Taken from: Wikipedia - Mary Magdalene
Introduction
Saint Mary Magdalene or Mary Magdalene is described, both in the canonical New Testament and in the New Testament
apocrypha, as a devoted disciple of Jesus. She is considered by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican
churches to be a saint, with a feast day of July 22. She is also commemorated by the Lutheran Church with a festival on
the same day. The Orthodox Church also commemorates her on the Sunday of the Myrrhbearers, which is the second Sunday
after Pascha (Easter).
Mary Magdalene's name may identify her as "of Magdala"—the town some believe she came from, on the western shore of the
Sea of Galilee—and thus distinguishes her from the other Marys referred to throughout the New Testament.
The life of the historical Mary Magdalene is the subject of ongoing debate, while the less-obscure development of the
"penitent Magdalene" as the most beloved medieval female saint after Mary, both as an exemplar for the theological
discussion of penitence and as a social parable for the position and custody of women, provides matter for the social
historian and the history of ideas.
Apostle to the Apostles - Identification in the New Testament
In the earliest extant Biblical accounts now available Mark 15.40-41; Mark 15.47; Mark 16.1-2 Mary of Magdala (as Mary
Magdalene is popularly referred to) is described as a Galilean disciple, a witness to the crucifixion and the mystery of
Jesus of Nazareth's resurrected body. She is the only consistently named person in this role throughout the gospel
narratives. Luke 8:2-3 adds to Mary's persona by alluding to her having experienced an act of perfect cleanliness, on an
occasion when seven demons were cast out. This reference signifies her perfected status within the movement. Together with
other female followers, Mary accompanied Jesus on his last journey to Jerusalem Mark 15:41; Matthew 27:55-56; Luke 23:55
and were witnesses to the Crucifixion Mark 15:33-40; Matthew 27:45-55; Luke 23:44-49; John 19.25-30. Mary remained there
until the body was taken down and laid in a tomb Mark 15:46; Joseph of Arimathea's own tomb according to Matthew 27.59-60,
a new tomb according to Luke 23:53; John 19.41. In the early dawn, when the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene (with
differing others mentioned by each narrative account) Mark 16:1-2; Matthew 28:1; Luke 23.55-24.1; John 20.1; Gospel of
Peter 12), came to the sepulchre with sweet spices to anoint the body. They found the sepulchre empty and were informed of
Jesus' resurrection. Despite the pleasingly tantalising paradox of the received Marcan ending Mark 16.8, Mary's epithet of
'Apostle to the Apostle' comes from her ascription as the first witness to the empty tomb who then shared the good news
with Jesus' other close disciples John 20:1–2. According to John she was the first witness of the Resurrection appearances
of Jesus, though at first she did not recognize him. When he said her name she was recalled to consciousness, and cried,
Rabboni. She wanted to cling to him, but he forbade her: John 20:17 "Jesus said to her, 'Do not cling to Me, for I have
not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, "I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to
My God and your God."'"
This is the last mention in the canonical Gospels of Mary Magdalene, who now returned to Jerusalem. She is probably
included in the group of women who joined the Apostles in the Upper Room in Jerusalem after Jesus' ascension (Acts 1:14).
Misidentification with Mary of Bethany and "the woman sinner"
Tradition as early as the third century (Hippolytus, in his Commentary on Song of Songs) identifies Mary Magdalene with
Mary of Bethany and with the woman sinner who anointed Jesus' feet:
And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
Though the woman remains unnamed, she has been identified with Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and the resurrected
Lazarus (Luke 10:38–42 and John 11:1–2), as John 11:1–2 says:
Now there was a certain man sick, named Lazarus, of Bethania, of the town of Mary and Martha her sister. And Mary was she that anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair: whose brother Lazarus was sick.
The identification of Mary Magdalene with Mary of Bethany and "the woman who was a sinner" is reflected in an influential
sermon Pope Gregory I gave in 591, which said: "She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary [of Bethany],
we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark."
Following this line of thought, in December 2008, a team of Franciscan archaeologists of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum
working at the site identified as Magdala discovered stoppered vases containing residues of perfumed ointment which they
asserted were possibly of the type used to anoint Jesus's feet.
