Patrick Comerford
The Easter Gospel reading this morning (John 20: 1-18) tells how early on the Sunday morning (‘the first day of the week’) after the Crucifixion, before dawn, Mary Magdalene, who has been a witness to Christ’s death and burial, comes to the tomb and finds that the stone has been rolled away.
Initially it seems she is on her own, for she alone is named. But later she describes her experiences using the word ‘we,’ which indicates she was with other women.
In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, these women are known as the Holy Myrrhbearers (Μυροφόροι). The Myrrhbearers are traditionally listed as: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, Mary the wife of Cleopas, Martha of Bethany, sister of Lazarus, Mary of Bethany, sister of Lazarus, Joanna, the wife of Chuza the steward of Herod Antipas, and Salome, the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, and Susanna, although it is generally said that there are other Myrrhbearers whose names are not known.
Mary and these women run to tell Saint Peter and the other disciple (presumably Saint John the Evangelist) that they suspect someone has removed the body. The tidy way the linen wrappings and the shroud have been folded or rolled up shows that the body has not been stolen.
Peter and John return without seeing the Risen Lord. It is left to Mary to tell the Disciples that she has seen the Lord. Mary Magdalene is the first witness of the Resurrection.
All four gospels are unanimous in telling us that the women are the earliest witnesses to the Risen Christ. In Saint John’s Gospel, the Risen Christ sends Mary Magdalene to tell the other disciples what she had seen. Mary becomes the apostle to the apostles.
As I was recalling this morning, the word apostle comes from the Greek ἀπόστολος (apóstólos), formed from the prefix ἀπό- (apó-, ‘from’) and the root στέλλω (stéllō, ‘I send,’ ‘I depart’). So, the Greek word ἀπόστολος (apóstolos) or apostle means one who is sent.
In addition, at the end of the reading (see verse 18), Mary comes announcing what she has seen. The word used there (ἀγγέλλουσα, angéllousa) is from the word that gives us the Annunciation, the proclamation of the good news, the proclamation of the Gospel (Εὐαγγέλιον, Evangélion). Mary, in her proclamation of the Gospel of the Resurrection, is not only the apostle to the apostles, but she is also the first of the evangelists.
Axia Women, a Facebook network by, for, and about Orthodox women and based in Stamford, Connecticut. On its Facebook page last month, the group told how the University of Portland commissioned the Canadian iconographer Heather MacKean to compose an icon of women in the New Testament, and sent her a list of 18 names. Several months later, that number had grown to 20, then 24, and finally to 58.
‘I had no idea when I started that there would be so many names,’ she told Axia Women last month. ‘If I had more time I might have come up with ten more women.’
While she was researching the women for her commission, Heather MacKean learned about many female saints in the days of Christ and in the early Church that were new to her. Many women of the women in the New Testament are not named but have names in the Orthodox tradition: the woman with the flow of blood becomes Saint Bernice, Pilate’s wife is known as Saint Claudia; the Samaritan woman at the well is Saint Photini; the Queen of Ethiopia is Saint Candace; and Saint Junia is said to be one of the 70 apostles sent out by Christ.
Dozens of women were involved in the early Church, supporting the work of the apostles, hosting home churches, caring for the poor, becoming ‘unmercenary healers’, suffering martyrdom and preaching the Good News.
‘When you start researching it, you realise there were hundreds of women involved,’ Heather MacKean says.
Eventually, she set herself a cut-off criteria: women must have chosen to follow Christ in the first century, either as a result of an encounter with him or through one of the Apostles. Even then, her list kept growing. ‘A month before I was supposed to deliver the icon, I learned that Saint Photini was martyred with her five sisters, so I added them in,’ she recalls. ‘Then I found out that Saint Photini converted Nero’s daughter, Domnina, who brought 100 of her slaves to the faith. I couldn’t add in that many faces, unfortunately!’
To accommodate her growing list, Heather changed the design of the icon three or four times and the size of the icon panel. Eventually she ended up with an icon piece 4 ft tall and over 3 ft 7 in wide, and she was still running out of space. For the composition of the icon, she chose as her model of one of her favourite icons, ‘In Thee Rejoices.’ The Theotokos or Virgin Mary is in the centre in a mandorla with Christ enthroned on her lap, and the Church and Creation around her as an image of Paradise.
