- 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:

- Christ is risen.. Truly He is risen..

Thus, little by little, this custom spread everywhere, became universal among Christians throughout the world. And the egg serves as a symbol, or a visible sign, of the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of the dead, and of our rebirth into the life to come, the pledge of which we have in Christ's Resurrection. Just as a chick is born from an egg and begins to live a full life, after being freed from the shell, and a vast circle of life is opened up to it, so we, at the second coming of Christ to earth, having cast off all that is perishable on earth with our earthly body, by the power of Christ's Resurrection we will be resurrected and reborn for another, higher, eternal, immortal life. The red color of the Easter egg reminds us that the redemption of mankind and our future new life were acquired by the outpouring of the most pure blood of Christ the Savior on the cross. Thus, the red egg serves as a reminder of one of the most important dogmas of our Divine faith.

St. Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, continued for a long time to preach the Gospel of the Risen Christ in Italy and in the city of Rome [47], both during the first visit to Rome by the Apostle Paul and after his departure two years later. In addition to tradition, testimony to this can be seen in the characteristic greeting of St. Mary by the Apostle Paul in his epistle from the Greek trading city of Corinth to the Christians who were then in Rome (Romans 28:6). St. John Chrysostom teaches that by giving each believer the praise corresponding to him, the Apostle Paul greets St. Mary, Equal-to-the-Apostles, as having already labored much and devoted herself to apostolic feats. Her labors, mentioned here by the Apostle, were the feats of the Apostles and Evangelists, and consequently equal to the Apostles; she served, adds St. Chrysostom, both with money and fearlessly exposed to dangers and made difficult journeys, sharing with the Apostles all the labors of preaching.

From Rome, according to the tradition of the Church, St. Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, arrived in the city of Ephesus,[48] then especially famous in Asia Minor. In Ephesus, according to the tradition and testimony of many holy fathers and church writers, St. Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, helped the holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian in his evangelistic labors, remaining there until her peaceful repose, and in Ephesus she was buried.

The incorrupt glorified relics of St. Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, were solemnly transferred from Ephesus to Constantinople in the ninth century under the emperor Leo VI, a philosopher [49] and placed in the church of the monastery of St. Lazarus. Such is the tradition of the Orthodox Eastern Christian Church.

But it cannot be resolutely asserted that the relics of St. Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, remained entirely in Constantinople forever. They could have been moved by the believers themselves to another place for fear of victorious attacks by the Turks; they could easily have been taken to the west, to Rome, from Constantinople, when it was captured at the beginning of the thirteenth century by the Italians with the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade,[51] since at that time the relics of the saints of many southeastern regions were carried away and divided among the various cities of the western countries of Europe.

The Roman Catholic Church asserts that the relics of St. Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, with the exception of her head [52], rest in Rome, near the Lateran Palace of the Popes in the main church of St. John Lateran [53], under the altar which Pope [54] Honorius III [55], who himself buried her relics there, consecrated in honor of St. Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles. And besides, since 1280, the Roman Catholic Church has venerated the relics of this saint, divided into parts, in France in Provence, near the city of Marseilles [56], where over those relics in a secluded valley, at the foot of steep mountains, a majestic church in the name of St. Mary Magdalene was erected [57].