A Voice from the Isles

Holy Women and Holy Men In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. God is one.Amen. We celebrate today the lives of seven holy women and two holy men. Each of these followers of Christ expressed their faith in Him through their prayers and actions. It is good for us to pause and consider their lives and how those lives might guide us in the challenges we face today. Many women named Mary were among the followers of Jesus Christ. There is some dispute among Biblical scholars as to who was “Mary, the mother of James;” but this is generally agreed to be the Virgin Mary, The Theotokos, who was the step-mother of Joseph’s son, James. Certainly, along with many other women, she was present with Jesus Christ throughout His ministry on earth and at His Crucifixion (Matthew 27.55; Mark 15.40-41; Luke 23.49; John 19.25-27). A note in The Orthodox Study Bible points out that “the women disciples remain faithful while the men flee and hide. [Then] it is the women who bring the message of the Resurrection to the men” [p. 1356, citing Mark 16.9-11 and Luke 24.9-11]. Yet the men do not believe them (Mark 16.11; Luke 24.11). Perhaps that tendency of men not to believe women who are seeking to guide them to Christ is still present at times today. The sisters of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, were deeply devoted to Jesus Christ. It was Mary, who had taken expensive perfume and anointed the feet of the Saviour when He arrived in Jerusalem for the Jewish Passover celebration (John 12.1). Martha was always working hard to serve all of those who came to be with Jesus; and she also had great faith in the Saviour. She said to Him, after Lazarus had died, before her brother was raised from the dead, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11.21). Together, Mary and Martha, have come to stand together for serving Christ through both prayer and action. We too can learn to live with the same aspiration—the same determination—to serve Christ through both prayer and action. All four of the gospels of Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke and John mention Mary Magdalene as an important follower of Jesus Christ. We know little about her life except that Mary Magdalene “had been healed of evil spirits and of infirmities” and that she often travelled with Jesus Christ and the apostles throughout Palestine (Luke 8.2). There is no Biblical evidence that this Mary from the town of Magdala was a great sinner. She was clearly a person of great integrity, with the courage to be a witness of the Crucifixion. Furthermore, when Jesus Christ was no longer dead, but not yet raised to heaven, Mary Magdalene was the first person to whom Christ revealed Himself (Mark 16.9; John 20.11-31). Several other women including Susanna, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, had also been “healed of evil spirits.” However, we know little about them or about Mary, the wife of Cleophas to whom Jesus Christ appeared on the Emmaus Road, except that they “provided for [Jesus Christ and His followers] out of their own possessions” (Luke 8.3). Another significant follower of Christ was Salome, the wife of Zebedee and the mother of the apostles James and John. Although we know far more about the apostles than the women who followed Christ, it is clear that Christ chose many of His 12 disciples (Matthew 10.1-4; Mark 3.13-19; Luke 6.12-16) from deeply religious Jewish families. Other members of these families supported their sons who had been chosen to follow Christ. This pattern of deeply committed Christians often emerging from holy families has not changed over the centuries. The two holy men that we remember today are Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea who took the body of Jesus Christ down from the cross and buried Him (John 19.38-41). By this action they publicly declared their belief in Christ, when many of His disciples fled in fear. Nicodemus also brought a valuable mixture of myrrh and aloes with which to anoint the body of Jesus Christ, just as one of the wise men had brought myrrh to the new-born Jesus Christ in the stable in Bethlehem (Matthew 2.11). The action of Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the Jewish Council, the Sanhedrin, is especially impressive, because he had kept his faith in Christ a secret until this time, but now faith overcame fear. All four evangelists mention the importance of how Jesus Christ was buried (Matthew 27.57, Mark 15.43, Luke 23.51, John 19.38). As a note in The Orthodox Study Bible explains, “If the apostles had buried Christ, doubters would claim His body was simply hidden away. Joseph being both a council member and a good and just man refutes any possibility that the Lord’s body was deceptively hidden by the apostles” (p. 1414) [End quote]. Each of these holy women and holy men proclaimed Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, through their faith, their prayers and their actions. We too can follow them in their steps. And so, we ascribe as is justly due all might, majesty, domi...