The appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene. Description of the painting by A. A. Ivanov “The Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection. She turned and said to Him: Rabbi! - what does it mean: Teacher

The Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene also entered the cave and saw angels in white robes. And they sit: one at the heads, and the other at the feet, at the place where the body of Christ used to lie. “Why are you crying?” - they ask her. Maria answers them with tears: - Where?

The Appearance of Jesus to Magdalene Mary Magdalene remained alone at the entrance to the cave and cried because she did not know where the body of Jesus was. And when I turned around, I saw a man standing, but did not recognize that it was Jesus. And Jesus said to her: “Why are you crying? Who are you looking for?” She thought it was

Appearance of the Lord to Mary Magdalene

After Peter and John, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb again, she stood at the tomb and cried. Mary was not as reasonable as the apostles, and could not yet understand that the Lord Jesus was not stolen, but resurrected, and Peter and John were not yet so established in their faith in His Resurrection as to convince Mary. In her weeping, Mary “bent down into the tomb, and saw two angels in white robes sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus lay.” Suppressed by grief over the death of the Teacher and the disappearance of His body, she may have mistook the angels for people who entered the cave unnoticed by her.

Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene. Athos, Dionysiatus, XIV century.

The angels asked Mary why she was crying. Hearing the voice of sympathy, she shared her sadness with them, as if with ordinary people: “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” The woman would hardly have been able to speak so calmly if she had recognized them as the inhabitants of heaven; she would hardly have reported the disappearance of the body of Christ to those who, being sent from God, themselves knew about what had happened. Hearing footsteps approaching, Mary “turned back and saw Jesus standing; but she did not recognize that it was Jesus”: in her sadness she could not expect that the Lord was alive and was nearby. Mary mistook Him for a gardener (the tomb was in Joseph’s garden), so when Jesus said with sympathy: “Woman! Why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”, she asked: “Sir! if you have brought Him out, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him.” Mary continued to cry and again turned her gaze to the empty bed of Christ, in inconsolable grief, without thinking how she, a weak woman, would take His body.

Then the Savior, in a very familiar voice, called Mary by name. Having recognized the Lord Jesus Christ with a loving heart, she turned to Him and exclaimed in indescribable joy: “Rabbi!” (Teacher!) - and threw herself at His feet. The Son of God, showing that from now on he would no longer live among people as a Man, but from now on as God would listen to their prayers from Heaven, said to her: “Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father,” - not It is for Me to live among you, and to ascend to the Heavenly Father.

Jesus showed that it was now impossible for the disciple to be with Him continuously, that the time had come to preach His Resurrection: “Go to My brothers and tell them: I ascend to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.” Those whom the Lord Jesus loved to the end (see John 13:1), He touchingly called them His brothers, showing his spiritual closeness to them. The apostles and Christ truly have one Heavenly Father, but here Christ distinguished His Sonship from the sonship of the Apostles: He is the Son of God by nature, while the apostles were adopted by the Father by grace through the redemptive feat of Christ.

She announced joy to those who weep. V.D. Polenov, 1909

After the words were spoken, the Lord Jesus Christ became invisible, and Mary Magdalene hurried to His disciples and followers, “weeping and weeping.” With great joy she reported that she had seen Jesus alive, and recalled His ascension to the Father, announced by the Lord in a farewell conversation, which was soon to take place (see John 14:2; 16:16). But the apostles, “hearing that He was alive and she saw Him, did not believe”, did not trust the testimony of a woman who had hardly slept the last night and suddenly came to them in unusually joyful excitement (Peter and John were apparently not among them was).

The appearance of the Lord to the myrrh-bearing women

After Mary Magdalene, the rest of the women who came to the tomb and saw the angel were also honored to see the risen Lord Christ: when they returned to the apostles with news from the angel about His resurrection, the Lord Himself met them on the way with the usual greeting: “Rejoice!” now in His Most Pure lips it had the deepest and most enduring meaning.

The appearance of Christ to the myrrh-bearing women. Athos, Dionysiatus, XIV century.

The joy of the orphaned disciples of Christ truly knew no bounds! With great reverence, they “came forward, took hold of His feet and worshiped Him,” giving honor to the Son of God. He did not forbid the myrrh-bearing women to touch, so that they would be convinced that they were not seeing a ghost, but the Savior Himself. For Mary Magdalene, from whom the Lord “cast out seven demons” and who became a zealous follower of Christ, and was later recognized as equal to the apostles for the power of her evangelical preaching, it was not necessary for her faith to touch the Risen One, but the rest of the disciples, apparently, needed such confidence.

