Righteous1st century

Myrrh-bearer Susanna

1st century (Apostolic Age)

Also known as Susanna the Myrrhbearer · Susanna who ministered to Christ

One of the women who followed Christ and ministered to Him of their substance, numbered among the Holy Myrrhbearers.

Sunday of the Myrrh-bearers

Feast Day

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Commemorated as

The Holy Myrrh-bearer Susanna

Life

Susanna was one of the women who followed Christ during His earthly ministry and, out of their own resources, provided for Him and His apostles. She is named in the Gospel of Luke and is numbered by the Orthodox Church among the Holy Myrrh-bearers — the female disciples who came to anoint the body of Christ and became the first witnesses of the Resurrection.

Little is recorded of her life beyond the single Gospel notice. Her name derives from the Hebrew Shoshana, meaning "lily." She is commemorated collectively with the other Myrrh-bearing Women on the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearers, the Third Sunday of Pascha.

Timeline2 momentsReadHide

1st centuryFollowing Christ in GalileeSusanna, having been healed, is among the women who accompany Jesus and the Twelve through the towns of Galilee, supporting the ministry from their own resources (Luke 8:1-3).
1st centuryAt the empty tombNumbered among the Myrrh-bearing Women who come to anoint Christ's body after the Crucifixion and instead receive the angelic announcement of the Resurrection.

Contributions & Legacy

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Scriptural Witness

Susanna is named in Luke 8:1-3, which describes how, as Jesus travelled through the towns and villages of Galilee proclaiming the Kingdom of God, He was accompanied by the Twelve and by certain women who had been "cured of evil spirits and diseases." The passage names Mary Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward; and Susanna, together with "many others" who ministered to Him of their substance.

The phrase "ministered of their substance" indicates that these women gave material support and resources to sustain the itinerant ministry of Christ and His apostles. This information is peculiar to Luke's Gospel; the scholar Richard Bauckham has suggested that Luke received it directly from one or more of the women named, most likely Joanna. The notice in Luke 8 forms a literary frame with Luke 24:10, together bracketing the whole of Christ's Galilean ministry.

Among the Myrrh-bearers

The Orthodox Church counts Susanna among the Holy Myrrh-bearers — the women who, following the Crucifixion, came to the tomb bearing myrrh to anoint the body of Christ, only to find the tomb empty and to receive from an angel the announcement of the Resurrection. Because they were the first to learn and proclaim the risen Christ, the Myrrh-bearing Women are honored as the first evangelists of the Resurrection.

The broader company of Myrrh-bearers named in Orthodox tradition includes Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, Mary the wife of Cleopas, Martha and Mary of Bethany, Joanna the wife of Chuza, Salome the mother of James and John, and Susanna, together with Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.

Commemoration and Identity

Susanna has no separate individual feast day recorded; she is honored on the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearers, observed on the Third Sunday of Pascha (the second Sunday after Pascha). She is venerated by the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, her recognition belonging to the pre-congregation, apostolic era.

She is to be distinguished from other saints bearing the same name — the Susanna of the Book of Daniel who was falsely accused at Babylon, and the third-century Roman martyr Susanna.

Member ofReadHide

Synaxis of the Holy Myrrh-bearing Women

Synaxis

Companions4 figuresShowHide

The Lord, whom she served of her substance.

Jesus Christ

First of the Myrrh-bearers.

Mary Magdalene

The women who ministered to Christ, among whom she is numbered.

Myrrh-bearing Women

Fellow myrrh-bearing woman, the wife of Chuza.

Saint Joannathe Myrrh-bearer

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Browse other saints who share her calling and place.

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Sources: Gospel of Luke (8:3); Synaxarion of the Holy Myrrhbearers