The story of Mary Magdalene is closely connected with Jesus. This woman plays an important role in one of the most important episodes in the entire New Testament. When the Romans crucified Jesus, Mary stood at the foot of the cross, supporting the Savior and then mourning his death.
Mary Magdalene was at the forefront of a movement that changed the Western world. Not only was she present at the execution, but she also discovered the open grave and was the first witness to his Resurrection. She is a true follower of Jesus.
But another Mary lives in our memory, created by numerous works of art. She is depicted either half-naked or as a hermit repenting in the wilderness. She is an exile who only washed Jesus' feet and anointed them with perfume. All works of art on this topic are so similar that most are still convinced of its great sinfulness. This once again confirms the well-known truth that art is the greatest prostitute - its methods can prove anything, about anything.
New data makes it clear that Mary Magdalene was not the same as we were taught to think about her.
Who is she really?
We know something about the life of Jews in Palestine two thousand years ago, but until recently little was known about Mary herself.
All four canonical Gospels speak about her, but her age and social status cannot be found out from the Bible, although the name Mary Magdalene itself gives some information. She was probably from the city of Magdala.
From ancient literature we know that there was a city called Magdala. It is mentioned not only in the New Testament, but also in Hebrew texts. The town of Magdala still stands 200 kilometers north of Jerusalem on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The full name of the city is Magdalaterichea. Magdala means tower and terichia means salted fish. It turns out to be a “tower of salted fish.” The city lived on fishing.
Maria lived in Magdala and may have worked in the fish market. She had a hard life and had no loved ones. Most likely she was an orphan. But where is the historical evidence that she was a prostitute? If we look at the Bible, we will see that it does not say this. So this idea comes from somewhere else! Her name Mary Magdalene makes it clear that she was simply an unmarried woman. The wife would bear her husband's name. Mary was not married - from the limited information about Mary in the canonical Gospels it does not follow that she was married. She has no children, and she was not called a widow. Two thousand years ago, unmarried women were viewed with suspicion. Maria was not friends with anyone, but why slander her? Perhaps something else made her an outcast?
The Gospel of Luke says that Jesus cast out seven demons from Mary. This means she was possessed by an evil spirit. Jesus healed the people of Galilee and preached to them. All the Gospels say that he helped people, healing them, preaching the coming of the Kingdom of God and casting out demons (as they would say now, curing “nervous and mental disorders”).
In many cultures, possession was considered an indication of a person's sins. The possessed person had to repent, make a sacrifice in the temple and begin a new righteous life. In those days, people believed in this, but now experts believe that possession is a defensive reaction to insult and mistreatment.
Anthropologists discovered that often single young women in those days simply had nothing to protect themselves with, resistance did not lead to good, and they could save themselves only by presenting themselves as violent in order to psychologically push away the advances of men.
Whatever the reason for the possession, the Gospel of Luke says that after a quick cure, Mary joined the Jesus movement. The lonely woman found close people, the teachings of Jesus suited her perfectly, and the need for obsession disappeared. Jesus' preaching was then very attractive to marginal elements of society. Christ said that the last will be first, and the first will be last. People who did not have a family happily came to a person who carried new values. From all this it follows that Maria was not a prostitute - she was a completely lonely woman. Jesus saved her from loneliness and she followed him.
However, the Bible is not the only source of information. The discovery of long-lost books sheds new light on the identity of Mary Magdalene. In 1945, in Nakhamadi in Southern Egypt, two people found a ceramic jug. They decided that treasures were hidden in it and opened it. Inside were ancient books on papyrus.
It was an amazing find. This is a great success for archaeologists and historians of early Christianity. These books have not received as much attention as the Dead Sea Scrolls, but the Nakhamadi books are very important in reconstructing the history of early Christianity. After all, these texts are Christian. The Dead Sea Scrolls tell the story of the Jews, and the books of Nakhamadi tell the story of the early Christians. They are written in Coptic, the language of early Christian Egypt. The find is very important because many ancient Christian texts have been lost.
This is a new collection of texts from the early Christian period. They open a window into the early Christian world, which was long closed to us.
To Nakhamad And The Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip and the Acts of Peter were found. These texts were not included in the Bible, because it is believed that they go against Christian doctrine and are therefore apocryphal.
Apocrypha is an ancient book of the early Christian period, which gives some secret knowledge about early Christianity, which was later rejected (strictly prohibited) by Christianity due to ideological inconvenience. For example, the New Testament says that after the Resurrection Jesus spoke to his disciples, but it does not say what exactly. The books from Nakhamadi also tell us this. These books give us important information about the history of Christianity. The most important thing is that in apocryphal texts we can find information about Jesus that, for certain reasons, did not make it into the New Testament.
For the first time in hundreds of years, science has new information about Mary Magdalene. From Nakhamadi's books it appears that Jesus distinguished her among his disciples. Mary Magdalene appears here in a completely new capacity. When Jesus speaks to the disciples, Mary asks him intelligent questions. Other students are often confused, but she understands everything. This is a kind of challenge to the traditional image of Mary - she is no longer a repentant sinner following Christ. But that's not all. One of the texts found at Nakhamadi is the Gospel of Philip. In it, Mary Magdalene occupies a key place.
There is one very controversial passage here. While the books lay in the desert, some of them were damaged by ants. They gnawed a hole in the Gospel of Philip. This lacuna has tormented scientists for many years. In one of the paragraphs, which clearly refers to Mary Magdalene, the ants ate almost half of the name, but it is clear that we are talking about her. The fragmentary text also says: “The Savior loved her.” After a gap in the surviving text, the disciples ask why he loves Mary Magdalene more than them. Thus, based on the remaining text and the grammar of the Coptic language, it was possible to restore the text: “The Savior loved her more than other disciples.” This means that Mary and Jesus had a special relationship, that he preferred her company to that of the disciples.
There are even hints of greater intimacy in the text: “And he kissed her on the lips.” Does it really say that Jesus and Magdalene were lovers? From what is known to historical science, it turns out that he did not have close relationships with anyone. He lived half in another world - in the world of his ideas, for the confirmation of which he even went to martyrdom, after which it was necessary to fulfill what He had predetermined miracle of the resurrection affirming in the eyes of those around him Divine essence. On the one hand, those who claim to be chosen while themselves indulge in worldly joys are hypocrites. The data available to science (the ancient historian Josephus and many others) do not give any reason to suspect Jesus of hypocrisy. He was endlessly devoted to his teaching. On the other hand, there is no evidence that he was a creature devoid of any joy, that he never rejoiced at the manifestations of life and at meals he always ate food joylessly, as if he was chewing a washcloth. Nobody reported this about him either.
The kiss can be given this explanation. Indeed, the Gospel of Philip says that Jesus loves Mary and kisses her on the lips. For modern Western readers, this means a love affair. This is actually what happened transmission of secret knowledge(remember the kisses of Soviet senior party leaders, but this was not the practice among economic leaders). The kiss becomes a symbol of acceptance of the teachings and divine words. That is, the Gospel of Philip says that Mary was a personal disciple of Jesus. Jesus said to Mary Magdalene what he did not say to others, because she understood everything better than others, and more could be said to her.
Although there is evidence that the legendary Holy Grail cup filled with the Blood of Christ(in all Christian times, sought by many unsuccessfully) - this His daughter Sarah, born after the sacrificial death, and whom Mary managed to save from persecution and death, taking her in infancy to the distant lands of the Roman Empire through Egypt to the south of modern France and handing her over to trusted people for upbringing. In this case, the legend testifies that His daughter had numerous offspring. Representatives of the Merovingian dynasty (late 5th century - 751) connected their line with the descendants of the daughter of Christ. It is curious that “Lady Di” (Diana Spencer, carefully chosen to continue the royal family, although she was the unloved ex-wife of Prince Charles, but gave birth to good healthy and beautiful offspring) is also a descendant of the Merovingian family. Now future English kings will be able to trace their lineage not from the dubious thieving Viking conquerors, but from Christ Himself.
