She Who Loved Much: The Sinful Woman in Saint Ephrem the Syrian and the Orthodox Tradition

The stories read in the Bible are commonly explored and elaborated in greater depth in the liturgical hymns, homilies, and patristic writings of the Orthodox Church. Such is the case with the account found in St Luke’s gospel of a sinful woman who anoints Christ with precious oil shortly before his Passion and Crucifixion. The woman’s story is taken up in the liturgical tradition of the Orthodox Church in Holy Week, where she is held up as an example of repentance and unconstrained love. In...