http://EarlyChristianTexts.com/the-easter-women/
Introduction
During the weeks leading up to Easter, our thoughts often turn to the women whom the New Testament Gospels say went to Jesus’ tomb on Easter morning and found it empty. Matthew 28:1-18 and John 20:1-18 further specify that Mary Magdalene and other women met with the risen Lord, were the very first to see him, and that he sent them to tell the good news to the other disciples.
Nonetheless, in some churches even in the Easter sermon, we do not hear about these women, as if neither we nor early Christians believed they were important. Yet some early Christians apparently believed that these women were of extraordinary importance to the faith, because they featured them in the Easter ritual at the altar at the shrine of Christ’s tomb. This ritual can still be seen on a fabulous ivory pyxis carved around the year 500 today in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Dr. Ally Kateusz, author of two books about the Marys, Mary and Early Christian Women: Hidden Leadership(Palgrave Macmillan, 2019) and Rediscovering the Marys: Maria, Mariamne, and Miriam (Bloomsbury, 2020), recently published an article on the ivory pyxis in the Metropolitan Museum Journal 59 (2024), and she is here with us to discuss this wonderfully carved ivory artifact and show it to us. She will also discuss some texts that describe women burning incense in censers at Jesus’ tomb, which further substantiate the identification of the carving on this ivory pyxis as that of the Easter liturgy.
Text Used During The Discussion
Gospel of Matthew 28:1-18
Gospel of John 20:1-18
