangers from the abuses inherent in this place. Let the rich and those who are engaged in public affairs hear how the dignity of a member of the council did not in the least interfere with the virtue of Joseph. The name Joseph means "offering", and "Arimatheus"-"Take it." (Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria, commentary on the Gospel of Matthew and Mark).
The number of days in the three-day Resurrection of the Lord may cause some bewilderment, but Scripture has a hidden meaning. Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria explains in detail to us the mysterious course of those sacred events:
How are three days counted? At the eighth hour the heel was crucified; from this to the ninth-darkness: consider this for me for the night; then from the ninth hour-light: it's the day,-Here is the day: night and day. Next, heel night and saturday day-second day. Again, the night of the Sabbath and the morning of the day of the Lord, signified in Matthew: in one from the Sabbaths, at dawn, for the morning is counted for the whole day,-here is the third day. And otherwise you can count three days: on Friday, the Lord betrayed the spirit, this-one day; on Saturday was in a coffin, this-another day; on the night of the Lord's day he rose again, but from his part, the day of the Lord is considered another day, so that's three days. For also concerning those who have fallen asleep, if one dies about the tenth hour of the day, and another-about the first hour of the same day, they are said to have both died on the same day. I have another way to tell you how to count three days and three nights. Listen! On Thursday evening, the Lord celebrated supper and said to the disciples: "Take, eat My Body." Since He had the power to lay down His life according to His will, it is clear that at the same time He slaughtered Himself, as He taught His disciples the Body, for no one eats anything unless it was first slaughtered. Count: in the evening He gave His Body, that night and day of Friday until the sixth hour-here is one day; then, from the sixth hour to the ninth-darkness, and from the ninth-until the evening light again,-here is the second day; again the night on the heel and the day of Saturday-here is the third day; on the Sabbath night the Lord arose: this-three full days.
Discussing the Resurrection of Christ, the holy fathers point us to amazing contrasts. Indeed, while weak and unlearned women receive the highest wisdom and the gift of evangelists, the oldest church teachers and interpreters of Scripture among the Jews show in themselves a truly petrified insensitivity. So, having heard from the most unprejudiced witnesses, Roman soldiers, about a great earthquake and the appearance of angels, they do not leave their atheistic atrocity, but give a considerable amount of money for an absurd evidence of theft, which is completely impossible under those circumstances.
“Then the disciples come to the tomb and see only sheets lying; and this was the sign of the true Resurrection. For if anyone had moved the body, he would not have exposed it; and if someone stole, he would not take care to twist the boards and put them separately in a special place. Therefore, the evangelist said beforehand that the body of Christ was buried with much myrrh, which sticks sheets to the body no worse than resin, so that when we hear that the veil was lying in a special place, we would not at all believe those who say that the body of Christ was stolen. For a thief would not be so stupid as to use so much effort for an unnecessary thing and not suspect that the longer he does it, the sooner he can be caught ”(Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria, interpretation on the Gospel of John).
“Every soul that rules over the passions is called Mary. Purified through dispassion, she sees Jesus as both God and man.”
The joy of the angelic appearance was given to women only by suffering and crucifying themselves for the outside world at Christ's crucifixion. For nothing brings us closer to God than the voluntary suffering that we endure for His sake. Easter joy is felt most of all after a strict many-day abstinence. Similarly, Eternal Pascha is impossible for us if we do not push ourselves to hardships and sorrows, for the sake of fulfilling the commandments and acquiring the gospel virtues, in order to be worthy to stand before God in spiritual and bodily purity and see the Risen Christ in His indescribable and imperishable glory.
“Let us, following the example of Joseph, always apply diligence to virtue and take it, that is, the true good. May we be vouchsafed to receive the Body of Jesus through communion and put it in a coffin cut from stone, that is, in a soul that firmly remembers and does not forget God. May our soul be cut out of stone, that is, having its foundation in Christ, Who is the Stone. Let us envelop this Body with a shroud, that is, let us receive Him into a clean body (for the body is, as it were, the shroud of the soul). The Divine body must be received not only into a pure soul, but also into a pure body.” (Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria).
The third Sunday of the Paschal cycle is named after the holy myrrh-bearing women.
This holiday is dedicated to ordinary women - Christ's disciples, who relentlessly followed their Teacher and did not leave Him even at those moments when most of the apostles simply fled. And the event remembered on this day is also, at first glance, the most ordinary - not having time to perform the funeral rite over the deceased Savior because of the approaching Saturday, the women hurried to the tomb on the third day after His death on the cross. With them they carried myrrh - expensive odorous oil - and went to the grave to anoint the body of Jesus.
Did they believe that they would see the Lord alive again? Hardly. As for the rest of the disciples, the arrest, crucifixion and death of Jesus were a kind of ending for them - with the execution of Christ, these fragile women lost a significant sense of their further existence. Of course, they continued to live for the sake of their families, but it was no longer possible to live as before, fully, communicating with the Teacher every day. And yet love - unconditional and boundless - raised the myrrh-bearers in the middle of the night and forced them to flee to the burial place of Christ. The heart seemed to tell them: "Hurry, and you will see something that will radically change your life, make it more meaningful and deeper than before - in moments of greatest joy."
The great pure faith of the holy women was rewarded. When they approached the grave, only then remembering that the entrance to the burial chamber was blocked by a heavy stone, they saw that the cave was open. Barely overcoming the stupor that gripped them, they looked inside and met an angel who told them that the One Whom the myrrh-bearers were looking for had risen and was waiting for them in Galilee. Most likely, another in the place of these women would have been embarrassed, deciding that everything he saw was hallucinations and the fruit of an inflamed imagination. But the disciples of Christ believed immediately and without any doubt - having received the good news, they rushed back to the city, to the apostles, who were sitting in the house and there experienced the grief that fell upon them. The faith of the women was strengthened even more when on the way back they saw the resurrected Lord himself.
Only Mary Magdalene remained at the tomb, who either did not come with everyone, or simply decided to be alone in order to better understand what had happened. She had not yet fully realized the greatness of this moment, and when a man appeared in front of her, she thought that the gardener was in front of her, and began to ask him where the Master's body had disappeared. But the gardener called her by name, and did it in the way that only one Man on earth did. Before her stood Christ Himself - alive, resurrected, real! The joy of the woman knew no bounds - she saw with her own eyes the One Whom a couple of days ago she had inconsolably mourned along with other students.
Then the Lord appeared to the rest - the apostles, disciples, His other companions, who were with Him all three years of His preaching. But it was they, the myrrh-bearing women, who were the first to learn the good news about the Resurrection of the Savior, who were not afraid of either the persecution of the elders, or the possible rudeness of the Roman guards, who until the moment the angel appeared, guarded the tomb of the Savior, or other dangers that await man at night. The disciples were moved by love - the very love that the Lord taught them, and which knows no barriers - even death.
Day of Myrrh-Bearing Women in Orthodoxy it is considered an analogue of March 8. Only instead of the dubious ideal of a revolutionary woman and a feminist rebel, the Church praises completely different qualities of our mothers, spouses, sisters and girlfriends. First of all, it is a great sacrifice, self-forgetfulness, fidelity, love and a living fiery faith that can overcome everything. Those very faith and love, which are fully accessible only to the weak female nature, and which shine even in the most hopeless darkness.
How many myrrh-bearing women there were in total - we do not know for sure. The Gospel simply lists them by name, and only a few women are more or less specific. The church tradition appropriated the title of myrrh-bearers to seven or eight disciples of Christ. All of them subsequently became ardent preachers and worked on a par with other apostles. And Magdalene was even honored to be called equal to the apostles - that is, having the same glory and bearing the same cross as other male disciples.
Mother of God
Traditionally, the Blessed Virgin is not among the myrrh-bearing women, but some interpreters believe that “Mary of Jacob” (Mark 16: 1) and “the other Mary” (Matt. 28: 1) are the Mother of Christ. The fact is that after the death of her husband Joseph, she took care of his younger children from her first marriage, and quite legitimately was considered the mother of Jacob. But even if the Mother of God was not among the myrrh-bearing women, She is still considered the first to receive the news of the Resurrection of the Son - according to legend, the angel appeared to Her personally and told the most important news in the world.
