The Myrrhbearing Women and the Christian Women of Today
By Elder Sofian (Boaghiu)
As you know, the third Sunday after Easter is the Sunday of the
Myrrhbearing women, or the Sunday of the faithful and the housewives who
maintain the Christian family in this world. You should be happy that you
partake of this special attention from our Resurrected Lord. And behold,
because through our most pure Mother Theotokos and the Holy Myrrh-bearing
women, you have a Sunday a year, when you are especially honored. May the Lord
multiply in you the grace and gifts of the Holy Spirit and may the gift of
Christian love abide truly with you, in order to be what you are called,
maintainers of Christian’ warmth and harmony in
your family. For many families today are met with disaster… as you know better
than me, so I will not speak about it.
Then, those of you (faithful women) who come to church and pray to
the Lord here (in the church) and in your home, if you pray attentively with
love, humility and perseverance, will always receive help from God and you will be comforted in
your troubles.
As we’ve talked today about the Sunday of the Holy Myrrhbearing
women, do not forget that all of you Orthodox Christian women and your
daughters are called to be the Holy Myrrhbearing women of the Orthodox Church
today and forever.
The younger girls and daughters can bring mirth to our Lord Jesus
Christ their clean life, their virginity, prayer and obedience to thier
parents. All (college) students and young women, who come to church regularly,
can also bring to Christ our Saviour their mirth of good fragrance: the zeal
for good deeds, mercy and charity towards those in suffering and obedience to
their spiritual father.
The Christian mothers bring to our Master their most precious mirth: that is the birth, raising and education of
children in the fear of God. And also the older mothers, grandmothers and
widows, that are always present in the holy churches of God, will bring (to our
Lord) their ointment of tears and prayers as they piously keep the Orthodox
faith and legacy passed out by our ancestors.
Behold, all the daughters of the Orthodox Church today, you are
the offspring of these Holy Myrrhbearing women from the time of Christ – when
you hold in your heart the good fragrance of faith, prayer and Christian love.
If you’ll only run with devotion to church along with your children, as the
Holy Myrrhbearing women once ran to the Tomb of Christ.
About the Holy Myrrhbearing women I can also tell you that there
were times in the life of our Saviour Jesus Christ, when they were more
courageous than the Apostles. For instance, when our Lord was taken-up by the
Jews in the Garden of Gethsemane, all the Apostles – with the exception of St.
John the Evangelist – left Him, and Peter betrayed Him by swearing three times
that he does not know Him. But the women followed Him from afar, both to the
council (of Pilate) and on the road to Calvary. They accompanied Him when He
fell under the heaviness of Thy Cross, and Veronica with her veil wiped his tears,
and her veil became the first icon bearing the image of Christ.
All these holy women witnessed His beating, His nailing and His
crucifixion (among the two thieves), they have heard the last words of our
Saviour and wept bitterly when He gave His last breath saying „It is done!”
After the crucifixion of Jesus, when the Apostles were hidden for
fear of the Jews, these women, in that very early morning approached the Holy Sepulchre (Tomb) to anoint
our Lord’s body, as it was customary in the Hebrew tradition. And just when
they reached the tomb seeking our Lord’s body, they found it opened and empty
and, an angel of the Lord announced them that „Christ had rose from the dead”,
and showed them the empty shroud.
Mary of Magdalene, this brave women that Jesus exorcised seven
demons out of her, becomes the greatest witnesses of Christ’ Resurrection; she
remained weeping at the grave, while other women had left. She was still
seeking for our Lord’s body, but the tomb was empty. Then she met someone at
the grave and thought to be the gardener. That’s why she asked: “Sir, if you
have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him
away.” (John 20, 15).
Then „the gardener”, Christ Himself, called her by the name: Mary!
His emphasis and tone of voice, made Mary recognize HIM. Although Jesus Christ
was the same in flesh and blood, as He revealed Himself later to the Apostles,
there was something changed in Him. It was undoubtedly His divine appearance,
His transfigured flesh. Thus, He was only recognized by those with a truly pure
heart that had their eyes enlightened.
When Mary recognized Him, she sought to approach Him. But Jesus
said: „Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my
brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my
God and your God.” (John 20, 17).
Not long after this event, our Saviour appeared to His disciples
in Galilee, on Mount Eleon. There Jesus was to meet with His Apostles gathered
at one’s house.
So we see that these holy women were in company of the Risen
Christ – Who appeared from time to time, in order to get them all used with his
resurrected body, because it was a great miracle, since no one had seen a
resurrected body before. (…)
During these forty days, He entrusted the Apostles and the
Myrrhbearing women by appearing to them and to hundreds other people.
Christ’ Resurrection is a guarantee of our resurrection, for as
Jesus Christ rose from the dead, as St. Paul says, we will also rise (…) and we’ll stand before the judgment seat of Christ with all our good or evil deeds, and we’ll be spending eternity accounting the way we
led our lives in this world.
(Excerpt from “Elder Sofian’ spiritual
conversations” translation by EC)
