Омилия XVIII 64 .

On the Sunday of Myrrh-Bearers. It also says that the first Mother of God saw the Lord Risen from the dead 65 The Resurrection of the Lord is the renewal of human nature and the revival and restoration and return to the immortal life of the first Adam, who through sin was swallowed up by death, and by death again departed into the earth from which he was created. Just as he at the beginning, having been created and brought into life, did not see any of the people, for at that hour there was not a single person besides him; after he received the spirit of life, through the breath of God, the first of all others he saw was a woman, for Eve was the first person after him; so the Second Adam, Who is the Lord, having risen from the dead, did not see any of the people, for none of His loved ones was present (at the same time), and the warriors guarding the tomb, gripped by fear, became dead; after the Rebellion, He saw the first of other people, a Woman, as we heard when Mark preached today: “Jesus was risen,” says “Jesus on the first Saturday morning, appearing before Mary Magdalene” (Mark 16:9). From what has been said, it seems that the Evangelist clearly indicates the hour when the Lord rose again, i.e. - “morning”, and that at the same hour of the Resurrection He first appeared to Mary Magdalene. However, this is not what he says, as will become clear to those who understand a little further. For a little higher, he, in agreement with the other Evangelists, says that this Mary had previously come with the other Myrrh-bearers to the tomb (of Christ), and seeing it (empty), she left; from here it is clear that the Lord rose again much earlier than morning, when she saw him (the tomb). Denoting that time, he did not just say “morning”, as above, but “very early”; therefore, he does not point here to the sunrise, but says that at that time there was a weak light preceding the sunrise. Denoting this, John also says that Mary Magdalene came early, when it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb (John 20:1). But only then did she not enter the tomb herself (the cave of the Holy Sepulcher), according to John’s narrative, but walked away from the tomb without seeing the Lord; because she ran and came to Peter and John, and told them not about the Resurrection of the Lord, but that He had been taken from the tomb; since she did not yet know about the Resurrection. The Lord was not pleased to simply appear at the first hour, but after the first hour of the day. What is not so clearly announced by the Evangelists, I will reveal to your love. So, the gospel of the Resurrection of the Lord, the first of all people - which was appropriate and fair - received from the Lord the Mother of God, and first of all She saw Him risen, and enjoyed His divine speech, and not only saw Him with her eyes and heard with Her ears, but also the first and only one grabbed His holy feet, although all this is not openly said by the Evangelists, due to the reluctance to bring the Mother as a witness, so as not to give the unbelievers reason to doubt (on the Resurrection of the Lord). But since now, by the grace of the Risen One, we speak a word to the faithful, and the triumph introduces the subject for discussion of the deeds of the Myrrh-Bearers, then having received the word from the One who said: “Nothing will be hidden that will not be revealed,” then this 67 will also be revealed. So, the Myrrh-Bearers were those wives who followed with the Mother of the Lord, and stood with the Savior during the Passion, and prepared the Lord’s body for burial with fragrances. For when Joseph and Nicodemus asked and received the Master's body from Pilate, and took it down from the cross and wrapped it in shrouds anointed with aromas, laid it in a stone coffin, and applied a great stone to the door of the tomb, then, according to the Evangelist Mark, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were present, contemplating this, sitting directly opposite the tomb. Through the saying: “and the other Mary,” he, of course, designated the Mother of God. It is also called the Matter of Jacob and Josiah, for they were born of Joseph the Betrothed. Not only did they stand by, contemplating when the Lord was buried, but there were also other wives, as Luke narrates: “The women who followed him came with Him from Galilee, having seen the tomb, and how His body was laid; and Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary of James, and the rest with them” (Luke 23:55, 24:10). “When you returned,” he says, “you prepared spices and ointment” (Luke 23:56); because they did not clearly realize that He is the true Fragrance of life for those who come to Him with faith, as well as the smell of death for those who stubbornly remain in unbelief, and that the fragrance of His clothes, i.e. His body is above all aromas, and His name is the Poured Myrrh, with which He filled the universe with divine fragrance. But they prepare myrrh and aromas, both in order to honor the Buried One, and to muffle the smell from the smoldering body, thinking through anointing with them to preserve it. So they prepared ointment and spices; on Saturday they were at rest, according to the (Old Testament) commandment: for the true Saturday had not yet come, and they had not yet known that most blessed Saturday - the transformation of our nature from the hellish abysses to the luminous and divine and heavenly heights. “And on one of the Sabbaths, very early, she came to the tomb, bearing the spices that she had prepared,” as Luke says (Luke 24:1). Matthew says: “On the Sabbath evening, the Sabbaths went together together” (Matthew 28:1), and indicates that two wives came. And John: “It is still in the darkness” (John 20:1), and says that only Mary Magdalene came. Mark: “The morning was one and the same from the Sabbaths” (Mark 16:2), and says that there were three women who came. The fact that Easter was on the first day after Saturday is confirmed by all Evangelists. Regarding time, they say this: “After the Sabbath supper,” and “early in the morning,” and “very early,” and “early, while it was still dark,” and about the time when light is mixed with darkness, i.e. when the dawn began to shine on the horizon, heralding