Holy Myrrhbearer and Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene came from Magdala, a town on the Sea of Galilee. According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus freed her from seven demons, after which she was among the women who followed him and helped to provide for him. She stood by the cross, saw where he was buried, and went to the tomb on the morning of the first day of the week; in the Gospel of John the risen Jesus appears to her first and sends her to tell the disciples. For this the Eastern Church calls her “equal to the apostles”.

The Eastern tradition, retold by St Dimitry of Rostov, holds that she later preached the Gospel and lived out her life in Ephesus, where she died; her relics were moved to Constantinople in the 9th century. The Western tradition tells her later life differently.