The Consecration of Tbilisi and All Georgia

In light of the very tense political situation leading up to next Monday’s parliamentary elections, Patriarch Ilia arranged for a Consecration of the City of Tbilisi, held yesterday afternoon to coincide with the Celebration of Christ’s Ascension and the Elevation of the Cross.

Fears of violence and possible uprisings have been substantial.  Despite the Patriarch’s entreaties for Christians to treat each other as brothers regardless of political affiliation, interaction between rival political groups have not been civil in general.

The Patriarchate released this statement three days ago; “As it is known, today a procession with participation of the clergy will start from Vake (Saburtalo pantheon) from Vaja-Pshavela (St. Barbare’s Cathedral), from the cinema “Georgia” (St. Barbare’s Church) and also from the St. Barbare (lower) Church.”

“From the three sides (Vake, Saburtalo, Didube) the place of gathering is Heroes’ Square, where people will be gathered at 16:00 and then will move towards Metekhi bridge, – to the torture place of One Hundred Thousand Georgians; the fourth group will join the group at 18:00 and the solemn prayer will be conducted. Everyone can participate in the consecration of the capital”

The assembly yesterday afternoon was attended by many tens of thousands of ordinary parishioners from Tbilisi and nearby towns, with their priests, deacons and sidesmen. Estimates of 50,000-100,000 attendants have been made for the solemn event.

The Patriarchate has now extended this ritual to the whole country. Today, the Patriarch’s Secretary, Archpriest Michael Botkoveli stated ” Every region, every town and village will be sanctified. The initiative has been assigned to the Diocesan Bishops of the Patriarchate. This idea was initiated by the Patriarch with regard to the escalated situation in the country in order for the coming elections to be held in a peaceful and fair environment”. All the Bishops of the country have been dispatched to their Dioceses today for this purpose and will remain in their Eparchies until tomorrow night.

In such a tense environment where so many people are fearful, to consecrate every town and village is a much-needed gesture, to calm the atmosphere and focus people’s attention on what is really important. Consecration means sanctification, or to make holy, and to dedicate a place to God’s service. By calmly exercising their civic duty to vote, and working peacefully to improve the country in the aftermath of the elections, the people of Georgia are doing God’s work in every town and village; it is to be hoped that nobody stands in the way of their obligation. We all pray that the people of Georgia can cast their votes freely, that those disappointed by the outcome can accept the setback calmly, that the elected authorities govern with wisdom and justice, and that the bitterness between people of opposing camps can be replaced by reconciliation and goodwill.

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Holy Hieromartyr Dositeos of Tbilisi

Thirty-five thousand Persian soldiers marched toward Georgia in the year 1795. The Georgian king Erekle II (1762–1798) and his two thousand soldiers declared war on the invaders as they were approaching Tbilisi. The Georgians won the first skirmish, but many perished in the fighting. The enemy was shaken and was preparing to flee the battleground, when several traitors reported to Aqa Muhammed Khan that King Erekle had lost nearly his entire army. This betrayal decided the fate of the battle: the one hundred fifty soldiers who remained in the Georgian army barely succeeded in saving the life of King Erekle, who had willed to perish on the battlefield with his soldiers.

All of Tbilisi was engulfed in flames. The plunderers murdered the people, set fire to the libraries, destroyed the print shop, and vandalized the churches and the king’s palace. They slaughtered the clergy in an especially cruel manner.

Unfortunately, history has not preserved the names of all those martyrs who perished in this tragedy, but we do know that a certain Metropolitan Dositeos of Tbilisi was killed because he would not abandon his flock. While the invaders simply killed most of the clergymen, from St. Dositeos they demanded a renunciation of the Christian Faith. They commanded him to defile the True and Life-giving Cross of our Lord. But the holy hieromartyr Dositeos endured the greatest torments without yielding to the enemy, and he joyfully accepted death for Christ’s sake. The invaders slaughtered Christ’s devoted servant with their swords.

St. Dositeos was martyred on September 12 in the year 1795.

From “Lives of the Georgian Saints” by Archpriest Zacharia Machitadze

 

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Patriarch calls on the nation to remain calm

In light of street protests and student unrest in the wake of Georgia’s prison abuse scandal, the Patriarch calls for restraint and for student protesters to disperse.