‘I was really amazed to hear the story of Saint Photini,’ Heather told Axia Women. ‘She was known as Equal to the Apostles, one of the greats in terms of preaching, and imprisoned for three years with her family. They turned the whole prison into a paradise. It smelled like myrrh and incense; they healed those who had been blinded by the guards, and it was filled with lots of rejoicing and praise.’
To honour women’s role in sharing the Gospel News, Heather chose to put the Myrrhbearing Women at the front and centre of her icon, below the Theotokos.
‘I was also surprised at how many women preachers there were, I was not expecting that,’ she commented. ‘Women like Thekla, Syntyche, and Euodia, they were sent out by Paul to preach – and not only to women.’
The new icon is in the chapel of the University of Portland, where it will be blessed before residing in the chapel of one of the female dorms.
Heather MacKean lists the 58 women of the New Testament in her new icon:
• Anna, the mother of the Theotokos
• Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist
• The prophetess Anna who was present at the Presentation of Christ to Saint Simeon in the Temple
• The Widow of Nain, whose son Christ raised from the dead
• The poor widow who gave her two mites in the Temple
• The wife of Jairus
• The daughter of Jairus
• Peter’s mother-in-law
• Junia, one of the 70 apostles
• Apphia, also one of the 70 apostles – she was the wife of Philemon, the first Bishop of Gaza and was martyred with her husband
• The Mother of Rufus and Alexander, who was probably the wife of Simon of Cyrene – Saint Paul commends her as his ‘mother’ because of her loving maternal care for him
• Lydia who was baptised with her whole family in Philippi by Saint Paul – she is considered by the Orthodox Church as ‘Equal to the Apostles’
• Chloe of Corinth who alerted Saint Paul to the divisions in the Corinthian church
• Persis, called a beloved friend by Saint Paul, who commends her for her hard work for the Church
• Thekla who was converted by Saint Paul and is also considered to be ‘Equal to the Apostles’. She worked with Paul and Barnabas to spread the Gospel, lived for many years as a hermit in a cave in the desert, and is considered to be the first female martyr.
• Syntyche and Euodia who were co-workers with Saint Paul in the church in Philippi
• Priscilla – she and her husband Aguila were fellow tentmakers and worked with Saint Paul to spread the Gospel
• Eunice, Saint Timothy’s mother
• Lois, Timothy’s grandmother – Saint Paul commends her for her sincere faith
• Nympha, who is mentioned by Saint Paul
• Phoebe the deaconess
• Mary the wife of Cleopas and mother of John Mark and who had a church in her home
• Mary of Rome, who treated Saint Paul with tremendous kindness
• Basilissa and Anastasia, who were converted by Saint Peter and Saint Paul and became martyrs
• Damaris, said to be the first Athenian woman converted by Saint Paul
• Julia, who is mentioned by Saint Paul
• The Syrophoenician woman who asked Christ to heal her daughter
• Tryphena and Tryphosa, commended by Saint Paul for their hard work for the Lord
• Zenaida and Philonella, cousins of Saint Paul, who provided free medical care to the sick
• Berenice and Drusilla, daughters of Herod Agrippa and converts to the faith
• Claudia, the wife of Pontius Pilate
• Candace, the Queen of Ethiopia
• Photini, the Samaritan woman at the well who converted her whole family after her encounter with Christ. She is also considered to be ‘Equal to the Apostles’. She was martyred with her two sons and five sisters, Anatole, Phota, Photida, Kyriake and Paraskeva
• Domnina the daughter of Nero who was converted by Saint Photini and who brought 100 slaves into the faith with her
• Rhoda, the first person to hear Peter after he was freed him from prison
• Mariamne the sister of the Apostle Philip
• Enkhidia, Charilene and Hermione, Philip’s three daughters. They were prophets and ‘unmercenary healers’ and Hermione also became a martyr.
• The seven Myrrhbearing women: Salome, Joanna, Mary, Susanna, Martha and Mary who were the sisters of Lazarus, and Mary Magdalene.
There are 58 women in total, not counting the Theotokos. But after she varnished the icon, Heather found out that Dorcas and Tabitha are the same person, and that the woman with the flow of blood was named Bernice. ‘So the next time I am in Portland, I would like to change the name of the woman currently labelled Dorcas to Bernice’, she says.
Χριστὸς ἀνέστη!
Christ is Risen!
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