Mary Magdalene: An Apostle to the Apostles
After the Ascension of Christ, Mary Magdalene was among the woman who was praying together with the apostles and the Mother of God in anticipation of the
Holy Spirit to come down. The Church tradition preserved the story about her
feats made in the capital of the former empire.
First of all it is important to note that when Mary came to Emperor
Tiberius I, she gave him a red egg and said the words we say each year on the
day of Easter: “Christ is risen!” Then she told him the truth about the crucifixion
of Christ and His sufferings. The tradition of giving the emperor some fruits
or eggs was quite usual at that time. And today we continue this tradition on
the day of Easter. However, some Church historians state that the Roman
emperor already knew from Pontius Pilate everything about the events which had
taken place in the Canaan, and heard from the people about the Resurrection of Christ. It is assumed that the words of Saint Mary made
the emperor offer the Roman senate to include Christ into the list of Roman
gods. An offer tht was naturally rejected.
The Saint Myrrh Bearer also knew Apostle Paul, and it is quite possible she helped him in his
missionary work. That is why he wrote later in his message to the Roman
people: “Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us” (Romans, 16:6). Later Saint Mary lived in Ephesus, where Saint John the Apostle worked on
his version of the Holy Gospel. Moreover, his book gives more details about
the resurrection of Christ and the episode of His appearance to Saint Mary
Magdalena. The life of Saint Equal-to-the-apostle Mary ended there, in the city
of Ephesus.
With acceptance of Christianity, people of Rus began to honor Saint Mary as
well. There is a wide range of various iconography presenting her. The image
of Saint Mary can be seen on the icons depicted during the passions of Christ: the
Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Descent from the Cross, Burial of Christ, the Myrrh Bearers and on other similar icons. One of the Moscow icons of Saint Mary
depicts her with a white cross in her right hand and a gold alabaster in the
left one.
There is also an interesting story about the relics of the Saint Myrrh Bearer.
It seems that during the crusades they were taken to Rome and put under the
altar in the Lateran Cathedral. A part of the relics which are now in France, near the
city of Marcel. Another few parts are kept in the monasteries of the Mount
Athos and in Jerusalem. As a result of the crusade of 1204, when Constantinople was conquered and pillaged, many of the saints’ relics were moved
out of the city to the West.
In the Western historiography there is a theory, that Mary Magdalene was
the very sinner who washed the Christ’s feet with her tears in the Simon’s
house (Luke, 7:38). Also she is identified with Mary – the sister of pious
Lazarus. But the Eastern fathers think that these are three different persons.
This point is quite important as the sense of the Saint’s feat and apostolic
work depends on it. According to the Western tradition, Saint Mary was the
sinner, and those seven demons which were cast out by Christ were her
reckoning for all her sins. That is why in the sermons of Western clergy Saint
Mary is honored as the example of the true repentance. The Eastern tradition
differs: it says that these were two different women and Saint Mary was the one
who demonstrated “the works of God” (John, 9:3). She was obsessed by the demons
not for her sins or the sins of her parents, but God let that happen, so that
Christ could show people the work of God – the healing of Mary Magdalene, the
enlightenment of her mind and her conversion to the true faith and life eternal.
She was honored much in the West, and her care about Christ inspired people to
do good and help the people in need. That is why in the middle ages a lot of
asylums were built in honor of Saint Mary of Magdalene.
She was always faithful to her Divine Teacher. The transportation of her
relics fostered the spreading of her fame all over the world, and thus even
more people began to worship her. At the present time people pray to her throughout the word in
many countries and churches. The name of the Saint Myrrh Bearer and her feats
proclaim the resurrection of Christ. There are the following words about her in
the Synaxarion on the week of the Saint Myrrh Bearers: “Many were the
Myrrh-Bearers, but the Evangelists mentioned only the important ones, leaving
the others aside. First of them all was Mary Magdalene, from whom Christ had
cast out seven demons; after the Ascension of Christ, she went to Rome, as the
story has it, and delivered Pilate and the High Priests to an evil death, after
relating to the Emperor Tiberius the events surrounding Christ; she later
reposed in Ephesus and was buried by Saint John the Theologian; her holy relics
were translated to Constantinople by Emperor Leo the Wise.”
Once a preacher said: “Saint Mary Magdalene is a great example of honoring
love to God. And each Christian soul should be full of the same firm
feeling of to our Lord. Due to His sufferings which brought us redemption you can get free from sin, corrupting the souls from the inside and having the power over
people since the time of the original sin, through the sacrament of baptism,
just as Magdalene did”.