21.09.12 13:57

Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II calls on the nation to remain calm. His Holiness preached at the Holy Trinity Cathedral today and urged the worshippers not to `use the situation for humiliating Georgia and its people`. Patriarch said there are people who are trying to wield the unhealthy situation and cause instability in the country, which is entirely unacceptable.

His Holiness called on the nation to bring the situation to elections peacefully.

Patriarch has also addressed the students and asked them to abstain from the activities, which might cause disorder. Part of the students, who have been rallying during past few days, were also listening to Patriarch, who conducted holy service on the day of Virgin Mary.

via Patriarch calls on the nation to remain calm.

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The Nativity of the Ghvtismshobeli (Gvtismshobloba)

Today we celebrate the Birth of the Virgin Mary, the Ghvtismshobeli. The event is of great importance to Orthodox Christians in general, but because the Virgin Mary is the Patron of the Georgian Nation, it has become a national holiday.

The Most Holy Virgin Mary was born at a time, when people had reached such limits of decay of moral values, that it seemed altogether impossible to restore them. The best minds of this era were aware and often said openly, that God must needs come down into the world, so as to restore faith and not tolerate the ruination of the race of mankind.

The Son of God chose for the salvation of mankind to take on human nature, and the All-Pure Virgin Mary, – alone worthy to contain in Herself and to incarnate the Source of purity and holiness, – He chose as His Mother.

The Birth of Our Most Holy Lady Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary is celebrated by the Church as a day of universal joy. Within the context of the Old and the New Testaments, on this radiant day was born the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, – having been forechosen through the ages by Divine Providence to bring about the Mystery of the Incarnation of the Word of God, and She is revealed as the Mother of the Saviour of the World, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Most Holy Virgin Mary was born in the small city of Galilee, Nazareth. Her parents were Righteous Joachim from the tribe of the King and Prophet David, and Anna from the tribe of the First-Priest Aaron. The couple was without child, since Saint Anna was barren. Having reached old age, Joakim and Anna did not lose hope on the mercy of God. They had strong faith that for God everything is possible, and that He would be able to solve the barrenness of Anna – even in her old age, as He had once solved the barrenness of Sarah, spouse of the Patriarch Abraham. Saints Joakim and Anna made a vow to dedicate the child which the Lord might bestow on them, into the service of God in the Temple.

Childlessness was considered among the Hebrew nation as a Divine punishment for sin, and therefore the righteous Saints Joakim and Anna had to endure abuse from their own countrymen. On one of the feastdays at the Temple in Jerusalem the elderly Joakim brought his sacrifice in offering to God, but the High Priest would not accept it, – considering him to be unworthy since he was childless. Saint Joakim in deep grief went into the wilderness and there he prayed with tears to the Lord for the granting of a child. Saint Anna, having learned about what had happened at the Jerusalem Temple, wept bitterly; never once did she complain against the Lord, but rather she prayed, asking God’s mercy on her family.

The Lord fulfilled her petitions when the pious spouses had attained to extreme old age and prepared themselves by virtuous life for a sublime calling – to be the parents of the MostHoly Virgin Mary, the future Mother of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Archangel Gabriel brought Joakim and Anna the joyous message: their prayers were heard by God, and of them would be born a Most Blessed Daughter Mary, through Whom would come the Salvation of all the World. The Most Holy Virgin Mary of Herself in purity and virtue surpassed not only all mankind but also the Angels; – She was manifest as the Living Temple of God, such that the Church sings in its festal verses of song: “the Heavenly Gate, bringing Christ into the world for the salvation of our souls” (2nd Stikhera on “Lord, I have cried”, Tone 6).

The Birth of the Mother of God marks the change of the times, wherein the great and comforting promises of God begin to be fulfilled about the salvation of the human race from slavery to the devil. This event has brought nigh to earth the grace of the Kingdom of God, – a Kingdom of Truth, piety, virtue and life immortal. Our Mother First-Born of All Creation is revealed to all of us by grace as a merciful Intercessor and Mother, to Whom we steadfastly recourse with filial devotion.

Orthodox Liturgical Calendar of The St. John of Kronstadt Press

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Jesus’ Wife?