The Most Pure One lived for some time in Jerusalem in the house of the Apostle John the Theologian, to whom the Lord entrusted the care of His already elderly Mother on Golgotha. After the departure of the apostles to preach, She also got the lot of missionary work. Initially, these were the lands of modern Georgia, but the Holy Virgin could not get there. The place of Her apostolate was Athos, where She ended up after a storm, on her way to visit Bishop Lazarus, who lived in Cyprus. For some time the Mother of God lived in Ephesus. She died in Jerusalem and was buried there, in the Garden of Gethsemane. However, there is no body in Her tomb - the legend says that on the third day after her death, the Son raised Her to heavenly glory along with the body.
Mary Magdalene
Information about this woman is confusing. Some see in her the famous gospel harlot, whom Christ saved from being stoned and who anointed His feet with expensive oil. Others see in her a simple Jewess, healed by Christ from a serious illness of possession and possession. After the apostles went out to preach, she neglected all the then norms (it was forbidden for a woman to preach herself) and went alone from city to city, announcing to everyone about the resurrected Teacher. According to one version of the life, Magdalene ended her days in the house of John the Theologian in Ephesus, having lived to a ripe old age. Other versions of the biography indicate that Mary spent the end of her life in repentance, living for about thirty years in a cave near Marseille. Before her death, according to Western hagiographies, Magdalene was communed by a priest who accidentally wandered into her. He also buried the saint.Martha and Mary, sisters of Lazarus
Information about these women is very scarce. Together with their brother, who was once resurrected by Christ Himself, they moved from Jerusalem to Cyprus, where they helped Lazarus to carry out the episcopal ministry. Where, when and how the holy sisters died is unknown.
John
She was the wife of Khuza, one of the officials at the court of Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee. Joanna occupied a very high position, had great influence and connections. During the days of Christ's preaching, it was John who took on the lion's share of the expenses of the apostolic community, taking care of food and everything necessary for the Lord and His disciples. There is a version that such generosity of such a noble lady is not accidental - according to a number of interpreters, the son of the courtier, healed by Christ (John 4: 46 - 54), was the child of John, and the grateful woman after that served the Savior with everything she could.
The story of the head of John the Baptist is connected with her name. As you know, for his denunciations of Herod the Baptist, he was first arrested, and then was beheaded at the slander of Herodias, Herod's concubine. After the wicked woman abused the head of the prophet she hated, she threw her "trophy" into a landfill. John, seeing all this and deeply grieving over the death of the Forerunner, secretly dug up the head at night, put it in an earthen vessel and buried it on the Mount of Olives, in one of the estates of Herod.
The Day of the Myrrh-bearing Women is celebrated on the third week after Easter
PHOTO: http://www.sgprihod.ruAnd this is an interesting story. The Day of the Myrrh-Bearing Women is celebrated on the third week after Easter. As the name of this memorable day suggests, it is dedicated to women, and in Russia, by the way, was revered as a holiday for women. The memory of those who followed the Savior, during his lifetime, taking care of him, and at the end of the first day after the burial, came to the place of the Holy Sepulcher to anoint his body with incense, which was a Jewish tradition, and received the news of the resurrection of the Lord, revered for many centuries.
Surprisingly, the evangelists call them differently. Nevertheless, a comparison of their texts and the details of the legend that tells about this event still allow us to name seven names that these amazing women most likely possessed.
So, the first - there were seven of them: Mary Magdalene, Mary Cleopova, Salome, John, Martha, Mary and Susanna. More precisely, there were many more of them, but only seven names have been preserved and are called in sacred books. Evangelist Luke writes, for example, that twelve apostles walked with Christ, and “some women whom He healed from evil spirits and diseases: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons came out, and John, the wife of Chuza, the steward of Herod, and Susanna, and many others who served Him with their possessions." “If you look at the icon of the Myrrh-Bearing Woman, then on it you will see seven beautiful women standing side by side. And now let's find out the history of each of them - because it's worth it.
By the way, an interesting detail, not known to everyone. Many of the apostles, as well as the myrrh-bearing women, and Jesus, the imaginary son of the holy righteous Joseph the Betrothed, were relatives. But first things first.
