Solomiya, Susanna and others. These godly women witnessed with their own eyes the martyrdom of Christ the Savior. They saw the eclipse of the sun, the great earthquake and the resurrection of the righteous at the moment when the Messiah was crucified on the fateful cross.

These wives received the Son of God in their homes and stood lovingly at the crucifixion when the scribes and soldiers showed unprecedented malice. The Day of the Holy Myrrhbearers is a special event in the Orthodox tradition, it is extremely revered. These holy mothers symbolize the good news and heroic selflessness.

history of the holiday

Most worldly people celebrate Women's Day on March 8th. The celebration began just over 100 years ago thanks to the persistent efforts of iconic feminists from Germany. This holiday symbolizes the liberation of all women from church "slavery". However, March 8 is celebrated only in Russia and is not an international day.

Believers honor not only the solemn Sunday itself, but also the following week. Among Orthodox people, it is customary to congratulate their mothers, grandmothers, sisters, daughters and faithful spouses.

About women in Orthodoxy:

On this day, holy women are especially revered, earlier than all others who learned about the divine Resurrection of Christ the Savior. Seeing an incredible miracle, they became his first preachers and servants. In the new apostolic vocation, these wives carried the joyful news of the might of the Most High.

• The first follower of the Messiah was Mary Magdalene, who is known for her great repentance in a dissolute life and acceptance of church covenants.
• The second woman-preacher of the Son of God is Maria Kleopova.Her genealogy causes a lot of controversy: according to some sources, she is the sister of Magdalena, according to others - the wife of brother Joseph the Betrothed. Other people spoke of her as the parent of Jacob, Judas, or Simon.
• On Orthodox Women's Day, they remember the name of John, who was a faithful disciple of the Messiah. She accompanied other Christian novices, and also secretly buried the head of the Holy Baptist, who fell at the hands of the ruthless Herod.
• On this holiday, a high religious honor is given to Salome, the mother of James and John - faithful disciples and eternal apostles of the Savior. The Risen Christ appeared to her immediately after Mary Magdalena saw Him.
• The Orthodox holiday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women honors the memory of the sisters of Lazarus, Martha and Mary. The Savior honored these girls with his most luminous presence, he endowed them with honest sermons. The sisters sincerely believed in the Son of God after Christ raised Lazarus from the dead.
• Susanna is another sacred female name mentioned in the Gospel. Luke speaks of this mother, praising her as the eternal servant of the Messiah.

All of them are the personalities for whom the Feast of the Myrrh-Bearing Women gained wide popularity.

Important! There is a widespread legend that the Church discriminates against women in every possible way. These attacks are based on keeping them from priesthood orders. The Western world is aggressively fighting this dogmatic judgment, belittling the dignity of men. However, Orthodoxy has always exalted the Mother of God and placed her above all the seraphim surrounding the throne of the Almighty Lord. There are no gender differences in the process of ascending to God.

The event that gave rise to the celebration

Myrrh-bearers are women who lived in those places where Jesus Christ preached his own teaching. They joyfully and with great love greeted the Savior in their homes, considered Him the true Messiah, served him faithfully and followed in his footsteps without hindrance.

• All these women witnessed the suffering of God's Son at Calvary. In the morning they came to the body, which they had removed after the crucifixion, and buried Him. Soon the myrrh-bearers visited the Holy Sepulcher to perform the ritual of the Anointing, as the traditional Jewish customs ordered. This episode gave the name to the Orthodox celebration.

Icon of the Holy Myrrh-Bearing Women

• Myrrh-bearing wives were tremendously revered on the territory of Orthodox Russia. Religious morality, strict traditions are deeply rooted in the minds of our people. The women of Russia have long been distinguished by great piety and spirituality, which was reflected in great reverence for this celebration. Ordinary peasant women, representatives of the nobility, merchants and bourgeoisie led a righteous life, fearing sinful deeds. In their hearts, a desire was born for good deeds, donations, merciful deeds, pleasing the Almighty Father.
• The Orthodox tradition was extremely chaste about the sacred sacrament of marriage. The Russian woman was distinguished by her faithfulness to her word given on the altar, which marks the covenants of Christ. These ideals are still encountered today.