A neat summary of the Church’s position on new claims of Christ’s supposed “marriage”. We went through all this a few years ago in the wake of “The Da Vinci Code” but here we go again….Academics’ scepticism of documentary authenticity reported here

Sep 20, 2012

An announcement about an ancient text in which Jesus is reported to have spoken about “my wife” has received extensive attention in the media.  The text comes from a small papyrus fragment about 1×3 inches in size, judged to be of the fourth century AD, which apparently had broken off from a larger page of a document presumed lost.  The text is still in the process of linguistic and chemical analysis to determine if it is actually a fragment from a fourth-century manuscript.  When the papyrus fragment was discovered, and under what circumstances it has passed from hand to hand until the public announcement, are presently unknown.

Written in ancient Sahidic Coptic script, the text is perhaps a translation of an earlier Greek document.  Because the lines on all four sides of the fragment are broken and incomplete, transcription of meaningful sentences is impossible.  But the names of Jesus and also Mary, presumably, Mary Magdalene, are reported to occur, and also certain phrases, including Jesus using the expression “my wife.”  Mary Magdalene has been portrayed as an intimate disciple of Jesus, but not a wife, in other ancient writings already known to the Fathers of the Church and designated as apocrypha and fraudulent.  These works were composed by small circles of heretical teachers concerned to disseminate their own and often bizarre teachings.  For example, a few years ago the discovery of “The Gospel of Judas” caused a stir in the media.  This document was known to St. Irenaeus in the late second century AD.  Among its strange teachings is that Judas was the only disciple who truly understood Jesus and that his treachery was a good thing in itself because it helped Jesus to be crucified; except that by that time the real Christ had (weirdly) departed from Jesus and that only Jesus the man was crucified!

Professor Karen King of Harvard Divinity School who made the announcement about the new text cautioned that its reference to Jesus’ wife is no historical proof that Jesus was actually married but only an indication that Christians in the fourth century debated the issues of marriage and celibacy.  The Gospels and most of the other books of the New Testament are extensive documents of the first century AD and provide no hint that Jesus was ever married.  There would be no reason to hide such a fact because marriage was viewed as a sacred covenant in Judaism and Christianity.  It should be noted that St. Peter the Apostle, as well as other apostles were married (Mark 1:30; 1 Cor 9:5).  The Bible and the Orthodox theology confirm that marriage is instituted by God, it is honorable and holy, one of the sacraments of the Church.  Just as the Church honors a celibate life dedicated to God, so also it celebrates marriage as a workshop of God’s kingdom–a journey to God.

 

From the Greek Orthodox Archiocese of America

 

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A neat summary of the importance of the Greek language to ancient and modern Christianity. Greek was the liturgical language of the Church in Georgia in the very early days.

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Reconstructed Bagrati Cathedral opens in Kutaisi

The renovation of the 11th century Bagrati Cathedral ( ბაგრატი; ბაგრატის ტაძარი, or Bagratis tadzari) has been controversial, as the government’s renovation plan was rejected by UNESCO. UNESCO had classified the ruins as a World Heritage site. That being said, UNESCO officials have little regard for whether a religious site can be restored to its intended use, and a temple has a functional role as well as an aesthetic one.  It needs to keep the rain off the heads of the worshippers, and a cathedral without a roof lacks this utility.

The Cathedral of the Dormition of the Ghvtismshobeli (as its formal title is) was commissioned in 1003 by King Bagrat III, the first King of a united Georgia. Prior to his reign, Georgia had been divided into two or more Kingdoms, typically divided East-West. Destroyed by the Ottoman troops in 1692, the cathedral has been in ruins ever since. The Diocese of Kutaisi and Gaenati now has a magnificent cathedral at its seat for the use of the people. As most temples in Georgia are overflowing on Sunday mornings, and extremely crowded on feast days, the new capacity will be very welcome.

Reconstructed Bagrati Cathedral opens in Kutaisi

14.09.12 20:48

President Mikheil Saakashvili called on all political forces of Georgia for consolidation and thanked all those who participated in restoration of Bagrati temple in his speech made in the yard of Bagrati temple of Kutaisi in Imereti region today.

“I want to thank all who participated in this grand construction – all workers, all constructors and all engineers. I want especially to thank Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia ll, whose blessing played a decisive role in this great job. However, today’s main hero is King Bagrati, who built the temple. He laid the foundation of the unity, which is vitally important for our national existence and success”, Saakashvili said, noting Georgia was always going forward when it was united.

He said, he is happy to represent the generation which restored the Bagrati temple.

