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St. Mary &
St. Martha

“Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.

(Luke 10:41-42)
Icon of St. Mary and St. Martha

The Story In A Minute

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Sisters of Lazarus

Mary (Mariam) and Martha were born in Bethany where the Lord Jesus Christ found His rest in the house of Lazarus and his two sisters.

The Bible says,

“Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus”

(John 11:5)

Mary and Martha each expressed their love to the Lord Christ in their own special way.

Martha’s Love To The Lord Jesus

Martha was interested to show her hospitality and did what comforted Him.

“Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him”

(John 11:20)

Mary’s Love to The Lord Jesus

“Mary sat at the Lord Jesus’ feet and heard His teachings. St. Augustine of Hippo explains that she also anointed His feet with very costly oil of spikenard. St. Mark records this event in his gospel:

“And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the Leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head”

(Mark 14:3)

The Lord praised her saying,

“Wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her”

(Matthew 26:13)

Jesus also says:

“She has done a good work for me,"

(Mark 14:6)

for whoever believes in the Lord, it is counted unto him for righteousness. For it is one thing to believe Him, and to believe on Him, that is, to cast ourselves entirely upon Him. Jesus further says:

“she has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My Body for burial."

(Mark 14:8)

Saint Jerome in AD 420 explained:

The woman with the alabaster box, means the faith of the Church, as in, My spikenard - the precious faithful - sends forth its smell.

The house filled with the smell of it is heaven and earth; the broken alabaster box is carnal desire, which is broken at the Head, from which the whole body is framed together.

He was reclining, that is, humbling Himself, that the faith of the sinner might be able to reach Him, for she went up from the feet to the head, and down from the head to the feet by faith, that is, to Christ and to His members.

Mary And Martha - Worship And Serve

St. Cyril of Alexandria says:

While Martha was serving, Mary anointed the Lord with ointment, thus accomplishing her love towards Him; and by the actions of both, the measure of love was filled up and made perfect.

“He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word”

(Luke 10: 38-39)

‘Virtue does not have a single form. In the example of Martha and Mary, there is added the busy devotion of the one and the pious attention of the other to the Word of God, which, if it agrees with faith, is preferred even to the very works, as it is written:

“Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.” So let us also strive to have what no one can take away from us, so that not careless but diligent hearing may be granted to us. For even the seeds of the heavenly Word itself are likely to be taken away if they are sowed by the wayside. Let the desire for wisdom lead you as it did Mary. It is a greater and more perfect work. Do not let service divert the knowledge of the heavenly Word…. Nor is Martha rebuked in her good serving, but Mary is preferred because she has chosen the better part for herself, for Jesus abounds with many blessings and bestows many gifts. And therefore the wiser chooses what she perceives as foremost’ (St. Ambrose of Milan).

At His Feet

It is not said of Mary simply that she sat near Jesus, but at His feet, to show her diligence, steadfastness, and zeal, in hearing, and the great reverence which she had for our Lord. (St. John Chrysostom)

St. Augustine of Hippo says:

What was Mary enjoying while she was listening? What was she eating? What was she drinking? Do you know? Let’s ask the Lord, who keeps such a splendid table for his own people, let’s ask Him. “Blessed,” he says, “are those who are hungry and thirsty for justice, because they shall be satisfied.” It was from this wellspring, from this storehouse of justice, that Mary, seated at the Lord’s feet, was in her hunger receiving some crumbs. You see, the Lord was giving her then as much as she was able to take.

But as for the whole amount, which He was going to give at His table of the future, not even the disciples, not even the apostles themselves, were able to take in at the time when He said to them, “I still have many things to say to you, but you are unable to hear them now.”…What was Mary enjoying? What was she eating? I’m persistent on this point, because I’m enjoying it too. I will venture to say that she was eating the one she was listening to. I mean, if she was eating truth, didn’t He say himself, “I am the truth”? What more can I say? He was being eaten, because He was the Bread. “I,” He said, “am the bread who came down from heaven.” This is the bread which nourishes and never diminishes.

The Feast

The church celebrates the commemoration of the two saints Mary and Martha on January 26th - the 18th day of the Coptic month of Tobe.

References

Synaxarium - Coptic Reader App Version
CATENABIBLE app
The Holy Bible NKJV & NRSV