Myrrh-bearing wives are praised for their incomparable meekness, humble disposition, endless patience and forgiveness. For these godly qualities, they became a holy example for praise.

More about women glorified as saints:

Festive activities

The Day of the Holy Myrrhbearers is officially considered international and is celebrated in many countries of the world. Representatives of the fair sex give life, bring the ideals of kindness and full-fledged love, protect the hearth and are a strong support for the spouse and children.

The Mother of God is the brightest and most significant example, personifying the ideal of the feminine principle. She demonstrated an all-consuming love and endless self-sacrifice by giving birth to the Son of God and having it on the cross.

• During the myrrh-bearing week, time was allocated for a liturgy in honor of the memory of the dead. For this, each parish without fail held a memorial magpie.
• On Parents' Saturday, people went to cemeteries and left painted eggs on the graves. This tradition has something to do with pagan roots glorifying their own ancestors. The celebration also has a basis in the symbolic deification of nature and the onset of the agricultural period.
• The Orthodox Women's Day is celebrated annually in all Christian churches of the Russian Federation, as well as abroad. Zealous pilgrims and ordinary lay people flock to places of faith. Parishioners humbly seek support in dialogues with local ministers. Pastors conducting liturgical rituals congratulate the faithful on the triumph, wish light and great joy.
• The Church celebrates not only the exploits of biblical wives, but also all mothers who work for the good of the Christian faith. Priests especially emphasize the importance of women's participation in the affairs of the Church. For Orthodoxy, it is the stronghold of chastity, spiritual purity and fidelity.
• In Sunday schools, teachers and young students prepare a concert for mothers, grandmothers and sisters. Here scenes from the Sacred Texts are played out, where the gospel heroines, holy women - continuers of the human race are glorified.

The triumph of the Myrrh-Bearing Women will be celebrated on May 3, 2020. The names of the biblical mothers who received Christ in their home, led Him to Golgotha \u200b\u200band anointed his body will be remembered at the holiday.

Holy Wives of Myrrhbearers. Orthodox Women's Day

In the third week (in the church calendar, the week is called Sunday) after Easter, our Church glorifies the feat of the holy myrrh-bearing women: Mary Magdalene, Mary Cleopova, Salome, John, Martha and Mary, Susanna and others.

Schedule Savva
"In the week of the Holy Myrrh-Bearing Women"