The medieval idea of the Holy Grail as a kind of golden cup decorated with precious stones, into which one of the apostles allegedly collected blood from the wound of the crucified Christ, is absolutely unrealistic - the poor disciples of Christ (apostles) did not have such royal jewelry, and the apostles were executed everyone ran away. Although the Gospel of John says that the author of the Gospel, John himself, was present at the execution (Gospel of John 19:26), there is no confirmation of the presence of men in the other Gospels.
Women were present at the crucifixion, including Mary. The male disciples (apostles) had long since fled in fear and hid, while the Apostle Peter also publicly renounced Christ three times with an oath ( see below from the Gospel of Mark), and the women remained with Jesus. They are witnesses to the crucifixion. In some Gospels they watch from afar, in others they cry at the foot of the cross. In the Gospel of John, Jesus is given something to drink. This is done by one of the women, perhaps Maria. It was hard for women to see all the suffering of Christ.
And so the man who turned Mary’s whole life around died. His teaching could die with him. Without a leader, followers could scatter and become lost individually. But we know that this did not happen. It happened great miracle, and Mary Magdalene played the most important role in it.
After Jesus died, his body was placed in a rock tomb. Mary Magdalene and other women kept watch at the tomb, then went to get what they needed to perform the ceremony. It is easy to imagine how they felt as they walked to the crypt to prepare the messiah's body for burial. In those days, it was women who prepared bodies for funerals - among the Jews this activity was considered unclean. So women had to do it.
Mary walked to the crypt in deep sorrow - she saw the terrible execution of Jesus, risking herself in the process. The Bible says that when the woman entered the crypt, Jesus' body was not there. The Gospel of John tells us what Mary did after this. She hurried to the disciples of Jesus who were hiding in the shelter. The disciples did not believe Mary, and this can only mean one thing - Jesus did not consider it necessary to inform them about the upcoming events! Peter and the other apostle went to the tomb of Jesus under cover of darkness. Peter was angry when he saw the burial cloth thrown off, but the second disciple understood what was happening - Jesus had risen from the dead. Fearing the guards, the two men hastily left without looking at Maria, who remained at the crypt.
Then another miracle happened, the most important for the future of both Mary and all of Christianity. Someone asked why she was crying. She decided that it was the gardener and replied: “They took away my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” Then the man called her name, and she saw Jesus. “Teacher,” Mary said turning to him and wanted to touch him, but Jesus stopped her. He ordered not to touch him, but to go to his disciples and say that he had risen from the dead.
We don’t know whether Mary really saw the resurrected Jesus, or whether she just imagined it. But there is no doubt that her subsequent actions were carefully coordinated with Jesus, who decided to make a terrible sacrifice to establish by the miracle of His Resurrection ideas of Christianity preached by Him.
Jesus preached a lot, and His ideas were known to many. But for people to finally believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God (i.e., God), and His Teachings are true, a great, unprecedented miracle was required.
[Note. The easiest way to distinguish a sectarian from a Christian is to ask a direct question: “Is Jesus Christ God?” If evasive explanations begin that Christ is a God-man, a demigod, or simply the Son of God, then this is a sectarian. Because in Christianity, Christ is God—real and full-fledged, and not some secondary subordinate. That is why the idea of Ascension to the Cross, later invented and attributed by the Church to Christ, is unconvincing, supposedly for the atonement of original human sin through His suffering. It is strange for God to atone for anything before Himself, including the sin of His creatures! Moreover, earlier He created another apostate sinner - Satan (Antichrist). The temptation of Jesus Christ (God Himself!) by Satan with promises of some wealth, described in the canonical text, is also strange. With these promises of a pathetic apostate and to whom – the Creator Himself and the Ruler of the whole World?! In this episode, the author’s logic is clearly below any criticism and is simply humanly stupid and heretical.]
But let's return to Jesus.
Shortly before the tragic events, at the Last Supper, at which Mary was also present, Christ commanded his most devoted disciple Judas to give himself up to the Roman authorities, who were already looking for Jesus at the urgent request of the Jewish clergy, for whom he had long become dangerous in his preaching and interfering with their profit.
Faithful Judas steadfastly fulfilled the order, otherwise the great goal of the Teacher is strengthening faith through the Miracle of the Resurrection – would not have been achieved. Judas completed everything, but completed the action assigned to him by ending his life.
In the last kiss of Judas with the Teacher, to whom he is completely devoted (and proudly throws away the 30 pieces of silver he received), there is much more deep meaning than was later believed in the primitive Middle Ages, when the ideology of overlords and vassals was dominant. After fulfillment of the required necessary the faithful disciple Judas also goes to his death, inspired by the hope of a speedy meeting with his Teacher in that perfect Kingdom of God about which Jesus taught. It was a kiss from like-minded people who firmly believed in the common idea in front of a difficult task and the subsequent victorious meeting. Faithful, but not very mentally advanced, Judas sacredly believed in this meeting, but what Jesus thought about the future, we are not given to know. God works in mysterious ways.
Mary's suffering at the cross was terrible - she lost her only loved one for the sake of strengthening her faith. But she found the strength to continue the work of Christ. It was Mary who convinced the illiterate apostles and surrounding people of the Resurrection of Christ, and then led Christianity in a new direction.
A new faith arose, connected with the ideas that Jesus preached. People who saw Christ's death on the cross with their own eyes believed that Christ died but rose again because he was the Son of God. Who else can rise from the dead except the true God?! This means that Christianity cannot be destroyed. As Christ believed, after his painful public execution and the event Resurrection, instilled in the minds of those around her by Mary's actions, the movement won rather than lost. And a new wise and confident leader stood at the head of the movement.
The sacrifice of Christ provided the necessary affirmative moment in the movement of Christianity. And this movement was associated with Mary Magdalene. What I saw with it, the Resurrection of Christ and the conviction of those around him became decisive for Christians. It transformed a hitherto small, scattered movement into the beginning of a new world religion. And Christ’s beloved disciple played a key role in this.
Why was Mary Magdalene not recognized as an apostle - the founder of the religion? After all, it meets all the requirements presented in the Bible. The Gospel of Luke says that all the apostles were disciples of Jesus, were present at his execution and Resurrection and began to preach the true faith given by the Lord. Mary Magdalene fits this description more than others. However, the Bible does not say a word about this. The New Testament does not call Mary an apostle.
To understand why this is so, we must return to another apocryphal text. In 1896, a German scientist found a book made of papyrus bound in leather in a Cairo bazaar. The book was written in Coptic. It is the language of early Christian Egypt, but the origins of the book are unknown. Unfortunately, the seller knew nothing about the discovery of the document. The book was said to have been found near Akmim in Upper Egypt. It looks like it was taken out of a niche in the wall. In the 1st-2nd centuries, the Christian community was actually destroyed in Akmim. Perhaps the book was then hidden by a martyr who never managed to return for it.
Upon closer examination, the text turned out to be extremely interesting. It was the Gospel of Mary. Like the books found at Nakhamadi, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene is considered apocryphal. It tells what happened shortly after the Resurrection of Jesus.
Jesus had just appeared to the disciples. Jesus told the disciples to go and preach his teaching to the world. They were afraid to do this, frightened by the execution of Jesus. They killed him, they can kill them too. (Perhaps this appearance of Jesus was not presented very convincingly, which gave rise to doubts.) But Mary Magdalene came forward and said: “Do not be afraid! He is with us and will protect us." Maria remained calm and was not afraid. She managed to persuade the students to do good, and they began to discuss the words of the Savior.
In the Gospel of Philip, Mary is depicted as a symbol of wisdom, and this is enough for the Gospel of Philip to be later declared apocryphal. In the Gospel of Mary, she reveals to the disciples the words of the Savior and tells them what to do. Before this we were told about her wisdom, now we can be convinced of it. So Peter asks Mary to tell them what she knows that the other disciples don’t know? She replies: “I will tell you what was hidden from you.” And she tells how Jesus appeared to her and she spoke to him. According to the Gospel, Mary talks in detail about this conversation, which discussed spiritual development and the struggle of the soul against evil. And then a quarrel begins. Apostle Andrew comes forward and says that he does not know how to others, but it seems strange to him: “She tells us what the Savior did not say.” Here we see the beginning of disagreements. At least one disciple doesn't believe Mary. And this is just the beginning.
