First of all: who is this "other Mary", about whom St. Matthew twice expresses himself in this way, telling about the burial of the Lord (Matt. 27:61), and then about the resurrection (Matt. 28:1). According to the ancient tradition of the Church, set forth in the Synaxarion on the day of Pascha, it was the Mother of God herself. Why is this not said with complete certainty? As the Synaxarion explains, "lest it seem doubtful" (because the testimony of such a great event is attributed to the Mother), the Evangelists say: Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9), who saw the angel on a stone.

Salome was the mother of the "sons of Zebedee," the apostles James and John. Joanna, mentioned by St. Luke (24:10), was the wife of Chuza, the steward of King Herod. The rest of the myrrh-bearing women are not mentioned by name, but St. Luke clearly says that there were "And the rest with them" (Luke 24:10). Among these "others" the Church tradition also indicates: Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, resurrected by the Lord, Mary of Cleopas and Susanna, as well as many others, "As the Divine Luke narrates: those who serve Christ and His disciples with their possessions" (Synaxarion on the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women).

The myrrh-bearing women were waiting for the end of the Sabbath rest, and some of them bought the fragrances on Friday evening, as St. Luke says (23:56), and others already "after the Sabbath is over," that is, on Saturday evening (Mark 16:1).

The Evangelists then speak in various expressions about the time of the arrival of the myrrh-bearers at the tomb.

St. Matthew — "And after the Sabbath, at the dawn of the first day of the week..."

St. Mark — "very early, on the first day of the week,... at sunrise..."

St. Luke — "On the very first day of the week, very early..."

St. John — "On the very first day of the week, Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb early,

when it was still dark..."

Thus, all these indications of time coincide, speaking only of different moments of the onset of morning, from which it is clear that the myrrh-bearing women did not all come at the same time at once. Most of all, the description of St. John differs from the other Evangelists, which is understandable, for he, as always, omits what was told by the first three Evangelists and supplements their narratives with what refers only to Mary Magdalene and the two disciples. From the demolition of the narration of all four Evangelists, a complete picture of everything that happened is obtained. Of course, the earthquake described only by St. Matthew, as a result of the descent of the Angel of the Lord, who rolled away the stone from the doors of the tomb, took place even before the arrival of the myrrh-bearing women. Its significance is to put the guards to flight and show the tomb empty. The Lord was resurrected before this, as it is sung in our church hymns: "I will seal the tomb, the life [Life] hast shone forth from the tomb, O Christ God..." (troparion on the Sunday of Thomas). "O Lord, I will seal the tomb from the wicked, Thou hast passed from the tomb, as Thou wast born of the Mother of God: Thou hast not been able to understand how Thou wast incarnate, Thy angels; Thou didst not feel when Thou wast resurrected, guarding Thee among the soldiers..." (Sticheron for Praise at Sunday Matins, tone 5). Therefore, the depiction of the Resurrection of Christ, which has spread in our country in recent times, under the influence of the West, does not correspond to reality at all: the stone is rolled away, Christ comes out of the tomb, and the soldiers fall on their faces in fear. The angel descended from heaven and rolled away the stone after Christ had been resurrected. This caused trembling and numbness among the guards, who then fled to Jerusalem.

From a comparison of all four Gospel narratives, a clear picture of the sequence of events is created. The first to come to the tomb, as can be seen from the narration of St. John, Mary Magdalene, "While it was still dark" (John 20:1). But she did not walk alone, but with a whole host of myrrh-bearers, as the first three Evangelists relate. Only, because of her special love for the Lord and the vivacity of her temperament, she preceded the other women and came when it was still dark, while the other women approached the tomb when it was already beginning to dawn. The fact that she did not walk alone is also evident from the story of John, for when she returned to the Apostles Peter and John, she says not in the singular, but in the plural: "We do not know where they laid Him" (John 20:2). This is clearly seen in the Greek text and translated into Russian. Seeing that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb (she did not see the Angel who later appeared to the women), she thought that the Body of the Lord had been carried away, and immediately ran to inform the Apostles Peter and John about it. On the way back, of course, she met with the other women, who, meanwhile, were preoccupied with the thought of who would roll away the stone from the door of the tomb (Mark 16:3), and told them her fear. While she was going to the Apostles, the other myrrh-bearing women approached the tomb, saw the Angels, heard from them the good news of Christ's resurrection, and hurriedly went to the Apostles to share this joy with them. All this is described in detail by the first three Evangelists (Matt. 28:5-8; Mark 16:4-8 and Luke 24:3-8).

Meanwhile, two of the Apostles, Peter and John, in consequence of the news brought to them by Mary Magdalene (and perhaps by other myrrh-bearers, whom they did not believe) – "And their words seemed empty to them, and they did not believe them" (Luke 24:11), hurriedly went or even ran to the tomb. John, being younger than Peter, fled quickly, and therefore ran to the tomb earlier, when the women were no longer there, but did not enter the tomb. It can be assumed that timidity in the solitude of the garden kept him from doing so. Bending down, however, into the hole from which the stone had been rolled away, he saw the shrouds lying there.

After him comes Simon Peter, who, as the more courageous and courageous, decides to enter the tomb, and sees there only the swaddling clothes lying and the cloth with which the Lord's head was entwined, "not lying with swaddling clothes, but especially holy in another place" (John 20:3-7). Then "the other disciple who had first come to the tomb," i.e. John, also entered, "And he saw and believed," that is, he believed in the truth of Christ's resurrection, for when the body was stolen, there would be no need to untie and remove the swaddling clothes from it, and moreover to lay them there in this order. "For they did not yet know from the Scriptures that He was to rise from the dead" — before the Lord "opened their minds to the understanding of the Scriptures" (Luke 24:45), they did not clearly understand many things: they did not understand the Lord's words about His impending sufferings and resurrection (as can be seen, for example, from Luke 18:34 and Mark 9:10), and therefore they needed material evidence. Such proof of the truth of the resurrection of Christ was for John the circumstance that the shrouds and cloths remained diligently folded in the tomb. But this convinced only John of the truth of what had happened. Of Peter, St. Luke says that he "went back, marveling in himself at what had happened" (Luke 24:12). His state of spirit, after his threefold renunciation of the Lord, was very difficult and did not dispose him to a living faith. And so, probably, on his return from the tomb, the merciful Lord appeared to him for the consolation and pacification of his heart, which is only briefly mentioned by St. Luke in 24:34 and St. Paul. Paul in 1 Corinth. 15:5. As can be seen from these passages, the Lord appeared to Peter in private and before the other Apostles.

The Lord's Appearance to Mary Magdalene