In the third week after Easter, the Orthodox Church glorifies the holy myrrh-bearing women who followed Christ until Golgotha \u200b\u200band remained faithful to him in the most severe trials. Once upon a time, schema-abbot Savva addressed Orthodox Christians with a wonderful sermon on the Holy Myrrh-Bearing Women.
Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen!
Today, beloved in Christ, the Holy Church glorifies the Holy Myrrh-Bearing Women with special solemnity.
The main person among them was the Mother of God. But today you have heard in the read Gospel how the myrrh-bearing wives Mary Magdalene, Mary Jacob and Solomiya went to the Tomb of the Lord Jesus Christ early in the morning to anoint His body with fragrant ointment. The Mother of God was not among them at that time, but Tradition says that the Risen Lord appeared first to the Mother of God, and then to the myrrh-bearing wives. How did this happen?
There is a touching story about this.
It happened like this. The Mother of God did not see with Her own eyes how Judas Iscariot kissed the Lord Jesus Christ and how he delivered Him into the hands of the executioners. She did not see how a crown of thorns was placed on the head of Christ. She also did not see how the crowd mocked Him, kneeling down before Him and exclaiming: "Hail, King of the Jews!" Yes, She did not see this, but she saw the torment on the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this was too much for the Mother's heart. Merciful women covered Her with their clothes so that She would not see how they put the Martyr on the Cross, how they chained Him to the Cross. But those first blows of the hammer rang out clearly and struck too hard on the heart of the unfortunate Mother ...
She saw Him on the Cross with his head lowered to his chest and with open eyes under a crown of thorns, from under which large drops of blood rolled down one after another. Yes! Poor Mother saw this, and with a broken heart She fell at the foot of the Cross. And he? He endured humiliation and abuse with meekness, looked with gratitude at His killers, who exclaimed: "If You are the Son of God, perform a miracle, come down from the Cross!"
He raised his eyes to the sky and with a pleading voice said: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
Terrible pictures to the smallest detail were renewed in the memory of the Mother of God and now, after the burial of Jesus Christ, in the deep night She experienced and suffered from these memories with particular acuteness ... “And that crown of thorns! ... Oh! .. Why did I not take it off though only when they took the Son off the Cross! .. Oh, how He must have suffered! "
And sitting on the bed of Her Son, Mary painfully thought about it, shaking Her tired head, and tears poured from Her eyes.
The terrible Golgotha \u200b\u200bdid not leave Her mind. One after another, memories of every moment were awakened at the Cross, and every moment was painfully reflected in the tormented soul of the Mother. Every moment was a new Calvary for Her. Under the weight of these thoughts Her tired body trembled. From severe fatigue and long sleeplessness, Her eyes began to close, sleep imperceptibly took possession of Her.
Not even a few moments passed when Maria suddenly woke up and began to peer with surprise ...
The light of the moon gradually faded away, the penumbra on the ceiling was lost one after another. There was a deep silence in the room. Nothing was heard, except for the faint crackle of a dying lamp, twinkling like a distant star, forming a light circle around it.
It seemed to her that a white chiton rustled near her and then this chiton moved towards the opposite corner. Startled in dumb fear and in a kind of vague expectation, Maria got out of bed and, taking a lamp, walked around every corner. Finding nothing, She opened the doors and looked everywhere ... Gloomy night shadows gathered, crawled along the walls, rose and fell.
Returning, Maria put the lamp in its place and sat down on the bed again. Sleep took possession of a tired soul, my head looked down and thoughts faded ... the eyelids closed. But the dream had not yet had time to strengthen, when it seemed to Mary again that someone, bending over her face, was breathing distinctly. She tried to open her eyes, but a leaden weight lay on them; She tried to rise, but the exhausted body did not obey, and She continued to lie motionless with closed eyes.
Suddenly Maria felt a warm kiss on her forehead and She quickly got out of bed. Her heart was beating intensely. At the very bedside stood the One for Whom She so grieved.
Pale, exhausted, illuminated by Heavenly light, He looked calmly and tenderly at the face of His tormented Mother. He still had a crown of thorns on His head, and on His face there were traces of bloody drops. There were deep wounds on the arms and legs.
- My son! - exclaimed Maria.
- Wife, don't cry! - answered Christ who appeared.
- My child! My righteous man! Do not leave Me anymore! - the Mother of God prayed and hugged His knees with Her hands.
“You still cannot go where I am going,” He answered, and, carefully removing Her hands from His knees, went to the door.
- Not! Not! Oh, just a little more ... wait, My Son! I wanted to ask You! - She cried, looking at His brow.
He stopped.
- Yes! - She said, - doesn't that crown of thorns hurt you? My son! My joy! Let the Mother relieve Your suffering! - and She stretched out both hands to remove the crown of thorns.
- Don't touch! - Said the Appeared One, - this is the gift with which the earth crowned the Righteous. I must take it to God, my Father.
Mother fell on her knees before Him, looked at Him for the last time and ... the Risen One was gone.
There was a loud knock at the door.
- Open! ... - these were the myrrh-bearing wives, who at dawn were to go to the coffin to anoint the body of the Buried with peace.
- Open it! They shouted.
Maria approached the door, the alarmed, frightened myrrh-bearers ran into the room and said:
- A miracle has happened!
- What a miracle? Maria asked.
- The guards, who fled in fear from the coffin, says that Your Son is Risen!
- Truly Risen! - answered Maria.
Here is a touching story about how the Risen Lord Jesus Christ appeared first to the Mother of God, and then to the myrrh-bearers, then to the disciples and apostles.

