In joyful rapture, Mary Magdalene could not yet imagine and realize all the greatness of the Risen Christ. And therefore the Lord, in order to enlighten her thoughts and teach her about the change through the resurrection of His flesh, meekly said to her:

- Touch Me not[25] (John 20:17), for I have not yet ascended to My Father.

Mary Magdalene enthusiastically expressed her worship of her humanity and that of her Saviour and Teacher, and Christ, by forbidding her to touch her, elevates and sanctifies her thoughts, teaches her more reverent treatment, and makes Mary Magdalene understand that the time for the closest spiritual communion with him will come when He completely hides Himself from the sensual eyes of His disciples and ascends to heaven to God His Father. And since the other disciples of Christ, at the news of His resurrection, could think that now He was forever with them on earth and, perhaps, would realize the people's dreams of a great Jewish earthly kingdom, Christ the Savior sent Mary Magdalene to warn them against such thoughts and dreams. Now assuring the Apostles of the Resurrection of Christ by her clear contemplation of the Risen One and His speech, she is sent by the Lord to announce to them that Christ will no longer be long on earth, that He must soon ascend to God the Father with His most glorified body. But so that the news of this departure would not lead them into confusion and sorrow, the Lord commanded Mary Magdalene to tell His disciples that His Father, to Whom He ascended, was also their Father, mercifully calling them His brethren:

- Go to My brethren and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God [26] (John 20:17)

Having said this, Christ became invisible. And the joyful, happy Mary Magdalene goes and announces (John 20:18) all that has happened to her to the Apostles of Christ, and with delight consoles their sorrow with wondrous words:

- Christ is risen!

That is why, as the first herald of Christ's Resurrection, sent from the Lord Himself, Mary Magdalene is recognized by the Christian Church as "Equal-to-the-Apostles."

Here is the brightest feature of all the wondrous service of Mary Magdalene to the Church of Christ. On the morning of the Resurrection of Christ, she was vouchsafed to see the Risen Lord, the first of all His disciples [27] (Mark 16:9; John 20:1417), and the first, by direct command of the Lord, was made a messenger, a preacher to them of His Resurrection. The Apostles preached the Resurrection of Christ to the whole world: Mary Magdalene preached the Resurrection of Christ to the Apostles themselves - she was an Apostle to the Apostles.. The Holy Fathers of the Church see in this circumstance a special mystery and wisdom of God's providence.

"The woman," teaches St. Gregory the Theologian, "received the first lie from the mouth of the serpent, and the woman from the mouth of the Risen Lord Himself was the first to hear the joyful truth, so that whose hand dissolved the drink of death, the same would give the cup of life

Sanctified by the contemplation of the Risen Victorious Christ, Who triumphed over death, the fiery Mary Magdalene was a full, decisive witness to the Resurrection of Christ without words. But the Apostles and all those who were with them in the house of John the Theologian did not believe her grace-filled news of the Resurrection of Jesus the Teacher [28]. They "sorrowed, wept, and when they heard that Christ was alive and that she had seen Him, they did not believe" (Mark 16:1011; John 20:18). "Why?..

Mary Magdalene enjoyed the complete undoubted trust of the Apostles. In addition, among the other myrrh-bearers, who also informed the disciples of Christ about the resurrection of their Teacher from the dead at the Lord's Sepulcher by the angels (Luke 24:911, 48; Matt. 28:57; Mark 16), were the mother of the Apostle John the Theologian, and the mother of the Apostle James, and Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus, with other pious women, who also enjoyed the full confidence of the Apostles; but they "did not believe them, considering their story to be a dream" (Luke 24:911; Mark 16:1; Matthew 28:1) - So great was the despondency of the small company of Christ's disciples at that time - After the chief priests of the Jews had taken and crucified their Master Jesus, and the Apostles had fled and gone into hiding, they suddenly lost everything, all their personal and national hopes; in them faith in Jesus the Messiah, in His power and glory, was eclipsed; with the loss of faith, the courage of the spirit was also lost; they were also oppressed by the consciousness of their unfulfilled duty before Christ the Teacher, Whom they faint-heartedly left alone in the hands of their enemies and fled (Matt. 28:56; Mark 14:50), and, having no support either in themselves or outside of themselves, they thought more about preserving their own safety "for fear of the Jews" (John 20:19) Until the death of Christ, they all "hoped, that He, their Teacher, is the Messiah Who will deliver Israel" (Luke 24:21), will reveal the glorious earthly kingdom of Israel, but His shameful death on the cross completely destroyed these hopes and dreams of theirs. In the eyes of all people of that time, the crucifixion was the most horrible and shameful death, it was a sign of a terrible "curse" according to the law of Moses (Deuteronomy 21:23; 1 Corinthians 1:23), and in the souls of Jesus' disciples after His crucifixion there remained faith in Him only as a Prophet, "Who was mighty in deed and word before God and all the people" (Luke 24:19) - In the gravely oppressed consciousness of Christ's disciples, the thought did not fit that the true Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, can die as a man and as Jesus actually died on the cross. And although they saw the miraculous resurrection by Jesus of the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:41), the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 5:1117) and Lazarus (John 11:44), but Jesus Himself died, like the other prophets, then He can rise only with all people on the last day; and there has never been an example of the miracle-working prophets themselves being resurrected before this - Peter and John, who saw the tomb of Christ, could not report anything except that it was empty. Only all the women reported about the vision of the angels and the Risen One A tormenting, deeply grave situation And so the more ardent Apostle Peter again went to the Holy Sepulchre, not giving himself an account, not knowing why he had went, since he himself had already seen the empty place where Christ was buried. But now he soon returned and enthusiastically announced to his disciples:

- Truly Christ has risen.. I myself saw Him: He also appeared to me on the way (Luke 24:33; 1 Corinthians 15:5).

Now, it seemed, there were enough witnesses of the Risen One to assure the truth of the Resurrection of Christ, and many of the disciples joyfully believed, but still not all of them [29]. And Mary Magdalene and the other myrrh-bearers, radiant with happiness and despising all dangers from the fierce enemies of Jesus Christ, could not remain calm in one place, and moving from house to house, from one disciple of Christ to another, in purity, simplicity, depth and strength of love for Her Healer and Teacher, enthusiastically repeated the joyful gospel innumerable times:

- Christ is risen! Truly He is risen..