Myrrh-bearer Salome Myrrh Bearer

Saint Salome the Myrrh-bearer (1st century) came from the Galilean town of Bethsaida. According to church tradition, she was the daughter of the righteous Joseph the Betrothed from his first marriage, making her a step-sister of the Most Holy Theotokos. Salome married the fisherman Zebedee and bore him two sons who became the Apostles James (son of Zebedee) and John the Theologian. When her sons were called by Christ, Salome followed Him together with them, serving Him from her own means. The Gospel records her bold request that her sons sit at Christ's right and left hand in His Kingdom (Matthew 20:20-23). Salome stood at the foot of the Cross on Golgotha with the Theotokos and other women (Mark 15:40), and early on the morning of the Resurrection she came with Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James, bringing spices to anoint the Lord's body — where the myrrh-bearing women were the first to hear the Angel's good news of the Resurrection. Her feast is kept on August 3 (16), and she is also commemorated on the movable feast of the Myrrh-bearing Women.