The Myrrh-bearing women are icons of courage and “serve in humility and silence the holy work of Christ,” Patriarch Daniel said Sunday, May 16, 2021.

They, like today’s Christian women, “are present discreetly, without pretending to be always appreciated, but it is the duty of all men and the whole Church to appreciate the faith, piety, and humble, hard work of women who serve the Church of Christ and who transmit the Christian faith as mothers, as wives, as grandparents, in family and society,” he added.

The Patriarch, who attended the Divine Liturgy at the historic Chapel of the Patriarchal Residence, said that the myrrh-bearing women were “the bravest human beings.”

“While the disciples were locked up in the house for fear of the Jews, they overcame their fear and went to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus, who was buried in the tomb, with the most precious ointment.”

The Patriarch of Romania explained that their godliness and courage were rewarded first by the fact that the angel rolled away the stone so that they could see the empty tomb, and then by meeting the risen Saviour, being the first humans to see Him after the Resurrection.

“We must point out that the stone was rolled away not to allow Jesus to rise because He had already risen without breaking the seals of the tomb, passing through the tombstone, as He was born of the Virgin Mary without altering her virginity and as, on the evening of His Resurrection, he will go through the locked doors to show himself to the apostles,” the Patriarch underlined.

Myrrh-bearing women prefigure the discreet service of the Christian woman

“This group of godly and industrious women has become an icon for all Christian women who wake up early in the morning, pray and work for the family, but also for women who are nuns and novices in monasteries, who pray early in the morning for their salvation and for all those who believe in Jesus and love Him,” the Patriarch of Romania noted.

“They are icons of holy female martyrs, who have confessed Christ throughout history and especially during the persecutions against Christians,” the Patriarch added.

“But they also represent all Christian women who bring offerings and contribute to the construction of churches, to decorating and embellishing churches, caring for the sick, contributing to the Christian education of children and also contributing to the development of life in society,” His Beatitude said.

“Therefore, on the occasion of the Sunday of Myrrh-bearing Women, a Sunday declared by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church as the Sunday of Christian Women, we want to thank God for the gifts poured out on these pious and hardworking Christian women, to congratulate them and wish them many years, with health, joy and help from God in preaching the truth of the gospel of Christ and especially in transmitting the faith in the Resurrection of Christ.”

Since St. John Chrysostom called the myrrh-bearing women “apostles to the Apostles,” because they brought the news of the Lord’s Resurrection to the latter, Patriarch Daniel also congratulated “all Christian women who work with the means of proclaiming the gospel en masse: radio, television, newspaper and other forms of proclaiming the merciful love of Christ, who was crucified and rose for the salvation of all humans.”

Photography courtesy of Basilica.ro Files / Mircea Florescu