Joanna, wife of Chuza
Joanna (, also ), the wife of Chuza (), is a woman mentioned in the gospels who was healed by Jesus and later supported him and his disciples in their travels. She is one of the women recorded in the Gospel of Luke as accompanying Jesus and the twelve and as a witness to Jesus' resurrection. She was the wife of Chuza, who managed the household of Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee. Her name is from (). Although the name is etymologically related to "Anna", sharing a common derivation (from the ), "Joanna" is not a compound formation and originated  as a separate, unitary derivation, directly from the Hebrew male name "Yôḥānān", 'John'. She is recognised as a saint in the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and Catholic traditions. Joanna in the Gospels. Joanna is shown as the wife of Chuza, steward to Herod Antipas while being listed as one of the women who "had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities" who accompanied Jesus and the Apostles, and "provided for Him from their substance" in . Joanna is named among the women mentioned in , who, along with Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James, took spices to Jesus' tomb and found  the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. The accounts in the other synoptic gospels do not mention Joanna as one of the group of women who observe Jesus' burial and testify to his Resurrection. Identification with Junia. Richard Bauckham argues for identifying Joanna, the wife of Chuza, with the Junia mentioned in Paul's letter to the Romans , "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 -. 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  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 Orthodox tradition. In Orthodox tradition, she is honored as "Saint Joanna the Myrrhbearer" () and is commemorated among the eight women who carried myrrh on the "Sunday of the Myrrhbearers", two Sundays after Pascha (Orthodox Easter). From this commemoration, in the revised Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod she is commemorated as one of Myrrhbearers on August 3 together with Mary, the Mother of James the less and Jude and Salome. Although not mentioned by name, Joanna is seen as one of the women who  joined the disciples and Mary, the mother of the Lord, in the upper room in prayer. She was believed to be among the group of 120 who chose Matthias to fill the vacancy that was left by Judas, as well as being present on the Day of Pentecost.