The one who participates in the service of Matins, similarly to the Myrrh-bearer Women, contemplates the miracle of the empty tomb or of the Resurrection of Christ.”

On Sunday of Myrrh-bearer Women, H.G. Bishop Ioan Casian was present at St. George's Cathedral in Saint-Hubert, Quebec.

In the homily held at the end of Divine Liturgy the hierarch said:

It is the time of the resurrection of Christ. It is the time when the Church makes us contemporaries with the events that confirm the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. Thus we become the contemporaries of the first disciples. Today we are beside Myrrh-bearer Women who go to the tomb puzzled but zealously to accomplish the things that were not yet fulfilled by the quick burial of Jesus. To their surprise, they found the stone pushed aside and a bright angel telling them announcing them the Resurrection and the place where the disciples will be able to meet Christ, that is, Galilee.

God teaches the disciples humility. They do not seem to be the first to go to the tomb. The Myrrh-bearer Women are sent to announce them the Resurrection. The disorder caused by the condemnation and abrupt death of Christ the Savior is swept away by the women who were rushing to fulfill the humble things of the burial. Women discover the new reality of the Resurrection when they found the stone removed from the tomb door.

Likewise the Resurrection, for us - says St. Peter the Chrisolog - becomes evident when the stone that darkens the heart is removed. Only the removal of the stone of unbelief and doubt makes us contemplate the splendor of the resurrection of Christ.

Matins are the service of the Resurrection or of the empty tomb. Only the Gospel of the Resurrection read from on the right side of the Altar shows us that the priest represents the angel announcing the Resurrection of Christ. In order to be able to taste the mystery of God's Kingdom, which is the Divine Liturgy, we must participate in the Resurrection of Christ, which alone is the way that makes the Kingdom accessible to us. The one who participates in the service of Matins contemplates similarly to the Myrrh-bearer Women the miracle of the empty tomb or of the Resurrection of Christ. Through the worshiping and the kissing of the Gospel brought in the midst of the Church, the participant makes a confession of faith in the uniqueness of path of salvation through the dead and risen Christ only.

Referring to what this Sunday means to all women the hierarch said:

Today's Sunday along with the Annunciation Day is a feast of Christian women. The Annunciation is the feast of the woman who receives the word of God, and keeping it, becomes fruitful. Sunday of the Myrrh-bearer Women is the day of the Christian women confessing the Resurrection of Christ.

On this occasion, St. George's Cathedral offered to each woman a flower as a symbol of the work that each of them performs in different ways in the family, in community and in society.

A memorial for those who fell asleep in the communist prisons was sung.

At the end the hierarch blessed those present.