Ἡ μὲν οὖν ἄλλη Μαρία (ταύτην δὲ εἶναι τὴν Θεοτόκον πιστεύειν ἀκόλουθον,
ὅτι μηδὲ ἀπελείφθη τοῦ πάθους, ἀλλ' ἔστατο παρὰ τῷ σταυρῷ, ὡς Ἰωάννης ἰσόηρεν),
ἤ καὶ ἔπρεπε τὰ τῆς χαρᾶς εὐαγγελίσασθαι, ῥίζῃ τῆς χαρᾶς ᾖσῃ, καὶ καλῶς ἀκουσάση
τὸ· Χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, ὁ Κύριος μετὰ σοῦ, τὸ πρόσταγμα τοῦ Κυρίου πληρῶσα, τοῖς
μαθηταῖς κίνησιν ἀπήγγειλεν. Οὐ γὰρ ἦν θεμις μὴ πληρωθῆναι τὸ οὕτω σοφῶς οἰκονομηθὲν
τε καὶ προσταχθῆναι, σι καὶ ἠπίστησαν οἱ ἀκούσαντες. Ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐπέτεισεν τοῦτο
πολλάκις τῇ τῶν ἀπαγγελλομένων θαυμάτων ὑπερβολῇ. Οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἄργοι διέμενον, εἰ ἐπίστευσαν.
Ἡ δὲ Μαγδαληνὴ συμπορευομένη τῇ Θεοτόκῳ, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀπαγγελίαν ὁμοίως
ἐπειγομένη, πέπονθε τι καὶ ἀνθρώπινον· καὶ ὥσπερ ὁ Πέτρος ὑπὸ Ἡρώδου
συλληφθείς, καὶ διὰ τοῦ ἀγγέλου τῶν ἀλύσεων λυθεὶς αὐτομάτως, καὶ τῆς φυλακῆς ἔξω
γενόμενος, καὶ ἐπὶ πολλῷ βαδίσας, ὡς καὶ τὴν τῆς πόλεως πύλην δεῖλθεῖν, ἀληθῶς
οὐχ ὥστε τὸ γινώσκειν, ἀλλ' ἐνόμιζεν δρᾶμα βλέπειν· οὕτω καὶ αὕτη τὴν ὑπερβολὴν
τοῦ θαύματος οἰομένη· ἔκπαϊρον τινα λογισμὸν, καὶ ἔμα τῶν φυλάκων ἐπιθαψάντων
καὶ ἀρξαμένων μετὰ τῶν ἀρχιερέων τὴν συκοφαντίαν ὑψαίνειν κατὰ τῆς ἀναστάσεως·
αἰσθανομένη πάντως τοιούτου τινὸς ἐπιθυμηθέντος, τοὺς τῆς ἀμφιβολίας παρεδέξατο
λογισμούς, καὶ τῆς ἀπαγγελίας ὀλιγωρήσασα, καὶ τοῦ σωτηρίου προστάγματος, πρὸς
τὸν τάφον ἐγγίσασα εἶπε, σκοτίας ἐστι ὁδός, ὡς Ἰωάννης φησίν.
