| The Resurrection is a call to action and compassion. It challenges us to reflect on where we most deeply experience hostility and disunity. And images of this reality abound: Within the space of only a few weeks, in America alone, we have painfully witnessed the loss of children to gun violence, the loss of life to religious radicalism and the loss of residents to a plant explosion. Still, as one Orthodox Easter hymn puts it, the Resurrection proposes “another way of seeing” and “another way of living.” The Gospel message of the Resurrection is as simple as it is radical: We are called to stand for love where hatred persists, to preach compassion where injustice abounds, and to insist on dialogue where division prevails. Although it is easier to proclaim a Gospel of power and might, we must persist in encouraging conversation among unlikely partners from radically different backgrounds (whether Christians, Muslims, Jews or other faith communities), conservation of natural resources (whether for purposes of consumption, development or mere survival) and conversion of our habits (despite our reluctance and resistance). When we stand honestly before the reality of evil, we can perceive the hope and light of the Resurrection. Orthodox Christians believe that the risen Christ lifts us from the gloom of despair and opens us to the experience of joy. “Be joyful!” was the first address by the risen Christ to the myrrh-bearing women and his disciples. It is with joy that the Gospel of Luke both begins: “I bring you good tidings of great joy” (2.10), and ends: the apostles “returned to Jerusalem with great joy” (24.52). And it is with joy that the Church will be a credible witness in the modern world. In the words of another early predecessor on the Throne of Constantinople, St. John Chrysostom: Let everyone share this feast of faith; let everyone enjoy the riches of goodness. Let none lament their poverty; for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let none mourn their sins; for forgiveness has dawned from the grave. Let none fear death; for the Savior’s death has set us free. |
| Remember how important it is to be faithful to God. Fidelity and devotion to Him enlighten the human conscience and illumine the human mind. Conversely, when one person after another commits acts of infidelity and treason to the Lord and to truth, his soul becomes hardened, his conscience is coarsened and darkened, and it becomes difficult for him to recognize truth, difficult to venerate it. Everyone should remember this, and always pray that the Lord would teach us to be faithful to Him always and in everything, just as the Holy and Glorious Myrrh-Bearing Women were faithful to Him. Their fidelity brought them through to the end, and they received the unspeakable joy of seeing their Teacher risen and of immediately worshipping Him. The example of their fidelity and love should be an edifying example for every Christian soul; an example, when followed, that will demonstrate one’s fidelity to the Lord to the end and grant the joy of beholding Him. Amen. Source: Ora et Labora Tweet Donate Share Code for blog The Fidelity and Love of the Myrrh-Bearing Women Metropolitan Philaret of Eastern American and New York (+1985) Today the Holy Orthodox Church, as you know, glorifies the Holy Myrrh-Bearing Women, for which reason this Sunday is called the “Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women.” Yesterday we already spoke of how the Myrrh-Bearing Women were, in essence, the first heralds of Christ’s Resurrection and, in a ... Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. |
| The second Sunday after Pascha focuses on the Myrrh Bearing Women and Sts. Joseph and Nicodemus. The Myrrh Bearing Women were the women who “followed Jesus from Galilee and ministered to his needs” (Mat. 27:55). These women were the ones who cared for Jesus’ physical needs: procuring and preparing food, finding Him a place to sleep at night, repairing his torn clothing or sandals. The way these women expressed their faith and love for God was to look after the physical humanity of the God-man Jesus Christ. And even after his death, for the women did not yet understand about the resurrection, the Myrrh Bearers continued to care for the body of the Saviour. After the crucifixion these women, along with Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, brought spices and myrrh to the tomb to care for the body of the Lord. And because of their care for the physical needs of Jesus, some of the Myrrh Bearers are the very first to see the resurrected Christ. The Myrrh Bearers are an example for all of us of how faith and love are expressed through the care for physical things. The Church as the Body of Christ has both physical and spiritual aspects. Love for God and neighbour is expressed by caring for both. Spiritual worship is an essential part of our life with God, but spiritual worship can easily become delusional without also caring for the physical needs of the Church (the building, the priest, the various activities and organizations that allow the Church to function.) Similarly, if we only care for the physical needs of those who suffer, as worthy and important as that is, without also providing spiritual comfort and teaching, we run the risk of becoming nothing more than just another NGO like the Red Cross or the United Nations. These NGOs do good work, no doubt; but they are not the Church. Only the Church can preach the Gospel. Only the Church can offer the Bread of Heaven and the Water that springs up to eternal life. Physical and spiritual: both are important. Like the Myrrh Bearing women we express our faith and love for God by caring for the physical needs of the Church and by caring for the physical and spiritual needs of those around us. |