The women were in awe of the unexpected appearance of Christ, who had died and been buried before their eyes three days before. The Lord reassured them, dispelled their fear and sent them to the apostles: “Do not be afraid; go, tell My brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me,” - far from the evil Jews I will console them with My appearance and conversation.

The myrrh-bearing women preach the good news to the apostles about the Resurrection of Christ. Serbia, Decani, XIV century.

The Lord sent not the apostles, but myrrh-bearing women, to preach the news of His Resurrection first. In ancient paradise, a wife accepted a disastrous lie from the mouth of the serpent and now from the mouth of the Lord Himself she was the first to hear the life-giving truth; the wife brought mortal fruit to Adam, and now she carried the cup of life to the apostles - the life-giving news of the Resurrection. Thus the Lord mercifully healed the ancient damage of the human race. The wives were the first to receive a vision of the Lord, since they did not leave Him suffering until the very end of death and burial, while the apostles abandoned their Teacher out of fear. Of course, it was less dangerous for women to be exposed to the cruel wrath of the Jews at the cross, but they showed great devotion to Christ. He had a different demand from the apostles, who promised to be with Him until death, and the Lord now healed their weakness, teaching them to henceforth have a humble opinion of themselves and to trust not in their own strength, but in God’s help. The myrrh-bearing women, weaker by nature than the apostles, were the first to be blessed by the Lord as most worthy for their selfless love and devotion to God.

When the myrrh-bearing women ran to the apostles with the good news, they “did not believe them” - they did not trust them completely, just as they did not trust the words of the first of the myrrh-bearers, Mary Magdalene.

Appearance of the Lord to the Apostle Peter

Before appearing to all the apostles, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to the Apostle Peter (see Luke 24:34; 1 Cor. 15:5), but how and where - the evangelists do not say, probably when Peter returned from the empty tomb, where he came with John. The Lord hastened to pacify the restless and tormented heart of the disciple, who, having been providentially abandoned by Him, denied Him out of human fear, out of the weakness of his fallen nature. Seeing the beloved Lord, fiery Peter must have fallen in tears at His most pure feet and been consoled. The Lord ended the disciple’s doubts and hesitations with complete assurance of the truth of His Resurrection.

The evangelists tell in a few words about the Resurrection of the Lord and His first appearances, but behind this brevity one can feel the extraordinary jubilation of the spirit that filled the evangelists and which spills out of Christian hearts in the Easter exclamation: “Christ is Risen!”

Preparations of the Galilean women for the procession to the tomb of Jesus Returning to Jerusalem after the burial of Jesus, some of the women who came with Him from Galilee managed to buy incense and ointments before sunset, and Mary Magdalene, Mary of Cleopas (aka Mary of Jacob, like the mother of James) and Salome probably returned to Jerusalem several times. later, when trade had already ceased, and therefore only after the Sabbath had passed, that is, on Saturday after sunset, they bought aromatic suits, in order, according to Jewish custom, to anoint the body of Jesus with them and thereby pay His last debt.

Having bought the aromas, these women, who are usually called myrrh-bearing wives, could not immediately set off on their way to the tomb, because night had already fallen. And they waited for dawn, and this night seemed especially long to them; and, without waiting for the end of it, counting on the early coming of day, they set off in the light of the full moon.

Meanwhile, on the same night, but at what hour, it is unknown, the greatest of all miracles happened: Christ is risen!

At night, when everyone was still sleeping, warriors guarded the entrance to the cave. And suddenly a strong shaking of the earth was heard: the stone sealed to the entrance instantly fell off. And the warriors saw on the stone some unearthly creature in clothes as white as snow, shining like lightning. The warriors trembled with fear; they look at an extraordinary phenomenon and cannot move, became as if they were dead. How long this phenomenon lasted is unknown; but, little by little, coming to their senses, the soldiers began to move away from the cave and went, of course, to announce everything to their superiors; some and some of them went to the high priests, by whom they were placed on guard.

Appearing to the high priests, these soldiers told everything that they themselves had seen and heard. The high priests immediately realized that if the soldiers began to tell everyone about this night incident, then the people would undoubtedly believe, believe that Jesus had risen, that He was the Messiah, the King of Israel, and then... then it would not be good for them, the high priests, and everything Sanhedrin. I had to quickly come up with something to save myself; we need to win these warriors, these dangerous eyewitnesses, to our side, but how? And they gathered the elders, and at a meeting with them they decided to win the warriors to their side by bribery.

After a conference with the elders, the high priests asked the soldiers to tell them that the disciples of Jesus, having come at night, stole His body while they, the soldiers, were sleeping; Moreover, the high priests reassured them that if Pilate found out about this, they themselves would intercede for them. Having finished this, the high priests they gave enough money to the soldiers() to finally win them over to your side.

The soldiers, having taken the money, acted as they were taught. And rumors about this spread among the Jews and persisted till today, that is, until the time of the compilation of the Gospel by the Apostle Matthew (for details about how exactly these and other soldiers acted, see the Introduction, p. 46).

The earthquake was probably felt only near the cave, and since a very large stone fell off, it seemed great to the guards. In general, the Evangelist Matthew could only learn about this earthquake, that the stone was rolled away by an angel, and that the tomb was empty after that, from soldiers who were not bribed by the high priests, eyewitnesses of what happened, or from those reliable witnesses to whom these soldiers told about it.

Those who do not believe in Jesus Christ as the God-man have directed all their efforts to prove the unreliability of the Evangelists' accounts of His Resurrection. They understood perfectly well that if they managed to undermine faith in His Resurrection, then faith in Him as the God-Man, the Son of God, would thereby be undermined.

But all their efforts are in vain. The truth of the Resurrection of Christ has been proven, the objections of unbelievers have been refuted. Details on this issue are set out above (see Introduction, pp. 43–50); Here we will only touch on comments about seeming contradictions in the narratives of the Evangelists.

Reconciling the Apparent Contradiction in the Evangelist Narratives

Evangelist Luke testifies that the women who came with Jesus from Galilee They looked at the tomb and how His body was laid out; having returned(in town), prepared incense and ointments(in order, according to Jewish custom, to anoint the body of Jesus with them); and on Saturday they remained in peace according to the commandment (). They were Magdalene Mary, and Joanna, and Mary, mother Jacob, and others with them(). Evangelist Matthew says that at the burial of Jesus there were Mary Magdalene and the other Mary who sat opposite the tomb(). Evangelist Mark, speaking about the same thing, explains that this another Maria was Mary of Josiah, that is, the mother of Josiah. Thus, from the testimony of the three Evangelists, we know that Mary Magdalene, Mary of Cleopas and other women who came from Galilee, including Salome, the mother of the Apostles James and John, tried to find out the place where Joseph and Nicodemus laid the body of Jesus. In telling about this, the Evangelists only wanted to confirm that some women knew this place; but they considered it unnecessary to list all these women by name for their purpose and therefore limited themselves to the above-mentioned indications of Mary Magdalene, Mary of Cleopas and others who came from Galilee. They all bought aromas or incense to anoint the body of Jesus. According to Luke, some did this, returning to the city after the burial, from which it can be concluded that they returned quite early, when the Easter evening had not yet begun, when trade was still ongoing. Others, namely Mary Magdalene, Mary of Cleopas and Salome, probably returned to the city a little later, since they bought fragrances only after the Sabbath had passed, that is, on Saturday evening, since the celebration of the Sabbath among the Jews began on Friday evening and ended at sunset. sun on Saturday; Evangelist Mark testifies to this, saying: After the Sabbath, Mary Magdalene and Mary of James and Salome bought spices so that they could go and anoint Him.(). And there is no contradiction or disagreement in this. Probably they all set off together, but did not arrive at the tomb at the same time, because some walked faster, in a hurry to arrive first, before the rest. This explains the apparent disagreement among the Evangelists about the time of their arrival at the burial cave.

Arrival of Mary Magdalene to the tomb

Evangelist Luke, without first naming the women who went to the tomb, but limiting himself to only indicating that they were those who came with Jesus from Galilee, says: On the first day of the week, very early... they came to the tomb(). Evangelist John says that Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb early, when it was still dark(). The Evangelist Matthew says that at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb(), and Evangelist Mark says that Mary Magdalene and Mary of Jacob and Salome... very early, on the first day of the week, they come to the tomb, at sunrise ().

