And grace-filled, from the seed of the smallest of all grain seeds, the huge tree of the Church of Christ began to grow [30]. A small handful of disciples sincerely devoted to Christ the Saviour, of whom the most zealous was the Holy Myrrh-Bearer Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, triumphed over the haughty superstition of paganism, ruled entire kingdoms with their kings, and carried the Divine teaching of Christ from one end to the other, to the whole world of the earth (Acts 1:8), repeating the solemn words of the first gospel of St. Mary Magdalene:

- Christ is risen! Truly He is risen..

These, Christians, are the most important features of the life of the Holy Myrrh-Bearer Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, which are not subject to any doubt, since they are attested to by the very word of God in the Holy Gospel. - Why are they preserved and offered by the Church, why are they read? - Is it not for the glorification of St. Mary Magdalene? -Oh no! The saints who live in the glory of heaven, in the high and eternal glory of God, have no need of earthly glory, of insignificant glory from men. But by such remembrance of their earthly life, podvigs and virtues, we ourselves are given instruction and motivation to a God-pleasing life and to soul-saving feats. Through the holy Apostle of Christ Paul, the Lord commands us:

- Remember your leaders who preached the Word of God to you; and beholding the end of their lives, imitate their faith (Hebrews 13:7).

And so the Holy Church of Christ preserves for us and offers to our attention sketches of the lives of holy people for our self-examination, self-perfection and salvation through imitation of the faith and spirit of these saints of God, so that we may not become lazy, but imitate those who by faith and long-suffering inherit the promises of God (Hebrews 6:12) - The Holy Myrrh-Bearer Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, selflessly fulfilled the first and main commandment of Christ the Savior: "She loved the Lord with all her heart, with all her soul, with all her mind, and with all her strength" (Mark 12:3033; Matt. 22:3740). The realization by St. Mary Magdalene under all circumstances of such true, complete love for the Lord serves as a life model for the love of every Christian for God our Savior. And following the example of St. Mary Magdalene, all of us, Christians, must have and manifest self-sacrificing love for God, with all our hearts, with all our desires, aspirations and powers of our souls, and with all our minds, with all our cognitive abilities, we must fully cling to the Lord our Savior. The power of our love for God must be such that no one and nothing can separate us from this love: "neither life nor death, neither height, nor depth, nor creature, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come" (Romans 8:3839).

From the time of the apparitions of the Risen Christ the Savior described by the holy Evangelists and the fiery preaching of St. Mary Magdalene about the Resurrection caused by these apparitions, the surviving New Testament books no longer give details about the activities of St. Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, and information about her later life is now the subject of tradition [31]. The legends about her subsequent life in several local Christian churches vary greatly in the area from which they come; in essence, however, everywhere these legends report on the zealous Equal-to-the-Apostles activity of St. Mary Magdalene. And the difference in these traditions depends on whom or which of the holy women of the Gospel do these churches understand under the name of St. Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles? Some Christian Churches of the West, as well as the Fathers of the Church with learned theologians, unite three Gospel wives into one or two persons: a sinner who repented in the house of Simon the Pharisee, poured her tears on the feet of Christ the Saviour, wiped her hair and anointed with precious myrrh (Luke 7:3738; Mark 14; Matt. 26), and then Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus (Luke 10:39; John 11:28), - and also Mary Magdalene, who was freed by Christ the Savior from the seven demons [32] (John chapters 11, 12, 19 and 20; Mark 16:3; Matt. 27:7). But the Eastern Greek-Russian Orthodox Church now, as before, recognizes all these three personalities mentioned in the Gospels with different signs as different, special, not wishing to base historical information on arbitrary, only probable interpretations. As a result, the tradition of the Eastern Greek-Russian Orthodox Church reports that, after the Gospel apparitions of the Risen Christ before His Ascension and after, St. Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, dwelt with the Most Holy Theotokos and the Apostles, and was an active accomplice of the first successes in the spread of the Christian faith, first in Jerusalem. But, full of zeal, fervent faith and zealous love for the gospel of God, she then preached in other countries, everywhere proclaiming heavenly grace, joy and salvation to all who believed in the Savior of the world, the Risen Christ.

Having visited, among other things, Italy [33], St. Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, found an opportunity to appear before the then reigning emperor Tiberius I [34] and presented him, according to the generally accepted Eastern custom, an egg dyed red, saying:

- Christ is risen!

The emperor was not surprised at the poverty of the offering to St. Mary Magdalene, who first came to him, because he knew the ancient custom, in general in the East and also among the Jews, when appearing for the first time to the highest, or on a solemn occasion to acquaintances or patrons, to present a gift as a sign of respect, with some known, or special, special, symbolic meaning. Examples of this are found in the Jewish Old Testament history [35] (Gen. 43:11; 1 Kings 10:2), and also represent the gifts presented by the rich Magi [36] to Jesus Christ, who was born in Bethlehem of Judea [37]. And poor people in such circumstances brought gifts of various fruits of their area or birds' eggs. Thus, in part following this ancient custom, and for the purpose of the red color of the egg and the hitherto unheard-of words, "Christ is risen!" - to arouse the curiosity of the suspicious Emperor Tiberius, St. Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, began her fervent sermon on the Resurrection and the teaching of Christ the Savior with an explanation of the meaning of such an offering.

Tiberius brought them to trial, by which Pilate was deprived of power and exiled to Gaul, to the city of Vienna,40 where, according to one tradition, depressed by remorse and despair, he took his own life. According to another tradition, Pilate, sentenced to death by the court, repented, turned to Christ with a prayer, and was forgiven by the Saviour, as a sign of which, after cutting off his head, it was received by an angel [41].

Pilate asserted that, having checked the accusations of the Jews, he found no fault in Jesus Christ; He strove much to deliver Him from the hands of the seditious Jews, but could not achieve His deliverance, and gave Jesus to their will, for the sake of the people's cry and the seditious accusation of Pilate himself by the Jews. he reported to the sovereign Caesar all that had been done to Jesus Christ, Who became an object of faith as God [44]

After such testimonies on the part of the Roman governor of Judea and on the part of the worshippers of Christ the Saviour, the emperor Tiberius, according to tradition, having himself believed in Christ the Saviour, proposed to number Jesus Christ among the gods of Rome, and even when the Roman Senate [45] rejected his proposal, Tiberius threatened by royal decree to punish anyone who would dare to insult believers in Jesus Christ.

In this way, by her zealous and fearless preaching about Christ the Saviour, St. Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, together with other pious Christians, prompted the pagan ruler of Judea to bear witness in writing to the universal event of the Resurrection of Christ before the pagan world, and prompted the pagan emperor himself, the then world-wide Roman Empire, to recognize the greatness and Divine power of Christ the Saviour, thereby facilitating the spread of Christianity.

The Christians of that time, having learned about the significance and power of the impression made by the offering of a red egg by St. Mary Magdalene to the emperor Tiberius with the words: "Christ is risen!" - began to imitate her in this and, at the remembrance of the Resurrection of Christ, began to give red eggs and say: