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In Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition the Myrrhbearers (; ; ; ; ) are the individuals mentioned in the New Testament who were directly involved in the burial or who discovered the empty tomb following the resurrection of Jesus. The term traditionally refers to the women who came with myrrh to the Holy Sepulchre early in the morning to find it empty. Also included are Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who took the body of Jesus down from the cross, anointed it with myrrh and aloes, wrapped it in clean linen, and placed it in a new tomb. In Western Christianity, the women at the tomb, the Three Marys or other variants are the terms normally used.
Joseph of Arimathea was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly. He went to Pontius Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus and, together with Nicodemus, hurriedly prepared the body for burial. He donated his own new sepulchre for the burial. A native of Arimathea, he was apparently a man of wealth, and probably a member of the Sanhedrin. Sanhedrin is the way the New Testament Greek: , , is often interpreted in . and . Joseph was an "honourable counselor, who waited" (or "was searching") for the kingdom of God. Luke describes him as "a good man, and just".
Nicodemus () was a Pharisee, first mentioned early in the Gospel of John when he visits Jesus to listen to his teachings; he comes by night out of fear. He is mentioned again when he states the teaching of the Law of Moses concerning the arrest of Jesus during the Feast of Tabernacles. He is last mentioned following the Crucifixion, when he and Joseph of Arimathea prepare the body of Jesus for burial. There is an apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus that purports to be written by him.
Since this day commemorates events surrounding not only the Resurrection, but also the entombment of Christ, some of the hymns from Holy Saturday are repeated. These include the Troparion of the Day: "The noble Joseph..." (but with a new line added at the end, commemorating the Resurrection), and the sticheron at the Vespers Aposticha: "Joseph together with Nicodemus..."
The week that follows is called the Week of the Myrrhbearers and the Troparion mentioned above is used every day at the Canonical Hours and the Divine Liturgy. The Doxastikhon is repeated again at Vespers on Wednesday and Friday evenings.
Many of the Myrrhbearers also have separate feast days on which they are commemorated individually in the Menaion.
There are numerous liturgical hymns which speak of the Myrrhbearers, especially in the Sunday Octoechos and in the Pentecostarion. Every Sunday, there is a special hymn that is chanted at Matins and the Midnight Office, called the , (, ), which means 'sent', in reference to the Myrrhbearing women being sent to announce the Resurrection to the Apostles.
There are several prominent Orthodox and churches named after the Myrrhbearers. They celebrate their patron saint feast day on the Sunday of the Myrrhbearers.
In 2022, Joanna, Mary, and Salome were officially added to the Episcopal Church liturgical calendar with a feast day as the "myrrh-bearing women" on 3 August.
All three Synoptics name two or three women on each occasion in the passion-resurrection narratives where they are cited as eyewitnesses: the Torah's required two or three witnesses in a statute that had exerted influence beyond legal courts and into situations in everyday life where accurate evidence was needed. Among the named women (and some are left anonymous), Mary Magdalene is present in all four Gospel accounts, and Mary the mother of James is present in all three synoptics; however, variations exist in the lists of each Gospel concerning the women present at the death, entombment, and discovery. For example, Mark names three women at the cross and the same three who go to the tomb, but only two are observed to be witnesses at the burial. Based on this, and similar examples in Matthew and Luke, Richard Bauckham argued that the Four Evangelists showed "scrupulous care" and "were careful to name precisely the women who were known to them as witnesses to these crucial events" since there would be no other reason, besides interest in historical accuracy, not to simply use the same set of characters from one scene to another.
Mark's account (which is the earliest of the extant manuscripts) ends abruptly and claims that the women told no one. The Gospels of Matthew and Mark do not present any further involvement at the tomb. Luke describes Peter as running to the tomb to check for himself, and John adds that the Beloved Disciple did so too, the beloved disciple outrunning Peter.
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