Saint Mary came from Magdala in Syria, which is why she is called Magdalene. Her encounter with Jesus was accompanied by her miraculous healing, her deliverance from the seven demons that tormented her. She joined the circle of Christ’s disciples and served Him with zeal and self-denial throughout His saving work, even up to His passion and crucifixion. Her love for Jesus was true and admirable since she overcame on the one hand the fear of stigmatization and on the other the feeling of despair and disappointment of all the disciples of Christ who thought Him dead. This genuine love prompted her to go and anoint His body, making herself a martyr and preacher of the Resurrection. Mary, after the Lord’s Ascension, headed to Ephesus where she worked missionarily with John the Theologian. The city of Ephesus was also the place where St. Mary Magdalene slept in public and was buried near the cave where the seven virgins slept.
The role of women in the Mission
On the basis of the life of Saint Mary Magdalene we can draw many conclusions of great importance regarding the role of women in the mission today. The woman who loves Christ – despite the weakness of her sex – is valiant in soul and firm in spirit. After all, it was no accident that the Risen Jesus chose to reveal Himself first to Mary Magdalene. She would have been able to withstand the sudden revelation and bravely – unlike the apostles who hid to avoid being found – would have carried out the mission the Lord assigned to her. As St. Chrysostom points out,
“κAfter the crucifixion of the Lord ‘The ασθενέστερον genus Andreiotteron ephemera‘”.
The presence of women in the work of the Orthodox foreign mission, although underestimated or rather not promoted, is important for the achievement of the purpose of the work.
The woman as missionary
It is rare indeed to find a woman leading a missionary effort to the nations. Yet she is so necessary. For one thing, she knows best – as a man of the same sex – to reach out and communicate with women so that they can benefit. Next, as many instances of women missionaries as we know of are accompanied by amazing results attesting to Chrysostom’s reasons: “Women brave nothing but nature blocked to the man of virtue dew. Such are ore the women Cloaked at κatorhythmoses“. And Paul “thou senses woman συλλειτουργόν of good”. The missionary woman can attend to the problems of indigenous women. In her intercourse with children, whether orphans or not, she is a mother, and for the women of the world who follow her work she is a model to be emulated.
The woman as the wife of a missionary or missionary-working man
It is an undeniable fact that the married man is supported, listened to, influenced and generally shapes his behaviour according to his wife. St. Chrysostom emphasizes: ” In the house she is seated year via philosophy and it becomes limine for the man, because “nothing stronger of a woman pious and prudent to the regulating and Expanding of this soul. And as for virtue, and so to evil much has the ισχύν“.
The greatest weapon of the missionary man, after Divine Grace, is the missionary spirit of his wife. This is not activated by undercutting the husband but by supporting him. How? By loving God and His work more than herself. In this way she insures herself from her ambitions and at the same time helps her husband to focus on the essence of the ministry to which he is called. Since he has committed himself to the work of the Church, she needs to rest him as much as she can from the cares of marital and family life, not by making him indifferent and alien to the members of the family, but by making him a model of love and sacrifice. And not to grieve, not to doubt. The man, the husband, the father who sacrifices himself for the people who need his help in keeping with Christ’s command to love his neighbor, how is it possible that he does not sacrifice himself for his family? Still, the most effective remedies against male passions are provided by the influence of women:
- When the man faints, the woman’s valor makes him well.
- When the man is vain, the woman’s prudence corrects him.
- When the man is angry, the woman’s silence calms him down.
- When the man despairs, the woman shows him the way of Calvary, the Cross, but also reminds him of the Resurrection.
The woman as a mother
How much can women offer the Church as mothers? With gold, diamonds and pearls they can adorn Her body! Besides, Church History has also shown that holy mothers have the power to give the Church holy sons. We could list many points in which a mother spiritually benefits her child. But we will only mention the missionary education she can give him! A mother’s devotion to the child’s instruction, her orientation to Christ’s exhortation to practical love for the nations and for the least brother, her indoctrination on the work of the missionaries, her prayer for the people who minister and are ministered to in this work, her exhortation to common service are efforts that will surely touch the child’s soul. After all, the mother, as St. Chrysostom points out, “is the most beloved
children’s face. For whatsoever things, though they be not of the mother. whip, this seeks. Khan Vassilina, thou the mother’s raccia is covered’. Therefore, the mother is the most suitable person to deeply influence her child in this direction.
