On the 22nd of July, our Holy Church commemorates the holy Myrrh-bearer and Equal-to-the-Apostles, MARY MAGDALENE.

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My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

On the 22nd of July, Our Holy Orthodox Church Commemorates the holy
Myrrh-bearer and Equal-to-the-Apostles MARY MAGDALENE.

Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn. First Tone

WHEN Christ God had been born fro our sakes from the Virgin,
thou faithfully didst follow Him, keeping His statutes and heeding
His sacred laws, O august Mary Magdalene. Hence, as we today
observe thy holy remembrance, we receive the loosing of our sins
and transgressions through thy holy prayers for us.

Kontakion Hymn. Fourth Tone

WHEN God, the Mighty, the Transcendent in essence, came in the
flesh into the world, He received thee, O Mary, as His true disciple
as was meet. For thou hadst thy whole desire and thy love set
upon Him; wherefore, thou didst bring to pass many cures for the
ailing; and now translated to the Heavens’ heights, thou ever
fervently prayest for all the world.

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Mary, the glorious Equal-to-the-Apostles, was a living example of faith, hope, and love, which she bore toward the Christ. She is one of the Savior’s most famous disciples, not to be confused with either the mystical Mary or Bethany, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, who anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair, or the penitent woman whose sins Jesus pardoned for anointing Him with perfumed ointment in the house of the Pharisee. There is a widespread mistaken notion that has prevailed in Western countries, saying that Mary Magdalene was a woman of bad character. Now Mary, who has come to be known as the Magdalene, was named after the city from which she hailed. She was also given the appellation to identify her among the several other women named Mary in the Gospels.

Magdala of the Galilee was situated on the Lake of Gennesaret. This body of water is also known as the Sea of Tiberias. The place of Saint Mary’s nativity. Our Lord not only stood on the shore of this lake but also walked and sailed upon it, stilling its tempest. From among the many fishermen who plied their calling on its waters abounding in fish, Jesus chose two sets of brothers–Peter and Andrew, and Iakovos (James) and John–to be His disciples. He sent them forth to be "fishers of men."

During the time that Mary lived, Magdala, on the borders with Syria, was exceedingly wealthy with beautiful views. Mary’s father’s name was Syros. Her mother was Efharistia. They were respected and liberal with their wealth. The maiden Mary of Magdala was raised and thoroughly educated in the law and Prophets by her parents, especially her father. While the maiden was orphaned of her parents at ten years of age, yet she continued to live an exemplary life before God. She was virtuous, prayed continually, and was like a bee collecting the honey of virtues. From her adolescence, she could be found either at home or in the synagogue. She never spoke to men. She did, however, have female companions of like mind, who would visit and minister to the infirm and sick, but would just smile modestly when the occasion demanded.

"Was she the virgin that Isaiah spoke of?" wondered Satan. Believing her to be, she was assailed by SEVEN EVIL SPIRITS that they might cause her to fall into grievous sin and destroy her virginity. Therefore, her early life was one of fierce struggle, and spiritual warfare. SEVEN DEMONS ASSAILED HER: THOSE OF PRIDE, FORNICATION, JUDGING OTHERS, LYING, STEALING, MURER, AND UNBELIEF. But she valiantly withstood them and never opened the door to any of them that they might take her captive. She persevered in spiritual warfare until Christ came and expelled those wicked spirits. Casting out of Seven Demons does not mean that Christ had rescued a social derelict. But she was a woman of means is evident from her ability to support Jesus from her property [Matthew 27:56]. Her obvious leadership and prominence among the women is seen in the fact that her name is mentioned more often than most, and usually first.

"Many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him, were there beholding from afar off, among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the Mother of Iakovos (James) and Joses, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee" [Matthew 27:55-56).


   Blessed Jerome (347-420 A.D.) affirms that the Mary mentioned in this verse as "the Mother of Iakovos (James the 'less') is the Lord's Mother.  James (Iakovos) is called 'less' to distinguish him from James (Iakovos) the 'greater', who was the son of Zebedee."

   Saint John Chrysostom (354-407 A.D.) praises the women who followed Jesus in His public ministry and who showed their quality, especially by fidelity in His Passion.  Mary Magdalene ministered to Christ in His Ministry and did not abandon Him when He died.

   "Now there had stood by the Cross of Jesus His Mother, and His Mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene [John 19:25].

Before the first day of the week, the women disciples determined to meet at the sepulchre. Saint Gregory Palamas (1359 A.D.), in his homily entitled "On the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women," believes that Mary Theotokos, together with Mary Magdalene, were first to arrive and witnessed the descent of the Angel who rolled back the stone at the time of the earthquake. At that time it was still dark, but beginning to dawn [Matthew 28:1; John 20:1).  The Myrrh-bearer Mary Magdalene, seeing the stone taken away from the sepulchre and the soldiers , ran immediately to notify Simon Peter and John, leaving the Virgin at the sepulchre.  It is at this time when the Virgin wa alone at the sepulchre that her Son appeared to her first.


   Now after Mary Magdalene notified Simon Peter and John, she went along but at a slower pace.  After Peter and John departed, she was still weeping.  She stooped to look into the sepulchre.  She beheld two Angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the  body of Jesus had been lying.  They said to her, "Woman, why weepest thou?" She answered, "Because they took away my Lord, and I know not where they laid Him" [John 20:13]. Having spoken thus, she then turned herself back. She beheld Jesus standing, though knew not that it was Jesus, He said to her, "Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing it was the gardener, said, "Sir, if Thou didst bear Him away, tell me where Thou didst lay Him, and I will take Him away" (John 20:15). Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned herself, and saith to Him, "Rabbouni," that is to day, Teacher. Jesus said to her, "Cease touching Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father, but go to My brethren, and say to them, "I ascend to My Father, and your Father, and to My God and your God" (John 20:16-17). Mary then hastened to report to the other disciples those things she had seen and heard from the Lord.

After the Lord’s Ascension, nothing certain is known concerning her. Some accounts say that she went to Rome and later returned to Jerusalem and from there proceeded to Ephesus, where she ended her life, preaching Christ. Although it is sometimes said that Saint Mary Magdalene was the "sinful woman" of the Gospel, this is nowhere stated in the Tradition of the Church, in the sacred hymnology, or in the Holy Gospels themselves, which say only that our Lord cast seven demons out of her, not that she was a fallen woman. [ Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church]

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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+ Father George



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