“Restoration of a church is a greatest merit for any Georgian. I am happy to have a chance to make my modest contribution into the restoration. I am happy to represent the generation which restored the Bagrati temple”, Saakashvili said

via Reconstructed Bagrati Cathedral opens in Kutaisi.

 

 

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Open address of IDPs to Ecumenical and Georgian Patriarchs

Abkhazia is a very ethnically diverse region of Georgia, with Orthodox people of Georgian, Abkhaz, Greek, Russian and Ukrainian descent. With the support of the Moscow Patriarchate, some Abkhaz clergy have been agitating for an autocephalous (self-ruling) Church of Abkhazia and lobbying the Ecumenical Patriarchate for recognition. The Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Ilia II, used to be the resident Bishop of Abkhazia in his younger days, and today is still styled as Metropolitan of Abkhazia and Bichvinta, so he has strong feelings on the subject. So far, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholow has strongly opposed such measures and ruled that this is an internal affair of the Church of Georgia. The Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate have likewise been supportive of Georgia’s claims to date. It is likely that this position will be reiterated in Constantinople this month.

The delegation of Abkhazian legitimate government and the representatives of the Patriarch`s Administration will meet with the World Patriarch in Istanbul on September 17, 2012. The delegations plan to discuss and assess the attempts of the religious figures serving on the territory of the breakaway Abkhazia, who demand autocephaly to the Abkhazian Orthodox Church.

The IDPs from Abkhazia assembled in the Sokhumi University today and elaborated an address to the World Patriarch and the Patriarch of All Georgia, in which they are objecting to the separation of Abkhazian church from Georgian one.

via Open address of IDPs to World and Georgian Patriarchs.

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The Guilty Conscience as an Existential Problem

Georgia has very little in the way of psychological counselling or psychiatric treatment available to its citizens. The few professionals available tend to be very expensive, with a single session costing a month’s wages for many workers. Under such conditions, people experiencing psychological distress often approach their Spiritual Father for help. Recognising the established practice, the Georgian government has provided some psychological training to Orthodox chaplains in the Georgian Armed Forces, to help them minister to the needs of personnel better.

The following article is thought provoking. While not rejecting the validity of conventional psychotherapy, it does suggest that spiritual counselling may be helpful in many cases of psychological distress and mental illness. Given that this is the only recourse for most Georgians suffering mental illnesses, it is worthy of study.

 

 

The great Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist Carl Gustav Jung made a significant contribution to understanding the spiritual life by underlining the moral character of most of the personality’s repressions. Jung argued, on the basis of his clinical psychotherapeutic and medical experience, that these repressions were usually of a moral nature. In fact, in some cases, Jung went even further and taught that neurosis, which is today a very common disharmony in the personality, has a religious character. This is why, in his opinion, the problem of neurosis is actually a religious problem.

Jung’s view here on the primary content of our modern repressions has been corroborated by many psychological and psychotherapeutic studies, as well as by philosophical thought. In fact, a lively discussion has begun in many quarters regarding the existential significance of the guilty feelings that plague modern people, often without them even being aware of the role of these feelings. The unconscious part of the human personality suffers from the pressure of repressions, which usually consist of strong moral conflicts, without the person being aware of the particular way in which these conflicts generate feelings of guilt. However, in spite of this, it is today well established in the fields of psychology and psychotherapy that the concept of guilty feelings, or the concept of the guilty conscience, is a psychological factor accepted even by psychoanalysis.

In any case, in terms of psychology and psychotherapy, we should take note of the book by the German psychologist and theologian Helmut Harsch, in which he attempts a systematic exposition of the problem of guilt in the areas of theology and depth psychology. The combination of these two areas of the spiritual life in researching the problem of guilt takes on particular significance today, inasmuch as this research recognizes, and provides scientific validation for, the idea that the problem of guilt stands as the foremost existential problem of our times.

This claim is neither unfounded nor exaggerated, given the enormous influence Franz Kafka’s famous work The Trial has had on modern thought and art, as well as on philosophy in general. The Trial, which was performed not long ago at a theater in Thessaloniki, is the creative product of a man who was greatly skilled in studying the way in which guilty feelings are repressed in the human psyche. Of course, the interpretations offered of this Czech author’s work are many and varied, and critics’ disagreements over the book’s deeper meaning are well known. Nevertheless, nearly all Kafka scholars agree that, in The Trial, Kafka dissects and analyzes with incomparable skill and precision the existential nature of the feeling of guilt. It thus comes as no surprise that, with the incredible interest generated by Existentialism, The Trial became the subject of research highlighting the feeling of guilt, i.e. the guilty conscience, as modern man’s central problem.