So He can appear to us just as He appeared to them after His resurrection, if we imitate the virtues that they carried with joy and thanksgiving, then we too will be rewarded with eternal joy, as they were rewarded. The myrrh-bearing wives were the same people as you and I, and Mary Magdalene was even possessed by seven demons, but the Lord healed her and she followed Christ. Other myrrh-bearing wives also followed Christ. They showed great faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they showed great love for Him and love for their neighbor. Forgetting themselves, they zealously served the Lord and their neighbors. They had many virtues, including modesty, which so adorns a person and is so pleasing to the Lord. That is why He appeared first to them, and then to His disciples. They had modesty in conversation, in gait, in clothes, even in food. This modesty then gave rise to the acquisition of other virtues: patience and humility. As you can see, they did not despair, they did not grumble, they did not envy others, but they endured everything complacently, with joy, with gratitude: both illness and sorrow. After all, the Lord loves us in two ways. The first direction or the first love of the Lord for us is when He sends us all the blessings: good health, prosperity at work, at home, in school - everywhere and everywhere prosperity. The second love (this is higher!), When the Lord, wishing them eternal joy, eternal joy, eternal bliss, allows us to bring sorrow and illness. A soul covered in darkness cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven, therefore the Lord purifies it. Loving us, He sends us a cleansing balm, this: sorrow, illness, vain, slander, which we must endure complacently and with joy. We must follow the example of the holy myrrh-bearing women. They are the same as we are, but they have assimilated this truth, that is, that in order to receive eternal joy one has to endure sorrow and illness with complacency, and now they have received great joy and now they are triumphant and blissful. Let, Lord, and we all imitate the myrrh-bearing wives! Let us pray to the Lord, the Mother of God and the myrrh-bearing wives, may they help us to acquire these virtues and to be established in them for eternal joy, for eternal bliss! Amen.
CHRIST IS RISEN!

What date is Orthodox Women's Day (Day of the Myrrh-Bearing Women) celebrated? You will find out about this if you read this article on the portal "Orthodoxy and Peace".

In the third week (in the church calendar, the week is called Sunday) after Easter, our Church glorifies the feat: Mary Magdalene, Mary Cleopova, Salome, John, Martha and Mary, Susanna and others.

These are the very women who witnessed the death of the Savior on the cross, who saw the sun darkened, the earth shook, stones crumbled, and many righteous people rose from the dead when Jesus Christ was crucified and died on the cross. These are the very women whose homes the Divine Teacher visited for their love for Him, who followed Him to Golgotha \u200b\u200band did not leave the cross, despite the anger of the scribes and Jewish elders at the brutality of the soldiers. These are the very women who, loving Christ with pure, holy love, decided to go to the Holy Sepulcher in the dark, by the grace of God overcoming the horror that made the apostles scatter in fear, hide behind closed doors, forget about their discipleship duty.

Weak, fearful women by the miracle of faith before our eyes grow into evangelist wives, giving us an image of courageous and selfless service to God. It was to these women that the Lord appeared first, and then to Peter and other disciples. Earlier than anyone, before any other man in the world, they learned about the Resurrection. And having learned, they became the first and strong preachers, they began to serve Him in a new, higher - apostolic vocation, they carried the news of the Resurrection of Christ. Well, aren't SUCH women worthy of our memory, admiration and imitation?

Why do all evangelists pay so much attention to the arrival of the myrrh-bearers to the Holy Sepulcher, and two of them add a story about how Mary Magdalene was chosen first to see the Risen One? After all, Christ did not choose these women and did not call them to follow Him, like the apostles and 70 disciples? They themselves followed Him as their Savior and the Son of God, despite His apparent poverty, simplicity and obvious hostility of the high priests to Him.

Imagine what these women had to experience, standing at the Cross of the Savior and seeing all the shame, horror and, finally, the death of their beloved Teacher ?! When the Son of God gave up the ghost, they hurried home to prepare the aromas and myrrh, while Mary Magdalene and Mary of Josiah watched where they laid the body of Jesus in the tomb. They left only after the onset of complete darkness, in order to come again to the coffin before dawn.

