Joanna (, also ), the wife of Chuza (), is a woman mentioned in the

gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the second century AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message was reported. In this sen ...

who was healed by

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

and later supported him and his disciples in their travels. She is one of the women recorded in the

Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke is the third of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It tells of the origins, Nativity of Jesus, birth, Ministry of Jesus, ministry, Crucifixion of Jesus, death, Resurrection of Jesus, resurrection, and Ascension of ...

as accompanying Jesus and the

twelve apostles In Christian theology and ecclesiology, the apostles, particularly the Twelve Apostles (also known as the Twelve Disciples or simply the Twelve), were the primary disciples of Jesus according to the New Testament. During the life and minist ...

and as a witness to Jesus' resurrection. Her husband was Chuza, who managed the household of

Herod Antipas Herod Antipas (, ''Hērṓidēs Antípas''; ) was a 1st-century ruler of Galilee and Perea. He bore the title of tetrarch ("ruler of a quarter") and is referred to as both "Herod the Tetrarch" and "King Herod" in the New Testament. He was a s ...

, the ruler of

Galilee Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ). ''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...

; this is the origin of the distinguishing

epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

commonly attached to her name, differentiating her from other figures named ''Joanna'' or ''Joanne''.Douglas, J. D. and Tenney, Merrill C., ''Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary'' (2011), p. 742. Her name is from (). She is recognised as a saint in the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

traditions and among other Christians, such as the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Joanna in the Gospels

Joanna is identified as "the wife of Chuza", steward to Herod Antipas, when she is listed as one of the women "cured of evil spirits and infirmities" who accompanied Jesus and the Apostles, and "provided for Him from their substance" in . In Luke 24:10, Joanna is mentioned by name, along with

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cr ...

and

Mary of Clopas According to the Gospel of John, Mary of Clopas (, ''María hē tou Clōpá'') was one of the women present at the crucifixion of Jesus and bringing supplies for his funeral. The expression ''Mary of Clopas'' in the Greek text is ambiguous as t ...

, as among the women who took spices to Jesus' tomb and found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. The accounts in the other

synoptic gospels The gospels of Gospel of Matthew, Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Mark, and Gospel of Luke, Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical ...

do not mention Joanna as one of the group of women who observe Jesus' burial and testify to his

Resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions involving the same person or deity returning to another body. The disappearance of a body is anothe ...

. In his book, ''Gospel Women'' (p. 187), Richard Bauckham notes that in Luke 24, Joanna's name appears at the very center of a

chiastic structure Chiastic structure, or chiastic pattern, is a literary technique in motif (narrative), narrative motifs and other textual passages. An example of chiastic structure would be two ideas, A and B, together with variants A' and B', being presented as ...

which is a literary device in an A-B-C-B-A pattern. The fact that Joanna's name appears at the center of a chiasm in this part of Luke's resurrection account indicates that for some reason, she was being presented as a centrally important character or witness. One possible explanation for this relates to the discovery of a first-century ossuary in Jerusalem belonging to a woman named "Joanna" who was the granddaughter of "Theophilus the high priest." If this is the same woman mentioned by Luke, her role as a key witness to the empty tomb could be explained by the fact that, Luke wrote to a "most excellent Theophilus" (Lk 1:3), and as his granddaughter, Joanna would have been someone he loved and trusted.

Holy Myrrhbearer traditions

In Orthodox tradition, she is honored as "Saint Joanna the Myrrhbearer" () and is commemorated among the eight women who carried

myrrh Myrrh (; from an unidentified ancient Semitic language, see '' § Etymology'') is a gum-resin extracted from a few small, thorny tree species of the '' Commiphora'' genus, belonging to the Burseraceae family. Myrrh resin has been used ...

on the "Sunday of the Myrrhbearers", two Sundays after Pascha (Orthodox Easter). From this commemoration, in the revised

Calendar of Saints The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

of the

Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

she is commemorated as one of the Holy Myrrhbearers on August 3, together with other women present at the tomb of Jesus in New Testament accounts. These include

(also called Mary, the mother of

James the Less James the Less ( ) is a figure of early Christianity. He is also called "the Minor", "the Little", "the Lesser", or "the Younger", according to translation, James is styled "the Less" to distinguish him from the Apostle James the Great (also ca ...

and Joses) and

Salome Salome (; , related to , "peace"; ), also known as Salome III, was a Jews, Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II and princess Herodias. She was granddaughter of Herod the Great and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas. She is known from the New T ...