On the other hand, it is, of course, understandable why such a claim would not be easily accepted, since, as is clear from psychotherapeutic practice, guilty persons carefully hide the causes of their neurotic behavior, and, in fact, react strongly to any attempt to bring this cause (i.e. guilt) to the surface of their consciousness.

As the psychoanalytical dialogue progresses through its various stages (which, for the moral conscience, are particularly sensitive), the patients’ attitude toward their personal responsibility for creating and maintaining these moral conflicts manifests itself quite clearly. Experienced psychotherapists and psychiatrists, however, know that neurotic people, who are experiencing an existential moral problem, will never admit that the symptoms of their mental disharmony or disorder are the result of the way in which they are experiencing this moral conflict. Patients always insist that the problem is pathological/anatomical, and for this reason never think to visit a psychiatrist but rather insist on visiting general practitioners, cardiologists, surgeons, and every other kind of specialist except a psychiatrist. And, as prominent psychiatrists testify, often, since the neurotic symptoms are also organic, many specialists also see neuroses as organic illnesses involving the heart, the stomach, the intestines, the peripheral nerves, the bladder, and other organs of the human body. So it is not always possible for doctors and those to whom the neurotic sufferers are linked to recognize that they are experiencing an existential moral problem. The German psychiatrist von Uexküll notes that neurotic people live their lives just like other people, with no obvious abnormalities. They may have considerable professional success and seem very well adapted to social life. The latter may explain why we are generally unable to identify the extent of this neurotic phenomenon in social life.

However, the neurotic person’s tightly concealed experience of a moral problem demonstrates that neurosis, as the experience of repressed feelings of guilt, is in fact a sickness of the personality’s character. Despite the fact that experts disagree as to the existential meaning of neurosis, all those involved with the problem of the interpretation of neurosis agree that this mental disharmony is a sickness of the personality’s character. One might say that this officially confirms the moral character of the neurotic person’s mental conflict. It also verifies the unconscious way in which this repressed conflict is experienced, i.e. ultimately as the repression of the moral conscience and as feelings of guilt.

Of course, this description of the modern person’s spiritual state is not unique to the modern era. In their basic attitudes toward life and its problems, human beings are certainly always the same. One era, regardless of how pivotal it may be and how much it may subvert the basic ways of life, could never change the essence of human behavior in the face of life’s problems. Rather, a pivotal era may simply test and strain certain weaknesses or certain inadequate mental coping mechanisms. In no way, however, could it substantially alter human behavior. Thus, modern psychological research and psychotherapeutic practice simply constitute an impressive vista onto the basic form of human behavior, which always involves people’s dissociation from their moral consciousness. And that is why it falls within the domain of the regenerative work of the Church of Christ, because the central problem the Church of Christ confronts within its redemptive sphere, and the main goal of its regenerative efforts, is always the experience of the moral conscience’s demands in the light of the Gospel imperatives.

In fact, according to the Church’s teaching, the problem of existence is tied to the moment people transgress against God’s commandment, i.e., transgress against their moral conscience. Adam, as a transgressor against the divine will, is first and foremost a transgressor against his moral conscience. The fact that he was given God’s commandment and the way in which to transgress against it shows that God placed humankind, from the very first moment of its existence, in front of the mirror of its moral conscience. God’s prohibition in Paradise was an invitation to Adam to begin a dialogue with his moral conscience, for his moral and spiritual perfection. Thus, Adam’s failure to experience his existence as an active dialogue with his conscience is a failure of his dialogue with his deeper, genuine nature. When he transgressed against his moral conscience, he cut himself off from his true self, alienating himself from the deepest parts of his personality. This activates the most shocking repression of the moral conscience. For this reason, Adam thereafter lived his existence accompanied by guilt and a repressed moral conscience.

