Today the Church commemorates the Myrrh-bearing women, who came to the Christ’s tomb early in the morning in order to anoint His body, and to whom His resurrection was first announced.
The gospels tell us of various women who followed Jesus as He went around Galilee, preaching and healing the sick. They supported Him from their own means, and remained faithful to Him when He was arrested and crucified.
It was these women who came seeking Christ’s body early in the morning. The Church identifies them as including the holy Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Lord; Mary Magdalene; Mary, the wife of Cleopas; Joanna, the wife of Chouza; Salome, the Mother of James and John; Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, and Susanna.
The Holy Myrrhbearers present us with an example of faithfulness to Christ. They had not only followed Him in His earthly life, but they remained faithful to Him in His death. They showed considerable courage in coming to the tomb seeking to anoint His body. They did not know how they would get into the tomb, and yet did not let this deter them. They did not go empty handed, but took spices with which to anoint His body.
The faith of the Holy Myrrhbearers was not in vain, for they discovered that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb, and they were met by an angel who gave them the joyous news that Christ was not in the tomb, but that He had risen and had gone on ahead of them to Galilee.
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The Myrrhbearers rose at dawn and came to your tomb with haste. They were seeking you, O Christ, that they might anoint your spotless body, and instructed by the words of the Angel, they proclaimed the joyful signs to the Apostles, ‘The author of our salvation has risen, despoiling death but granting the world eternal life an d his great mercy’.
From the Stichera of the Myrrhbearers