From the Prologue of Ochrid
A Myrrh-Bearer and Equal-to-the-Apostles. She was from the town of Magdala, on the shore of the Sea of Gennesaret, from the tribe of Issachar. She was tormented by seven evil spirits, from which the Lord Jesus freed her and made her whole. A faithful follower and servant of the Lord during His earthly life. Beneath the Cross on Golgotha, Magdalene also stood and bitterly grieved together with the Most Holy Theotokos. After the death of the Lord, she visited His tomb three times. And when the Lord rose from the dead, she saw Him twice: once alone, and a second time with the other Myrrh-Bearing Women. She traveled to Rome, appeared before Caesar Tiberius, and presenting him with a red-dyed egg, greeted him with the words: "Christ is Risen!" At the same time she accused Pilate before the Caesar for his unjust condemnation of the Lord Jesus. The Caesar received her complaint and transferred Pilate from Jerusalem to Gaul, where that unjust judge ended his life in the Emperor's disfavor and in grievous illness. After this she returned from Rome to Ephesus to the Holy Apostle John the Theologian, whom she assisted in the work of preaching the Gospel. With great love for the risen Lord and with great zeal she proclaimed the Gospel to the world as a true apostle of Christ. She reposed peacefully in Ephesus, and was buried, according to Tradition, in that same cave in which the Seven Youths, miraculously put to sleep for hundreds of years, afterward came to life and then died (see August 4). The relics of Saint Magdalene were later transferred to Constantinople. Near the Garden of Gethsemane there stands a beautiful Russian church dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene.