Then Peter comes in: “Are we really supposed to forget everything and start listening to her? How could Jesus tell the woman something he didn't tell us? Did he love her more than us? Matthew stands up for Mary and calms Peter. But he cannot understand how Jesus could put Mary, a woman, above the rest of the disciples. Peter already sees Mary as a rival in the struggle for leadership.
Mary is a personal disciple of Christ - she understands his teaching better than others. According to the ancient text, spiritual maturity helps her lead people. The whole irony is that now modern Christians consider Peter, who on the difficult day of the arrest of Christ three times publicly renounced his Teacher with an oath (see below the episode of the shameful renunciation from the Gospel of Mark), as the cornerstone on which the church stands. He is the most important student, and Maria is at best a minor figure.
The Gospel of Mary is such a challenge to our traditional understanding that science needed to verify its authenticity. After all, no one knows where it was found, and it is not mentioned in Christian texts. Until 1896, no one even suspected its existence. How can you be sure that this is an ancient document and not a fake? We need to find out the age of the text, which could have been written on ancient papyrus much later. But the Coptic text is difficult to date. Fortunately, archaeologists excavating an ancient garbage heap found two fragments of this Gospel in Greek, which is easier to date. Greek fragments can be dated based on handwriting. It turns out that the Gospel of Mary was written no later than the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 3rd century. And the analysis of the Gospel text itself shows that it is impossible to create such a forgery. To do this, one would have to know the ancient Coptic language as well as not a single scientist knows it, i.e. this language must be native. And you have to imagine life in the ancient world as if you lived there, in every detail. No one other than a person who lived at that time could have written this text.
Now that there is no doubt that the Gospel of Mary is authentic, from it we can learn why the Bible says so little about Mary. It gives a different perspective on Christ’s disciples and makes us think about the question – did all the disciples understand Christ? Is it true that their sermons came from the heart? This is a radical and even heretical question. The same can be said about the Gospel itself. It represents Mary as a teacher and spiritual leader of the other disciples. Mary Magdalene is an apostle among apostles. Until now they have tried to present it differently.
How did her reputation get ruined?
Here we need to take an unbiased look at the authorship of the Gospel. It is now impossible to establish that the author was Maria herself. But this was a woman who belonged to the Christian community. Women played an important role in the community, but even then the attitude towards them was ambiguous. The Gospel of Mary turned out the way it did because of who the first Christians were and where they met. Early Christian communities met in private homes and consisted of friends and relatives. These people first of all gathered for a common meal. The house was considered a woman's domain, and therefore women played an important role in these communities. Women could be apostles, teachers, even heads of home and church. For example, the Epistle of Peter mentions that there were female prophets among Christians. But in the 2nd and 3rd centuries there were already differences between the communities, which were headed by women and men.
For early communities, Mary Magdalene became a symbol, the personification of a Christian woman. She represents all women as opposed to men. Some male Disciples sometimes want to exclude her from their ranks, and she has to defend herself and all women.
Her main opponent among men is Peter. Strong in body, but not very spiritually gifted, complexed by his previous insignificant life, illiterate, cowardly, he suddenly felt an opportunity gain absolute leadership through strict requirement on behalf of his position, and not through the consistent instillation of good universal ideas previously preached by Christ. Desiring complete power, Peter enters into a permanent conflict with Mary, using primitive tricks to attract the other apostles to his side (who is she to Him?! What can she, a woman, know?!).
Having received the status of a Disciple of Christ (apostle!), Peter, due to a lack of natural breadth of feelings and firmness of faith, constantly strives to establish himself among the rest of the Disciples of Christ through petty conflicts, mutual intrigues and endless accusations, in which the beginnings of the ideas of the later Great Inquisition can be clearly traced - using the name of Christ to slander, accuse, force, force, force to act for one’s own purposes. Peter's methods were in full demand when Christianity became the state religion. (Later, these proven methods were used by the Russian Bolsheviks - their Cheka-GPU-NKVD-MGB-KGB became an analogue of the Holy Inquisition, strengthened by the cynical philosophy of the Jesuits and allowing them to firmly maintain their group power in any changing historical conditions, which we still have.)
There are many early Christian texts that describe their rivalry - not only the New Testament, but also sources that were not included in it. Peter and the ideas he represented took center stage in the new church. After her death, they tried to downplay Mary’s role. The Christian Church acquired the legal status of the state religion, and women were forced out of it.
Jesus Christ himself did not think about any earthly statehood, preaching his great Teaching and inclining all people to mutual kindness. The lifestyle and teachings of Christ Himself are in no way connected with the luxurious gilded robes of clergymen, the torture chambers of the Inquisition, the brutal executions of ideological opponents, the blessing to kill neighbors, the purchase and sale of Christian church slaves, duty-free supplies of alcohol and tobacco to the people, and sanctification. weapons of mass destruction and many other later phenomena of church life.
But everything flows, everything changes... According to the Will of the Lord, matter without movement is impossible. However, other humanistic ideas (and the ideas of Christ are perhaps the greatest of them) in the process of historical implementation often turned into their complete opposite. During the Middle Ages, the emphasis in church ideology was no longer placed so much on the Goodness and Kindness of the Teachings of Christ, but on the severity of his death throes, which for others should have become a science for the possible strengthening of fear. It is known that fear makes people more obedient to authorities than kindness. As they say, God’s is God’s, and Caesar’s is Caesar’s. After all, possible benefits have to be acquired on earth, and not in Heaven. Although Christ Himself was distinguished by tolerance in His deeds, He did not wish suffering on anyone and did not call for suffering. On the contrary, he tried with all his might to fight physical and spiritual illnesses, healing the sick, teaching people kindness and forgiveness.
Gradually, a lot changed, and the image of Mary eventually became a banal victim of the struggle for power. The winners wrote about her. Who was the winner? Men. By the 4th-5th centuries, even imagining a female leader had already become heresy. A woman couldn't be him. She could no longer become a bishop or just a priest. The image of Mary Magdalene began to pose a problem for the church - with its help it was possible to justify, if not leadership, then at least the equality of women. The leaders of the new Roman Church could not accept this situation. They decided to overthrow Mary Magdalene.
The Christian Church that gained power wanted to limit the teaching only to the materials it had canonized, and to remove from it everything unnecessary. Most of the apocrypha, books from Nakhamadi, the Gospel of Mary and others (48 Gospels in total) became redundant and disappeared. Imagine that you live in the 4th century and keep these books in your possession. The Church, which has already become a state church and owns a full-scale repressive apparatus, prohibits them; storage becomes life-threatening. People threw away or burned most of the banned books (as Trotsky’s books were once hastily thrown away in the USSR). Some were hidden in inaccessible places to be retrieved later. Only no one took the books, and they remained in the desert. We are unlikely to know what happened to the owners of such “wrong” literature.
(Perfectly preserved copies of the apocrypha now lie in the special storage room of the papal library in the Vatican, and are still inaccessible to world science - religion sacredly guards its secrets. Therefore, scientists have to put enormous effort into restoring the disappeared texts from randomly found sources and individual scattered fragments.)
But hiding the texts is only half the battle. Mary Magdalene still cannot be erased from history - in the New Testament she is called a disciple of Christ. So she needed to find a new role. And a new role was invented for Mary Magdalene - then she became a prostitute, and this was done quite deliberately.
A careful analysis of the Bible will reveal the truth to us. Mary Magdalene was glorified as the most famous prostitute in the world due to special reading Gospels. There are many women named Mary in the Bible, including the mother of Christ. Unfortunately, one of them is Mary Magdalene, who can no longer be completely removed from the texts - but as a result, she is turned into a fallen woman. Chapter VII of the Gospel of Luke tells of a sinful woman who anointed Jesus with perfume, wiped his feet with her hair and wept. This Mary has been associated with Mary, the sister of Martha in the Gospel of John, who prepared Jesus for burial. So Mary Magdalene became the sinner who anointed Jesus with perfume. From here it is one step to connect Mary Magdalene with all the sinners of the Gospel. But if she is a woman, what sin is she guilty of? Of course, adultery is a typical sin of women! It is easy to insult and denigrate a female leader by associating her with prostitution.
The Catholic Church declared Mary Magdalene a saint and dedicated churches to her. But she remained a penitent saint. Only in the twentieth century did the time come, albeit partially, to reconsider this.
In 1969, the Catholic Church admitted that Mary had been slandered. She is no longer called a penitent saint, but many in their ignorance still consider her a prostitute.
We must remember that Mary Magdalene did not just follow Jesus and saw his Resurrection. She was a leader of the early Christian movement. And we must remember how she was turned into a prostitute. This history can teach us a lot (especially if we also remember the history of the USSR). Although scientific history cannot be trusted too much either. As academician and Nobel laureate Vitaly Ginzburg noted, “the main task of most scientists is not the search for sources of truth, but the search for sources of their own funding.” History in this regard, perhaps more than any other science, has come closer to the property of art described above.
We must remember that Mary played an important role in the Christian movement. She was a personal and beloved disciple of Christ. She found the courage to attend the execution along with other women when all the other apostles hid. At the most dramatic moment for Christianity, she was the first saw The Resurrection of Christ and convinced others of the miracle that had happened. In the later medieval tradition, Mary is opposed by Peter - which means that she is no less important than all 12 apostles.
Mary Magdalene really stood out among the disciples of Christ. However, she was never called an apostle and was not given due credit for her merits, although it was this outstanding woman who made Christianity a world religion.
The slander against Maria first appeared a long time ago, and the whole truth is not easy to restore.
But sooner or later this great woman (and perhaps the greatest in history!) will have to be recognized as the founder of the Christian church. The inevitability of such an outcome follows from historical truth and the ever-increasing role of women in the modern world.
Compiled by the editors based on research materials from Harvard University, the University of South Florida, the University of Massachusetts, the University of Münster (Germany), Brown University, The John Rylands Library and many other modern scientific sources.
My friend had a question about the life fate of Mary Magdalene. Was she a sinner before Jesus Christ cast out seven demons from her? In the West, her image is interpreted as a repentant sinner, but nowhere in the Gospel texts have we found confirmation of this. Only that Mary Magdalene became one of the myrrh-bearing women, faithfully following Christ until His death on the cross.
Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) answers:
Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene was from the Galilean city of Magdala (tribe of Issachar), located on the western shore of Lake Gennesaret, near Capernaum. She is mentioned by all four evangelists. After the Lord healed her from evil spirits (see: Luke 8:2), she joined those pious wives who accompanied the Lord everywhere during His earthly life and served Him in their name. She witnessed the Savior's suffering on the cross and was present at His burial. At dawn on the first day after the Sabbath, she and other pious women went to the tomb of Jesus Christ to anoint His body with incense. Therefore, the Church calls them myrrh-bearing women. They were the first to be told by an angel about the Resurrection of the Lord (see: Mark 16: 1-8). For her great devotion and sacrificial love for her Teacher, she was honored to be the first to see the risen Savior. He instructed her to announce to the apostles about His resurrection. Saint Mary Magdalene appeared to the apostles as an evangelist. This is sung in the Easter stichera (the work of St. John of Damascus):
“Come from the vision of the wife of the good news, and cry to Zion: receive from us the joy of the annunciation of the Resurrection of Christ; show off, rejoice and rejoice, O Jerusalem, seeing King Christ from the tomb like a bridegroom.”
There is not a single word in the New Testament that Saint Mary Magdalene was a sinner. This opinion has taken root only in Western culture. A certain stage in the formation of this opinion was the identification of Mary Magdalene with the woman who anointed the feet of Jesus with ointment in the house of Simon the Pharisee (see: Luke 7: 36-50). The Gospel text does not provide any basis for such a statement. The Lord forgave that woman her sins, saying: “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7:50). However, nothing is said about casting out demons. If the Savior did this earlier, then why weren’t sins forgiven at the same time? Following this, the Evangelist Luke immediately (chapter 8) speaks of godly women who served the Lord. The mention of Mary Magdalene is accompanied by a remark (“out of whom came seven demons”), which clearly shows that she is being spoken about for the first time.
The final establishment in the West of an arbitrary and erroneous opinion about Saint Mary Magdalene as a former sinner was facilitated by the book of the Italian Dominican monk, Archbishop of Genoa James of Voragin (now Varazze) “The Golden Legend” (“Legenda Aurea”), the creation of which dates back to 1260. This collection of legends and biographies of saints became a source of subjects for painting and literature. The author of the collection identifies Mary Magdalene with Mary, the sister of the righteous Lazarus and Martha. He writes that the names of their parents are Sirus and Eucharia, and they came from a royal family. Their children shared a rich inheritance: Mary received Magdala, Lazarus received part of Jerusalem, and Martha received Bethany. In this story it is easy to see a naive projection of the feudal relations of medieval Europe onto ancient Palestine. Arriving by ship in Massilia (modern Marseille), Mary preached to the pagans. Then it is told about her removal to the desert, where there is no water and food, but where she received heavenly food. She spent 30 years there. “This is witnessed by a certain priest who settled nearby. He meets Mary Magdalene, who tells him about her imminent death and instructs him to inform Blessed Maximinus about this. Having met Blessed Maximin on a certain day and having received the last communion from him, she dies. Maximin buries her and orders after his death to bury himself next to the saint. As the source of this part, James presents us with “some treatise” of Josephus and “the books of Maximinus himself.” It is unknown what works we are talking about" ( Narusevich I.V. The Life of Mary Magdalene in the “Golden Legend” by Jacob of Voraginsky).
It is easy to notice the mixture of subjects: the legendary life of Mary Magdalene and the adapted life of the Venerable Mary of Egypt († c. 522). This combination of two personalities - the holy evangelist and the repentant harlot, who later became the great hermit - from the “Golden Legend” passes into European art and becomes a stable phenomenon. So, around 1310, Giotto di Bondone and his students painted the chapel of Mary Magdalene in the Lower Church of San Francesco in Assisi. On the wall above the entrance to the chapel there is a scene that is directly borrowed from the Life of the Venerable Mary of Egypt - “Mary Magdalene receives the robe of the hermit Zosima.” Donatello's bronze-tinted wooden sculpture (1445) expressively depicts a desert woman exhausted by her feat. Her body is covered with shabby rags. This masterpiece has little connection with the real-historical image of St. Mary Magdalene. Once again we see a mixture of the images of two saints. An extensive gallery of paintings on the theme “Penitent Mary Magdalene” is gradually being created. Suffice it to recall such artists as Vecellio Titian (1477-1576), El Greco (1541-1614), Michelangelo da Caravaggio (1573-1610), Guido Reni (1575-1642), Orazio Gentileschi (1563-1639), Simon Vouet ( 1590-1649), José de Ribera (1591-1652), Georges Dumenil de Latour (1593-1652), Francesco Hayes (1791-1882); sculptors Pedro de Mena (1628-1688), Antonio Canova (1757-1822) and others.
The Orthodox Church, in its narration of the life of Saint Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, strictly adheres to the Gospel testimonies and reliable church tradition. The saint preached the Gospel in Rome. Some researchers believe that the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Romans has Saint Mary Magdalene in mind: “Greet Miriam, who labored much for us” (Rom. 16:6).
One of the most famous female figures in Orthodoxy is Mary Magdalene, with whom there is a lot of reliable information and speculation from various researchers. She is the main one among, and she is also considered the wife of Jesus Christ.
Who is Mary Magdalene?
A devoted follower of Christ who was the myrrh-bearer is Mary Magdalene. A lot of information is known about this saint:
- Mary Magdalene is considered equal to the apostles, and this is explained by the fact that she preached the Gospel with special zeal, like the other apostles.
- The saint was born in Syria in the city of Magdala, which is why the nickname known throughout the world is associated.
- She was next to the Savior when he was crucified and was the first to exclaim “Christ is Risen!”, holding Easter eggs in her hands.
- Mary Magdalene is the myrrh-bearer, since she was among those women who, on the morning of the first day of Saturday, came to the Tomb of the risen Christ, bringing with them myrrh (incense) to anoint the body.
- It is worth noting that in Catholic traditions this name is identified with the image of the harlot who repented and Mary of Bethany. A large number of legends are associated with it.
- There is information that Mary Magdalene is the wife of Jesus Christ, but there is not a word about this in the Bible.
What did Mary Magdalene look like?
There is no clear description of what the saint looked like, but traditionally in Western art and symbolism she is represented as a young and very beautiful girl. Her main pride was her long hair and she always wore it down. This is due to the fact that when the girl poured the ointment on Christ’s feet, she wiped them with her hair. More often than usual, Mary Magdalene, the wife of Jesus, is depicted with her head uncovered and a vessel of incense.
Mary Magdalene - life
In her youth, it would be hard to call the girl righteous, since she led a depraved life. As a result of this, she was possessed by demons who began to subjugate her. Equal to the Apostles Mary Magdalene was saved by Jesus, who cast out demons. After this event, she believed in the Lord and became his most faithful disciple. Many important events for believers are associated with this Orthodox figure, which are described in the Gospel and other scriptures.
Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene
Holy Scripture tells about the saint only from the moment she became a disciple of the Savior. This happened after Jesus delivered her from seven demons. Throughout her life, Mary Magdalene maintained her devotion to the Lord and followed him until the end of his earthly life. On Good Friday, together with the Virgin Mary, she mourned the death of Jesus. Finding out who Mary Magdalene is in Orthodoxy and how she is connected with Christ, it is worth pointing out that she was the first who came to the Savior’s tomb on Sunday morning to once again express her fidelity to him.
Wanting to pour incense on His body, the woman saw that only the burial shrouds remained in the coffin, but the body itself was missing. She thought it had been stolen. At this time, Christ appeared to Mary Magdalene after the resurrection, but she did not recognize him, mistaking him for a gardener. She recognized him when he addressed her by name. As a result, the saint became the one who brought the good news to all believers about the resurrection of Jesus.
Children of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene
Historians and archaeologists in Britain, after their research, declared that the saint was not only the faithful companion and wife of Jesus Christ, but also the mother of His children. There are apocryphal texts that describe the life of Equal-to-the-Apostles. They tell us that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a spiritual marriage, and as a result of the immaculate conception she gave birth to a son, Joseph the Sweetest. He became the founder of the royal house of the Merovingians. According to another legend, Magdalene had two children: Joseph and Sophia.
How did Mary Magdalene die?
After Jesus Christ was resurrected, the saint began to travel around the world to preach the Gospel. The fate of Mary Magdalene brought her to Ephesus, where she assisted the holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian. According to church tradition, she died in Ephesus and was buried there. The Bollandists claimed that the saint died in Provence and was buried in Marseille, but this opinion has no ancient evidence.
Where is Mary Magdalene buried?
The grave of the Equal-to-the-Apostles is located in Ephesus, where John the Theologian lived in exile at that time. According to legend, he wrote chapter 20 of the Gospel, in which he talks about his meeting with Christ after his Resurrection, under the guidance of the saint. Since the time of Leo the Philosopher, the tomb of Mary Magdalene has remained empty, since the relics were transferred first to Constantinople and then to Rome to the Cathedral of John Lateran, which was later renamed in honor of Equal-to-the-Apostles. Some parts of the relics are also located in other churches in France, Mount Athos, Jerusalem and Russia.
The Legend of Mary Magdalene and the Egg
Traditions are associated with this holy woman. According to existing tradition, she preached the Gospel in Rome. In this city, Mary Magdalene and Tiberius, who was the emperor, met. At that time, the Jews observed an important tradition: when a person comes to a famous person for the first time, he must bring him some kind of gift. Poor people in most cases brought vegetables, fruits and eggs, with which Mary Magdalene came.
One version says that the egg taken by the saint was red, which surprised the ruler. She told Tiberius about the life, death and resurrection of Christ. According to another version of the legend “Mary Magdalene and the Egg,” when the saint appeared to the emperor, she said: “Christ is Risen.” Tiberius doubted this and said that he would believe it only if the eggs turned red before his eyes, which is what happened. Historians doubt these versions, but the people have a beautiful tradition with deep meaning.
Mary Magdalene - prayer
Thanks to her faith, the saint was able to overcome many vices and cope with sins, and after her death she helps people who turn to her in prayer.
- Since Mary Magdalene conquered fear and unbelief, those who want to strengthen their faith and become more courageous turn to her.
- Prayer requests in front of her image help to receive forgiveness for sins committed. Women who had an abortion ask her for repentance.
- Prayer to Mary Magdalene will help protect yourself from bad addictions and temptations. People turn to her with problems to get rid of them as quickly as possible.
- The saint helps people receive protection from magical influences from outside.
- She is considered the patroness of hairdressers and pharmacy employees.
Mary Magdalene – interesting facts
There is a lot of information associated with this famous female figure in the Orthodox faith, among which several facts can be highlighted:
- Saint Mary Magdalene is mentioned 13 times in the New Testament.
- After the church declared the woman a saint, relics from Magdalene appeared. These include not only relics, but also hair, chips from the coffin and blood. They are distributed throughout the world and are found in different temples.
- There is no direct evidence in the known Gospel texts that Jesus and Mary were husband and wife.
- The clergy claim that the role of Mary Magdalene is great, since it was not for nothing that Jesus himself called her his “beloved disciple,” because she understood him better than others.
- After the appearance of various films related to religion, for example, The Da Vinci Code, many people had various doubts. For example, there are a huge number of people who believe that in the famous icon “The Last Supper” next to the Savior it is not John the Theologian, but Mary Magdalene herself. The Church assures that such opinions are absolutely groundless.
- Many paintings, poems and songs have been written about Mary Magdalene.
Some consider her to be the true messiah, who performed all the miracles and sacraments, and Jesus only accompanied her.
What happened to her? Did she die in the Promised Land or, as some claim, did she move to France and continue her ministry there?
Most Christians consider her to be a harlot who met Jesus and was transformed, but the apocryphal Gospels say that not only were they intimate, but she had power over him. Jesus was fascinated by her.
The real Mary Magdalene is much more interesting than the one written about in the Bible.
Mary Magdalene had special abilities: she knew how to heal, which is why she is so revered as a priestess, as a goddess.
She was special. The real Jesus Christ was a woman, Mary, whose role was retouched. Mary was the true spiritual leader in first century AD Judea.
Is the real Mary Magdalene a harlot or the thirteenth apostle?
St Baume, South of France (Saint-Baume, south of France). Narrator: Jamie Theakston. This is a version of events that you won't read about in the Bible, but many believe that a deal was made with the then Roman governor of Jerusalem, Pontius Pilate. Jesus was smuggled out of the city on the day of the crucifixion, perhaps dead, perhaps alive or asleep. This explains the absence of a body in the cave. But is this true?
Robert Howells
Author, “The Last Pope”
There are enough hints in the Bible that Jesus did not die on the cross: his legs were not broken, he did not stay on the cross long enough to die. Crucifixion is a long and painful death. It was removed quite quickly and after a while Jesus appears again. And if he really is the King of the Jews, then this is a serious threat to Rome, because he can raise the people to revolt. He needed to disappear. And Mary, according to the lives of the saints, leaves the Holy Land and goes to France. The question is, was Jesus with her, or perhaps his body? What happened?
When the Romans crucified Jesus, Mary Magdalene was there and supported him until the very last minutes, then mourned his death. She was the first to discover the empty cave and witnessed the Resurrection.
In art, she is often depicted half-naked or as a hermit repenting of her sins in the desert as an outcast. We know her as a harlot. This image, firmly established in the minds of scientists and historians, has nothing in common with the real Mary Magdalene.
She is mentioned in all four Gospels of the New Testament, but nowhere is it said that she is a harlot or a sinner.
Dr. Linda Papadopoulos
Author & Psychologist
The biblical Mary Magdalene is a rather passive figure. This is the woman who was saved. And if we consider this story a fairy tale, then in it she is like a beautiful princess who needs to be saved. She is a repentant sinner who at some point crossed the path of Jesus. But some historians believe that the real Mary Magdalene shared Jesus' beliefs and supported him. She may even have been the thirteenth apostle! Many people believe this.
Confusion with Maria: united and slandered
Ross Andrews
Author & Historian
She probably lived near the Sea of Galilee in a small fishing village. Some believe that its roots are in Ethiopia, in Sainte-Marie-de-la-Mer, others - in Egypt. It is quite difficult to choose one version and say that this one is the real Mary Magdalene.
It seems that Mary is sometimes confused with two other female characters in the Bible - Mary, the sister of Martha, and the unnamed sinner from the Gospel of Luke. They both washed Jesus' feet with their hair.
In the 6th century, Pope Gregory made this false assumption, officially suggesting that the three characters were the same person: Mary Magdalene.
Robert Howells
Author, “The Last Pope”
After the advent of Christianity, as the new faith began to spread, one of the features was that the role of Mary Magdalene began to be downplayed, and by the 6th century she began to be associated with a woman, according to the Bible, who committed adultery. It was then that she became what we know her - a fallen woman, a sinful harlot, a negative hero.
Richard Felix
Author & Historian
The image of the original Mary Magdalene was changed by the church, just like the Bible, which was rewritten and edited many times. The dedicated, wise, noble woman was exposed as a harlot, a sinner, as women were then considered to be. In Christianity, male images predominate, women are lower beings.
Lynn Picknett
When the early Christian church decided that men were the leaders in this religion, Mary became a role model for women. Women had to submit to men, and, yes, they succeeded in this, largely thanks to the image of Mary Magdalene. Her name is so strongly associated with female shame that for centuries fallen women were called Magdalenes. This is terrible, this is the last straw!
Lynn Picknett wrote three books about Mary Magdalene and devoted 30 years of her life to searching for the truth about her.
Jamie Theakston: So who was Mary Magdalene?
Lynn Picknett: The Church's version of her story is based on the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and she is mentioned in passing. One can make many assumptions about her, but for the first time she comes to the fore in the crucifixion scene.
She sits at the foot of the cross, then enters the cave and sees that Jesus' body has disappeared!
Next, she presumably meets him in the garden - the risen Jesus. This is her finest hour: the death of Jesus! She was there, playing an important role in these events. But in the canonical Gospels its significance is emphasized only when the story comes to an end.
Something great awaits us, I know - I had a vision so beautiful that words cannot describe...
Who portrayed her like this in the Bible?
The responsibility lies entirely with the Catholic Church. The Bible never says that she was a harlot. Only in the 8th century did the Pope describe her as a sinner, nothing more. But since she is a woman, that means she is a harlot - and that’s how it has been since then. But this woman was called along with Jesus. They began their mission together, she was his equal. There were women who preached, baptized, healed, and even administered the sacraments. And when the church in its early years asked people about this, they answered: “Didn’t you know? Jesus acted at the instigation of Mary Magdalene." And the first Christians knew this. They knew that Jesus empowered women and that Mary Magdalene was, as the Apocrypha says, “the chief of the apostles.” Not Saint Peter, but she was called.
He who seeks him will find...
Dr. Linda Papadopoulos
Author & Psychologist
Women's names were often erased from history. This story is 2000 years old, and if there was such a woman with power and importance, her name was removed and her deeds were attributed to Jesus. Here’s what’s curious: for me, Jesus’ words sound like the speech of a hippie - after all, he wanted universal equality and justice! Well, then he should have considered the woman equal, and her opinion significant. That is, a woman could preach and bring biblical wisdom to people.
Open your hearts, and your minds, and your souls...
Andrew Gough
We must remember that everything we know about Jesus and Mary Magdalene was written after they were gone. Imagine how a group of theologians at the First Council of Nicaea said: “Well, what are we going to write about, guys?” I believe they wrote the story of Jesus to hide the fact that the leader of the spiritual community of the first century AD was a woman, not a man.
The life of Mary Magdalene in France: questions, riddles
The most incredible version is that Mary Magdalene fled from the Holy Land to France while pregnant with Jesus.
Richard Felix
Author & Historian
Mary arrived in France and suddenly found herself at the center of the local Christian community. These people lived for 30 years in caves as hermits, practicing healing and performing miracles, the greatest of which, according to legend, was the arrival of Mary with a child under her heart.
Dr. Linda Papadopoulos
Author & Psychologist
Some believe that Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus and they wanted to live as a family. There is hardly any confirmation of this, but we know for sure that in those days women were erased from history and the role of Mary in the life of Jesus was belittled. In fact, her role both in the development of Christianity and in the relationship with Jesus was more significant - it was simply hushed up. I guess it was all because she was a woman, that's all there is to it.
Sainte-Marie-de-la-Mer, south of France (St Marys of the Sea, South of France). This small town in the south of France is located near Marseille and is called Sainte-Marie-de-la-Mer or “Saint Mary of the Sea”. It is believed that here, in the year 45, Mary Magdalene and the people accompanying her came ashore.
According to legend, they arrived here from Alexandria, from Egypt. She was accompanied by Jesus' uncle Joseph of Arimathea and they may have carried Jesus' body with them. The local church celebrates this event, but mixes things up slightly by celebrating the arrival of not one, but three Marys on this day.
Eat! This is a festive meal for all of us in the name of the path we have traveled and the path that still lies ahead. I am proud of you. Eat, drink!
The first church of St. Mary was built here in the 9th century, and my guide will be a local guide who knows a lot about Mary, Martina Guillot.
Jamie Theakston: Martina, what did Mary Magdalene do when she arrived here?
Not only Mary Magdalene, but also everyone who arrived with her. Their mission is to tell people that Jesus is alive and resurrected. The Virgin Mary also arrived here, she was about 60, others were younger - like Mary Magdalene, who was 30-35 years old. They came with the message of Jesus and the Gospel.
So Mary Magdalene preached here?
Yes, I believe that this is exactly what they came here for...
Andrew Gough
In the Bible, Mary is barely mentioned in the scene of crucifixion, burial and resurrection, and then disappears altogether. But then she appears in the traditions of Southern France, where she probably went, and there is a connection - she was expelled from the largest Jewish community. Where should she go? The second largest Jewish community was then located in Gaul, in France.
Dr. Linda Papadopoulos
Author & Psychologist
She didn’t just move and “lay low,” she had a mission. If she was a close associate of Jesus, then she shared his ideology and way of thinking. She believed in the same thing that he believed in, and was not going to remain in the shadows. She became a missionary carrying his word.
Lynn Picknett
Author, “Christianity’s Hidden Goddess”
She was a rich woman with a purpose in life. She arrived in the south of France, preached, healed, and perhaps even baptized people. In Languedoc there are rivers with the names Surz Madeleine, the Magdalene River, according to legend, she performed baptism in them. She is an epic figure, perhaps the first apostle.
Holy relics: Mary Magdalene existed!
Sainte-Marie-de-la-Mer, south of France (St Marys of the Sea, South of France). At the very top of St. Mary's Church there is a small chapel where the relics of the three Marys are kept. Martina obtained permission for us to visit her.
Jamie Theakston: What is this? Private chapel?
Martine Guillot. Local Guide: This is the upper chapel. That's what it's called. It is located in the bell tower. At first it was dedicated to Michael the Archangel, like all the upper chapels of France, then the relics of St. Mary were transferred here.
So we're in church?
There is a reliquary there. Part of the relics of Maria Salomeeva and Maria Jacobleva are also kept there. There are 11 fragments of bones, charred because the relics were burned during the French Revolution.
So, are there particles of Mary’s relics there?
Guy Walters
Author, “Hunting Evil”
This story tells us that Mary Magdalene ended her days in France, being the figure we have always taken Jesus to be. This means that she, being essentially a tramp, preached the word of God and spread Christian teaching. Well, that's an interesting thought!
Jamie Theakston: Why are there no relics of Mary Magdalene here?
