....because they could  not  accept  that  He  should  be rejected through defeat after
having been their teacher, their guide and their friend.

+++

When  Christ  was  crucified all the
apostles  fled,  with the exception of St. John and with the exception
of  these  women. It was not an intellectual conviction that held them
as  disciples  of  Christ.  It  was  something  which perhaps could be
defined  in  the  words  of the pilgrims to Emmaus: 'was not our heart
burning  within us when He was speaking to us on the way'.

+++

So today we keep the feast of people who proved faithful, the ones who
in  their frailty had not fled, and the ones who in the face of defeat
and  tragedy  had  suddenly  become  disciples  and  faithful.
+++



None  of  us  is any of it to the full; but let us learn from them and
try  to  grow  into  that faithfulness which they have shown; the ones
throughout  the  life of Christ, and the other ones in the face of His
defeat. Amen.

             CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!

(Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh
              FEAST OF THE MYRRH-BEARING WOMEN,
           ST JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA AND ST NICODEMUS
                        11th May 1997)

http://www.metropolit-anthony.orc.ru/eng/

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