Easter Egg Legend

[anrmenchaca47]

My fellow brothers and sisters in Christ,

I have a question regarding the aforementioned topic about the easter egg. I understand that there is some history involving pagan celebrations with this, however, several years ago I spoke with a very close friend of the family who happened to be a deacon for our church. He told me that a disciple,(I’m not sure if it was Mary Magdalene or not) apparently went to Russia**(not sure if it was Russia)** to spread the gospel and the King there apparently had a hard time believing in Christ. From what I was told, this disciple took an egg and by the power of God turned it into a different color. Does anyone here know of this story or legend? Can anyone shed some light on this? I would really like to share it with my family. Thanks and God Bless all of you.

Arnold

“Domine Dirige Nos”

 

[Erich]

From the “Gospel according to Wikipedia”:

For centuries, it has been the custom of many Christians to share dyed and painted eggs, particularly on Easter Sunday. The eggs represent new life, and Christ bursting forth from the tomb. Among Eastern Orthodox Christians (including Bulgarian, Greek, Lebanese, Russian, Romanian, Serbian and Ukrainian) this sharing is accompanied by the proclamation “Christ is risen!” (in Greek “Christos anesti”,Serbian:“Христос Васкрсе!”) and the response “Truly He is risen!” (in Greek - “Alithos anesti”,Serbian:" Ваистину Васкрсе").

One tradition concerning Mary Magdalene says that following the death and resurrection of Jesus, she used her position to gain an invitation to a banquet given by Emperor Tiberius. When she met him, she held a plain egg in her hand and exclaimed “Christ is risen!” Caesar laughed, and said that Christ rising from the dead was as likely as the egg in her hand turning red while she held it. Before he finished speaking, the egg in her hand turned a bright red, and she continued proclaiming the Gospel to the entire imperial house.

Another version of this story can be found in popular belief, mostly in Greece. It is believed that after the Crucifixion, Mary Magdalene and the Virgin Mary put a basket full of eggs at the foot of the cross. There, the eggs were painted red by the blood of the Christ. Then, Mary Magdalene brought them to Tiberius Caesar (see above).

 

[Patchunky]

There are other traditions that say the Blessed Virgin took a basket of eggs to Pilate to barter for the life of Her Son. As She begged Pilate to let Her Son live, Her tears colored the eggs.

Another tradition says that Simon the Cyrene was an egg merchant and was on his way to market to sell his eggs when the Roman soldiers grabbed him to help Jesus with the cross. When Simon came back to his eggs, they had changed colors.

So, there are many traditions about the “Easter egg”…

so many eggs, so little time…