| The Gospel is silent about where the Mother of God was at that moment, but the holy Church, through the mouth of St. Gregory Palamas, proclaims that the Mother of God accompanied the myrrh-bearing women when they came to the tomb, and she was among those who first heard the news about the Resurrection of Christ, just as she was the first to hear the news of His incarnation, that from her would be born the One Who would become the Savior of the world. The myrrh-bearing women: these are the women who, by their love, labor and loyalty, have built up the Church of Christ over the centuries, even up to the present time. The Lord placed the apostolic ministry upon men, on His disciples. On the day of Pentecost they received a special charisma, a special gift of grace, which helped them to boldly preach the Risen Christ. This gift of grace gave them the power to be hierarchs and priests and to appoint other clergy for the entire Church, as well as gave them the strength to go throughout all the ends of the earth in order to preach the Risen Christ. The Lord entrusted them with apostolic ministry and, subsequently, their successors — always men — the Lord entrusted with the ministry to be bishops, priests and deacons, just as we heard today in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, where it was also men who were appointed. As it was then, so has it remained until today, and so will it be forever in the canonical Church which was founded by our Lord Jesus Christ. However, there is that power of love of which only women are capable of, the power of loyalty and readiness to follow Christ, that was inherent in women throughout all centuries. Without this sacrificial love the task and mission of salvation performed by the Church would not be possible. The Lord did not entrust women with priestly and hierarchical ministry. The entire Church hierarchy is made up of men, but women are not simply assistants to men in the structure of the Body of Christ, the Church. Women help our Savior Himself. Many women in the history of the Church shone not only with the spiritual struggle (podvig) for which the myrrh-bearing women were glorified, but also with the podvig of apostolic preaching. There were women who were worthy to be called Equal-to-the-Apostles, because by their labors they were equivalent to the apostles: such was St. |
| Yet the Apostles fled – and this is that infidelity and faint-heartedness, which cast a shadow over their eyes, that was noted by Vladyka Anthony. But the faithful Myrrh-Bearers went with Him to Golgotha and stood at the very Cross grieving and, at the same time, trying somehow to relieve by their love and compassion the terrible and superhuman grief of the All-Blessed Virgin Mary. They did not abandon Him. We know from the Gospel how He was buried, and the Myrrh-Bearing Women saw where He was laid. The Apostles were not there… they had fled. The Myrrh-Bearing Women, however, remained faithful to Him to the very end and therefore, as Vladyka Anthony says, their conscience and inner spiritual intuition remained bright and clean. Therefore they immediately recognized the One Who appeared to them, worshipping Him without any hesitation as their beloved Teacher and the Conqueror of death. Imagine only what the holy Myrrh-Bearer Mary Magdalene underwent as she wept inconsolably at the tomb of Him Who had once freed her from unclean hostile spirits, having cast out seven demons from her. After this was accomplished she became a constant follower of her beloved Teacher. Here she is weeping inconsolably at His tomb, and suddenly she hears from Someone that very same voice saying “Mary” – that dear and unforgettable voice, which had once cast out seven demons from her. If Mary’s heart did not burst from delight and joy, this was only because it was the Source of Life, Christ Himself, Who spoke with her. What a transition, from inconsolable grief to rapturous joy! Therefore let us remember what fidelity and devotion mean, and what a clean conscience means. The holy women did everything in order to show attention to their Teacher. Fearing no dangers they go to Golgotha, they accompany Him, they stand at the Cross on Golgotha, they watch, looking reverently upon how their Teacher is buried – and for this they have the joy of seeing Him in glory, risen from the dead, before the Apostles. |