the day. If anyone wanted to clarify the time, the color of the sky begins to change around the ninth hour of the night, so that there are three whole hours left before the day begins. It seems that the Evangelists disagree not so much about the time of the Myrrh-Bearing Women coming to the tomb, but rather about the number of wives. For, as I said, there were many Myrrh-bearers, and not all together, but two and three times they came to the tomb, and the groups were not the same persons. They all came at dawn, but not all at exactly the same time. Magdalene alone of all came again and stayed longer (at the tomb of Christ). Some Evangelists, bypassing the others who came, mention her alone among all. But, as I conclude and summarize from all the Evangelists, as I said before, the first of all to come to the tomb of the Son and God was the Mother of God together with Mary Magdalene. And we learn this especially from the Evangelist Matthew: “When I came,” he says, “Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, saw the tomb. And behold, he was a great coward: for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, and came and rolled away the stone from the door of the tomb, and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his robe was as white as snow. From his fear the guards shook, and were as if they were dead” (Matthew 28:1-4). So, all the wives came after the earthquake and the flight of the guards, and found the coffin open, and the stone rolled away, but when Mother Virgin appeared, then there was an earthquake and the stone fell away, and the coffin was opened, and the guards were present, although they were shocked with horror, so after the earthquake, having come to their senses, they immediately fled. The Mother of God, without feeling fear, rejoiced when she saw what was happening. I think that for her sake the Life-Bearer opened that coffin first. Through Her first, and through Her He revealed to us everything that is in heaven above and that is below on earth. And for Her sake He sent an Angel so that he would shine like lightning, so that while it was still dark, thanks to the abundant light of the Angel, She would see not only the empty tomb, but also the shrouds laid out in order and testifying in various ways to the Resurrection of the Buried One. The same Angel Gabriel was the evangelist (of the Resurrection). For the one who at the beginning said to Her: “Do not be afraid, Mariam, for you have found grace with God” (Luke 1:30), the same one, when he saw Her coming to the tomb, and now hastens and descends again to announce the same thing to the Ever-Virgin, and to announce the Resurrection from the dead of Him who was born of Her without a seed, and to roll away the stone, and to show the empty tomb and burial covers, and thus making the gospel reliable for Her. “Having answered,” they say, “the Angel said to the women: Do not be afraid, you are looking for Jesus crucified. Vozsta. Not here. This is the place where he set the Lord” (Matthew 28; Mark 16). “For although,” says the Angel, “you see the guards shocked with horror, do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for the crucified Jesus. He rebelled. He's not here. Because He not only could not be detained by rivets, ropes and seals of hell, death and the tomb, but He is the Lord of us, immortal, heavenly Angels, and only He is the Lord of all. Do you see the place - he says - where the Lord lies. And quickly, as you go, you shout as His disciple, as if you have risen from the dead.” “And he went away,” it is said, “with fear and great joy” (Matthew 28:6–8). It also seems to me that Mary Magdalene and the other wives who had arrived by that time still had fear, because they did not understand the meaning of the Angel’s words, were not able to fully perceive the light in order to clearly see and understand, but the Mother of God received great joy, understanding what was announced by the Angel, and all became like light, as being very purified and divinely blessed, and firmly knowing the truth in everything, and believing the Archangel, for he also appeared to Her worthy of great faith through works. How could it happen that, being present at the events taking place, the God-wise Virgin would not have understood what had happened: seeing the earthquake and that great Angel descending from heaven, which had the appearance of lightning, the death of the guards, and the moving of the stone, and the emptiness of the tomb, and the great miracle of the shrouds, molded with myrrh and scarlet and indestructible, and at the same time empty from the presence of the body, and besides joyful appearance and the good news of an Angel to Her?! But having left after this news, Magdalene Mary, as if she had not heard the Angel, who, perhaps, was not speaking for her sake, noticed only the emptiness of the tomb, completely not paying attention to the shrouds. She runs to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, as John says; and the Mother of God, the Virgin, joining the other wives, again went to the place from which she had come, and, as Matthew says: “I took Jesus, saying: Rejoice” (Matthew 28:9). Do you see that before Mary Magdalene, the Mother of God saw for our salvation in the flesh the One who suffered and was buried and who was resurrected? “And she came near,” it is said, “to eat His nose, and worship Him” (Matthew 28:9). Just as when, together with Mary Magdalene, the Mother of God, having heard from the Angel the gospel of the Resurrection, She alone understood the meaning of what was announced, so now, together with other wives, having met the Son and God, She, the first of all others, saw and recognized the Risen One, and, approaching, grabbed His feet, and became an Apostle for the Apostles. The fact that Mary Magdalene was not with the Mother of God at the time when, returning from the tomb, the Lord met Her, appeared and spoke, we learn from John: “Then (Mary Magdalene) said, and she came to Simon Peter, and to another disciple, whom Jesus loved, and she said: “Having taken the Lord from the tomb, we do not know where He laid Him” ( John 20:2). How could she say that “they took it and moved it, but we don’t know where,” if she saw Him, and touched Him