Expressions of the Evangelists - very early, at dawn And at sunrise- cannot be considered contradictory to one another. Like sunrise, so is dawn, this is a very early time of the day, the beginning of it; definitions of time in words at dawn And at sunrise also cannot be considered contradictory, since in the southern countries there are not those long dawns that we have in central and northern Russia; there it gets dark quickly after sunset, just as at dawn the sun rises quickly. Therefore, the same time can be defined as both the real dawn of the day and the beginning of sunrise. But in undoubted contradiction with these definitions of time is the legend of the Evangelist John that Mary Magdalene came to the tomb, when it was still dark; and this contradiction would have been irreconcilable if John had reported the arrival of all the myrrh-bearing women; but since he speaks only about the arrival of Mary Magdalene, it must be assumed that she went ahead, leaving the rest of the women far behind her, and came to the tomb while it was still dark; others came later, but still very early, at dawn, at the beginning of sunrise. Evangelist John, who wrote his Gospel last and supplemented what was missed by the first Evangelists, did not find it necessary to talk about other women going to the tomb, since enough had already been said about this by other Evangelists; He would not have said that Mary Magdalene was walking with the other women, if the first Evangelists had not failed to notice that she came to the tomb first, when it was still dark. The evangelists Matthew, Mark and Luke, reporting on the arrival of women at the tomb, did not attach much importance to the fact that Mary Magdalene came earlier than everyone else, and therefore, listing the names of some of these women, they also mention Mary Magdalene, as if coming along with the rest co coffin The Evangelist John, complementing their narratives, makes an amendment to their legends, saying that Mary Magdalene came before everyone else, and does this because he talks about the appearance of Christ to her, which the first Evangelists are silent about. This correction has special significance as it was made by an eyewitness: Mary Magdalene, having found the stone rolled away from the cave, immediately ran to Peter and John to tell them her grief and then, together with John, ran to the cave again. Consequently, everything that John tells about this, he knew then from Mary herself, and he himself saw with his own eyes what she told him about, that is, the rolled away stone and the empty tomb.

In general, none of the Evangelists intended to describe all the events of the Gospel History without exception; Yes, this would even be impossible, since, according to the Evangelist John, the whole world could not contain the books written. Therefore, the silence of one or more Evangelists about any event cannot be taken as their denial of such events. In order for readers to consciously believe in the real Resurrection of Jesus Christ, it was quite enough for the first Evangelists to tell how the women who came to the tomb found it empty and how after that Christ appeared to them and the disciples; they apparently did not attach significant importance to the details about when exactly the women came to the tomb, which of them came earlier and who was late, as well as how many times Christ appeared.

So, it should be recognized that on the day following the Sabbath, which was called the first day of the week, and is now called Sunday, the women who came with Jesus from Galilee, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary of Cleopas, Salome and Joanna, were still at night, when It was dark, they left Jerusalem with the purchased aromatic compositions and headed to the cave in which the body of Jesus was laid. The words of John, what else happened then dark(), must be understood in the sense that it was still night then, the day had not yet come; There was no daytime sunlight, but there was moonlight, since this happened on the second night after the full moon, when the moon shines until sunrise.

The grief-stricken women walked quietly, intending to reach the tomb only by morning; but Mary Magdalene, as she especially loved Jesus, walked ahead of them and, perhaps without noticing it herself, separated from them and walked alone with quick steps. However, there is some reason to believe that she was not the only one who went forward, since after that, telling Peter and John that they had taken the Lord from the tomb, she added: we don’t know where they put Him(). Didn't Maria Cleopas go with her?

Her hasty departure to Jerusalem to the Apostles

Approaching the cave, Mary Magdalene saw that the stone has been rolled away from the tomb(). Without entering the cave, she thought that the body of Jesus had been transferred to another place; but by whom and where? In fear and bewilderment, she runs back to Jerusalem to tell the Apostles Peter and John about this.

Arrival of the remaining women to the cave

Before Mary Magdalene had time to return from the city with Peter and John, the rest of the women reached the cave, already at dawn, at sunrise. On the way they said to each other: Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us? (). This question bothered them because the stone was quite big(), and they would not have been able to throw him away. But, approaching the cave, they see that the stone has already been rolled away by someone; and suddenly two men (two angels) appeared before them in shining robes.

The appearance of angels to them

They fell on their faces in fear, and the two men who appeared to them said: Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He is not here: He is risen (). Come see the place where the Lord lay(). The women entered the cave and saw a young man (angel) in white clothes sitting on the right side. And this angel said to them: don't be horrified. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, crucified; He has risen, He is not here. This is the place where He was laid(). Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again. And they remembered His words (). Go quickly, tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see Him there ().

The words of the angel were conveyed by all the first three Evangelists in complete agreement; the discrepancy concerns only the number of angels and the place where they appeared. The evangelists Matthew and Mark talk about the appearance of one angel, whom Matthew calls an angel, and Mark a young man; The Evangelist Luke says that two men appeared to them. The difference in names (angel, youth, husband) is not significant. Angels, as invisible spirits, must take on some form when they appear to people; but since in this case they appeared in a dazzling brilliance, as a result of which the women amazed by this wonderful phenomenon tilted their faces their to the ground(), then it is quite possible that the angel who spoke seemed to one to be a young man, and to the other a husband; It is also quite possible that some women saw only one angel who appeared in this form, while others saw two. To prove the reality of the resurrection of Jesus, it did not matter whether one or two angels appeared to the women who came to the tomb; it was important to report what exactly the angel who spoke said, and that the angel who did not speak was also present - this did not matter in relation to the purpose of the story; That’s why two Evangelists tell about one angel who spoke to women, and the third Evangelist supplements their story with an indication of another angel who was right there.

Regarding the place where these words were spoken by the angel, there is also an apparent disagreement between the Evangelists. From Luke's narrative it is not at all clear where the angel spoke, in the cave or outside it. Mark testifies that the appearance of the speaking angel took place in a cave. And Matthew, although he says that the angel rolled away the stone from the door of the tomb and sat on it(), but where exactly he addressed the women with words of consolation is not clear from his narrative; suppose the expression - come and see the place where the Lord lay() - gives some reason to believe that the angel said this while outside the cave, perhaps sitting on a stone; but since the stone was rolled away before the arrival of the women, it can be said with high probability that the warriors saw an angel sitting on the stone and shining like lightning. were in awe and became like dead(), and the women could see him already in the cave. However, one can also assume the following situation: an angel appeared to all the women outside the cave, at the entrance to it, announced that Christ had risen, and invited them to enter the cave to see where the Lord lay in order to make sure that He had truly risen; when they entered the cave, they saw (as Mark says) a young man sitting on the right side; and then they heard the voice of an angel speaking to them (or continuing to speak), and they could see the same angel, but who appeared to them again in the cave, receiving another, as a result of which Luke says that two men appeared to them.

Be that as it may, for the Evangelists it was only important to establish that the stone had been rolled away, that the tomb was empty, and that the reason for such emptiness was explained to the angel who appeared to the women; whether there were two angels or one, and where exactly he spoke, did not matter significantly to the Evangelists. After all, they did not carry out police investigations and did not draw up protocols in which all sorts of little things and details were recorded in detail; no, they reported only the main events that led them to the conviction that Christ had indeed risen.

Return of the Myrrh-Bearing Women to the City

Hearing such good news, the women left the cave and ran to the city to tell the Apostles about it. Meanwhile, Mary Magdalene had already managed to run to the Apostles, Peter and John, and, entering them, she exclaimed in despair: They took the Lord away from the tomb, and we don’t know where they laid Him ().

The Parish of John, Mary and Peter

Frightened by this news, the Apostles ran to the cave; but John was younger and ran faster, so he came running first; For some reason he was afraid to enter the cave alone and therefore only looked into its opening and saw the shrouds lying there. Peter came running after him, entered the cave, saw the shrouds in one place, and the scarf with which his head was covered in another, and the scarf was folded. And Peter went back, amazed at everything that had happened. Then John entered the cave and saw the same thing, and believed.

Regarding this expression - and believed– John Chrysostom says that John believed that Christ had risen. Theophylact and Bishop Michael are of the same opinion. With all the deepest respect for the opinions of St. John Chrysostom, one cannot help but allow for another interpretation: if the Evangelist John, after the words - and saw and believed- speaks : Because they(that is, Peter and he, John) did not yet know from Scripture that He(to Jesus) had to rise from the dead(), then this explanation leads us to believe that John, since he did not know from Scripture that Jesus had to be resurrected, could not conclude from the emptiness of the tomb alone that He had risen; Moreover, earlier, when Jesus repeatedly told the Apostles about His impending death and the Resurrection following death, then these words were hidden to them, and they did not understand what was said (Yak. 18, 34); besides, according to the legend of the Evangelist Luke, Peter returned from the tomb, marveling at what happened to himself(); and to the rest of the Apostles words women returning from the tomb, who told them about the resurrection of Jesus, seemed... empty, and did not believe them(). All this gives reason to think that John, having seen the empty tomb and the lying shrouds and cloths, believed only that the body of the Lord was not in the tomb, that Mary Magdalene was not mistaken in this regard.