“And now, more disciples - the apostles! - remained at a loss, Peter himself bitterly mourned his renunciation, but the women were already rushing to the tomb of the Teacher. And fidelity is not the highest Christian virtue? When the word “Christians” was not yet used, they were called “the faithful”. Liturgy of the Faithful. One of the famous ascetic fathers told his monks that in the last times there will be saints, and their glory will surpass the glory of all those who were before, because then there will be no miracles and signs, but they will remain faithful. How many feats of faithfulness have been accomplished by good Christian women over the centuries of Church history! " - writes the historian Vladimir Makhnach.

With the woman, sin came into the world. She was the first to be tempted and seduced her husband to fall away from the will of God. But the Savior was born of the Virgin. He had a Mother. To the comment of the iconoclast tsar Theophilos: "A lot of evil came into the world from women," the nun Cassia, the future creator of the Great Saturday canon "By the Wave of the Sea", weightily replied: "The highest good also happened through a woman."

The path of the myrrh-bearers was neither mysterious nor complicated, but quite simple and clear to each of us. These women, so different in life, served and helped the beloved Teacher in everything, took care of His needs, facilitated His way of the cross, sympathized with all His trials and torments. We remember how Mary, sitting at the feet of the Savior, listened with all her being to His teaching about eternal life. And another Mary - Magdalene, who anoints the Teacher's feet with precious ointment and wipes them with her long, wonderful hair, and how she cried on the way to Calvary, and then ran at the dawn of the day of resurrection to the tomb of the tortured Jesus. And all of them, frightened by the disappearance of Christ from the tomb, weeping in inexpressible despair and amazed by the appearance of the Crucified on the way, when they were in a hurry to announce to the apostles what had happened.

Hieromartyr Seraphim (Chichagov) drew the attention of Soviet women: “They are all the more dear to us and close to our hearts, because they were just as simple people as we are, with all human weaknesses and shortcomings, but through the boundless love for Christ they were completely reborn, changed morally, achieved righteousness and justified on themselves every word of the teaching of the Son of God. By this reincarnation, the holy myrrh-bearing wives irrefutably proved to all followers of Christ that the same salvific rebirth is not only possible for them, but also obligatory on condition of their sincerity, and that it is accomplished by the grace-filled power of evangelical reproof, admonition, strengthening, inspiration or encouragement to spiritual exploits and the ascetics acquire the Kingdom of God, which is truth, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. "

They attained sincerity through their love for Christ and, through perfect repentance, they got rid of and were healed of the passions. And they will forever serve the entire Christian world as an example of strong and living love, Christian women's care for a person, an example of repentance!

For many centuries we had an Orthodox national women's holiday, kind, bright, associated with the most important event in human history, the Resurrection of Christ - the week of the holy myrrh-bearers. Genuine International Women's Day. It is very important to revive it, because the calendar is the most precious heritage of our culture. “Through the calendar, the cult influences the culture, determines our life, the life of our country,” writes Vladimir Makhnach. - From the order of worship, from liturgical texts - to folk customs, to raising children, to the moral health of society. And we, of course, should preserve everything that remains of our calendar, and gradually restore what has been lost, stolen, perverted ... Our state, of course, is secular, but the country is Orthodox. And the state exists to serve the society, the nation. "

In the meantime, let us congratulate all kind Orthodox women on the Day of the Holy Myrrh-Bearing Wives. And celebrate. And rejoice.

SUNDAY OF THE WOMEN OF THE MYSTERIES. Sermon by Metropolitan Anthony of Surozh
2nd Sunday after Easter
May 15, 1974

It is not convictions and not even deep conviction that can overcome the fear of death, shame, but only love can make a person faithful to the end, without limit, without looking back. Today we celebrate solemnly and reverently the memory of Saints Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea and the myrrh-bearing women.

