As the Catholic Church (East and West) celebrates the Sabbath of the Resurrection, readers will not be surprised to encounter a work celebrating one of the foundational mysteries of the Christian Faith. The Lenten season imbues the faithful with a sense of devotion, reverence, and awe for what was done on that day and three days before.
But let us also remember how the world first came to know of this foundational belief of Catholicism. It could be argued that such knowledge was born through the eyes, speech, and acts of the women who followed Jesus and bore witness to the Resurrection as recorded in the Gospels: the “women at the tomb.”
And this is unique; we should bear in mind that ancient texts typically accorded little time to females—who they were, what they said, or what they did. When mention was made, it was often expressed in less than flattering terms.
Aristotle places women in a subordinate position in terms of virtue and rationality compared to men (Nicomachean Ethics). The Greek poet Hesiod warned against women, claiming if a man wants to get married, he needs to constantly be fighting against the mischievous deeds of women (Theogony 603-609). Hipponax, an archaic Greek poet from Ephesus, went so far in his poem “If Only We Could Reproduce Without Woman…!” to depict women as deceitful, manipulative, and immoral.
Ancient views of women notwithstanding, the Gospels and Paul’s writings appear to devote a great deal of time and credibility to women. Who were these women who followed Jesus and ultimately witnessed the fundamental mystery of the Catholic Faith?
There are two traditions in Catholic Christianity which speak to the role of women and the Resurrection: The Roman Latin and the Eastern Orthodox.
Roman Latin Church
The Latin Church offers us two Gospels which speak of the Resurrection. Mark’s account (16:1-7) of the encounter of Mary Magdalene and the other women with the angel at Christ’s tomb is read at the Easter Vigil. The reading for the Mass on Easter Day is John’s account (20:1-9; 20:2) of Peter’s and John’s race to the empty tomb after learning from Mary Magdalene of Jesus’ absence.
In Western Christianity, these women are often referred to as the Three Marys or simply the “women at the tomb.” Mark recounts how three women—Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Mary Salome—go at dawn to Christ’s tomb with spices to anoint His body. His burial on Friday had been rushed ahead of the Sabbath; the women now had come to complete their task. To their surprise, they find the tomb open and are struck by the presence of a white-robed angel. The angel tells them to be not surprised, then proclaims the central truth of the Christian message: Jesus, the crucified one, is risen! The women are given a message: tell “the disciples and Peter” that the Risen One will meet them in Galilee.
John’s Gospel records that Mary did tell Peter and John, although the Johannine account mentions Mary seeing only the empty tomb, not the angel. Peter and John race to the tomb to find only the grave clothes lying there. They saw and “believed,” although they “did not yet understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead” (Jn. 20:9). (As John recounts, Mary remains at the tomb, where she encounters two angels and then Jesus.)
We must remember that the Gospels were initially part of the oral tradition about Jesus’s life, Passion, Death, and Resurrection; only subsequently was it reduced to writing. The Gospels record how the Catholic Church, protected by the Holy Spirit, remembered the event.
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox have a somewhat more elaborate tradition of the women and the Resurrection, referring to them as the “Myrrhbearing Women” with their Feast Day (this year) on May 4th.
About the beginning of His thirty-second year, when Jesus was traveling throughout Galilee, preaching and working miracles, many women who had witnessed His work left their homelands and followed after Him. Several ministered unto Jesus out of their own possessions, even after His crucifixion and entombment; they came to His sepulcher, bearing the oils of myrrh they had prepared to anoint His body. It is through these oils that the “women at the tomb” are called “Myrrhbearers” by the Eastern Church.
The third Sunday of Holy Pascha (Easter) is observed by the Orthodox Church as the Sunday of the Holy Myrrhbearers. The day commemorates how these women of faith and discipleship followed Christ beyond His death and entombment to His Resurrection.
In the Orthodox tradition, there are eight women who are generally identified as the Myrrhbearers. Each of the four Gospels gives a different aspect of the roles of these eight women at the cross and at the tomb on Easter morning.
Of those whose names are known to us, Eastern Orthodoxy recounts the following: the most holy Virgin Mary; Mary Magdalene an early companion of Jesus (feast day July 22); Mary, the wife of Clopas; Joanna, wife of Chouza, a steward of Herod Antipas; Mary Salome, the mother of the sons of Zebedee; Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus; and Susanna. As for the identity of the rest of the women, the Gospel writers are silent (Mt. 217:55-56; 28:1-10. Mk. 15:40-41. Lk. 8:1-3; 23:55-24. Jn. 19:25; 20:11-18. Acts 1:14).
For many in the Church, the Myrrhbearers’s central role in the Passion and Resurrection narratives essentially highlights the broader themes of discipleship and faith.
Yet, Mark’s overarching theme of misunderstanding Jesus’s identity can be contrasted with the Myrrhbearers’s recognition of the truth. The women are portrayed as outsiders who, nonetheless, grasp Jesus’s significance, setting them apart from family, disciples, and others. It seems that the women at the tomb did not just believe—they trusted in their belief—that Jesus was “. . . the way, the truth and the life” (Jn. 14:6).
Image from Wikimedia Commons