Return of Peter and John to Jerusalem

So, having examined the tomb, Peter and John returned to their place, that is, to Jerusalem, to the house where they all gathered after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

But Mary Magdalene remained; she wanted to achieve the truth, she wanted to find out where they put the Lord? On her first visit she did not enter the cave; She also did not enter there with the Apostles Peter and John, but only heard from them that the tomb was indeed empty. After the Apostles left, she stood at the tomb, that is, at the entrance to the cave, and cried and as she cried, she leaned into the coffin.

Appearance of the Risen Christ to Mary Magdalene

The entrance to the cave was probably below human height, as a result of which, standing at the entrance, it was impossible to see its interior; to look into it, you had to bend down, lean over; Evangelist John himself, leaning over, but without entering the tomb (cave), I saw the shrouds lying. So is Maria when she cried, she leaned into the coffin, that is, she bent down and looked, continuing to stand at the entrance; and sees two angels, dressed in white, sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus lay ().

To the Angel's question - wife! Why are you crying? – she answered with sobs and despair: They took my Lord away, and I don’t know where they laid Him()! This cry of a tormented heart intensified her sobs; Tears began to choke her, she leaned away from the entrance to the cave, and involuntarily looked back and saw Jesus standing in front of her but didn't recognize Him(). Jesus tells her: wife! Why are you crying? who are you looking for? ().

How the Apostles, even those chosen from among the Apostles, did not understand that Jesus should have die and rise again; just as these words were hidden to them, so Mary did not understand them. She could not even think that Jesus would rise again, and therefore she did not pay attention either to the emptiness of the tomb, or to the angels sitting at the head and foot of it, but was only concerned with the desire to find out where the body of her Lord was placed; in such a mood, she did not even recognize Him when He turned to her with a question about the reason for her tears. And, despite this, non-believers dare to say that Magdalene believed so strongly that Jesus would certainly rise, she so wanted to see Him risen at all costs, that she reached a painful state in which she saw and heard what she passionately desired, but which in reality did not happen.

Completely overwhelmed by the thought that they had taken the Lord away and placed him in an unknown place, she takes Jesus, who appeared to her, to be a gardener, since the burial cave in which the body of Jesus was laid was located in the garden. Thinking that the good gardener has moved the body of Jesus somewhere safe from His enemies, she turns to him with a prayer: " Mister! if you carried It out, tell me where you put It, and I will take It, I will protect It better than you ()".

Maria! - Christ told her in a voice familiar to her. It was then that she recognized Him and cried out: Ravbouni! - and threw herself at His feet.

Rushing towards Him, she thereby discovered a desire to touch Him and, not only by sight, but also by touch, to know that this was not the spirit of her Teacher, but He Himself.

Christ stopped her, saying: do not touch me, believe not your sense of touch, but My word; believe that I am not a spirit, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; But go to My brothers and say to them: I ascend to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.

Obeying this command, Mary immediately went to the Apostles, whom the risen Christ called brothers. Now she understood that Christ had risen, now everything became clear to her: the rolled away stone, the emptiness of the tomb, and the angels sitting there.

And she announced to the Apostles, crying and sobbing, that Christ had risen! But they didn't believe her.

The appearance of Christ to other women

They went and told everything they had seen and heard not only to the eleven Apostles, but and everyone else who loved Jesus; and their words seemed empty to them and they did not believe them.

Thus ended the first morning after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. That morning He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, and then to all the other women who came to His tomb. They all announced to the Apostles about these phenomena and everything that they had seen and heard; But seemed to them(that is, the Apostles) their words were empty, and they did not believe them.

Discussing the events of this day, one cannot help but notice that the Lord did not allow Mary Magdalene to touch Him and be convinced by her own touch that it was not a spirit, not a ghost, but He allowed other myrrh-bearing wives to and they took hold of His feet. Why did the Lord make such an exception for Mary Magdalene? Only Christ Himself can give an exact answer to this question; we can only guess, assume.

I think that of all the disciples and disciples of the Lord, only Mary Magdalene had strong faith in Him, such faith that did not require any tangible evidence; Only she could believe the word of the Lord who appeared to her, and she did. The apostles and other disciples did not have such faith, and they needed evidence of the Resurrection of Christ that left no doubt. Is this why the Lord appeared to Mary Magdalene first? Is this why, at dinner with Simon the leper, the Lord said that wherever the Gospel was preached, it would be said about her?

"Do not touch me! Believe that it is I Myself, that I have not yet ascended to My Father! Trust My word and not your sense of touch!”