Though Gregory's identification of all three women as the same Mary was generally accepted in the West, the Catholic Church
celebrates Mary Magdalene on her feast of 22 July as the woman of that name "to whom Christ appeared after his resurrection,
not as the sister of Saint Martha nor as the sinful woman whose sins the Lord forgave (Lk 7:36-50)." The Catholic
Encyclopedia of 1910 also stated that "there is no suggestion of an identification of the three persons (the 'sinner', Mary
Magdalene, and Mary of Bethany)." Eastern Orthodox Christians distinguish them all as three different persons: Mary
Magdalene, Mary of Bethany (whom the Orthodox commemorate on 4 June, together with her sister Martha), and the unnamed "woman
who was a sinner" of Luke 7:36-50. Protestants mostly reject all these identifications, except for Seventh-day Adventists,
who consider the three women to be the same. They also believe that Jesus was the one who cast the seven demons out of her.
Mary had been looked upon as a great sinner, but Christ knew the circumstances that had shaped her life. (…) It was He who
had lifted her from despair and ruin. Seven times she had heard His rebuke of the demons that controlled her heart and mind.
(…) It was Mary who sat at His feet and learned of Him. It was Mary who poured upon His head the precious anointing oil,
and bathed His feet with her tears. Mary stood beside the cross, and followed Him to the sepulcher. Mary was first at the
tomb after His resurrection. It was Mary who first proclaimed a risen Saviour.
They believe she’s mentioned differently in the passages that talk about a woman anointing Jesus’ feet in Simon’s house
(Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; Luke 7:36-50; John 12:1-8), in order to reflect the change of character, "distinguishing
her" from the Mary that she was before. It wouldn’t be the first time a Bible character is mentioned differently in
order to reflect a change of character (for example, in the New Testament the murderer and zealot Saul became the Apostle
Paul).
Misidentification as a prostitute
Mary Magdalene is sometimes referred to as a prostitute or adulteress, but she was never called one in the New Testament.
Luke writes that Jesus casts seven demons from her, after which she joins his disciples and provides for them. She
witnesses the crucifixion from the foot of the cross, the male disciples having fled. And she was the first witness to the
resurrection and was sent by Jesus to tell his other disciples of his return.
Jeffrey Kripal, a religion scholar, wrote, "Migdal or Magdala (meaning "tower" in Hebrew and Arameic respectively) was a
fishing town known, or so the legend goes, for its perhaps punning connection to hairdressers (medgaddlela) and women of
questionable reputation. This is as close as we get to any clear evidence that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute." According
to Kripal, the identification of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute also goes back to the above-mentioned sermon by Pope
Gregory. In this sermon, Gregory identified Mary as peccatrix, a sinful woman, using her as a model for the repentant
sinner, but he did not call her meretrix, a prostitute. However, he also identifies Mary with the adulteress brought before
Jesus (as recounted in the Pericope Adulterae, John 8), supporting the view of 3rd and 4th century Church fathers that had
already considered this sin as "being unchaste." Gregory's identification and the consideration of the woman's sin as
sexual later gave rise to the image of Mary as a prostitute.
This viewpoint is also espoused by much Western medieval Christian art. In many medieval depictions, Mary Magdalene is
shown as having long hair which she wears down over her shoulders, while other women follow contemporary standards of
propriety by hiding their hair beneath headdresses or kerchiefs. The Magdalene's hair may be rendered as red, while the
other women of the New Testament in these same depictions ordinarily have dark hair beneath a scarf. This disparity between
depictions of women can be seen in works such as the Crucifixion paintings by the Meister des Marienlebens.
This image of Mary as a prostitute was followed by many writers and artists until the 20th century. Even though it is less
prevalent nowadays, the identification of Mary Magdalene with the adulteress is still accepted by some Christians. This is
reflected in Martin Scorsese's film adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis's novel The Last Temptation of Christ, as well as in
José Saramago's The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, Mel Gibson's
The Passion of the Christ and Hal Hartley's The Book of Life.