with her hands, and when she met him, she heard (His voice)? But even after Peter and John ran to the tomb and saw the shrouds and left, it is said that Mary stood outside the tomb, weeping. You see that not only did she not see (the Lord), but she was not certified by hearing (of the Resurrection). And although the Angels appeared and asked her: “Woman, why are you crying?” , she answered again as if dead. When, turning around, she saw Jesus, she still did not understand what had happened, but being asked by Him: “Why are you crying?” , said the same thing until He called her by name, Himself convincing her that He was alive. Then she, too, approaching, seeking to embrace His feet, heard from Him: “Do not touch Me,” from which we learn that when He first appeared to the Mother and the wives who were with Her, He only allowed Her to embrace His feet, although Matthew makes other wives his companions, not wanting, for the reason that we indicated at the beginning, to clearly prefer the Mother as a witness about such things. Because after the Ever-Virgin Mary was the first to come to the tomb, and the first to accept the gospel of the Resurrection, many came; and they saw the stone rolled away, and heard the angels, and, returning after these words and vision, they were divided. And alone, as Mark says: “Fleeing from the tomb, but in their name there was trembling and horror, and deciding nothing for anyone, for fear of fear” (Mark 16:8). And others followed the Mother of God, and were delighted by the vision and words of the Lord. Magdalene went to Peter and John, and after them, again, she came to the tomb alone; and when they left, she alone was honored to see the Lord, and was also sent to the Apostles; and she went to them, proclaiming to everyone, as John says, “that he had seen the Lord, and this he said to her” (John 20:18). That this vision was early in the morning, says Mark; those. it was at the very beginning of the day, after full dawn had come; but he does not claim that the Resurrection of Christ took place then and that this was His first appearance. But we have examined the acts of the Myrrh-Bearers and have the above-proven consistency regarding them among the four Evangelists. The disciples, on the same day of the Resurrection, having heard from the Myrrh-bearers and Peter, and from Luke and Cleopas, that the Lord was alive and was seen by them, did not believe it, which is why He reproached them when He later appeared to them who were together. But after many times and often He showed Himself alive, they all not only believed, but also preached everywhere: “Their message went out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world” (Ps. 18:5), “I make haste for the Lord, and confirm the word with signs that follow” (Mk. 16:20). For until the word was proclaimed throughout all the earth, signs were absolutely necessary. If there is a need for signs and wonders to demonstrate and confirm the preached Truth, then, in turn, for those who have received the word there is a need, not for miracles, but for signs that show whether they firmly believed. What are these signs? - Arising from deeds. For it is said: “Show me faith by your works” (James 2:18); and: “He who is wise, let him show his deeds by living well” (James 3:13). Because who will consider such a person to have a divine and great and exalted mind, and, so to speak, heavenly, which is what piety is, if he is poor in the possession of good deeds and is nailed to the earth and to earthly things? There is no benefit, brethren, if someone says that he has divine faith, but does not, at the same time, have deeds consistent with faith. What benefit did lamps without oil bring to the holy fools, i.e. acts of love and compassion? What did the calling of Father Abraham give to the rich man who, due to his lack of condolences to Lazarus, was tormented in an unquenchable fire? What was the purpose of his ready obedience to the invitation to marriage without wearing the clothing of good deeds, which, we believe, would correspond to a divine marriage and a bride? For he was called, and came, having perfect faith, and reclined with those holy guests, but was condemned and put to shame, as dressed in wretchedness of character and deeds, and, being mercilessly bound hand and foot, he was thrown into fiery Gehenna, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, which may not happen to any of those called by Christ to experience, but having demonstrated a proper life in all things by faith, yes let us be worthy to bring pure joy into the bride, forever remaining with the Saints 69 where is the dwelling of all those who rejoice. Amen 70. PG.151:236–248. Homilia XVIII. In Dominica Unguentiferarum, et quod prima Dominum ex mortus Redivivum vidit Deipara. That our Lord Jesus Christ, after His Resurrection from the dead, appeared to His Mother, the Most Pure Ever-Virgin Mother of God, earlier than to any other people, this is a tradition of the Church, expressed in references to St. Fathers and in the chants of the Colored Triodion. But nowhere is this question clarified with such clarity as in the 18th homily of St. Gregory Palamas; Moreover, St. Gregory Palamas is based solely on a careful study of the Gospel text itself. Those. that the first Mother of God saw the Risen Christ. Strictly speaking, this word “delighted” is not in the original; we borrow it from the Latin translation, but the meaning of the original is close to that translation. Original: “co-eternal with the Saints.” Sometimes some people mistakenly understand the expression “In one from the Sabbaths” (Luke 24:1; John 20:1) and – “On the first Saturday” (Mark 16:9), which is said about the Sabbath day, as for example, in Russian it would sound: “On one of the Saturdays” and “on the first Saturday.” But this must be understood quite differently. Namely: it is said about the next day, which comes after Saturday. “Day”, in Greek: “and imera” is a feminine noun, and in the feminine gender it translates the adjective “one”, “first” and our church. glory the text of the Gospel, while the noun itself is omitted, as is the custom of the Greek language. Therefore the text would read: “On the first day after the Sabbath.” You might be interested in: