☦️ Orthodox Daily Devotional

Sunday, April 26, 2026 — 3rd Sunday of Pascha: Sunday of the Myrrhbearing Women

Tone 2 | No Fast

Christos Anesti! Alithos Anesti! ✝️

🕯️ Feast & Commemorations

Feast: Sunday of the Holy Myrrhbearing Women; Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus

Saints Commemorated:

• St. Stephen, Bishop of Perm (1396) — Apostle to the Ural peoples, creator of the Permian alphabet
• Hieromartyr Basil, Bishop of Amasia, and Righteous Virgin Glaphyra (322) — martyred under Licinius

📖 Third Matins Gospel — Mark 16:9–20

Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.

After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them.

Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

OSB Notes: The appearance to Mary Magdalene, who bore the first witness of the Resurrection, echoes Matthew 28 where the women at the tomb encounter the angel and are told "He is risen." The unbelief of the disciples — even when confronted with testimony — is not hidden by the evangelist. It shows that faith in the Resurrection was not credulity but a genuine transformation by encounter. The Great Commission that closes Mark's Gospel ("Go into all the world") grounds the Church's mission in the Risen Lord's direct command.

📖 Epistle — Acts 6:1–7

And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.

And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

OSB Notes: The OSB connects this passage to the Hellenists (Greek-speaking Jews) who had become disciples — a sign of the Church's expansion beyond its original Aramaic-speaking core. The election of the Seven is traditionally understood as the institution of the diaconate: men "full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom," appointed not to replace apostolic ministry but to free it. That the word of God increased precisely when this ordered distribution of ministry was established is no coincidence — right structure serves mission. Note that today's commemorated saint, St. Stephen of Perm, bears the name of the first of these Seven, himself soon to be the Protomartyr.

📖 Gospel — Mark 15:43–16:8

Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead. And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre. And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid.

And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you. And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid.

OSB Notes: The Myrrhbearing Women came not expecting resurrection — they came expecting a sealed tomb and a body to anoint. Their love drove them toward what seemed a completed tragedy. Joseph of Arimathaea "waited for the kingdom of God" and acted boldly at personal risk to give the Lord honorable burial. The OSB notes that the Paschal reading cycles in these Sundays after Pascha are specifically designed to revisit the burial and resurrection from each synoptic angle, deepening the Church's Paschal encounter week by week. The trembling and silence of the women at the tomb's end is not failure — it is awe before the incomprehensible.

🪔 Saints of the Day

St. Stephen, Bishop of Perm (1396)
A monk of Rostov who gave his life to bring the Gospel to the pagan Zyrian people of the Ural mountains. He created an alphabet for their language from scratch, translated the liturgical books, endured great opposition, and was eventually consecrated their first bishop. His name links him to the first deacon-martyr chosen in today's Epistle.

Hieromartyr Basil of Amasia & Righteous Glaphyra (322)
Glaphyra fled the lust of Emperor Licinius — the same emperor who had agreed to tolerate Christianity but turned persecutor. Bishop Basil sheltered her. She died before the soldiers arrived; he was beheaded and his body cast into the sea. His people recovered it by angelic help. Constantine later defeated Licinius and exiled him. The tyrant does not have the last word.

✝️ Closing Reflection

The women came to the tomb weeping, carrying spices for a dead man. They went away trembling before the living God. The disciples heard testimony and did not believe — and then encountered Christ himself and were sent to the ends of the earth.

This is the pattern of Pascha: love that persists through grief, unbelief that is met with personal encounter, fear that is transformed into proclamation. The Myrrhbearing Women were the first evangelists — not because they were the boldest, but because their love would not let them stay away.

Fourteen days into Pascha, the feast is not over. The stone is still rolled away.

Christos Anesti! ✝️

Daily readings from orthocal.info | OSB commentary from the Orthodox Study Bible
Published to NOSTR via Leo, Sunday April 26, 2026