Veneration
Eastern Orthodox
The Eastern Orthodox Church maintains that Mary Magdalene, distinguished from Mary of Bethany, and further distinguished
from the "sinful woman", had been a virtuous woman all her life. This view finds expression both in her written life (βίος
or vita) and in the liturgical service in her honor that is included in the Menaion and performed on her annual feast-day.
There is a tradition that Mary Magdalene led so chaste a life that the devil thought she might be the one who was to bear
Christ into the world, and for that reason he sent the seven demons to trouble her.
Mary Magdalene is honored as one of the first witnesses of the Resurrection of Jesus, and received a special commission
from him to tell the Apostles of his resurrection (John 20:11–18). Mary's role as a witness is interesting due to the fact
women at that time could not be witnesses in legal proceedings. Because of this, and because of her subsequent
missionary activity in spreading the Gospel, she is known by the title, "Equal of the Apostles". She is often depicted on
icons bearing a vessel of ointment, not because of the anointing by the "sinful woman", but because she was among those
women who brought ointments to the tomb of Jesus. For this reason, she is called a Myrrhbearer.
According to Eastern traditions, she retired to Ephesus with the Theotokos (Mary, the Mother of God) and there she died.
Her relics were transferred to Constantinople in 886 and are there preserved.
Roman Catholic
Gregory of Tours, writing in Tours in the sixth century, supports the tradition that she retired to Ephesus, with no
mention of any connection to Gaul.
How a cult of Mary Magdalene first arose in Provence has been summed up by Victor Saxer in the collection of essays in
La Magdaleine, VIIIe – XIIIe siècle and by Katherine Ludwig Jansen, drawing on popular devotions, sermon literature and
iconology.
Mary Magdalene's relics were first venerated at the abbey of Vézelay in Burgundy. Jacobus de Voragine gives the common
account of the transfer of the relics of Mary Magdalene from her sepulchre in the oratory of Saint Maximin at
Aix-en-Provence to the newly-founded abbey of Vézelay; the transportation of the relics is entered as undertaken in
771 by the founder of the abbey, identified as Gerard, duke of Burgundy. The earliest mention of this episode is the
notice of the chronicler Sigebert of Gembloux (died 1112), who asserts that the relics were removed to Vézelay through
fear of the Saracens. There is no record of their further removal to the other St-Maximin; a casket of relics associated
with Magdalene remains at Vézelay.
Afterwards, since September 9, 1279, the body of Mary Magdalene was also venerated at Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume,
Provence. This cult attracted such throngs of pilgrims that the earlier shrine was rebuilt as the great Basilica from the
mid-thirteenth century, one of the finest Gothic churches in the south of France.
The competition between the Cluniac Benedictines of Vézelay and the Dominicans of Saint-Maxime occasioned a rash of
miraculous literature supporting the one or the other site. Jacobus de Voragine, compiling his Legenda Aurea (Golden
Legend) before the competition arose, characterized Mary Magdalene as the emblem of penitence, washing the feet of Jesus
with her copious tears, protectress of pilgrims to Jerusalem, daily lifting by angels at the meal hour in her fasting
retreat and many other miraculous happenings in the genre of Romance, ending with her death in the oratory of Saint
Maximin, all disingenuously claimed to have been drawn from the histories of Hegesippus and of Josephus.
The French tradition of Saint Lazare of Bethany is that Mary, her brother Lazarus, and Maximinus, one of the Seventy
Disciples and some companions, expelled by persecutions from the Holy Land, traversed the Mediterranean in a frail boat
with neither rudder nor mast and landed at the place called Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer near Arles. Mary Magdalene came to
Marseille and converted the whole of Provence. Magdalene is said to have retired to a cave on a hill by Marseille, La
Sainte-Baume ("holy cave." baumo in Provencal), where she gave herself up to a life of penance for thirty years. When the
time of her death arrived she was carried by angels to Aix and into the oratory of Saint Maximinus, where she received the
viaticum; her body was then laid in an oratory constructed by St. Maximinus at Villa Lata, afterwards called St. Maximin.
In 1279, when Charles II, King of Naples, erected a Dominican convent at La Sainte-Baume, the shrine was found intact, with
an explanatory inscription stating why the relics had been hidden.