So, the five Myrrhbearers were from Galilee, and Martha and Mary were from Judia, more precisely from Bethany, a suburb of Jerusalem. Many of these women were quite rich - Luke also notes this, emphasizing, pay attention, at the very end: "Served Him with their possessions." And now - some known details.
Mary Magdalene
Not much information has been preserved about the myrrh-bearing women, about Mary Magdalene there are most of them. It is known that she was born in Galilee, in the city of Magdala. Before meeting the Lord, she led a sinful life. Jesus cast out seven demons from her, and Mary followed him and the apostles to be in service. By the way, Mary Magdalene is sometimes confused with Mary of Egypt (“Standing of Mary of Egypt”), but these are different women. Mary believed in Christ and was incredibly devoted to him. John the Theologian devoted half of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel to her, writing it down from the words of Mary. She was the woman who was the first to bring the good news of his Resurrection to people - from her the words “Christ is Risen!” went into the world! Informing this news to the emperor, Mary brought him an egg as a gift. The emperor noticed that the resurrection is just as impossible as the fact that this egg turns red, and the egg instantly turned red - hence the tradition of painting eggs for Easter.
Mary lived out her life in Ephesus (Ephesus) - there John the Theologian wrote down what she told him, since they lived nearby. For what the repentant and healed Mary Magdalene did, for her fidelity to Christ and faith, she received the title of Equal-to-the-Apostles. By the way, Mary actively "propaganda" the teachings of Christ, although women were forbidden to preach. Mary died in the same Ephesus, where she was buried.
John
Having married Khuza, the steward of Herod, John, as they would say now, “entered the elite” of society: she was rich, famous and respected. She followed Christ after he healed her son. The boy was near death; all means had already been tried - there was only one thing left: to go to Jesus, whose fame spread throughout the earth. But Jesus was in no hurry to the palace - to the place where his Forerunner, John, was executed ... Khuza, however, begged him to heal his son, and Christ did this, having previously said - you will not believe if you do not see signs and wonders ... And the boy recovered while Khuza was walking home…
However, clouds hung over his house. It became known to whom he and his wife turned for help. But wasn’t it Joanna, who often and attentively listened to John the Baptist, secretly buried his honest head - not allowing him to scold him? But in doing so, she violated the decree of Queen Herodias - to throw the head of the Baptist into a landfill after a scolding ...
But John did not wait for the “decoupling” and showdown with Herod. She left for Christ, thanking him for the healing of her son. The few jewels that rich Joanna had taken with her only yesterday were sold by her in order to feed those who were close to Christ. The mother of Jesus also received her, like everyone else, kindly, and felt sorry for John, because she had to leave her son. But very soon they will have to mourn together another loss - the martyred Christ ...
Salome
Daughter of the holy righteous Joseph the Betrothed. She married Zebedee and gave birth to two sons - who became the apostles James and John.
Susanna
Despite the fact that the name of this woman is singled out and mentioned by the Evangelist Luke, almost nothing is known about her life.
Maria Yakovleva
With regard to the woman who is referred to in the Gospel as Maria Jacobleva, there is an opinion that she was the youngest daughter of Joseph the Betrothed. It is also known from the Holy Tradition that being on the best terms with the Mother of God, she was Her closest friend for many years. She is named Jacobleva in honor of her son, the Apostle James, the closest disciple and associate of Christ.
Martha and Mary
The sisters Martha and Mary were very fond of their brother, Lazarus, whom Christ called his friend. Christ, who was often in their house, talked a lot with them, knew them well. Christ mourned the death of Lazarus, but he knew that this time the end of his earthly path had not yet been set. He resurrected Lazarus four days after his death, after which Lazarus began to be called Four Days. Christ often visited their home, and the sisters revered and loved him. It is believed that it was Mary who poured precious ointment on the head of Jesus, preparing the Body of Christ for burial. From the further fate of these women, it is only known that they followed the brother, resurrected by Lazarus, to Cyprus, where he was a bishop.
Is the Mother of God one of the myrrh-bearing women?