Joseph and Nicodemus were secret disciples of Christ. While Christ was preaching to the crowds of people and was the subject of hatred and growing vindictiveness of His opponents, they timidly went to Him at night, when no one could notice their arrival. But, when suddenly Christ was taken, when He was seized and brought to death, crucified and killed, these two people, who during His life were timid disciples who did not decide their fate, suddenly out of devotion, gratitude, out of love for Him , by amazement before Him, they turned out to be stronger than His closest disciples. They forgot their fear and opened up to everyone when others hid. Joseph of Arimathea came to ask for the body of Jesus, Nicodemus came, who only dared to visit Him at night, and together with Joseph they buried their Teacher, whom they never abandoned again.

And the myrrh-bearing wives, about whom we know so little: one of them was saved by Christ from eternal destruction, from demonic possession; others followed Him: the mother of James and John and others, listening, accepting His teachings, becoming new people, learning Christ's only commandment about love, but about such love that they did not know in their past, righteous or sinful, life. And they, too, were not afraid to stand at a distance - while Christ was dying on the cross and there was no one from His disciples except John. They were not afraid to come to anoint the body of Jesus, rejected by people, betrayed by His own, condemned by strangers a criminal.

Later, the two disciples, when the news of Christ's resurrection reached them, rushed to the tomb; one was John, who stood at the cross, the one who became the Apostle and preacher of Divine love and whom Jesus loved; and Peter, who denied three times, about whom the myrrh-bearing wives were told to “tell my disciples and Peter,” because others hid from fear, and Peter three times in front of everyone denied his Teacher and could no longer consider himself a disciple: And him bring the message of forgiveness ...

And when this news reached him - how he rushed to the empty tomb to make sure that the Lord had risen and that everything was still possible, that it was not too late to repent, that it was not too late to return to Him, that it was not too late to become His faithful disciple again. And indeed, later, when he met Christ at the Sea of \u200b\u200bTiberias, Christ did not ask about his betrayal, but only about whether he still loves Him ...

Love turned out to be stronger than fear and death, stronger than threats, stronger than terror in front of any danger, and where reason and conviction did not save the disciples from fear, love overcame everything ... So throughout the history of the world, both pagan and Christian, love wins. The Old Testament tells us that love, like death, is strong: it alone can fight death - and conquer.

And therefore, when we test our conscience in relation to Christ, in relation to our Church, in relation to the closest or distant people, to our homeland, we will ask ourselves the question not about our convictions, but about our love. And whoever has a heart so loving, so faithful and unshakable in love, as was the timid Joseph, the secret disciple Nicodemus, the quiet myrrh-bearing wives, the traitor Peter, the young John - whoever has such a heart will resist torture , against fear, against threats, will remain faithful to his God, and to his Church, to his neighbors, and to those far away, and to everyone.

"Let's keep our joys ..."

On May 15, the Orthodox Church celebrated the Day of Remembrance of the Myrrh-Bearing Women. And this day in our church was unusually joyful and bright! Each parishioner, as a continuer of the service of the Myrrh-Bearing Wives, was presented with a branch of chrysanthemums. The entire room of the temple was filled with flowers and smiles! And after the liturgy, the Sunday school gave a wonderful concert dedicated to mothers, sisters, daughters, Russia! After all, the word Russia is feminine, and only the Russian people call their homeland - mother! It was from this that the presenter Olga Vladimirovna Sukhina began the concert. In her performance we heard one of her beautiful poems about Russia: "What kind of Russia are you, real? .."
Then the children read poems dedicated to women and sang a song about the Motherland. They also talked about the lives of the very women in whose honor we celebrate this day of remembrance.

The poems by Olga Sukhina, dedicated to the mother, were performed by the author and very touching and sensitive reading by Maria Shevelina. And Semyon Shevelin performed a wonderful piece of music on the guitar!

At the end of the concert, the presenter delighted everyone with her new poems:
Let's keep the joys
After all, sometimes there are so few of them,
Let's just love life
And to pave the way to Heaven ...

God bless all our wives, mothers, sisters, daughters!

Olga Botalova

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Feast of Myrrh-Bearing Women