In 1600, the relics were placed in a sarcophagus commissioned by Pope Clement VIII, the head being placed in a separate
reliquary. The relics and free-standing images were scattered and destroyed at the Revolution. In 1814, the church of La
Sainte-Baume, also wrecked during the Revolution, was restored, and, in 1822, the grotto was consecrated afresh. The head
of the saint now lies there and has been the centre of many pilgrimages.
Other religions, especially Christian Mysticism and many New Age faiths, venerate Mary Magdalene as the Bride of Christ, an
avatar of Sophia, and even the Co-Messiah with Jesus Christ, or simply combine all three.
Mary as a penitent
The traditional Roman Catholic feast day dedicated to Mary Magdalene celebrated her position as a penitent. This was
changed in 1969, with the revision of the Roman Missal and the Roman Calendar, and now there is no mention in either of
Mary Magdalene the sinner.
The Magdalene became a symbol of repentance for the vanities of the world to various sects. Mary Magdalene was the patron
of Magdalen College, Oxford, and Magdalene College, Cambridge (both pronounced "maudlin"). In contrast, her name was also
used for the Magdalen Asylum, institutions for "fallen women." including the infamous "Magdalen Laundries" in Ireland.
In the Orthodox Church, Mary Magdalene is not celebrated as a penitent, but rather as a woman who lived a virtuous life.
Easter Egg tradition
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 this sharing is
accompanied by the proclamation "Christos anesti" ("Christ is risen!") and the response "Alathos anesti" ("Truly He is
risen!").
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.
Gospel of Mary
A group of scholars, the most familiar of whom is Elaine Pagels, have suggested that for one early group of Christians
Mary Magdalene was a leader of the early Church and maybe even the unidentified Beloved Disciple, to whom the Fourth Gospel
commonly called Gospel of John is ascribed.
Ramon K. Jusino, an internet writer, offers an explanation of this view, based on the textual researches of Raymond E.
Brown, in "Mary Magdalene, author of the Fourth Gospel?", 1998, available on-line. Ann Graham Brock (see ref.) summarized
this reading of the texts in 2003. She demonstrated that an early Christian writing portrays authority as being represented
in Mary Magdalene or in the church community structure.
These scholars also observe that the Mary Magdalene figure is consistently elevated in writings from which formal leadership
roles are absent. In certain texts, while either the Peter or the Paul figure is more involved, Mary Magdalene's role is
often diminished, while in other texts, the opposite occurs. A tug-of-war is evident between these two opposing systems of
church government, revealing debates regarding the importance of the key roles of women in Biblical texts.
Scholars of the Mary who appears in the Nag Hammadi Gnostic texts have identified her with the Magdalene, even though she
is merely given the (Coptic) equivalent of "Mary." However, Stephen J. Shoemaker thinks that this Mary is actually the
Blessed Virgin Mary (Shoemaker 2001), that this fits in better with the notions that Mary was intimate with Jesus, was his
greatest disciple, and was to be the center of Jesus' religion; Shoemaker has made a study of Marian liturgies and devotion
in Early Christianity.
Further attestation of Mary Magdalene and her role among some early Christians is provided by the gnostic, apocryphal
Gospel of Mary Magdalene which survives in two 3rd century Greek fragments and a longer 5th century translation into
Coptic. In the Gospel the testimony of a woman first needed to be defended. All of these manuscripts were first discovered
and published between 1938 and 1983, but as early as the 3rd century there are Patristic references to the Gospel of Mary.
These writings reveal the degree to which that gospel was despised and dismissed by the early Church fathers. In the
fragmentary text, the disciples ask questions of the risen Savior (a designation that dates the original no earlier than
the 2nd century) and are answered.
Then they grieve, saying, "How shall we go to the Gentiles and preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of the Son of Man? If even
he was not spared, how shall we be spared?" And Mary bids them take heart: "Let us rather praise his greatness, for he
prepared us and made us into men." She then delivers—at Peter's request—a vision of the Savior she has had, and reports her
discourse with him, which shows Gnostic influences.