The Most Holy Theotokos is not formally one of the myrrh-bearing women, but some researchers suggest that the names of Mary of Jacob and the “other Mary” mean precisely the mother of Jesus Christ. The reason for this may be the following fact: after the death of Joseph the Betrothed, Mary took over the care of his children from his first marriage and was quite legitimately considered the mother of his son Jacob.
Icon "Myrrh-bearing women at the Holy Sepulcher"
What did they do
On the night of the Resurrection of Christ, the myrrh-bearing women went to the Holy Sepulcher to anoint his body with precious myrrh. But they were worried - who will roll away the stone from the coffin? But the stone fell off from the entrance by an earthquake, and an angel appeared before the myrrh-bearing women and said that Christ had risen and would appear to them.
folk traditions
In Russia, the Day of the Myrrh-bearing Women was celebrated with great tenderness: it was, this holiday, like ... Orthodox March 8!
In the Chernozem region, this day was called Margoska week. The main dish on the table was scrambled eggs: one must understand, one of the simplest "dishes".
And in some areas, on this day, women got together and arranged something like “bachelorette parties”. After dinner, which the women prepared together, dances were held. The festivities were also stormy, and the rite of nepotism was also observed: a woman took off her cross, hung it on a tree branch, then another woman came up there, crossed herself, kissed the cross and exchanged it for her own. Those who exchanged crosses kissed three times and were now considered godfathers (until Spirit Day). After that, the women sang songs, fried eggs, drank kvass - such were the treats that day.
SERMON OF METROPOLITAN OF KALUGA AND BOROVSK KLIMENT
What I can?
The recollection of the gospel Myrrhbearers every time latently awakens the question: how did it happen that the weak wives were not afraid, followed Christ, even when all the apostles left Him, except for one, the youngest? Maybe the female nature is more prone to fidelity, devotion than the male? What is the calling of a woman? ()
The week (Sunday) of the myrrh-bearing women is a holiday for every Orthodox Christian woman, Orthodox Women's Day.
On this day, the holy myrrh-bearing women are remembered. Who are they, the holy myrrh-bearing women - Mary Magdalene, Mary Cleopova, Salome, John, Martha, Mary, Susanna?
Why does the Russian Orthodox Church commemorate these women on the second Sunday after Pascha?
Every woman on Earth is a myrrh-bearer and brings peace to the world, her family, home, she gives birth to children, she is a support for her husband. Orthodoxy glorifies the woman-mother, the woman of all classes and nationalities.
Myrrhbearers- these are the same women who, out of love for the Savior Jesus Christ, received Him in their homes, and later followed Him to the place of crucifixion on Golgotha. They were witnesses of Christ's suffering on the cross. It was they who hastened in the dark to the Holy Sepulcher to anoint the body of Christ with myrrh, as was the custom of the Jews. It was they, the myrrh-bearing women, who were the first to know that Christ had risen. For the first time after his death on the cross, the Savior appeared to a woman - Mary Magdalene.
This holiday has been especially honored in Russia since ancient times. Well-born ladies, rich merchants, poor peasant women led a strictly pious life and lived in faith. The main feature of Russian righteousness is a special, purely Russian warehouse, the chastity of Christian marriage as a great Sacrament. The only wife of the only husband - this is the life ideal of Orthodox Russia.
Another feature of ancient Russian righteousness is the special "rank" of widowhood. Russian princesses did not marry a second time, although the Church did not forbid a second marriage. Many widows cut their hair and went to the monastery after the burial of their husband. The Russian wife has always been faithful, quiet, merciful, meekly patient, all-forgiving.
The day of the myrrh-bearing women in Orthodoxy is considered an analogue of March 8. Only instead of the dubious ideal of a revolutionary woman and a feminist rebel, the Church praises completely different qualities of our mothers, spouses, sisters and girlfriends. First of all, it is a great sacrifice, self-forgetfulness, fidelity, love and a living fiery faith that can overcome everything. Those very faith and love, which are fully accessible only to the weak female nature, and which shine even in the most hopeless darkness.