Martine Guillot. Local Guide: Mary Magdalene did not stay here. When the ship arrived, Maria Yakovleva and Maria Salomeeva came ashore. Mary Magdalene moved on.
Do you know where?
Sainte-Baume. The relics of Mary Magdalene are located in Saint-Baume, in the Church of Saint-Maximin (French: Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume).
Pilgrimage of the Gypsies, South of France. Every year in May, the small town celebrates the arrival of the three Marys with a large festival. The casket with the relics is carefully lowered from the bell tower. The procession will follow him and the sacred boat to the seashore. And the bishop along the procession will bless the thousands of people gathered - all of them celebrating the arrival of the three Marys.
Jamie Theakston: Will this boat be carried to the sea?
Martine Guillot. Local Guide: Yes, to the sea. She, of course, will be held above the water, and at this moment the bishop will bless the sea and the holy relics. Relics from the reliquary, because the sea brought us the word of God.
Robert Howells
Author, “The Last Pope”
Even the Catholic Church believes that Mary arrived in France. Her relics are kept in St. Peter's Basilica. Those. Catholics accept the old version that Mary arrived in France. There is a local interpretation of this story that she continued the work of Jesus, and in the apocryphal Gospels she is a participant in the sacraments of Jesus.
Dr. Linda Papadopoulos
Author & Psychologist
It was she who was asked by the other apostles what Jesus told her, because she knew more than they did. In the south of France, candles are still lit in honor of Mary Magdalene because she is part of Christianity and the mission of Jesus. She healed, had authority and was a strong woman. That is, even in Catholic countries there are people who do not accept the biblical image of this woman, and we believe that she was a more powerful figure than is reflected in Scripture.
St Maximin, South of France. In 1279, during excavations in the crypt of the French church of Saint-Maximin, a first-century tomb was discovered. And it contains an amazing find - a marble sarcophagus.
Charles II, Count of Provence, said that he carried out these excavations because he had a vision in which Mary Magdalene appeared.
When the sarcophagus was opened, a pleasant sweet smell came out, which was considered a symbol of the fact that Mary.
Pilgrims and tourists from everywhere strive to see the relics of Magdalene. I am accompanied by a local priest, Father Florien Racine.
Father Florien Racine: Jamie, we're going to the 4th century crypt of Mary Magdalene. Her remains and relics are kept here. Here is an old grating. It’s a little cold here, which means the church was built over this crypt.
Jamie, now we're in the crypt, and there are sarcophagi visible. And this one is of Mary Magdalene. It is made of marble, beautiful translucent marble. If you highlight it, it will shine through. The sarcophagus depicts scenes from the lives of Mary Magdalene and Jesus. They are badly damaged because many pilgrims tried to take pieces of this marble with them. Therefore he is in bad condition.
Andrew Gough
The Church of Saint-Maximin in Provence houses what they believe to be the skull of Mary Magdalene. He looks believable. It is used in rituals and ceremonies to this day.
And this makes sense, because it is important to know where you will be placed if you are a significant person. Where is the skull of Jesus? And don't tell me he ascended! Such things tell us: these people existed and, quite possibly, this is the skull of a woman who lived and preached at that time.
Let him who has ears hear, let him who has understanding understand.
Father Florien Racine: It is important for Christians to return to tradition and the belief that Mary Magdalene existed. This is not a legend. Many pilgrims found grace here by praying to Mary Magdalene.
Jamie Theakston: How do we know that this is the skull of the real Mary Magdalene?
She was buried here and in the 4th century her remains were transferred to a sarcophagus. In the 7th-8th centuries, the Saracens arrived here, and all the sarcophagi had to be removed underground, and the veneration of Mary Magdalene became a local tradition. We know that there was nothing here, everything was destroyed, and only in 1279 Charles II of Anjou carried out excavations here and found these sarcophagi deep underground. He then took the skull of Mary Magdalene, found here, and went to the Vatican to see the then Pope Boniface VIII. By that time, dad already had Maria’s jaw. And when the skull was brought in, the jaw fit it perfectly. And then Boniface VIII admitted that the relics from Saint-Maximin belonged to Mary Magdalene.
Curiously, the skull of Mary Magdalene was found with remains of skin in the places where Jesus himself allegedly touched it.
When Mary Magdalene saw the Resurrection of the Lord, she tried to hold Jesus by falling at his feet, and he said: “Don’t touch me!” and pulled her away, touching her skin (on her forehead). We speak Latin Noli me tangere. Pieces of skin were torn off during the French Revolution and later placed in this reliquary, see?
Is this the skin of Mary Magdalene that Jesus touched?
Exactly! This is the symbol of the Resurrection of the Lord.
My task, so to speak, was to find the real Mary Magdalene, and here she is!
Yes, it's her, you found her.
Lynn Picknett
Author, “Christianity’s Hidden Goddess”
She is very important to the local Catholic Church, and I think Mary Magdalene is revered here because she lived with them all these years. They know what she really was like, and this image does not correspond to the canonical one. They honor only one version of her life; they do not consider her an equal partner with Jesus on a spiritual level. They honor the harlot who repented and regained her faith.
Jesus' wife?
Sainte-Marie-de-la-Mer, south of France (St Marys of the Sea, South of France). More than 100 years ago, this story received an interesting development. In 1896, a German scientist found a curious papyrus book in a Cairo bazaar. It was covered in leather and written in Coptic. It was the Gospel of Mary.
Lynn Picknett
Author, “Christianity’s Hidden Goddess”
If we look at the non-canonical gospels rejected by the Church in the 4th-5th centuries, at the apocryphal Gospel of Philip, of Thomas, of Mary Magdalene - she is the main one there. No, the main one, of course, is Jesus, but Mary is equal to him, and we get a very clear picture. First of all, she is energetic, she cannot be silenced, she does not behave like a Jewish woman of that time, you cannot tell her “know your place!” Her hair is down. Back then, only women of a certain reputation did this hairstyle. But she doesn’t care, what’s more important to her is her relationship with Jesus. From the apocrypha it is clear that their relationship is not just intimacy, but physical intimacy. And she had power over Jesus - he was fascinated by her.
Robert Howells
Author, “The Last Pope”
In non-canonical Gospels, such as the Gospel of Mary and the Gospel of Philip, she is spoken of as the first apostle. The fact that she had intimate intimacy with Jesus - he often kissed her, loved her - one of the apostles clearly speaks about this: “Why don’t you love us as you love her?” Jesus answered: “Because I love her differently than I love you.” That is, the apocrypha clearly states that she meant a lot to him and was his companion. She is described as a companion of Jesus, that is, she is his equal.
Ross Andrews
Author & Historian
The relationship between Mary and Jesus is very contradictory. Most biblical historians and theologians look at them from a biblical perspective. But if you want to clear them of myths and legends in order to find facts, you will be faced with a question of faith. And here you have to look at this story from a different angle. It is very likely that Jesus was married and possibly had children; it would be strange if he didn't have them. And if we assume that he is married, then to whom? Isn't it the woman who always accompanies him who speaks on his behalf? In some texts they even kiss and walk together, and even he “shares his life with her.” I would say they were married.
Andrew Gough
If you look at the life of Mary Magdalene, she used expensive ointments, ointments, kissed Jesus on the lips, appeared at the cross, perhaps already pregnant. She was the only one who saw his resurrection! Such behavior is not permissible for any companion. For the wife - yes, for the leader of the spiritual community - too.
When Mary Magdalene became intimate with Jesus, it is possible that a child was born from this relationship. But one thing we know for sure is that in the south of France, Mary is revered as the most important biblical figure. She and a small group of followers began to preach and spread the teachings of the Gospels. In this area, many churches contain relics dedicated to Mary.
St Maximin, South of France. Father Florien Racine will show me relics discovered at the same time as Mary's skull.
Father Florien Racine: We go to the sacristy of the basilica. I want to show you, Jamie, something interesting... Here is the hair of Mary Magdalene.
Jamie Theakston: Wow! Can I hold it?
Yes please. You are holding a hair of Mary Magdalene that was on her skull when it was found in 1279. A small fragment of hair.
