Patrick Comerford
The Easter celebrations in Rethymnon over the past few days have been truly moving. I am back in Stony Stratford this morning (22 April 2025) having got a late night flight from Chania. I was woken this morning by the clock bells of Saint Mary and Giles Church instead of the bells of the Church of the Four Martyrs and Rethymnon Cathedral, which I have heard for the past five morning during my own ‘Holy Week and Easter mini-retreat’.
Later this evening, I hope to end the annual meeting of parishioners of Saint Mary and Giles Church. But, before this day begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:
1, reading today’s Gospel reading;
2, a short reflection;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
John 20: 11-18 (NRSVA):
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ 14 When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ 16 Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God”.’ 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
Today’s Reflection:
This morning’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist (John 20: 11-18) is a re-reading of the second part of Sunday’s Gospel reading, reminding us again of the role of Saint Mary Magdalene as the firat witness of the resurrection and of her apostolic ministry.
On the way back down the mountains from the Monastery of Arkadi to the coast of Rethymnon in Crete, I have sometimes stopped briefly to see the small church in Nea Magnesia that is dedicated to Aghia Magdalini or Saint Mary Magdalene. It is one of only two churches dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene on the island of Crete.
Nea Magnesia is 12 km east of Rethymnon, near Skaleta and off the road to Panormos. Today it is fast becoming part of the resort facilities building up east of Rethymnon. But in the 1920s, this village was first settled by Greek-speaking people who had been expelled from their homes in western Anatolia. > They arrived in Crete with their Greek language, traditions and culture and dedicated their church to Saint Mary Magdalene.
The other church in Crete dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene is an impressive Russian-style church on Dagli Street in Chania, with an onion dome and surrounded by a beautiful garden in the district of Chalepa. The church was built in 1901-1903 by Prince George, the High Commissioner of Crete. The church was funded by the Czarist Russia and was opened in 1903 in the presence of Queen Olga, Prince George, Bishop Evgenios of Crete and a small number of invited guests.
I often pass Chalepa on my way to the and from Chania airport. With its imposing mansions and luxury villas, Chalepa is a beautiful part of Chania, east of the city on the coastal road to the airport and Akrotiri.
Chalepa was the venue for some of the most important political events in Crete in the 19th century. Here Prince George had his palace as the High Commissioner or governor of the semi-autonomous Cretan state in the closing days of Ottoman rule, and here too the Great Powers had their consulates. Chalepa was also the home of Eleftherios Venizelos, who played a decisive role as Prime Minister of Greece during a critical time in Greek history in the early 20th century. The family house was built by his father, Kyriakos Venizelos, in 1877. Today, his family home houses the Eleftherios K Venizelos National Research and Study Foundation, which plans to turn the house into a museum.
An icon of Saint Mary Magdalene at the Resurrection, Μη μου άπτου (Noli me Tangere) by Mikhail Damaskinos, is one of the important exhibits at the Museum of Christian Art in the former church of Saint Catherine of Sinai in Iraklion. This icon dates from ca 1585-1591. Initially it was in the Monastery of Vrondissi and was transferred in 1800 to old church of Saint Minas in Iraklion, which I visited last Saturday.
One of the most inspirational icons of Saint Mary Magdalene I have seen in Crete is an icon by Alexandra Kaouki in her old workshop near the Fortezza in Rethymnon.
According to Greek tradition, Saint Mary Magdalene evangelised the island of Zakynthos in 34 AD on her way to Rome with Saint Mary of Cleopas. The village of Maries on the island is said to be named after both Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint Mary of Cleopas. A relic of her left hand is said to be preserved in the monastery of Simonopetra on Mount Athos, where she is revered as a co-founder of the monastery.
During the Middle Ages, Saint Mary Magdalene was regarded in Western Christianity as a repentant prostitute or promiscuous woman, but these claims are not supported in any of the four Gospels.
Instead, the Gospels tell us she travelled with Jesus as one of his followers, and that she was a witness to his Crucifixion and his Resurrection, Indeed, she is named at least 12 times in the four Gospels, more times than most of the apostles. Two Gospels specifically name her as the first person to see Christ after the Resurrection (see Mark 16: 9 and John 20).
