- Era
- First century
- Region
- Galilee, Judea, and, according to tradition, Rome and Ephesus
- Category
- Myrrhbearer and Equal-to-the-Apostles
- Feast
- July 22
Jump to What the Gospel Actually Says She Remained Equal-to-the-Apostles Why the Church Remembers Her What Her Life Asks of Us
What the Gospel Actually Says
Mary came from Magdala, a town beside the Sea of Galilee. Luke tells us that Christ had delivered her from seven demons and that she travelled with Him and the Twelve, helping support the ministry from her own resources.
The Gospels do not call Mary Magdalene a prostitute. They do not identify her with the unnamed sinful woman who anointed Christ’s feet in Luke 7, nor with Mary of Bethany. Western Christian art and preaching often merged these women, but the Orthodox Church commemorates them distinctly. Deliverance from seven demons tells us that Mary had suffered terribly and was healed by Christ; it does not authorize us to invent sexual sins for her.
Her life should be remembered for what Scripture emphasizes: healing, costly discipleship, courage at the Cross, and witness to the Resurrection.
She Remained
Mary followed Christ not only when crowds gathered around His miracles but when association with Him became dangerous. The Gospels place her near the Crucifixion and at the burial. She saw where His body was laid.
After the Sabbath, Mary and the other myrrhbearing women came to the tomb with spices. They were not expecting to manufacture a Resurrection story. They expected a dead body and wondered how the stone would be moved.
John’s Gospel draws us especially close to Mary. Finding the stone removed, she ran to Peter and John. After they departed, she remained outside the tomb weeping. She saw angels, then turned and saw Jesus without recognizing Him. Supposing Him to be the gardener, she asked where the body had been taken.
Then Christ spoke her name: “Mary.” Recognition came through relationship. She answered, “Rabboni!” The risen Lord sent her to His brethren with the announcement of His Ascension. Mary went and declared, “I have seen the Lord.”
For this reason she is often called an apostle to the apostles—not one of the Twelve, but the woman commissioned to carry the Paschal news to them.
Equal-to-the-Apostles
The title Equal-to-the-Apostles honours saints whose work in proclaiming Christ had an apostolic character. Holy Tradition remembers Mary preaching the Resurrection beyond Judea and eventually ministering in Ephesus near St. John the Theologian.
A beloved tradition tells of Mary appearing before Emperor Tiberius with an egg that became red as she proclaimed, “Christ is risen!” This story helps explain the Paschal custom of red eggs. It is a later pious tradition, not an event recorded in the New Testament, and should be presented as such.
Why the Church Remembers Her
Mary’s authority as a witness did not arise from social status or official power. Christ healed her, she followed Him, and she remained near when others fled. She came to serve a body and encountered the risen Lord.
Her story also corrects an old injustice. A woman whom Scripture honours as a disciple and first herald of Pascha should not be remembered primarily through a sin the text never assigns to her.
What Her Life Asks of Us
Love does not always understand, but it remains. Mary stood near the Cross, watched the burial, returned in darkness, and stayed by the empty tomb when she could make no sense of it. That faithful presence became the place of encounter.
Holy Myrrhbearer Mary Magdalene, pray that Christ may heal us, make us faithful in darkness, and give us courage to proclaim His Resurrection.
A note. These lives are written to introduce, not to direct. Ascetic feats described here belong to particular people under obedience, not to a method anyone should take up alone. Anything touching your own rule of prayer or fasting belongs with your priest or spiritual father.
- Matthew 27:55–28:10; Mark 15:40–16:11; Luke 8:1–3 and 23:49–24:12; John 19:25–20:18
- St. Mary Magdalene — Orthodox Church in America
- Orthodox liturgical texts for the Sunday of the Myrrhbearing Women and July 22
The same Gospel, a week at a time
The saints spent their lives inside these passages. Words for the Narrow Way takes one saying of Christ and gives it seven days — the passage in full, what the Greek is doing, how the Fathers read it, and one practice to carry through the week.