| Because I got this email today, the Monday of the week of the Myrrh Bearing women, my response was influenced by some of my reflections on the Myrrh Bearing women: the crumbs that are on my table today. I thought some of you might be encouraged by what I wrote her, so I copied it here. It’s not long. When Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus and the Myrrh Bearing Women went to anoint Jesus after the Resurrection, they were not motivated by faith or hope. They were motivated by love. Jesus had told them three times before His Passion that he would rise on the third day. Yet here it is, the third day, and they are coming to anoint his dead body. Love motivated them, not faith, not hope, love. St. Paul tells us that all spiritual gifts are partial and do not remain forever, but faith, hope and love abide forever. Of these three, love is the greatest. Love caused the Myrrh Bearers to see the empty tomb before even the Apostles and to become (as the Church calls them—especially Mary Magdalen) “Apostles to the Apostles.” Love caused them to see angels and to hear the angelic proclamation: “He is not here. He is risen!” Love (not faith, not even hope) was all the human race had to offer at this point. And it was enough, enough for humanity to learn the Mystery kept hidden from the beginning of creation: “The Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8). I think in our ministry to others, love is sufficient for the miraculous, for God to take care of the the rest, to raise the dead. When we lack faith and hope, when those we try to help lack faith and hope, when the stone is sealed and there seems to be nothing but death inside, love is enough. It’s the offering of the Myrrh Bearers, the widow’s mite, the extra mile, the turned cheek, the mustard seed, the bit of extra oil for our lamps. Love is enough for God to reveal His resurrectional power, to raise the dead. Even when we can’t believe, love enough. God does the rest. Tweet Donate Share Code for blog Love Is Enough |
| Nina, Enlightener of Georgia, the Holy Empress Helen, and the Great Princess Olga, Equal-to-the-Apostles. The apostolic podvig was carried out also by other women who were empresses and rulers, such as the Georgian empress Tamara (who is commemorated as well as many ordinary women who built the church by their inconspicuous labors. Today we see among our parishioners more women than men in the church. Perhaps the men are spending more time working, perhaps they are more busy, or perhaps the fact is that the women have more love and loyalty than the men do. And when men say that they are busy, tired, exhausted and that they have other things to take care of, the women are no less tired than the men and have not worked less hard than they did, yet the women find the strength to come to church, and not only to pray and to listen to the word of God, just like Mary, but to work for the church, just like Martha. We have heard how the Lord accepted the ministry of both women, Martha and Mary: one who took care of food for bodily needs, and the other who silently sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to His words. Both one and the other ministry constitute the ministry of women, and both one and the other ministry, taken together, constitute the fullness of the ministry to which the Lord has called woman. Above all, the Lord has called woman to be the creator of the little church, i.e., the family, to give life and upbringing to children, to be concerned with the continuance of the human race. Just as without woman the human race cannot continue, in the same way, without her labors, prayers and love it would not be possible for life to continue in the Christian Church. We glorify the myrrh-bearing women, and at the same time we offer thanksgiving to God for all women who come to church today, who fulfill the ministry of Martha and Mary, and who by their labors, prayer and love continue to build up the Body of Christ. This sermon was given by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, on April 18, 2010. |
| But the faithfulness of the holy myrrh-bearers to the Lord was so great, that they walked to Him in the dark (John 20:1) despite the guards who were ordered to keep the disciples away from the Body (Matthew 27:64), they walked despite the large stone which lay in their way to the Teacher (Matthew 27:66), they walked despite all odds. For their faithfulness the holy women became the apostles to the apostles and brought to them the good news of the resurrection (Luke 24:9). Even before the Evangelists picked up their pens, before the apostles walked to the far reaches of the Empire with the sermon, before Peter proclaimed the good news to thousands on the day of Pentecost, the myrrh-bearers brought to the apostles the first proclamation, and the first sermon, and the first Gospel. How often in our lives we lose our faith when we must go through illness, inconvenience, suffering, and sorrow. At times it seems to us that our God is dead, that He does not hear us, that some armed people do not let us through, or that there is a large stone in our path and “who will roll away the stone for us…?” (Mark 16:3 NRSV). So we sit shut up in our pain and sorrow, hiding in fear (John 20:19). Yet the holy myrrh-bearers bring the good news to us as well, “Arise from your sinful slumber! With the first ray of sun, run to the Lord!” And what do we see? We are too late with our tears and burial ointments—the tomb is empty! No, God does not even run out to meet us half-way (Luke 15:20)—He completed everything that is needful for our salvation: he already broke the bonds of hell and defeated death. He already goes ahead of us to Galilee (Matthew 28:7)—His homeland. All that is left for us at the empty tomb is his message: do not be afraid, hurry, tell everyone, the Lord is waiting for you at home (Matthew 28:10). Through the prayers of the holy myrrh-bearing women, Lord, grant us their all-conquering faithfulness to You! Amen. Discuss this article © Copyright 2007 by pravmir.com Top of Page |
