07 — Mary Magdalene and Women in the Church
The ecclesial reading of the myrrh-bearers: how the fidelity of the women — first at the Cross, first at the tomb, first to proclaim the Resurrection — became in the Eastern tradition a model of discipleship held up to all the faithful, and how Mary Magdalene and the women disciples illuminate the standing and ministry of women in the apostolic and patristic Church.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Equal-to-the-Apostles, Myrrh-bearer)
The myrrh-bearing women are not honored merely for being present but for the quality of their discipleship: love that did not flee the Cross, that watched the burial, that came to the tomb in the dark to perform an unrewarded act of devotion. The Church reads this as a pattern, and reads Mary Magdalene’s commissioning as a sign of the dignity of women within the Body of Christ. This section sets out that reading, and surveys the women who followed Jesus and labored in the apostolic Church — without anachronism and with attention to what the sources actually establish.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| The Myrrh-bearers as Model | The fidelity of the women — at the Cross, the burial, and the tomb — as a model of discipleship in the Fathers and the hymnography; the contrast with the flight of the male disciples; Mary Magdalene’s love and the “love that seeks Him” (Song of Songs read of the myrrh-bearers); the myrrh-bearers held up to all Christians. |
| Women Disciples in the Gospel | The named women who followed Jesus (Luke 8:1–3) and the women of the apostolic Church (Phoebe, Priscilla, the daughters of Philip); the standing of women in the early Church; the Equal-to-the-Apostles women (Mary Magdalene, Thecla, Nina); the order of deaconesses; the careful distinction between honor and the ordained priesthood. |
See Also
- The Myrrh-bearing Women — the band whose fidelity is the model
- Apostle to the Apostles — the dignity conferred at the tomb
- Women in Orthodoxy — the wider treatment of women in the Church
- The Order of Deaconesses — women’s ministry in the early Church
- St. Thecla of Iconium — a fellow Equal-to-the-Apostles among women
References
- The Holy Bible, RSV: Luke 8:1–3; Romans 16:1–7; Acts 21:9.
- Chrysostom, John. Homilies on the Gospel of St. Matthew, Hom. 88. Trans. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Vol. 10.
- FitzGerald, Kyriaki Karidoyanes. Women Deacons in the Orthodox Church: Called to Holiness and Ministry. Brookline: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1998.