Her vision does not meet with universal approval:
But Andrew answered and said to the brethren, "Say what you think concerning what she said. For I do not believe that the Savior said this. For certainly these teachings are of other ideas."
Peter also opposed her in regard to these matters and asked them about the Savior. "Did he then speak secretly with a woman,
in preference to us, and not openly? Are we to turn back and all listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?"
Karen King of Harvard Divinity School has observed, "The confrontation of Mary with Peter, a scenario also found in The
Gospel of Thomas, Pistis Sophia, and The Greek Gospel of the Egyptians, reflects some of the tensions in second-century
Christianity. Peter and Andrew represent orthodox positions that deny the validity of esoteric revelation and reject the
authority of women to teach." (introduction, The Nag Hammadi Library)
Relationship with Jesus
Many modern writers have come forward with claims that Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus. These writers cite Gnostic
(an apocrypha text) writings to support their argument. Sources like the Gospel of Philip depict Mary Magdalene as being
closer to Jesus than any other disciple. However, there is no known ancient document that claims she was his wife; rather,
the Gospel of Philip depicts Mary as Jesus' koinonos, a Greek term indicating a "close friend." "companion" or, potentially,
a lover:
There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary, his mother, and her sister, and Magdalene, the one who was called his companion. His sister and his mother and his companion were each a Mary. And the companion of the [Savior is] Mary Magdalene. [But Christ] loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often[]. The rest of the disciples [were offended by it and expressed disapproval.] They said to him, "Why do you love her more than all of us?" The Savior answered and said to them, "Why do I not love you like her?"
The closeness described in these writings depicts Mary Magdalene, representing the Gnostics, as understanding Jesus and his
teaching while the other disciples, representing the Church, did not. Kripal writes that "the historical sources are simply
too contradictory and simultaneously too silent" to make absolute declarations regarding Jesus' sexuality. On the other
hand, the historian John Dickson argues that it was common in early Christianity to kiss a fellow believer by way of
greeting (see 1 Peter 5:14 in the New Testament), and as such kissing would have no romantic connotations. Dickson also
argues that if Jesus were indeed in love with Mary, then the disciples' question "Why do you love her more than all of us?"
would imply romantic jealousy on their part, a theory which he describes as "utterly implausible for historians."
Metaphysical marriage
Mary Magdalene appears with more frequency than other women in the canonical Gospels and is shown as being a close follower
of Jesus. Mary's presence at the Crucifixion and Jesus' tomb, while hardly conclusive, is at least consistent with the role
of grieving wife and widow, although if that were the case Jesus might have been expected to make provision for her care, as
well as for his mother Mary. It also seems to contradict Jesus refusing physical contact in John 20:17 (see Noli me
tangere).
Proponents of a married status of Jesus argue that bachelorhood was very rare for Jewish males of Jesus' time, being
generally regarded as a transgression of the first divine commandment: "Be fruitful and multiply." According to this
reasoning, it would have been unthinkable for an adult, unmarried Jew to travel about teaching as a rabbi.
A counter-argument to this is that in Jesus' time the Jewish religion was very diverse and the role of the rabbi was not
yet well defined. It was really not until after the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in A.D. 70 that Rabbinic Judaism
became dominant and the role of the rabbi made uniform in Jewish communities. Before Jesus, celibate teachers were known in
the communities of the Essenes, although these communities were quite separate from mainstream Judaism. John the Baptist was
celibate. Later, Paul of Tarsus was an example of an unmarried itinerant teacher among Christians. Jesus himself approved of
voluntary celibacy for religious reasons and explicitly rejected a duty to marry: "There are eunuchs, who have made
themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. He that can take, let him take it." (Matthew 19:12).
The idea that Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus was popularized by books like The Jesus Scroll (1972), Holy Blood, Holy
Grail (1982), The Gospel According to Jesus Christ (1991), The Woman with the Alabaster Jar (1993), Bloodline of the Holy
Grail: The Hidden Lineage of Jesus Revealed (1996), The Da Vinci Code (2003), and Jesus the Man (2006); and by films
like Bloodline (2008).
The medieval book "Golden Legend" says "Some say that S. Mary Magdalene was wedded to S. John the Evangelist."