This reality, then, that the Church highlights as the prologue to and essence of the human drama, is being uncovered today by depth psychology and underlined in a shocking way by psychotherapy. Indeed, the findings of psychotherapeutic practice, which are encapsulated in Igor Caruso’s basic position, highlight in a modern, i.e. impressive, way this fundamental teaching of the Church. According to Caruso, neurosis is a sickness of the bad conscience, i.e. of the conscience which represses itself, of the guilty conscience.

This encounter between psychotherapy and the Church’s teaching is a constructive partnership in the realm of existential thought. And one cannot deny this fact without…pangs of conscience! So even here the guilty conscience serves as a provocative presence!

Source: J. K. Kornarakis, “Psychology and spiritual life,” pp. 33-40, published by Orthodoxos Kypseli [in Greek].

 

The guilty conscience as an existential problem : OMHKSEA.

 

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The Orthodox Church and the Status of Women, Part II: The Gender of the Apostles to the Apostles

In the previous post on this theme, we examined the proposition that the Orthodox Church is hostile to women and their status as people of equal merit to men. I advanced the argument that God had turned the established gender politics of the time on its head by choosing to be incarnated in the womb of a woman, and consenting to be raised under the authority of a woman, as the Son of God.The early Church in turn recognised the elevated nature and status of the Virgin Mary as a clear sign of God’s plan for all of humanity, for both genders and all races.

The early Church transformed the code of conduct for the faithful to allow men and women equal access to all aspects of worship within the temple, with the exception of ordination to Priesthood, and dramatically reformed expectations regarding treatment of women in divorce cases, treatment of female indentured servants and slaves, and participation of women in Church administration and missionary activity. These reforms were revolutionary by the standards of the day and no doubt engendered antipathy from traditional Jews and the Hellenised communities of the Roman Empire, who saw such social radicalism as dangerous to the established order.

My next question is, if the Orthodox Church is supposedly hostile to the advancement of women’s status, why is it that Christ chose women as his first Evangelists, and why does the Church acknowledge the contributions of the Eight Myrrh-Bearing women, as “Apostles to the Apostles”, with such vigour and enthusiasm?

We need to return to the root of the matter, the life of Jesus Christ. As Mary Truesdell writes in “The Diaconate Now”;

Our Lord Jesus Christ…afforded woman a higher place than she ever had before.

 In the Orient, woman was a mere possession of man, a chattel.  In Greece, her life was one of seclusion and obscurity.  In Rome, more honor was paid woman, but they were under the absolute domination of their fathers and later their husbands.  Although the position of women was higher among the Hebrews, and there were several rare women who had the gift of prophecy, yet a Jewish man still blesses God who has not made him “a Gentile, a slave,…or a woman.”  Women could only enter into the outer parts of the Temple; they were excused from keeping a great deal of the Law; their vows could be voided by husband or father, and their word was not taken at law.  They were respected and honored in home life, but looked upon as inferior.  When in the fullness of time God sent His Son, Christ humbled himself to be born of a woman, whom all generations shall call Blessed.

Throughout his ministry, our Lord showed an especial tenderness toward women and children.  He condemned the prevailing idea of divorce, and proposed a high and sacred concept of marriage.  His compassion for the widow is reflected in parable and miracle.  Though weary, He stopped when mothers brought their children to him for blessing.  Women came to him for healing and in penitence.  Women sat at His feet to hear his words.  His disciples often wondered at the respect he had for women, both bad and good.  He was different from other rabbis.  When He went about preaching and proclaiming the glad tidings of the kingdom, not a few women ministered to Him of their substance.  At the foot of the Cross, faithful women stood until the end, when all but one of his chosen twelve had forsaken Him and fled; and they followed those who carried Jesus’ body to its burial, and went home to prepare spices and ointments for its anointing.

That this loving service was agreeable to the mind of Christ, we may learn from His choosing the same faithful women to become the first witnesses of His glorious resurrection.”

We are familiar with the story of the Eight Myrrh-Bearing women, who approached Christ’s tomb on the first Paschal morning, traumatised and heartbroken. Their spiritual leader had been tortured to death in front of them, their dreams of a peaceful new world order dashed, and they had not had time before the beginning of the Sabbath on Friday night to properly wash and embalm His body for the correct Jewish burial rites, cause for distress for devout Jewish ladies. Carrying myrrh and other supplies to his tomb for the preparation for burial, they were confronted with the sight of an empty tomb, and an angel proclaiming,

” Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him as He said to you.” (Mark 15:43–16:8).