Back in 2016, Pope Francis, who died yesterday (21 April 2025), recognised Saint Mary Magdalene and her role as the first to witness Christ’s resurrection and as a ‘true and authentic evangeliser’ when he raised her commemoration [22 July] from a memorial to a feast in the church’s liturgical calendar. The Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship issued a decree formalising the decision, and both the decree and the article were titled Apostolorum Apostola (‘Apostle of the Apostles’).
Archbishop Arthur Roche, secretary of the congregation, said that in celebrating ‘an evangelist who proclaims the central joyous message of Easter,’ Saint Mary Magdalene’s feast day is a call for all Christians to ‘reflect more deeply on the dignity of women, the new evangelisation and the greatness of the mystery of divine mercy.’
Archbishop Roche said that in giving Saint Mary Magdalene the honour of being the first person to see the empty tomb and the first to listen to the truth of the resurrection, Christ ‘has a special consideration and mercy for this woman, who manifests her love for him, looking for him in the garden with anguish and suffering.’
The decision means Saint Mary Magdalene has the same level of feast as that given to the celebration of the apostles and makes her a ‘model for every woman in the church.’
As we think about Saint Mary Magdalene, and the way she has been maligned and traduced in the past, we may wonder why. Why was she forgotten so long as the apostle of the apostles and the ‘model for every woman in the church’?
Why did we give her name to the ‘Magdalene Laundries’ in Ireland that demeaned and belittled innocent women, depriving them of love, education, dignity and basic human rights?
Saint Mary Magdalene may also offer an opportunity to address the way many women were treated in the past in Ireland the ‘Magdalene Laundries’ and the ‘Bethany’ homes. Indeed, Saint Mary Magdalene, in the way she has been maligned over the centuries, represents so many women whose beauty, truth and witness have been denied by the Church for oh so long.
We must never do this again, not only to women, but to any group in the church, because of gender, sexuality, age, ethnicity, culture or the other excuses that lead to discrimination, oppression and exclusion. For every time we do this, we are in danger of denying the Resurrection and of denying the Risen Christ himself.
Why does Jesus tell Mary (verse 17): ‘Do not hold onto me’ (Μή μου ἅπτου, Noli me tangere)?
How do we recognise new life in the Risen Christ?
How do we understand the invitation from the Risen Christ to feast with him?
When we accept the new life Christ offers, how does our vision change?
Where do we see the presence of the Risen Christ?
Do we see his presence in the people and places we like and that please us?
Can we see him in the people we do not like and in the situations we find challenging? – the hungry child, the fleeing refugee, the begging person on the street, the homeless addict sleeping on the street or in the doorway?
Is my heart changed by the Risen Christ?
Where do I see the broken and bruised Body of Christ needing restoration and Resurrection?
Do I know him in the word he speaks to me and in the breaking of the bread?
Is the presence of the Risen Christ a living experience for us this morning?
Can Easter be an every-morning, every-day, living experience for us?
Χριστὸς ἀνέστη!
Christ is Risen!
Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 22 April 2025, Tuesday in Easter Week):
‘Cross-Cultural Mission at Manchester Airport’ provides the theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel).’ This theme was introduced on Sunday with reflections by the Revd Debbie Sawyer, Pastoral Chaplain in the Church in Wales and Airport Chaplain, Manchester.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Tuesday 22 April 2025, Tuesday in Easter Week, Earth Day) invites us to pray:
Creator God, help us to care for your Earth with love and respect, preserving its beauty for future generations.
The Collect:
Lord of all life and power,
who through the mighty resurrection of your Son
overcame the old order of sin and death
to make all things new in him:
grant that we, being dead to sin
and alive to you in Jesus Christ,
may reign with him in glory;
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit
be praise and honour, glory and might,
now and in all eternity.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
God of Life,
who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son
to the death of the cross,
and by his glorious resurrection
have delivered us from the power of our enemy:
grant us so to die daily to sin,
that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his risen life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
God of glory,
by the raising of your Son
you have broken the chains of death and hell:
fill your Church with faith and hope;
for a new day has dawned
and the way to life stands open
in our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Yesterday’s Reflection
Continued Tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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