Patriarch Daniel: The Holy Myrrh-bearing Women are the image of all faithful women who have loved the Crucified and Risen Christ and His Church

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel at Pasarea Monastery

The Myrrh-bearing women were the first human beings to proclaim the Resurrection of the Lord, Patriarch Daniel of Romania said Sunday, 30 April 2017, during his homily delivered at Pasărea Monastery near Bucharest.

The Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church stressed that the myrrh-bearing women are great teachers of the Church. They teach us faith and courage to profess the Resurrection of the crucified Christ and to convey this faith over time.

They impress us not because they had a different faith than that of the Holy Apostles but through their courage, their piety and love for Christ. The Church remembered them as confessors of Christ’s Resurrection and that is why they are commemorated on the third Sunday after Pascha. The myrrh-bearing women were the first human beings to proclaim the Resurrection of the Lord the Patriarch said adding that they learned about it directly from the angel who waited for them by the tomb of the Lord.

His Beatitude went on to reflect on the fact that the stone from the door of the sepulchre had been rolled away not so that Christ could rise from dead but rather for the myrrh-bearing women to be able to see the empty place where Jesus was laid. The Patriarch noted that the rolling away of the stone shows that when there is nobody to help a believer, God Himself performs miracles and sends His angels from heaven to help the people who love Him and fulfil His will in their life.

The Myrrh-bearing women represent a model of the faithful man who listens to the Gospel of the Resurrection and believes in what the Gospel reads.

They teach us, the Patriarch explained, that if we have strong faith, much humility and love for God we can become worthy to meet the crucified and risen Jesus Himself, Who grants us His peace and joy and Who becomes the life of our life.

The myrrh-bearing women represent the image of all faithful women who have loved the Crucified and Risen Christ and His Church.

Like Holy Myrrh-bearing women, pious and diligent Christian women in Romania support the construction of holy places of worship and the religious education of children in public schools; they cultivate merciful love for those in hospitals and social care institutions or excel in other areas of activity profitable for the Romanian people, and especially as mothers and wives they bring peace and holy joy to their families and the society.

These women have become over the ages confessors of faith unto death. That is why, in our Church calendar we do not have only male martyrs, but also female martyrs who gave their lives for Christ, sometimes together with their families.

Ending his speech, His Beatitude Daniel referred to the Solemn Year 2017 dedicated to the holy icons and emphasised the fact that two women, namely two empresses: Saints Theodora and Irene, were the ones who defended the veneration of icons.

Patriarch Daniel presented the faithful prayer cards depicting Christ’s appearance to the myrrh-bearing women.

Photo Credit: Basilica.ro

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