For this reason, the Eight Myrrh-Bearers are known as “Apostles to the Apostles”, as they were the first people to be informed of, and to recognise, Christ’s Resurrection, and to spread the word of his Resurrection to the world. God choosing women to be the bearers of such dramatic news is not without significance; just as Christ’s Conception was announced only to women initially, so was his Resurrection. The importance of women in bearing witness to Christ’s mission, His divinity and His ultimate triumph over Death was acknowledged and affirmed by God on the first Pascha, and reiterated and celebrated for almost two millennia by His Church.

From Orthodox Wiki; ” There are eight women who are generally identified as the myrrh-bearers. Each of the four Gospels gives a different aspect of the roles of these eight women at the cross and at the tomb on Easter morning, perhaps since the eight women arrived in different groups and at different times. The eight are:

• Mary Magdalene
• Mary, the Theotokos (the Virgin Mary)
• Joanna
• Salome
• Mary the wife of Cleopas (or Alphaeus)
• Susanna
• Mary of Bethany
• Martha of Bethany

Of the eight, the first five are the more prominent and outspoken. The last three are included according to tradition. Five of these women were also very wealthy; the women of means were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, and Mary and Martha of Bethany.

A confusing aspect in Gospel references to these women is that two of the Marys had a son named James. Mary, the wife of Alphaeus, was the mother of James, one of the Twelve Apostles; the Virgin Mary was the step-mother of James, the Lord’s step-brother (Matthew 13:55, Galatians 1:19).

In Eastern tradition, James, the Lord’s step-brother was Bishop of Jerusalem from 30-62 AD and never left the vicinity of Jerusalem. He is the James who rendered the decision of the council of Jerusalem in 48 AD (Acts 15:13-19). Eastern Tradition links James, the son of Alphaeus, with evangelism abroad, especially in Egypt where he was martyred.

One helpful tip that can clear up the confusion between these two Marys is the passage that refers to the Virgin Mary as the mother of James and Joseph (Matthew 13:55). This Joseph is also called Barsabas, Justus, and Judas (Acts 1:23 and 15:22). Therefore, in Matthew 27:56, the women looking on from afar at the cross were Mary Magdalene, the Virgin Mary (that is, Mary the mother of James and Joseph), and Salome (the wife of Zebedee and the Virgin Mary’s step-daughter).

Matthew refers to Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary,” who is probably the Virgin Mary also from the context (Matthew 27:61 and 28:1). Such Church Fathers as St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Gregory Palamas support this interpretation. Similarly, St. Gregory of Nyssa identifies “Mary, the mother of James” (Mark 16:1 and Luke 24:10) as the Virgin Mary also.

These eight women had been together a lot during Jesus’ three-year public ministry. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, and others (Luke 8:3) are described as providing for Jesus out of their possessions. These same women had faithfully followed him from Galilee and had come up with him to Jerusalem (Matthew 27:55, Mark 15:40-41, and Luke 23:55).”

The Gospel of Saint John , Chapter 20 presents perhaps one of the most dramatic records of what must have been by turns the most stressful and most joyous episodes of Mary Magdalene’s life;

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. ² So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

³ So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. ⁴ Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵ He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, ⁷ as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. ⁸ Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. ⁹ (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) ¹⁰ Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

¹¹ Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb ¹² and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

¹³ They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” ¹⁴ At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

¹⁵ He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

¹⁷ Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

It is worth noting that some of the remaining eleven Apostles were sceptical of the claims of Christ’s Resurrection emanating from these women; as traditional rural Jews they were probably inclined to discount what they considered to be the hysterical ravings of overstressed women. Christ’s appearance in their midst soon after must have caused them to re-appraise their prejudices.

If the Church were truly misogynist as some Western humanists complain, surely the Church would have suppressed these stories that document  women to be worthy of being the first Apostles of Christ’s Resurrection, and therefore spiritually and intellectually equivalent to males. It has not engaged in such suppression; the Gospels that glorify women’s efforts in the development of Christ’s Church on Earth are recounted freely and enthusiastically in homilies by Orthodox priests every week. Our parish priests teach us that all human beings are equal in spiritual essence; no matter how much people of other genders, races or religions may confuse or aggravate us at times, we are all created in the Image and Likeness of God. We all carry the same divine spark and equally yearn for union with God.

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