We recently conducted a study of it and found traces of red pigment. Now we know that Mary Magdalene was red-haired.
Red hair! Do many paintings depict her like this? Red, really?
Yes, it is important. Especially because in the Gospel Mary mourns at the feet of Jesus and wipes her tears with her hair.
Then he pours the incense on the feet of Jesus and wipes them again with his hair. That’s why Mary’s hair is so significant and important.
Robert Howells
Author, “The Last Pope”
The image of Mary is important because she stood at the origins of Christianity. If you are a Christian, then the path of Mary should be close to you, because the rest of the apostles accepted her closeness to Jesus and her participation in preaching. The spiritual formation of man is not shown in the Bible, but it could well have brought Christianity to France.
Lynn Picknett
Author, “Christianity’s Hidden Goddess”
Many believe that Jesus played a dominant role in this union, since he was a man and the world at that time was masculine. But why did he then allow her to sit at the foot of the cross in Judea? I think that there was a spiritual connection between them, and here we clearly see the change in his doctrine under its influence. And yet - she did not record his speeches, did not try to save them. Apparently she was the author of many of them, and when Jesus left the stage, she raised his standard.
Father Racine showed me another item. A 14th-century shroud worn during processions dedicated to Mary.
Father Florien Racine: Let's unfold it, it's old and fragile.
When his son became a bishop, he could use the shroud during the procession in honor of Mary Magdalene.
Jamie Theakston: That is, the church believes that Mary Magdalene really existed? This is true? Do you believe this?
Martine Guillot. Local Guide: Yes.
That she was a harlot who was transformed?
Yes, repentant.
Did repentance create an apostle of Christ from a harlot? And that's the point of this story?
Yes Yes exactly. This is her real life path.
Apostolic ministry: woman equal to man
Lynn Picknett
Author, “Christianity’s Hidden Goddess”
This is a special place. If you look at the cave, it is a church. It looks like a church, and not the poorest church.
Imagine, she lived in this grotto for the last 30 years of her life. Everything here is imbued with her unusual energy. Perhaps she was hiding here, so says the official story. She fled the Holy Land - there she was persecuted by early Christians. She may have been hiding, but she also needed spiritual nourishment. It is said that she came here and spent the rest of her days praying for the remission of her sins. And, of course, she prayed to Jesus, devoting her life to apostolic service.
Author, “Christianity’s Hidden Goddess”
This chapel was built by the monks of the Dominican Order, to whom it still belongs. They made her very beautiful and dedicated her to Mary with all their heart and soul. Pilgrims visit it for the sake of Mary Magdalene. Legends and chronicles say that she converted all of Provence to the true faith and only then retired to a cave. People visited her there to talk and believe, but most likely this was a manipulation of facts, local stories, nothing less.
While here, you will be amazed at how many pilgrims and tourists come here, impressed by the story of Mary Magdalene. I'm sure they are drawn to her image, which is so downplayed in the Bible. Amazingly, until 1969, the church considered her a harlot, and now she reveres her as a healer, priest and defender of Christianity, no matter how strange it may sound.
In any case, Mary Magdalene is one of the most controversial characters in the Bible. Historians are sure that if she really existed, then in the 3rd-4th centuries in the New Testament she was labeled a harlot. Why this was done is an open question.
Many modern scholars and historians believe that this was done in order to discredit her lover, who is undoubtedly considered the messiah.
Jamie Theakston: Do you think another chapter will be written in the story of Mary Magdalene?
Lynn Picknett. Co-Author, “The Templar Revelation”: As for me, I will not stop researching this story because it has everything it needs to be told. And for people like me who are interested in religion and its influence on culture, this search will continue. If you want to read Mary Magdalene, start now.
Robert Howells
Author, “The Last Pope” Author & Historian
I believe that over the last 2000 years we have looked at women, particularly Mary Magdalene, from a different perspective. And suddenly a woman had equal rights with a man. It has finally happened. And in the current context, Mary Magdalene can be considered the new messiah.
Andrew Gough
The irony is that in recent years the church has officially declared that she was not a harlot. And it is this statement that makes it even more popular. Maria is a modern rock star, a feminist icon and the most revered woman in history. That's right, the Catholic Church!
So was Mary Magdalene the lover and wife of Jesus? Did she conceive a child with him, or maybe several? Was she the true messiah and the head of the new Christian church, who was simply erased from history a couple of centuries after her death, branded as a harlot? Will the church continue to support this deception? Make your own opinion, see you next time!
Life Mary Magdalene, shrouded in many myths and legends, still
causes desperate debate among historians of religion and theologians. Who is she, this mysterious woman, who was she to Christ, why was her image deliberately distorted, and who benefited from attributing to her the past of a harlot. This review answers these controversial questions.
In the Orthodox and Catholic faiths, the interpretation of the image of Mary Magdalene is radically different: in Orthodoxy she is revered as the holy myrrh-bearer, cured by Jesus of seven demons, and in the tradition of the Catholic Church she is identified with the image of the repentant harlot Mary of Bethany, sister of Lazarus. Although it is reliably known from the Bible that the Holy Scriptures do not directly say anywhere that Magdalene was a harlot at any period of her life.
Mary Magdalene - evangelical harlot
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It was the Roman Catholic Church, either by accident or intentionally, in the person of Pope Gregory the Great, that came up with an offensive nickname for Magdalene - “harlot” and identified her with the gospel sinner.
Mary Magdalene - Equal-to-the-Apostles Holy Myrrh-Bearer
However, the Orthodox Saint Dmitry of Rostov spoke out against considering Mary a corrupt woman, who argued his opinion as follows: “If Magdalene had a tarnished reputation, Christ’s opponents would not fail to take advantage of this. But with all their hatred of the Savior, the Pharisees never convicted Him of having a former harlot among the apostles.”
The Orthodox Church was inclined to see in Mary one of the women healed by Christ who was possessed by demons. This liberation became the meaning of her life, and in gratitude the woman decided to devote her entire life to the Lord. And according to the Orthodox tradition, unlike Catholicism, Mary is considered a symbol of the personification of a Christian woman and is revered as the Holy Myrrh-Bearer Equal to the Apostles.
Mary Magdalene - the best disciple of Christ and the author of the Fourth Gospel
Among the Savior's disciples, Mary occupied a special place. She was revered for her sincere and ardent devotion to Christ. And it is not at all by chance that the Lord awarded Mary the honor of becoming the first witness to see him resurrected.
Not only that, most Bible scholars today claim that the Fourth Gospel was created by an unknown follower of Jesus, referred to in the text as the Beloved Disciple. And there is an assumption that this was Mary Magdalene, who was one of the first founding apostles and leaders of the early Christian church.
But over time, her image became a banal victim of the struggle for church power. By the 4th-5th centuries, even imagining a female leader had already become heresy, and they decided to overthrow Mary Magdalene. “This topic has become part of a constant internal church struggle between supporters of the authority of the Church and defenders of personal revelation of God.”
Mary Magdalene - wife of Jesus Christ and mother of his sons
https://static.kulturologia.ru/files/u21941/0mariya-0004.jpg" alt=""Penitent Mary Magdalene". State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Author: Titian Vecellio." title=""The Penitent Mary Magdalene." State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.
The image of the Gospel Magdalene was widely popularized by the masters of Italian painting, especially Titian, Correggio, and Guido Reni. By her name"кающимися магдалинами" стали называть женщин, после развратной жизни одумавшихся и вернувшихся к нормальной жизни.!}
According to the traditions of Western art, Mary Magdalene has always been depicted as a penitent, half-naked exile with her head uncovered and her hair flowing. And all works of art on this topic are so similar that most of us are still convinced of its great sinfulness.
https://static.kulturologia.ru/files/u21941/0mariya-0005.jpg" alt=""Penitent Mary Magdalene." Paul Getty Museum (USA). Author: Titian Vecellio." title=""The Penitent Mary Magdalene." Paul Getty Museum (USA).
In 1850, the first version of this painting was acquired by Nicholas I for the Hermitage museum collection. Now it is in one of the Italian cabinets of the New Hermitage.
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