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On this third Sunday of Pascha, we take a step back, back to the tomb of Christ. During Holy Week, the Church led us through the experience of the tomb and the mystery of the death of God; it taught us the biblical meaning of these events – the blessed sabbath, the seventh day of creation, the rest of God. Today, the Church seeks to honor the secondary personages, those who placed Jesus in the tomb, so that we might admire their courage. It is the courage of those who work in the shadows and in secret.
On this day, the third Sunday of Pascha, we celebrate the feast of the holy myrrh-bearing women. We also remember Joseph of Arimathea, the secret disciple of the Lord. And Nicodemus, who used to come at night to listen to Jesus. (Synaxarion)

At the Sheep’s Pool a man lay in illness;
and on seeing Thee, O Lord, he cried:
I have no man, that, when the water is troubled, He might put me therein.
But when I go,
another proceedeth me and receiveth the healing,
and I lie in illness.
And straightway, taking compassion on him, The Savior saith unto him: For thee I became man, for thee I am clothed in flesh, and sayest thou:
I have no man? Take up thy bed and walk. All things are possible for Thee, O Lord,
all things are obedient to Thee, all things are subject to Thee. Remember us and have mercy on us,
O Holy One, since Thou art the Friend of man.
(Vespers, Sunday of the Paralytic)

At the sixth hour the Well-Spring of miracles came to the well to capture the fruit of Eve,
for Eve at this same hour departed from Paradise through the deceit of the serpent.
The Samaritan woman,
therefore drew nigh to draw water,
and the Savior, upon seeing her, said to her:
Give Me water to drink, and I shall fill thee with living water. And running to the city,
that prudent woman at once announced to the multitudes: Come, behold Christ the Lord, the Savior of our souls!

Today there come glad tidings of joy: it is the feast of the Virgin. Things below are joined to things above. Adam is renewed, and Eve set free from her ancient sorrow; and the Tabernacle of the human nature which the Lord took upon Himself, making divine the substance He assumed, is consecrated as a Temple of God. O mystery! The manner of His emptying is unknown, the fashion of His conceiving is ineffable. An angel ministers at the wonder; a virgin womb receives the Son. The Holy Spirit is sent down; the Father on high gives His consent; and so the covenant is brought to pass by common counsel. In Him and through Him are we saved, and together with Gabriel let us cry aloud unto the Virgin: “Hail, thou who art full of grace: the Lord is with thee. From thee has Christ our God and our Salvation taken human nature, raising it up unto Himself. Pray to Him that our souls may be saved.”

One of the most ancient cities of the Promised Land was Shechem, also called Sikima. Near to this town, Jacob, who had come from Mesopotamia in the nineteenth century before Christ, bought a piece of land where there was a well. This well, preserved even until the time of Christ, was known as Jacob’s Well. This town, before it was taken into possession by Samaria, was also the leading city of the kingdom of the ten tribes. It was the first city in Canaan visited by the Patriarch Abraham. Here also, Jesus of Navi (Joshua) addressed the tribes of Israel for the last time. Almost three hundred years later, all Israel assembled there to make Roboam (Rehoboam) king.

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