Ὅπερ γὰρ συγχώρησεν ὁ Κύριος τῷ Θωμᾷ ἐκ τῆς ἀπιστίας εἰπεῖν, «Εἰ μὴ ἴδω
ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν αὐτοῦ τὸν τύπον τῶν ἥλων, καὶ βάλω τὸν δάκτυλόν μου εἰς τὸν
τύπον τῶν ἥλων, καὶ βάλω τὴν χεῖρά μου εἰς τὴν πλευράν αὐτοῦ, οὐ μὴ πιστεύσω»,
καὶ διὰ τῆς ἐκείνου πολυπραγμοσύνης ἀπιστίας καὶ ἐπαφῆς ἡμεῖς εἰς τὴν πίστιν ἐβεβαιώθημεν,
ἐν ᾧ σώματι πέπονθεν, ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ ἐγηγέρθαι πιστεύσαντες τὸν Ἐμμανουὴλ. Τοὺς τῆς
δοξάσεως μύθους ἀποπεμπομένου· τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ τὴν Μαγδαληνὴν Μαρίαν πρὸς ἀπιστίας
ὑπονοστήσασαν, καὶ μεγαλυνθερώς τοῦτο παθοῦσαν (οὐκ ἀδήλον γὰρ τὸ τῆς
γυναικείας εὐλαβείας φύσεως), συγχωρεῖ διὰ τῆς περίεργου ζητήσεως, πιστότερον ἐργάσασθαι
τὸ θαῦμα τῆς ἀναστάσεως· πίστεως ὑπάρχον πέρα καὶ παντὸς λογισμοῦ. Καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα
τῆς ἀμφιβόλου διανοίας ἐλθούσα, καὶ ἰδοῦσα μόνον τὸν λίθον ἀποκυλισθέντα τῆς
θύρας τοῦ μνημείου, οὐ μὴν ἄγγελον ἐπ' αὐτῷ καθήμενον, δέδωκε τῇ ἀπιστείᾳ τὸ
κρατεῖν, φαντασίαν οἰηθεῖσα τὴν θείαν καὶ ἔκστασιν, καὶ οὐχ ὡς ἀληθῆ, ἀλλ' ὡς
ψευδῆ· καὶ δραμοῦσα πρὸς τὸν Πέτρον καὶ τὸν ἄλλον μαθητήν, οὓς ἔφη Ἰησοῦς, εἶπε
λέγουσα· «Ἦραν τὸν Κύριον ἐκ τοῦ μνημείου, καὶ οὐκ οἶδα ποῦ ἔθηκέν αὐτόν.» (PG
46:633, 635)
English
Translation:
As for the other Mary (this one
is believed to be the attendant of the Theotokos, because she was not left out
of the suffering but stood by the cross, as John also testifies), — indeed it
was fitting that she should proclaim the message of joy, being in a way the
root of joy, and having rightly heard the word “Hail, full of grace; the Lord
is with you.” Fulfilling the command of the Lord, she conveyed to the disciples
the tidings. For it would not be proper that what had been so wisely arranged
and commanded should remain unfulfilled, if only those who heard had not
believed. Moreover she repeated this often, in the abundance of the wonders
reported. For they would not have remained idle if they had believed.
But Mary Magdalene, journeying
with the Theotokos and likewise hastening to make the announcement, experienced
something human; and as Peter, seized by Herod and immediately set free by the
angel who loosed his bonds, went forth from prison and, after a long walk,
reached even the city gate — truly not so as to recognize the fact but thinking
she was witnessing a spectacle — so this woman, imagining the excess of the
miracle, took up a certain disparaging thought; and when the guards had been
bribed and had begun together with the chief priests to raise false accusations
against the resurrection, perceiving on every side that such a desire was being
fomented, she admitted thoughts of doubt, and having slighted the report and
the saving command, she came to the tomb and said, “It is a dark path,” as John
says.
For what the Lord forgave Thomas
for saying in unbelief — “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and
put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will
not believe” — and by that man’s meddlesome unbelief and touching we were
established in faith, in that we believed that he had suffered in the body and
in that same body had been raised, the Emmanuel — dismissing tales about
glorious apparitions; in like manner Mary Magdalene, having been inclined
toward distrust and having suffered this (for the woman’s pious nature is not
without reason), by her curious searching actually wrought more firmly the
miracle of the resurrection: faith prevailed beyond every conjecture. And after
these things, coming from her wavering thought, and seeing only the stone
rolled away from the door of the tomb, and not an angel sitting upon it, the
power of unbelief held sway, fancying the divine matter to be a vision and
ecstasy and not a real fact but something false; and running to Peter and to
the other disciple whom Jesus loved, she began to say, “They have taken the
Lord from the tomb, and I do not know where they have laid him.”