. Likewise, she is commemorated in The Episcopal Church on August 3, as listed in '' Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2022'' as: "Joanna, Mary, and Salome, Myrrh-Bearing Women." Although not mentioned by name, Joanna is seen as one of the women who joined the disciples and

Mary, mother of Jesus Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

, in the upper room in prayer. She was believed to be among the group of 120 who chose

Matthias the Apostle Matthias (; Koine Greek: , , from Biblical Hebrew, Hebrew ; ; died ) was, according to the Acts of the Apostles, chosen by God through the Twelve Apostles, apostles to replace Judas Iscariot following the latter's betrayal of Jesus and his s ...

to fill the vacancy that was left by Judas, as well as being present on the Day of Pentecost."Joanna", Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States
/ref>

Identification with Junia

Richard Bauckham argues for identifying Joanna, the wife of Chuza, with the Junia mentioned in Paul's letter to the Romans 16:7, "Joanna" being her Jewish name, and "Junia" her Roman. Joanna is mentioned as one of the members of the ministry of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, travelling with him among the other twelve and some other women, city to city. Joanna is also mentioned alongside Mary Magdalene and other women as those who first visited the tomb and found it to be empty, and it is to this group of women, including Joanna, that Jesus first appears and instructs to tell the disciples to meet him in Galilee in Matthew 28:8- 10. Bauckham notes that Paul describes Junia as having been a member of the Christian community prior to him, and given that Paul himself converted within three years of the death of Jesus, that would require Junia to have been a member of the community from a very early period. Whereas ''

Joanna Joanna is a feminine given name deriving from from . Variants in English include Joan, Joann, Joanne, and Johanna. Other forms of the name in English are Jan, Jane, Janet, Janice, Jean, and Jeanne. The earliest recorded occurrence of th ...

'' is a Hellenized, Grecian, adaptation of a Hebrew name, Junia is a Latin name. Jews often adopted a second, Latin name that were nearly sound equivalents to their original name. Joanna and Junia act as near sound equivalents in the native languages, which Bauckham says is indicative of the identification between the two. Finally, Paul describes Junia as being "prominent among the apostles". Given that Junia is described as an earliest member of the community, and as one of the most prominent members, that she is not named elsewhere is indicative, as Bauckham argues, that she and Joanna are the same individual, given Joanna's high prominence during the ministry of Jesus.

In popular culture

* ''Joanna, wife of Chuza'' (Йоганна, жінка Хусова) is a verse drama by Ukrainian writer Lesya Ukrainka, first published in 1909. * In the 2015 television miniseries ''Killing Jesus'' Rotem Zissman-Cohen plays Joanna.Peter Chattaway. "Joanna gets a speaking role in Killing Jesus and A.D.", ''Patheos'', March 19, 2015
/ref> * In the 2015 television miniseries '' A.D. The Bible Continues'', Joanna is portrayed by Farzana Dua Elahe. * Joanna is a fictional character in ''The Lost Wisdom of the Magi'' * In the third season of the 2017 television series '' The Chosen'' Joanna is portrayed by Amy Bailey. She is deeply moved by the

Sermon on the Mount The Sermon on the Mount ( anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: ) is a collection of sayings spoken by Jesus of Nazareth found in the Gospel of Matthew (chapters 5, 6, and 7). that emphasizes his moral teachings. It is th ...

and helps

Andrew Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

meet the imprisoned John the Baptizer. In the fourth season she announces John's execution to the other disciples.

Notes

References

Sources

* * Rosenthal, Shane (2025) ''Luke's Key Witness''

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Joanna Followers of Jesus Saints from the Holy Land Christian saints from the New Testament 1st-century Christian female saints Gospel of Luke Women in the New Testament Angelic visionaries Myrrhbearers