| Why are the Myrrh-Bearing women the first to be honoured with such news? The thing is that feminine nature itself presupposes that love and sacrifice are its main quality and its fundamental value. Any woman is by her very nature a mother, whether she is married or not. And a mother is someone who can and ought to take to her heart every single person who is next to her regardless of their gender or age, whether they be virtuous or sinful. And this feminine love with a disregard for deliberations and perplexities triumphs over the despondency and depression that took hold of the disciples and drives the women to act without deliberating. Unlike the disciples who, following Christ’s death upon the cross, went home depressed, despondent, and perplexed as to how they would go on living, the women simply act. They take spices. And as soon as the sun rises they run to the tomb of the Saviour, and – a miracle! They see that the tomb is empty; an Angel meets them and announces to them the joyous news of Christ’s resurrection. On this day, I would like to particularly ask our women not to be ashamed of themselves. To ask them not to be ashamed of their weakness, which can sometimes make them stronger than the strongest of men. To ask them not to be ashamed of their sensibility, their irrationality, which can sometimes prove wiser than the wisest of reflections. To ask them not to be ashamed to live life with a simple, open, and loving heart. With that very heart that is the most precious gift that a person can offer to God. Translated from the Russian by Maria Nekipelov Code for blog Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. |
| The Lord’s Day: Resurrection and Salvation Our Saturday evening vigil service anticipates Sunday, defining the liturgical day just as a day is defined in the creation account in the book of Genesis, wherein God’s major creative acts are set off by the phrase, “there was evening and there was morning,” making one day. As we can learn from a perusal of our prayer book, in the Orthodox prayer life, each day of the week is assigned a commemoration. We recognize, even the world recognizes, that Sunday is both the beginning and the culmination of the week. This common understanding comes straight from the Gospel which records that the Lords resurrection was discovered by the women coming to anoint His body with myrrh and spices “early on the first day of the week.” From the time of the myrrh-bearing women until today, Sunday is recognized as the “Lord’s Day” because of His triumph over death and the consequent raising to life of all who would follow Him. Our regular Saturday vigil service is therefore devoted to the proclamation of the Lord’s resurrection. Because this “mighty act” is the fountain and fulfillment of our salvation, it has thus in a sense created Sunday as we know it, and has pushed into general awareness this sense of fountain and fulfillment, of celebration, even if the world is only barely or dimly aware and keeps the day only as an opportunity to “go to the park” or to a museum. Since the regular Saturday vigil service is devoted to the act that fulfills our salvation, it is fitting that all parts of the service are held up to the light of the full story of our salvation. The Beginning: Creation The service opens with our glorification through the mouth of the celebrant of our Holy, consubstantial and undivided Triune God, the Author of everything, including our salvation. This point is made clear by the immediate intonation of the oft-said phrases that recognize Christ our Savior as the incarnate God when we are called to worship Him as “Christ, our King and God.” We continue the service with the introductory Psalm 103, which recalls the original creation of the world and the placing of mankind within it, pure and sinless. We are reminded that Christ our God, the Son, was already co-eternal with the Father at the beginning, was God at the beginning, as St. John the Theologian emphasizes at the beginning of his Gospel. Just as the Royal Gates open and the priest moves about the whole church with incense, just so the Holy Spirit of God moved over the original creation. The full text of the Psalm is not heard in the vigil, but we recall that the original state did not include sin. The last verse emphasizes our desire that sinners perish. The obvious implication, since we all are sinners, is that sin itself would be taken from us, and, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, we might be re-created and made again “living souls” as our first parents were at the beginning. |
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