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

The Orthodox Church understands the Holy Scriptures to be the fountainhead of Tradition. The stories read in the Bible are commonly explored and elaborated in greater depth in liturgical hymns, homilies, and patristic writings. 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 ...