How many myrrh-bearing women there were in total - we do not know for sure. The Gospel simply lists them by name, and only a few women are more or less specific. The church tradition appropriated the title of myrrh-bearers to seven or eight disciples of Christ. All of them subsequently became ardent preachers and worked on a par with other apostles. And Magdalene was even honored to be called equal to the apostles - that is, having the same glory and bearing the same cross as other male disciples.
Mother of God
Traditionally, the Blessed Virgin is not among the myrrh-bearing women, but some interpreters believe that “Mary of Jacob” (Mark 16: 1) and “the other Mary” (Matt. 28: 1) are the Mother of Christ. The fact is that after the death of her husband Joseph, she took care of his younger children from her first marriage, and quite legitimately was considered the mother of Jacob. But even if the Mother of God was not among the myrrh-bearing women, She is still considered the first to receive the news of the Resurrection of the Son - according to legend, the angel appeared to Her personally and told the most important news in the world.
The Most Pure One lived for some time in Jerusalem in the house of the Apostle John the Theologian, to whom the Lord entrusted the care of His already elderly Mother on Golgotha. After the departure of the apostles to preach, She also got the lot of missionary work. Initially, these were the lands of modern Georgia, but the Holy Virgin could not get there. The place of Her apostolate was Athos, where She ended up after a storm, on her way to visit Bishop Lazarus, who lived in Cyprus. For some time the Mother of God lived in Ephesus. She died in Jerusalem and was buried there, in the Garden of Gethsemane. However, there is no body in Her tomb - the legend says that on the third day after her death, the Son raised Her to heavenly glory along with the body.
Mary Magdalene
Information about this woman is confusing. Some see in her the famous gospel harlot, whom Christ saved from being stoned and who anointed His feet with expensive oil. Others see in her a simple Jewess, healed by Christ from a serious illness of possession and possession. After the apostles went out to preach, she neglected all the then norms (it was forbidden for a woman to preach herself) and went alone from city to city, announcing to everyone about the resurrected Teacher. According to one version of the life, Magdalene ended her days in the house of John the Theologian in Ephesus, having lived to a ripe old age. Other versions of the biography indicate that Mary spent the end of her life in repentance, living for about thirty years in a cave near Marseille. Before her death, according to Western hagiographies, Magdalene was communed by a priest who accidentally wandered into her. He also buried the saint.
Martha and Mary, sisters of Lazarus
Information about these women is very scarce. Together with their brother, who was once resurrected by Christ Himself, they moved from Jerusalem to Cyprus, where they helped Lazarus to carry out the episcopal ministry. Where, when and how the holy sisters died is unknown.
John
She was the wife of Khuza, one of the officials at the court of Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee. Joanna occupied a very high position, had great influence and connections. During the days of Christ's preaching, it was John who took on the lion's share of the expenses of the apostolic community, taking care of food and everything necessary for the Lord and His disciples. There is a version that such generosity of such a noble lady is not accidental - according to a number of interpreters, the son of the courtier, healed by Christ (John 4: 46 - 54), was the child of John, and the grateful woman after that served the Savior with everything she could.
The story of the head of John the Baptist is connected with her name. As you know, for his denunciations of Herod the Baptist, he was first arrested, and then was beheaded at the slander of Herodias, Herod's concubine. After the wicked woman abused the head of the prophet she hated, she threw her "trophy" into a landfill. John, seeing all this and deeply grieving over the death of the Forerunner, secretly dug up the head at night, put it in an earthen vessel and buried it on the Mount of Olives, in one of the estates of Herod.
Maria Kleopova
Almost nothing is known about her. She was one of the relatives of Christ. According to one version, Mary was either the daughter or the wife of Cleopa, the brother of Joseph the Betrothed. Another version, very unlikely, says that this woman was the sister of the Most Holy Theotokos.
Maria Yakovleva
With this woman, the most ambiguities. According to legend, she was the youngest daughter of Joseph the Betrothed, was in a very warm relationship with the Mother of God and was, in fact, Her closest friend. It is likely that this is Maria Kleopova. She began to be called Jacoble because one of her sons - Jacob - was one of the apostles.
Susanna
The most mysterious of the myrrh-bearers. She served Christ from her estate, that is, apparently, she was quite wealthy. Nothing more is known about her.