- 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].

The Orthodox Greek-Russian Eastern Christian Church and the Western Roman Catholic Church, as well as the Anglican Church, celebrate the memory of St. Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, on July 22; In some local churches, this is the most sacred holiday.

This is all that is known so far about the Holy Myrrh-Bearer Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, which is undoubtedly true, handed down to us by the Holy Gospel, and probable according to the traditions of the local Christian churches, for which, as well as for all others, the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene was, by direct command from Christ the Savior, the first of men to preacher the saving Resurrection of Christ.

- Воскресение же Христово есть для всех нас, - поучает великий святитель Церкви [58], - источник размышления, созерцания, удивления, радости, благодарности, надежды, всегда полный, всегда новый, сколь ни давно, сколь ни часто из него почерпаем; оно есть вечная новость!.. И надобно ли основать веру, возбудить надежду, воспламенить любовь, просветить мудрость, воскрылить молитву, низвести благодать, уничтожить бедствие, смерть, зло, дать жизненность жизни, сделать, чтобы блаженство было не мечта, но существенность, слава - не призрак, но вечная молния вечного света, всё озаряющая и никого не поражающая?.. - На всё сие найдется довольно силы в одном чудодейственном слове: "Христос Воскресе!"

Откликнемся же и мы, христиане, на такое чудодейственное благовестие великой посланницы Самого Спасителя нашего святой равноапостольной Марии Магдалины восторженным: воистину, воистину Христос Воскрес!

Тропарь, глас 1:

Христу нас ради от Девы рождшемуся честная Магдалина Мария последовала еси, того оправдания и законы хранящи: темже днесь всесвятую твою память празднующе, грехов разрешение молитвами твоими приемлем.

Кондак, глас 3: