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.
MOSCOW, August 4 - RIA Novosti, Anton Skripunov. The life of Mary Magdalene, so revered by Christians, is actually a complete mystery. Whatever they called her: “equal to the apostles,” “beloved disciple of Christ,” and even “guardian of the Holy Grail.” What is the real story and what is a myth, the RIA Novosti correspondent looked into it.
Popular Sinner
The image of Mary Magdalene, the “sinner saint,” is very popular in Western European culture. Its inconsistency has inspired artists for centuries to create paintings, sculptures, books and films dedicated to this biblical heroine.
Paradoxically, despite all this, in the Catholic Church until recently she was a saint of “lower rank”: the day of her memory was not considered a church-wide holiday. It was only in 2016 that Pope Francis “raised” it to churchwide status.
And all because of this stigma of “harlot”. There are no direct indications that Mary Magdalene was her in the Gospel. However, this did not stop Pope Gregory in 529 from identifying almost all the women who were briefly mentioned in the Gospel with Magdalene. “The one whom Luke calls a sinful woman (she, according to the Gospel story, anointed Christ’s feet with fragrant oils and wiped them with her hair. - Ed.), whom John calls Mary (from Bethany), we believe, is that Mary from by which seven demons were cast out according to Mark,” he wrote in his letters to believers.
This episode is recounted in detail in the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Luke:
“And behold, a woman of that city, who was a sinner, having learned that He was reclining in the house of a Pharisee, brought an alabaster flask of ointment and, standing behind His feet and weeping, began to wet His feet with tears and wipe them with the hair of her head, and kissed His feet. Him, and anointed him with ointment. Seeing this, the Pharisee who invited Him said within himself: If He were a prophet, He would know who and what kind of woman is touching Him, for she is a sinner. Turning to him, Jesus said: Simon! I have something to tell you. He says: Tell me, Teacher. Jesus said: A certain creditor had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty, but since they had nothing to pay, he forgave them both. Tell me which one will he love him more than them?" Simon answered, "I think the one to whom he forgave more." He said to him, "You have judged correctly." And turning to the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I have come to your house, and you brought me water. You didn’t give me your feet, but she wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head; You didn’t give Me a kiss, but she, since I came, has not stopped kissing My feet; You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you: her many sins are forgiven because she loved much, but he who is forgiven little loves little. He said to her: Your sins are forgiven. And those reclining with Him began to say to themselves: Who is this that even forgives sins? He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
However, neither in this nor in the other Gospels is the name of the “sinner” mentioned.
Nevertheless, in the 13th century, thanks to medieval legends, the image of a “repentant harlot” was finally assigned to Mary Magdalene. And then legends arise that she kept the Grail - the cup with the Last Supper.
However, a mythical aura has surrounded Mary Magdalene since the first centuries of our era, when Gnostic sects called Mary Magdalene “the wife of Jesus.” For example, on one of the Gnostic scrolls of the 4th century, scientists found the phrase “Jesus said to them: “My wife...” This gave rise to various conspiracy theories about the supposedly existing descendants of Christ and Magdalene, which was popularized by the American writer Dan Brown. But the arguments of supporters of such versions Researchers have repeatedly refuted this.
Just a few lines
The most reliable source of information about the life of Christ and his first followers, according to Christian teaching, is the Gospel. And there Mary Magdalene is mentioned only six times. Mark and Luke say that the Savior, being in Galilee, cast out seven demons from her, and she followed him. Matthew mentions her in the story of the crucifixion of Christ - she saw His execution and was present at the burial.
But the most important gospel episode with her participation is the resurrection of Christ. Mary Magdalene, along with other women, went to the Teacher’s tomb to anoint his body with myrrh (a mixture of oil, wine, fragrant herbs and aromatic resins, which in Old Testament times was used to anoint high priests, prophets and kings), as required by the ancient Jewish funeral ritual. These women (the church calls them myrrh-bearing women) were the first to discover that Jesus’ body was not in the crypt, and then, as the evangelists testify, an angel announced to them about His resurrection.
Evangelist John the Theologian even claims that Mary Magdalene was the first of all the disciples to see the risen Christ. Finding only burial shrouds in the tomb, she “stood at the coffin and cried.” But suddenly she saw two angels who asked about the reason for her grief.
“He said to them: They have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid Him. Having said this, she turned back and saw Jesus standing; but she did not recognize that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her: Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for? She, thinking , that it is the gardener, says to Him: Master, if you have brought Him out, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him. Jesus says to her: Mary! She turned and said to Him: Rabbi! - which means: Teacher! " - the evangelist testifies.
That's all. Holy Scripture for Christians says nothing about the further fate of Mary Magdalene.
“There is her life in the Chetya-Minea (a collection of popular biographies of saints. - Ed.) of St. Demetrius of Rostov - in a broad sense, this is part of the Holy Tradition,” explains Archpriest Maxim Kozlov, a professor at the Moscow Theological Academy.
According to this life, having lived for some time after the resurrection of Christ in Jerusalem, Mary Magdalene, together with the Mother of God and the Apostle John the Theologian, appeared in Ephesus. There she helped them preach, and then went on a missionary journey through the territory of modern Italy.
By the way, the custom of painting eggs for Easter is explained by one of the legends about Mary Magdalene.
According to her life, she “found an opportunity” to appear before the Roman Emperor Tiberius to talk about Christ, and according to Eastern custom, she presented him with a red-painted chicken egg as a gift, exclaiming “Christ is Risen!” The Chetya-Menaia says that the Savior’s disciple went to such a shocking prank according to the ideas of the Roman nobility (the enlightened Romans were convinced that the resurrection of man was impossible in principle) specifically in order to “arouse the curiosity of the suspicious emperor.” There is also a popular church tradition, according to which Mary Magdalene handed the emperor a simple white chicken egg with the news of the resurrection of Christ, and in response to this the emperor exclaimed that there could be no resurrection, just as it was impossible for this egg to suddenly turn red. And then it turned red.
“The tradition speaks of different things. And it is clear that we do not treat the text of the lives as the text of the Holy Scriptures, accepting each of their letters as the ultimate truth. But this is fundamental evidence: she, like other members of the first Christian generation, contributed to that from a remote province of the Roman Empire, Christianity spread over several decades throughout the entire civilized world at that time. And we carefully preserve it,” emphasizes Father Maxim Kozlov.
Chance find
Meanwhile, indirect evidence about the life of Mary Magdalene can be provided by archaeological discoveries. Thus, 20 years ago, scientists believed that the ancient Jewish settlement of Magdala and the modern Israeli city of Migdal had nothing in common. But in 2009, they accidentally stumbled upon the ruins of an ancient synagogue, built no later than 29 AD. And then they found fragments of residential buildings and numerous utensils. From this moment on, science no longer doubts that the homeland of Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary really existed.
Now experts are carefully examining its surroundings. Last year they excavated a 5th-century Byzantine church with floor mosaics that revolutionized scientists' understanding of the life of the early Christian community.
The inscription on the mosaic says that the church was built by a local woman named Susanna. Moreover, she is mentioned without adding the name of her husband or guardian, which is completely contrary to the customs of Roman society in the first centuries of our era. According to archaeologists, this suggests a higher status than is commonly believed for women in Christian communities of the period. Before this discovery, indirect evidence of the position of Christian women in society was found only in the lives of martyrs who, for the sake of faith in Christ, divorced their husbands, that is, they committed an extremely daring act for that time.
“We conclude that Susanna is an independent woman who donated money to the church community in this Galilean village,” archaeologists told the Times of Israel.
The discovery provoked another round of controversy both about the role of women in Christianity and about Mary Magdalene’s personal contribution to the so-called “women’s issue.” For example, some Protestant communities in the United States call her the chief, or first, apostle. But the Russian Orthodox Church does not agree with such statements.
“The women’s issue simply did not exist in the church of the first centuries. It is clear that Christians act in a certain historical and civilizational context, on the one hand, the Roman Empire, and on the other, the Old Testament world,” notes Father Maxim Kozlov.
Therefore, the first Christians, according to him, did not destroy the cultural foundations of the world in which they lived. At the same time, one of the main principles of Christianity is that this teaching is equally addressed to both men and women. Thanks to the spread of this idea, the church venerates Mary Magdalene not as a repentant harlot, but as a woman equal to the apostles.
In the last decade, the entire publishing industry has begun to write about Mary Magdalene. But instead of seeing the saint as she was understood in the Christian tradition, for some modern writers she has become the “goddess of the Gospels,” the “wife of Jesus,” the Holy Grail, or the real founder of Christianity. But what do ancient Christian records tell us about Mary Magdalene?
Among the women who appear in the Gospel, after the Mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene stands out most of all. No doubt because it occupied a special place in the memories of the life of Jesus that were handed down. First of all, she is presented as an important witness to the death and resurrection of the Lord. In the records of Matthew, Mark and Luke she is always mentioned as the first of a group of women who watched the crucifixion from afar (Mk 15:40-41), saw where Jesus was buried (Mk 15:47) and, according to St. Matthew, remained seated opposite the tomb ( Matthew 27:61). It is also said that on Sunday early in the morning Mary Magdalene and other women returned again to anoint their bodies with the spices they had bought (Mk 16:1-7), and that then they received news from an angel about the resurrection and an order to go and tell the disciples (Mk 16: 1-7).
Saint Luke, and only he, in addition, gives information that many women who were delivered from diseases and from evil spirits followed Jesus in Galilee and served Him with their property, among them Mary, called Magdalene, from whom they came seven demons (Luke 8:2-3; Mark 16:9).
St. John tells things differently. Magdalene appears at the foot of the cross, and she is mentioned last after the Mother of Jesus, her sister, and Mary of Clopas (John 19:25). Then she says that on Sunday, when it was still dark, she went to the tomb and seeing a rolled away stone slab, she ran to tell Peter and her beloved disciple (John), thinking that someone had taken the body (John 20: 1-2). Then she returned to the tomb and we read that she was crying at the tomb, and then the scene where the Risen Jesus appears to her, instructing her to convey to the disciples the message that He is ascending to the Father (John 20: 11-18). In St. John, the figure of Magdalene is filled with symbolism and represents the Church seeking and finding, finding her Master risen, and can exclaim “I have seen the Lord.”
Three women
It does not follow from the gospel stories that Mary Magdalene was a sinner who, according to Luke 7:36-49, anointed Jesus and wiped His feet, which she had wet with her tears. This vision spread to the Latin Church at the end of the 6th century by St. Gregory the Great. This resulted from a process of interpretation of the Gospels, which lacks logic, but which, however, is not 100 percent accurate.
In the Gospels, under different circumstances, women anointed Jesus three times: Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus (John 12:1-8), another whose name is not mentioned (Matt 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9), and a woman whose simply called the sinner spoken of in Luke 7:36-50. Since 200, some Holy Fathers and church writers from Alexandria and northern Africa (such as Clementius of Alexandria and later St. Ambrose of Milan and St. Augustine) have said that in all three cases it could be the same woman. And the next step was to identify this woman as Mary Magdalene.
Thus, the various gospel stories were lined up into one picture and many things were simplified. With such an identification, her image was not desecrated, but was even praised: St. Peter denied the Teacher, and St. Paul was a persecutor of Christians, and many great saints were great sinners before their conversion.
Other writers, primarily in the East, maintained the distinction between the three (for example, St. Ephren the Syrian and St. John Chrysostom).
Successor of secret revelations
Later texts use the figure of Magdalene to announce the secret revelations of Jesus. We are talking about works whose teaching diverges from the apostolic tradition collected in the New Testament. These texts belong to some of the Gnostic teachings existing in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Although these works were circulated under the title "gospels", they do not actually belong to this literary genre, since they do not contain narratives about the life of Jesus, and their authors are not interested in it. The disciples usually appear only as questioners and as recipients of revelations made after the Resurrection.
It is therefore not surprising that Mary Magdalene was one of the favorite figures in these texts as the recipient of secret revelation, since the Lord appeared to her after the Resurrection. Usually they do not call her Mary Magdalene, as happens in the Gospels, but call her Mariam or Mariamne. This is a sign that her personality is not important; what matters is that she represents a Gnostic.
In Gnostic texts, Maryam is practically the only woman who, together with the apostles, listens to secret revelations from Jesus. So we see her in Gospel of Thomas, Dialogue of the Savior,PistisSofia and other works where she asks questions to the Savior; sometimes more questions than any of the apostles.
IN Gospel of Mary only she receives the revelation made by Jesus when He ascends to heaven. This appeal to the Marys was a way to justify the Gnostic teachings by resorting to these revelations.
Another feature that is highlighted in Gnostic texts is the opposition that the apostles, especially Peter, have to Mary. This reflects the negative attitude of some Gnostics towards all things feminine, while at the same time they had to recognize that Maryam was a disciple. At the end Gospel of Mary it is narrated that Peter and Andrew accuse Mariam, telling her that she invented the revelation that she just told them; But Levi accuses Peter of saying this out of jealousy.
These data are usually interpreted as reflecting the Church's official polemic against female spiritual leadership, which was supported by some of the groups that wrote these works. But it can also be understood as a way to stand out among these groups by saying that the apostolic teaching conveyed in the name of Peter or the other apostles was contrary to what they expressed in the name of Mary.
Very far from those Gnostic teachings that disappeared in the 4th century, legends were gradually created in the Church aimed at praising the figure of Magdalene. The Greek Church said that after the Resurrection of Jesus she went to Ephesus with the Blessed Virgin and Saint John and that she died there, and then her ashes were transferred to Constantinople. In France, in the middle of the 11th century, a legend arose, embellished with many details, that Magdalene, Lazarus and some others went to Marseilles and evangelized Provence, that she then died in Aix and that her remains were eventually transferred to Beselai.
Gonzalo Aranda Perez–Professor of Old Testament at the University of Navarre.
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Mary Magdalene in The Da Vinci Code
Various books that have been analyzed to what extent The Da Vinci Code worthy of trust in relation to the history of Christianity, face what is said about Mary Magdalene. In the book " Deciphering Da Vinci"(Ed. Palabra, 2004) Amy Welborn ( also author of the novel Deciphering Mary Magdalene. Truth, legends and lies) writes:
Let's quickly review what Dan Brown tells us about Mary Magdalene. According to Brown, it was a Jewish woman from the tribe of Benjamin who married Jesus and gave birth to a son from Him. Jesus tried to give the Church into her hands, this Church was to restore the “feminine divinity” to human life and the general consciousness. After the crucifixion of Jesus, Mary Magdalene went to the Jewish community of Provence, where she and her daughter Sarah took refuge. Her belly is the Holy Grail. Her bones rest under a glass pyramid at the entrance to the Louvre. The Priory of Sion and the Knights Templar dedicated themselves to protecting her history and her ashes. The Priory worships her "as a Goddess... and as a Divine Mother."
Keeping in mind that the Gospels mention Mary Magdalene on very few occasions, then where do these ideas come from? The answer is found precisely in the novel itself, when Teabing, “our outstanding scholar” shows his library. And quotes: Templar Revelations and the Sacred Riddle(two works of pedantic pseudohistory and conspiracy theory), TheGoddesintheGospels (Goddesses in the Gospels) And TheWomanWiththeAlabasterJar, novel Margaret Strabird, who, among other means, uses numerology - the sum of the numbers in her name - to conclude that Mary Magdalene was revered as a goddess in primitive Christianity.
Fine; Let's take some points to reflect on what we are told in this novel: that the Gospels cannot be read literally, and that we should not believe for a moment that they tell the truth about the incidents they relate. The novel also tells that they convey in code that the first Christians considered Mary Magdalene a goddess.
Fine; if they thought she was a goddess, why didn't they spread it? Why bother with this good Jesus crucified and resurrected when they could worship Magdalene if they wanted to?
Was Magdalene slandered by the Church?
This becomes of great importance in Da Vinci Code where the person of Mary Magdalene is often invoked, where she is a prostitute, as part of an evil conspiracy organized by the Church to prevent any suspicion, or even historical evidence, of Mary Magdalene's leadership in primitive Christianity.
Two points: first, the association of Mary Magdalene with prostitution has spread over the centuries in Western Christianity (though not in Eastern Christianity). However, there is no evidence that this was - as Brown and his sources claim - out of spite, out of misogyny, or out of fear of women's power.
Brown strongly implies that Mary Magdalene was a misfit and obsessed with traditional Christianity, and portrayed her as a prostitute, a prostitute, etc.; with the intention, it is assumed, of reducing its significance.
Like almost everything we find in Brown, it's not only wrong... it's just plain ridiculous.
Christianity, both Eastern and Western, honored Mary Magdalene as a saint. Christians have given her name to churches, prayed at her grave where her ashes are supposed to be kept, and attributed miracles to her. Can this be called slander?
And on the subject of prostitution, even those who associate Mary Magdalene with the “woman... who was a sinner” of Luke (7:37) do not delve into her sins after her repentance. Christianity does not emphasize sins after repentance. This is the result of faith in Jesus. No; Mary Magdalene is remembered mainly for her role as a witness to the resurrection of Jesus.
Before the Renaissance, images of Mary Magdalene were quite calm. Only from then on do we find her repentant, unkempt, scantily clad and with her hair down. The Renaissance masters showed a growing interest in a more naturalistic and human form of representation, and the most naked way of expressing emotions. These images of Mary Magdalene have more in common with the artists' vision than with what the Church said about her.
Magdalene Party
Researcher Jane Schaberg and other modern feminist experts like Karen King have used the prominent role of Mary Magdalene in some 2nd century Gnostic texts to further imply the existence of a struggle between the Peter and Mary Magdalene parties within Christianity.
Now let's look at the logical inconsistencies that follow from here, as they are expressed in the novel. If Peter's party - which we can take to be victorious, according to what Brown says repeatedly in his novel - was so powerful in reducing the importance of Mary, why then was it necessary to emphasize her primary role in the resurrection stories, and also how the first person to receive the Good News?
Brown previously told us that before Constantine completed his heinous exploit in 325 AD, the Christians of that area considered Jesus a “mortal man.” In this case, who exactly participated in Peter's party? Supposedly these were the “overcomers,” which means they must have believed in the divinity of Jesus because that was the doctrine that won. But if the divinity of Jesus was not invented until 325 AD, where have they been all this time?
Is there evidence that some Christians fought for supremacy against the Magdalene party, and reduced its importance during the process?
No. This is pure speculation based on ideologically motivated readings of texts dating back at least a hundred years after the life of Jesus. This was done by some Gnostic-Christian sects that appeared at the end of the 2nd century and which ascribed a leading role to Mary Magdalene. There is no evidence in the 1st century Gnostic text passages that suggests intimacy between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, and no theological arguments that support their version of Christianity that downplay the role of Peter and the apostles.
Spouse of Christ?
The Da Vinci Code says that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and that this is "historically recorded." IN Da Vinci's Deception(Ed. Palabra, 2006), Mark Shea and Edward Sri say:
Among the thousands of pages written by the early Christians, not a single text appears that says that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. This is not in the Gospels of the New Testament, nor in the letters of St. Paul, nor in the Fathers of the Church. And even in the Gnostic gospels!
All evidence points in the opposite direction: that Jesus never married. For example, if Jesus had a wife, surely the Gospels would have a lot to talk about. Although they often mention His relatives (His father, His mother, His cousins), they never talk about His wife. It would be very strange if Jesus was actually married.
Additionally, the New Testament never mentions Mary Magdalene as the "wife of Jesus." Women in the Gospels are often involved with important men who are close to them when those men exist in their lives. It is noteworthy that the name of Mary Magdalene is usually associated with other women who are associated with famous men, such as “Mary (Mother) of Jesus” and “Mary of Cleopas” (wife of Cleopas) (Jn 19:25) and “John, wife of Chuza” (Lk 8, 3). But what makes Mary Magdalene stand out is that her name is usually associated with her birthplace, Magdala, but never with a man. This little detail says it all. Indicates that Mary Magdalene was not married, much less to Jesus Christ.
The Holy Grail is a symbol of immortality, spiritual purity, the door to heaven, the cosmic principle, inspiration, renewal and rebirth, a way of communicating with the spiritual world, the mystical center of the Earth. The search for the Grail symbolizes the desire for self-realization and merging with the Divine.
#1. Vision of the Holy Grail to the Knights of King Arthur. Miniature from Roman de Brut, 1470. via
Full sheet of manuscript with this miniature:
via
Medieval legends in which Mary Magdalene appears as the keeper of the Grail are described in an article by Tatyana Fadeeva, published in Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 04/05/2006.
The mystery of the Holy Grail is one that will never be solved. You can only touch it. We don't even know what the Grail was. His image, dimly visible through the curtains of centuries, was presented to people of different eras in different ways: in the form of a vessel, a bowl, a casket, a precious stone.
The legend of the Grail arose in the 12th century, seemingly suddenly. Its appearance is associated with the chivalric novels of Chrétien de Troyes and Robert de Boron about King Arthur. Their continuation and at the same time “correction” a century later, at the beginning of the 13th century, was undertaken by Wolfram von Eschenbach under the leadership of a certain Kyoto, who allegedly found in Toledo the original source of the legend, written in Arabic by a pagan astrologer named Flegetan.
Earlier documentary references to the Grail, dating back to the 8th century, describe it as a vessel studded with precious stones, shining so dazzlingly that the flames of candles dim next to it.
#2. Descent from the Cross. 15th century / DESCENDIMIENTO ARAGONES (S.XV)
More ancient European legends say that the Grail is a sacred cup with divine blood. The vessel carved from a solid emerald, from which Jesus drank with his disciples during the Last Supper with the words “this is my blood,” after the arrest of Jesus was first handed over to Pilate, and later filled with the blood of the crucified Jesus Christ and preserved by Joseph of Arimathea.
According to the Gospel text, a member of the Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathea, removed the body of Jesus from the cross and buried it in a tomb-tomb he prepared for himself not far from Golgotha. According to the apocryphal “Gospel of Nicodemus,” Joseph served the Roman governor, and therefore his request to remove the dead body was not refused, and at the same time they gave the found vessel.
#3. Giovanni di Paolo (c.1400-1482) Lamentation of Christ, 1445 / GIOVANNI DI PAOLO DI GRAZIA. Il Lomento. 1445. settemuse.it. Mary Magdalene in a red dress with her hair down.
When Joseph, with the help of the Gospel Nicodemus, removed the body of Jesus, blood flowed again from the wound inflicted by the centurion’s spear, and it was collected in this vessel.
#4. Limburg brothers. The magnificent book of hours of the Duke of Berry "Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry", 15th century / Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, Folio 157r - The Entombment the Musée Condé, Chantilly. Clickable via
After the resurrection of Christ, the Jews accused him of secretly stealing his body and threw him into prison. According to legend, the resurrected Jesus came there and returned the vessel with the precious blood to Joseph, calling it the “chalice of communion.” Only after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans was Joseph released from prison: he spent all these years without food or drink, miraculously fed from the Holy Grail.
After his release from prison, Joseph gathers a community around him, and together they go to distant lands.
According to legend, Joseph of Arimathea arrived on the southern coast of France in 35 AD. He then crossed Gaul, crossed the strait, and landed in England, where he settled at Glastonbury and founded a monastery. It preserved the legend about the wonderful vessel brought by Joseph and the famous Round Table created for him, which became the prototype of King Arthur's Round Table.
#5. Joseph of Arimathea brings the Holy Grail to Britain. Miniature from the 14th century. / The Rochefoucauld Grail, a 14th century manuscript, Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, MS 1 via1 via2
Joseph of Arimathea brings the Holy Grail to Britain by passing through water. Joseph's followers walk to the Grail on the surface of the water using Joseph's cloak. While the unbelievers drown.
At the same time, on the southern coast of France, for many centuries there was a legend that the Grail was brought to Marseille by Mary Magdalene, her sister Martha, brother Lazarus and Dionysius the Areopagite. Local residents revered Mary Magdalene as a close and devoted friend of Jesus, the myrrh-bearing wife who was the first to see Christ after the resurrection. They considered her the founder of true Christianity and the “mother of the Grail,” which, as the old legend tells, she hid in a cave until her death.
#6. Mary Magdalene carries a vessel with myrrh. Morning of the Day of the Resurrection of Christ.
Jean Colomb (1430/35 - 1493), Magnificent Book of Hours of the Duke of Berry. Marginal miniature, 1485-1486.
#7. Mary Magdalene and Jesus. "Do not touch me!". Jean Colomb (1430/35 - 1493), Magnificent Book of Hours of the Duke of Berry. Marginal miniature, 1485-1486. / "NOLI ME TANGERE"
There are two versions about what became of Mary Magdalene after the ascension of the Teacher - Greek and Latin.
According to Greek authors of the 7th century, together with the Apostle John and the Mother of God, she settled in Ephesus, where she died and was buried. In 869, the Byzantine Emperor Leo the Philosopher ordered the body of Mary Magdalene to be transferred from Ephesus to Constantinople to the Church of St. Lazarus. In 1216, the crusaders who sacked Constantinople captured her remains and brought them to Pope Honorius III, who ordered them to be placed in the Lateran Cathedral under the altar in honor of the saint.
According to the Latin version, Mary Magdalene, together with Lazarus and sister Martha, fleeing persecution, reached the south of France to Provence by sea, where the travelers landed between Marseille and Nîmes. Maria settled in a “grotto of solitude” among rocky cliffs near the village of Sainte-Baume - “Holy Fragrance”. It was named after the incense with which Mary Magdalene anointed the body of Jesus during the Last Supper. [here I didn’t understand why “during the Last Supper” apparently means in Simon’s house - approx. gorbutovich]
#8. Christ in the house of Simon the Pharisee. Mary Magdalene wipes Jesus' feet with her hair after anointing them with chrism. Giovanni da Milano, 14th century (active 1346-1369), Italy.
Here she preached Christianity and died here in 63. Mary Magdalene was buried in the Abbey of Sainte-Maximin, located 30 miles from Marseille.
In the 13th century, her tomb was opened and, according to legend, an alabaster vessel was discovered containing the remains of dried blood, which became liquid on Good Friday. At that time, there was an opinion that this was the same vessel of incense mentioned in the Gospel, with which Mary Magdalene anointed the feet of Jesus before wiping them with her hair.
#9. "Do not touch me!". Martin Schongauer (1448-1491), Germany / MAGDALENA MARTIN SCHONGAUER - NOLI ME TANGERE
The remains were transferred to the city of Vezelay, and a huge cathedral was erected in her honor at the new burial site. In 1267, King Louis the Saint was present when the remains of the saint were transferred from one shrine to another, richer one. And later, during the Great French Revolution, they were barbarically destroyed.
This legend was persistent in the south of France. The Cluny Museum houses a 15th-century painting attributed to King René of Provence, Saint Mary Magdalene Preaching the Word of God in Marseilles.
#10. Carlo Crivelli (1430/35-1495), Italy. Mary Magdalene.
In the 13th century, many legends about St. Mary Magdalene were reflected in the famous “Golden Legend” - the lives of saints collected by the Genoese archbishop Jacopo de Voragini. It was first published in Latin, and later in French.
#eleven. Jan Gossaert, called Mabuse, Netherlands, around 1530
Like early Christian authors, he identifies Mary Magdalene not with the gospel harlot, but with Mary of Bethany, sister of Lazarus, resurrected by Jesus. The Golden Legend says that “Mary Magdalene was born of noble parents who came from a royal family. Her father's name was Sirus, her mother's name was Eucharia. Together with her brother Lazarus and sister Martha, she owned the Magdala fortress next to Gennesaret in Bethany, near Jerusalem, and a significant part of this city. This entire vast domain was divided in such a way that Lazarus had part of Jerusalem, Martha had Bethany, and Magdala itself belonged to Mary, and hence her nickname Magdalene.”
“After the Ascension of the Lord,” writes Voragini, “those faithful to him were subjected to severe persecution, and the Jews, wanting to get rid of Lazarus, his sisters and numerous Christians, put them on a ship without a rudder and sails; but, led by an angel according to the will of God, they landed in Marseilles.”
#12. Master of the German school. Ascension of Mary Magdalene. I draw attention to the clothes of the Saint.
In another place it is indicated that Joseph of Arimathea was also on the ship along with the sisters Mary and Martha and brother Lazarus.
Interestingly, this sea voyage is depicted among other scenes from the life of Jesus’ beloved disciple on the left side of the altar in the southern German city of Tiefenbronn. So, it would seem, the different stories of Joseph of Arimathea and Mary Magdalene merge into a single one.
In honor of Saint Mary Magdalene, revered as the enlightener of Gaul and Frankia, many churches and chapels were erected in different regions of southern France in the early Middle Ages. The majestic basilica, founded in 1096 in Wezelay, also went down in history with the call of Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux to the Second Crusade. It was here in 1146 that he called on King Louis VII, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, knights and people to move to the East to protect Christian relics.
#13. Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli (worked 1495-1549), Italy. Reading Magdalene.
The cult of Mary Magdalene became especially widespread in the town of Rennes-le-Chateau in the province of Languedoc, where a large temple built in her honor was painted with wonderful frescoes about the life of the saint. In Languedoc traditions, Mary Magdalene is referred to as “Lady of the Waters” and “Mary of the Sea.”
#14. Jan Massys (Matsys or Metsys; c. 1509-1575), Flemish mannerist artist. Mary Magdalene in a cave with a vessel and a book.
The life of Mary Magdalene still excites the imagination of many scientists and writers. Let's remember Dan Brown's scandalous novel The Da Vinci Code. His intrigue is based on the fact that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and their descendants continued his family tree in Western Europe.
#15. Mary Magdalene. Byzantine icon.
One can also say that her mysterious image captures the idea of searching for eternal femininity; it is not without reason that, according to some legends, she was also the earthly embodiment of Sophia the Wisdom of God.
Tatyana Mikhailovna Fadeeva - Candidate of Historical Sciences, leading researcher at the Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
#16. Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898) Galahad reaches the Holy Grail / Edward Burne-Jones. Achievement Galahad the Sang Graal. via
Source of images unless otherwise noted.
For the release of the film “Mary Magdalene” on April 5, 2018. Mary Magdalene is one of the most mysterious personalities of the Gospel. People got their idea of her mainly from paintings on biblical themes. They usually depict a half-naked, repentant sinner with beautiful long hair, with which, according to the New Testament, she wiped the feet of Jesus. She became his most devoted follower. And Christ, after the resurrection, appeared to her before others. It turns out that Jesus Christ preferred the former harlot? The Savior’s strange predilection for Mary Magdalene forced many scientists who studied the Bible and looked for evidence of the events that happened in history to take a closer look at this woman. But an explosion of interest in it occurred after the appearance of Dan Brown’s book “The Da Vinci Code”, and then the film, which was a triumph on the screens of the world. It was then that the idea was first voiced that Mary of Magdala was... the wife of Jesus and the mother of his child, who became the founder of the dynasty of the Great Guardians of the Holy Grail.
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The given introductory fragment of the book Mary Magdalene. The secret wife of Jesus Christ (Sophia Benois, 2013) provided by our book partner - the company liters.
The Great Harlot
Magdalene, woman from the castle tower
IN“The Complete Orthodox Theological Encyclopedic Dictionary” writes about her: “Mary Magdalene is a myrrh-bearing wife originally from the city of Magdala. She led a dissolute life, and I. Christ, with his preaching, returned her to a new life and made her his most devoted follower. After the resurrection, Christ appeared to her before others.” Already in this short presentation there is a contradiction, or rather, a confrontation on which we decided to build the book. First of all, we encounter two inconsistencies: she was a despicable slut and - after the death of Jesus the teacher - she was the first to whom he appeared... Strange circumstances that force a believer to think a priori that a dirty whore, even a repentant one, is more valuable than a half-mother.
For several centuries, debates continued among the church fathers about whether Magdalene the Harlot, the anointing woman of Christ, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, should be considered the same woman to whom the resurrected Jesus first appeared. In the VI century. with the blessing of Pope Gregory, the Western Church recognized this identification. Whereas the Orthodox Church, which strictly adhered to the information about Magdalene known from the New Testament, never recognized this identification. Despite the fact that the Western Church in the 16th century. will come to an agreement with the Eastern Church on this issue, in the minds of the people Mary Magdalene remains the “holy harlot”, anointing the feet of Christ, washing them with tears and wiping them with her beautiful hair.
On the western shore of Lake Gennesaret is the town of Magdala, where Mary Magdalene was from.
Was this woman slutty? And did this woman, who bore the name Mary Magdalene, behave indecently? Isn’t there an error in the biblical narrative, or maybe there is a most mysterious secret hidden among the falsified events, carefully hidden from the eyes of the common man, but visible only to the initiated?
According to the official version, Mary Magdalene was born in the town of Magdala on the shores of Lake Gennesaret, in Galilee, in the northern part of the Holy Land, not far from the place where John the Baptist baptized. The middle name Magdalene is believed to refer to Magdala, her hometown on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, and the name is believed by many to be derived from the Hebrew word "migdal", "migdol", which means "castle". Therefore, Magdalene is the Latinized form of a word meaning “from the tower,” “from the castle tower.” According to other sources, the small homeland of Mary Magdalene in the time of Christ was called Migdal-El or Migdal Nunnaya, which translated from Aramaic means “Tower” or “Tower of Fish” (fish were caught and salted here). There is also an opinion that Magdala is translated as “almond”.
It may seem strange that Mary Magdalene, unlike other biblical Marys, received her nickname from her place of birth - this was completely unusual for women of that time. As a rule, a woman was given a nickname after her husband or son; in the Bible we find that “Mary of James” (Mark 16:1) and “Mary of Josiah” (Mark 15:47) were the mother – “Mary the mother of James the less and of Josiah” (Mark 15:40), and Maria Cleopas - the wife of Cleopas, who became one of the followers of Jesus Christ. Considering that our Mary was nicknamed after the name of her hometown, we can assume that: a) she led a lifestyle quite independent from men; b) was a rich woman living in a castle with turrets (tower).
Church of St. Mary Magdalene in the Russian Orthodox Monastery in Magdala was built in 1962. The monastery was built on the spot where, according to legend, the Lord cast out demons from Mary Magdalene
It may be mentioned that in addition to Mary from Magdala, the image of Mary from Bethany also appears on the pages of the Bible. “What do we know about Mary Magdalene, and what do we know about Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus? Firstly, Magdala is located on the shores of Lake Galilee, not far from Capernaum and Bethsaida, where the first disciples of Christ were from. Martha and Lazarus lived in Bethany, which was located near Jerusalem, which is very far from Magdala. It seems that this circumstance should immediately negate the commonality of these two names – Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany,” writes the author of the Christian Internet portal A. Tolstobokov. And he explains: “However, let’s not rush, because finding a simple explanation for this is not difficult, given two circumstances: 1) The Lord cast out seven demons from Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2), after which she others, healed and cleansed, followed Jesus through towns and villages. 2) The woman from Bethany was a sinner who poured precious ointment on Jesus in Simon’s house (Luke 7:37–50; Matt. 26:6,7; Mark 14:3). And in In. 11:2 and John 12:1–3 directly states that Mary, the sister of Lazarus, “anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair.” Of course, it can be assumed that there were two women who performed such a good deed towards Jesus at different times. But most likely we are talking about one woman. Then we see that “both” Marys, Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany, sister of Lazarus, had unenviable sinful pasts. Both Marys received great forgiveness from the Lord, and therefore followed Him. Is this why another nameless sinner, forgiven by Christ, is traditionally associated with Mary Magdalene? (John 8:11).”
So who is she, this strange stranger?! The sources revealing the life story of the woman from Magdala are the writings of the authors of the Gospels - Matthew, Mark, John, Luke and some others. An excellent study on this topic was carried out by Katherine Ludwig Jansen, who published a book about Mary Magdalene based on her monograph. She rightly believes that any research about this character should begin with the New Testament - the oldest historical source confirming the existence of this devoted follower of Jesus. In total, in the four Gospels this woman is mentioned twelve times, and only once not in connection with the story of the passion of Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospel of Luke (8:2-3) says that Mary, called Magdalene, is the woman from whom Jesus cast out seven demons. After he healed her, Mary of Magdala, along with Joanna, Susanna and others, became one of his most faithful disciples.
Lazarus with sisters Martha and Mary
According to the New Testament, a disciple of Christ was present at the crucifixion of the Great Teacher (Matthew 27:56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25), and she was also noticed when he was placed in the tomb (Matthew 27:61; Mark 15: 47), as well as on the first day of Passover among those who came to the tomb to anoint his body with incense (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1; Luke 24:10; John 20:1).
In the Holy Gospel of Mark, recognized by scholars as the oldest of the Gospels, the author says that Mary Magdalene was the first to see the risen Christ on the first day of Easter: Jesus “appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he cast out seven demons.” Having seen him with her own eyes, she went and announced the resurrection to the other disciples, “but when they heard that He was alive, and she had seen Him, they did not believe” (Mark 16:9-11).
In the Gospel of Matthew, Mary Magdalene, on her way from the tomb, encounters the resurrected Jesus, who instructs him to tell his brothers that they will see him in Galilee (Matthew 28:1-10).
But the evangelist Luke insists that even though Mary Magdalene came to the empty tomb of Jesus along with other women on the first day of Easter, Jesus appeared first not in front of her, but in front of two of his disciples who were going to the village of Emmaus (Luke 24:13– 15).
Katherine Ludwig Jansen's book about Mary Magdalene
The first day of Easter, as described by John, differs little from the narratives of Mark and Matthew, only he pays more attention to the meeting of Mary Magdalene with the risen Jesus. This is, according to researchers, the largest passage dedicated to her in the New Testament. John describes how Mary Magdalene, having come to the tomb and finding it empty, hurries to Peter and John and tells them that the body of the Lord has been taken away from the tomb. They immediately go to see everything with their own eyes, but soon return back. And only the devoted Mary Magdalene remains: she stands at the tomb, weeping bitterly. Suddenly two angels appear to the woman and ask why she is crying, and Mary answers. Then a man approaches her, whom she mistook for a gardener, who asks: “Who are you looking for?” She responds by crying out, mourning for her Lord. Then the man calls out to her: “Maria.” Finally, she recognizes her Lord and turns to him (John reports: Mary addresses the Risen One with the Hebrew word “rabbi” - teacher). Jesus does not allow Mary to touch him, but only orders him to tell the good news of his resurrection to other disciples and followers of his teaching.
To summarize, we point out that according to the New Testament, Mary Magdalene is exactly the woman whom Jesus of Nazareth healed from demon possession and who became one of his devoted disciples; Mary served Christ during his life, stood next to the cross on which he was crucified, was present at his position in the tomb, brought ointments and incense to the tomb after his martyrdom, was the first to see the risen Christ and became the one who first announced the resurrection to others Teachers (said in three of the four Gospels).
To avoid a superficial presentation of the fate of an important heroine, we should mention the Gnostics, who also wrote their revelations, often long before the authors of the above-mentioned holy tests. Gnosticism is a religious and philosophical movement, the adherents of which were individual Christian sects of the second century AD.
Crucifixion. Artist Simone Martini
And they were united by faith in gnosis (from Greek: “knowledge”, “cognition”), that is, in knowledge about God, the Universe, the fate of humanity, received from God (the Higher Cosmic Mind) or as a result of insight. And in each of the three Gnostic texts existing today, Mary Magdalene plays a significant role - the role of the closest and most beloved woman of Jesus, but we will talk about this later.
The Fall. In the arms of Judas of Kariot
The many-sided figure of Mary Magdalene in our time has become more attractive than ever. But - as has already been emphasized - most researchers, based on biblical information, assign her the role of a sinful seductress who became a student of an extraordinary person who calls himself the Son of God.
Well, according to tradition, we will start with the most attractive image - with the usual version of blissful debauchery. Not forgetting that in the late Middle Ages, Mary Magdalene became the most revered saint after the Virgin Mary.
And if the most beautiful paintings of great artists depict an attractive sinner, then the most beautiful image painted by the skill of a male writer was precisely the image of a dissolute maiden in Gustav Danilovsky’s book “Mary Magdalene”. However, the church and society, accusing this biblical heroine of carnal sins, giving this woman only the right to be a repentant sinner, deprived the Polish writer’s novel of the right to life and success. Immediately after the book was published in 1912, it was confiscated in various European countries. And of course, the Pope added it to the list of prohibited books. Why was the church so afraid of this “despicable novel”, no less fictitious than all the brilliant canvases with portraits of this person, but of which the church and museums of the world are so proud?!
Mary Magdalene. Artist Carlo Crivelli
Based on the biblical story told by a Pole who lived a century before us, Mary grew up under the supervision of an older sister named Martha and brother Lazarus.
“Martha found an outlet for her violent vital forces, a refuge from the difficult care of her sick brother and from the superstitious horror of her younger sister Mary Magdalene, living in the world of madness.
It was not for nothing that Mary’s mother, when she was carrying her, dreamed just before giving birth that she would give birth to wind mixed with fire - her daughter from a very young age began to justify this prophetic dream.
Alive, like a flame, impressionable, unusually attractive, and at the same time reasonable, in her childhood she was the joy and light of her family. But as her breasts developed, her home became cramped, stuffy and uncomfortable on the narrow mat of the girl’s bedroom. Something unknown drove her to meadows, groves, free fields, to the hills, to the waters, where she, together with the shepherds, gave herself up to willful pranks, crafty running, and then secret kisses and fleeting caresses, from which her beauty blossomed and her blood ignited.” .
Where does so much sensitivity come from in the humble Catholic who wrote these lines? Was he inspired by paintings depicting the beautiful-faced, red-haired Mary, or was he inspired by the biblical story with its “Song of Songs” strangely squeezed into the pages? It seems that the latter is much more truthful, for the description of the sinful Magdalene is made as if in unison with the well-known terms from the aforementioned love part of the Book of Books.
“Indeed, with her thin, regular nose, pink ears, small as shells, and luxurious golden-reddish hair, Maria was sharply different from the general type of Lazarus’s family - black-haired brunettes. And only her violet, elongated eyes, sleepy and moist in hours of calm, and a certain lazy languor in her movements, characteristic of the women of Galilee known for their beauty, reminded her of her mother.
Saint Martha
Despite such a bad reputation, everyone loved Mary. Slender, white, as if emerging from a milk bath, turning pink at the slightest excitement, like the dawn, with purple lips, half-opened, like a bursting pomegranate flower, she amazed with her irresistible beauty, disarmed with the charm of her pearly smile, and with long eyelashes and a lingering caressing gaze attracted the most severe. With her liveliness of mind and fiery temperament, she was able to so deeply capture and attract the simple-minded residents of her native town that they forgave her for her frivolity.”
So, this author allows us to show doubt that the beauty was the legitimate daughter of Lazarus; he directly says that the girl’s mother got her from a visiting merchant. Such a biography seems to justify the obscenities that the heroine does in adulthood. Everything according to the Bible: for the sins of the parents?!
Moreover: the author finds the culprit of her downfall! He attributes the first adultery to Mary of Magdala with Judas of Kerioth. He, as we know, will also be one of the leading characters in the Bible. And since we will subsequently avoid extensive quotation of this author alone, now we will still give a description of the biblical character with whom our heroine dealt.
“Meanwhile, their guesses were actually correct, but they were mistaken about the identity of the seducer. It was not at all the dark and flexible young fisherman Saul, but the heavy, ugly, hairy Judas of Keriot, a ragged tramp who wandered throughout Palestine, reached the edge of both seas, wandered along the banks of the Nile, visited Alexandria and even lived not long in distant, mysterious Rome, the formidable residence of Caesar's iron legions.
Christ with Martha and Mary. Artist Henryk Semiradski
Eloquent, crafty, keeping in his big red head a chaos of extraordinary thoughts, and in his chest under a patched cloak the scorpions of powerful desires and proud aspirations, strong and unprincipled, he managed to ignite the imagination of an exalted girl, took possession of her thoughts, entangled them with clever sophisms, and youthful blood he inflamed her to such an extent that, seizing a moment, he overcame her resistance and, having mastered her by force, kept her under the spell of his power for a long time. Fearing the consequences, he soon disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared.”
Perhaps this is how we come to the most important thing: how it all began in the matter of involvement in sinfulness. And could it be, as the author claims, that the devil of debauchery Asmodeus so captured our hot beauty with a sheaf of luxuriant hair that she even mistook “reclining” with a slave in the manner of Greek hetaeras for her innocent seductive antics? Was the tender embrace of the patrician, the greedy embrace of the merchants, or the strong embrace of the fishermen and soldiers not enough for her?
It is worth recalling once again that according to Christian tradition, Mary Magdalene is not a completely depraved girl, she is only “possessed by seven demons,” which Jesus will then successfully deal with. But what are these seven demons, and was one of these invisible monsters the same Asmodeus, greedy for the heat of love? – the biblical story is silent about this.
According to the Bible Dictionary by nineteenth-century Swedish biblical scholar Erik Nyström, the word “Demon” (from the Greek Daimon or Daimonnon) refers to an evil spirit that serves its chief superior, the devil, “the prince of demons” (Matt. 9:34). According to church minister and author of the Christian Internet portal Andrei Tolstobokov, “John writes in his first letter: “Whoever commits sin is of the devil, because first the devil sinned. For this reason the Son of God appeared, to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). So, in Mary there were seven demons who controlled her way of thinking, way of life. And this image was far from God's principles set forth in His Word, His law.
Judas Iscariot performed by Luca Lionello in the film "The Passion of the Christ"
This suggests that she was full of sin. But Christ, having power over unclean spirits (Mark 1:27), can free us from these spirits and their leader, just as He freed Mary. Jesus wants to do this, but by force, without our will, without our choice, He cannot free us from sin. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). “Though your sins be as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they be red as crimson, they will be as white as wool” (Isa. 1:18). Having received forgiveness and liberation from many sins, Mary was filled with special, reverent feelings for her Liberator. Her reciprocal love motivated her to follow and serve Christ.”
Archpriest Gennady Belovolov, who visited the homeland of Mary Magdalene, said: “When Magdala is mentioned, the image of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Myrrh-Bearer of Christ immediately appears. This place is known throughout the world as the birthplace of Mary Magdalene. It is located on the shores of Lake Tiberias, 5 km from the city of Tiberias…
Russian monastery in honor of St. Mary Magdalene, which is a monastery of the Gornensky monastery, is located not far from ancient Magdala on the shore of Lake Tiberias at the site of the source where, according to legend, the Lord cast out seven demons from Mary. A large plot of land was acquired for the benefit of the Russian Mission in 1908, and a temple in the name of Mary Magdalene was erected on it in 1962.”
Paying tribute to the “classic” sinful image of Mary Magdalene, it should be mentioned once again that she could be associated with another woman bearing the same name - Mary. The second biblical heroine, Mary of Bethany, sister of Lazarus, also had a sinful past, and both of these Marys received the forgiveness of our Lord.
The woman caught in adultery and brought to Christ, Mary, from whom seven demons were cast out, the woman who anointed Jesus with precious ointment, Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, who also anointed Jesus with ointment - traditionally Christians saw the same person in all these women. Preachers, theologians, poets, prose writers and artists attributed all these events to Mary Magdalene, who, according to Christ, should be proclaimed everywhere (Matt. 26:13; Mark 14:9).
Interior decoration of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Magdala
I wonder if the Polish Catholic Gustav Danilovsky knew or thought about this when he colorfully wrote his novel about the biblical “fallen woman”?! Did the great artists of the Middle Ages think about this, leaving us dozens of portraits with the imperishable, indestructible image of Mary Magdalene - a repentant sinner? Or did the principle of complete trust in the church fathers who affirmed this “truth” work in all these men? ...or was it that in all these men, together with the fathers of the church, the masculine, wild, ineradicable sin of contempt for Woman as such was manifested in them?!
Perfeminam mors, perfeminam vita: through a woman, death and life...
It is modern, learned, emancipated ladies who can competently exclaim: “The problems of the soul that arise in women cannot be dealt with by fitting them, women, into some form acceptable to the unconscious culture; Nor can they be squeezed into the intellectual ideas of those who claim to be the only creatures endowed with consciousness” (according to Clarissa Estes). Nevertheless, as we know, the church fathers “knowingly” placed women on the same level as human sins themselves, for already belonging to the female gender implied belonging to the “unclean”.
Opening the Bible, in the Old Testament we read in the “Book of Ecclesiastes”: “I turned my heart to know, search and seek wisdom and understanding, and to know the wickedness of stupidity, ignorance and madness, - and I found that a woman is more bitter than death, because she is a net, and her heart is a snare, her hands are fetters; the good before God will be saved from it, and the sinner will be caught by it.”
And here is Saint Ambrose, who uttered the famous expression: perfeminam mors, perfeminam vita - through woman death, through woman life, he was ready to classify all of Eve’s fellow tribesmen as sinners. Ambrose does not directly call Mary Magdalene a sinner, he makes it clear: belonging to the female gender is already her sin, for “she is a woman and therefore participates in original sin.” But it will not be long before Mary of Magdala will be contrasted with the “stupid” Eve!
Meanwhile, back in the 13th century, the Dominican monk and philosopher Aldobrandino da Toscanella, in his essay “On Animals,” thought of writing: “A woman is an underdeveloped man.”
As for the quoted phrase of Saint Ambrose, its explanation was heard in the saint’s Easter sermon, when he argued that since “mankind committed the Fall through the female gender, then humanity was reborn through the female gender, since the Virgin gave birth to Christ, and the woman announced the his resurrection from the dead." According to him, “Mary revered Christ and was therefore sent to the apostles with the news of his resurrection, breaking the hereditary connection of the female sex with immeasurable sin. The Lord does this in secret: for where sin once abounded, grace now abounds (Romans 5:20). And it is right that the woman was sent to the men, since she, who was the first to inform the man about sin, should be the first to announce the mercy of God.”
And how could any other man - unless he was Jesus Christ - take the sin of belonging to his male gender and the sin of copulation upon himself, freeing an earthly woman from this sin?!
Saint Ambrose was ready to classify all of Eve's fellow tribesmen as sinners
It is also curious: what would Ambrose, who had long since passed away in God, say about a woman if, according to some other Bible, the risen Jesus had appeared for the first time not to a woman, but to his male disciple? Perhaps then this saint would have angrily pointed out: you see, my shepherds, our Lord despised sinful creatures, even those who followed him and served him, which I advise you too - stay as far away from this infection in the image of a female temptress. However, these are all the author’s inventions...
The topic is very interesting for its deep and almost eternal (by the standards of the time of the existence of Christianity) confrontation, but we will not go very deep, because the author’s task is to consider it as simply and accessible as possible for each of us and, if possible, to explain the mystery of Mary Magdalene.
We must not forget that medieval philosophers argued that women were prone to suggestible knowledge: mysticism, inspiration, revelations and visions, while men were considered more rational creatures, prone to acquired knowledge. Also, based on the logic of many medieval thinkers, “all female sin was of a sexual nature.” But these fabrications were based on early Christian dogmas. When Pope Gregory the Great, also called Gregory the Great (540–604), the last pope of the ancient world and the first pope of the Middle Ages, whose name is associated with the origin of Gregorian chant, settled in the Vatican, he had to think about the question of personality Mary Magdalene. This was due to the increasing frequency of questions about the unclear interpretation of this image. And it was Grigory Dvoeslov who had the opportunity to evaluate the devoted disciple of Christ. One could say in the spirit of modern feminists: based on the fact that the pope was a man, he attributed to Mary Magdalene the traits and characteristics of a fallen woman.
But this great saint, revered in the West and East, had another reason to attach negative colors to the companion of Christ. During the papal reign of Gregory, the biblical city of Magdala acquired a reputation for godlessness and debauchery, a kind of follower of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the pope found it possible to take revenge on the townspeople by endowing the native of Magdala with the most unflattering qualities. Thus laying down these characteristics for many centuries to come. Here it is - the vector of history in action, when one word dictates the processes occurring in society even after millennia!
Gregory Dvoeslav had the opportunity to evaluate Mary Magdalene. He attributed to her the features of a fallen woman...
So it is likely that it was external circumstances that made it possible to attribute the life of a harlot to Mary Magdalene.
On September 21, 591, Pope Gregory the Great, during a sermon in the Basilica of St. Clement in Rome, introduced a new image of Mary Magdalene to Western Christendom, proclaiming: “We believe that this woman, whom Luke calls a sinner, whom John calls Mary Magdalene, and there is the same Mary from whom, as Mark says, seven demons were cast out.” As we see, Gregory the Great could identify three different women spoken of in the Gospels with one dissolute one. The first on this list was an unnamed sinner who showed up at the house of the Pharisee Simon, where Jesus was eating his fill at that time. In this dramatic scene described by Luke, the woman wet the Lord’s feet with tears, wiped them with her hair, and anointed them with ointment. The second, as John reported, was Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha, at whose request Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. The third is Mary Magdalene, possessed by demons, who was cured of her illness by Jesus and later became his obedient disciple.
Thus, Mary Magdalene, with the very vague and hardly provable facts of her biography, became the reason that preachers turned their attention to Woman and her nature, explaining in numerous sermons questions arising in society about the place and purpose of a woman, about the problem of prostitution, about the need for guardianship over a woman (“a man should be the ruler and master of a woman”; even the Lord is often called the Lord of Mary Magdalene). As K. Jansen wrote, “preachers and moralists invented the image of Mary Magdalene in order to consider a problem that they considered purely feminine.”
Basilica of St. Clement in Rome, where Pope Gregory the Great presented the world with a new image of Mary Magdalene
On the eve of Lent in 1497, the famous Italian Dominican priest and dictator of Florence (from 1494 to 1498) Savonarola angrily appealed to the inhabitants of Florence: “Oh, you who lust, dress yourself in a robe of hair and indulge in the repentance that is so necessary for you!.. O you , whose houses are full of vanity-pleasing trinkets, paintings, obscene objects and harmful books... bring them to me - we will burn them or sacrifice them to God. And you, mothers, who dress your daughters in vain and extravagant clothes and decorate their hair with fancy ornaments, bring all these objects to us, and we will throw them into the fire, so that when the day of the Last Judgment comes, the Lord God will not find them in your houses.” .
In the above-mentioned sermon of Pontiff Gregory the Great, it was also directly stated that the seven demons of Magdalene are seven grave sins. It turned out that Mary Magdalene’s possession by demons was a disease of the soul called sinfulness, despite the fact that the physical symptoms of the disease were seen by the main evaluator of human sins in the form of external beauty, some nudity, embellishment of the flesh and sexual incontinence. Medieval commentators on biblical texts also had no doubt that the sin of the woman from Magdala was of a sensual nature, and that she “was a sinner in the flesh.” Carnal female sin, of course, was associated with the sexual sphere. In the Gospel of John, if you wish, you can find confirmation that Mary Magdalene committed a sensual sin - in the place where there is a story about a certain unnamed woman caught in adultery. Jesus protected her, and, blessing her, commanded her not to sin in the future.
But the church fathers seemed much more intolerant than Jesus. In one of his public sermons, the Franciscan clergyman Luke of Padua calls for the fulfillment of the cruel law of Moses, who commanded the stoning of adulteresses.
It is worth remembering how medieval preachers loved to cite that passage from the canonical Book of Proverbs of Solomon, where it is said that a beautiful and reckless woman is essentially the same as a pig with a gold ring in her nose, for a beautiful woman will certainly wallow in the abomination of carnal sin in exactly the same way just like a pig always rolls around in the mud. For example, Bernardino of Siena, in one of his sermons, following the instructions of the book named, directly likened Mary Magdalene to a pig with a gold ring in her nose.
Savonarola's sermon in Florence. Artist Nikolay Lomtev
Preachers condemned almost everything that was in one way or another connected with a woman; Even dancing and singing were prohibited! For example, the medieval preacher Jacques de Vitry, in his furious sermons, castigated “guilty” sinners: “The woman leading the choir is the chaplain of the devil; those who answer it are his priests.” Another fellow preacher spoke disapprovingly of a simple round dance: “At the center of this dance is the devil, and everyone is moving towards destruction.”
Or here’s another: Dominican monk, Italian spiritual writer, author of the famous collection of lives of saints “The Golden Legend” Jacob of Voraginsky, in his sermon on the topic of Mary Magdalene’s conversion to the true path, taught that beauty is deceitful, for it has deceived many. He compared female beauty to hot coals, a sparkling sword, a beautiful apple, for they too deceive unwary young men. When touched, the coals burn, the sword wounds, and a worm hides in the middle of the apple...
Isn’t this the wretchedness of the male spirit, which does not allow a woman any decoration, any freedom, which does not give the right to unique natural beauty and innocent, joyful entertainment? Certainly, individual temple servants were no less warlike during the time of Magdalene’s “enlightenment.”
And only a woman who is curious, a woman who explores the world, is given the ability to see in Mary Magdalene the “archetype of sacred femininity.” Just as a nice remark on the topic: author of the book “Secrets of Code. A Guide to the Mysteries of The Da Vinci Code Dan Bernstein dedicated his research to Julia, “who personifies the sacred feminine every day of my life.” How far progress has come in the perception of women; and maybe our heroine Mary Magdalene played not the least role in this advancing positivity?
Jacob of Voragin argued in his sermon that beauty is deceitful, for it has deceived many. Page from the "Golden Legend"
Unfortunately, the illusory balance between the sexes today turns into the humiliation of men. In fact, in accordance with the well-known biblical expression: “With the measure you use, it will be measured back to you”...
And on this path to illusory balance, the process described by Clarissa Estes in such simple words is still underway: “Women who have been living the mythical life of the Primordial Woman for years silently shout: “Why am I not like everyone else? …” Every time their life was ready to blossom, someone sprinkled salt on the ground so that nothing would grow on it. They were tormented by various prohibitions that limited their natural desires. If they were children of nature, they were kept within four walls. If they were academically inclined, they were told to be mothers. If they wanted to be mothers, they were told to know their parentage. If they wanted to invent something, they were told to be practical. If they wanted to create, they were told that women have a lot of housework to do.
Sometimes, trying to meet the most common standards, they only later understood what they really wanted and how to live. Then, in order to live their lives, they decided on a painful amputation: they left their family, a marriage that they vowed to preserve until their death, a job that was supposed to become a springboard for another, even more stultifying, but also better paid. They left their dreams scattered along the road.”
For “scattered dreams” and for more important things – for classifying (without significant evidence) a beautiful maiden, a sweet, helpful and intelligent maiden – Mary Magdalene – among the host of walking, sinful daughters – men are the main accomplices of the infringement of the feminine essence and are now receiving what they deserve, when their role in society and family is sharply reduced.
Clarissa Estes: “Women who have been living the mythical life of the Primordial Woman for years silently shout: “Why am I not like everyone else?...”
“Are there not enough prophets who should be persecuted?”
However, let us move on to the moment when Mary of Magdala heard about the new prophet. We will never know how it really happened, but it is worth assuming that it could have happened as follows.
Judas, who dropped in to visit the family where young Magdalene lived, said:
– A new light has shone over the quiet Lake of Tiberias, called the Sea of Galilee. Some extraordinary prophet casts out evil spirits and demons, heals lepers and the possessed. And his name is Jesus, he is the son of the carpenter Joseph and Mary, daughter of Joachim and Anna, originally from Nazareth.
Simon, who was nearby, objected: “How do you know that he is true, that he is the real prophet he claims to be?”
And he complained: “Were there really so few prophets who should have been driven away from our land?”
To which Judas warmly responded: “The Heavenly Sage has not sent us great prophets for a long time, but this one truly works miracles.”
Martha, who calmly accepted the news, interjected: “Come again, a new impudent charlatan, bringing confusion into our minds.” Ugh, seducer.
“Be quiet, woman,” Judas remarked meaningfully with a sigh.
Only the silent Maria shone with sly eyes at the speakers; she already knew what the words and promises of this newcomer, a homeless tramp, who had picked up various knowledge on the side, were worth.
Karl Anderson as Judas in the film "Jesus Christ Superstar", based on the musical of the same name
Even the biblical portrait of Judas shows us a deceitful and crafty person by nature, with a rich imagination and hot temperament, an intriguer who can commit rash offenses, followed by repentance.
It is known that a real character of the time when Judea was a space squeezed by the iron ring of the Romans, Judas managed to live with the adherents of the harsh order of the Essenes. But he could not stand the rule of expelling any pleasure from everyday life as evil and sinful, and decided to become an expert and interpreter of the Holy Scriptures, but the dry scholasticism of the texts seemed to him insipid, devoid of meaning for the realities of life. In his search for truth and peace of mind, Judas found himself in the service of the Sadducean priests, but only gained doubts about the sanctity of their harsh rites. His heart trembled with new joy when he joined the ranks of zealous followers of John the Baptist, but even here he did not take root, rejecting both the ascetic teaching and the teacher himself.
But the meeting with the new prophet Christ made an extraordinary impression on Judas. The rabbi knew how to broadcast, completely capturing the minds of his listeners. He argued, and wanted to believe it, that the first will be last, and the last will be first. He denounced the deceptive priesthood and rebuked the Pharisees. He cared little about rituals and church regulations; he was ready to live to the fullest, enjoying life. The new prophet did not avoid incense, women, wine and fun, but at the same time, common people always gathered around him, ready to serve and listen, support and share his opinion, ready to follow him to the end. And the fact that the life of this strange rabbi prepares tests for his followers is obvious: Jesus, who destroys the old and builds the new, is in fact an apostate from the law, moreover, he is too lenient towards the weak, sinful, lost, but too harsh and accusatory of the strong and powerful.
Such a combination of intelligence and courage in one man captured Judas, and he easily fell under the influence of Jesus, sincerely believing that this Son of God was completely different from all the previous prophets.
Kiss of Judas. Artist Cimabue
Surely he is the foreshadowed Savior whom the humiliated people of Israel passionately called for for many decades. And then the teacher made Judas the keeper of the treasury, and he realized that the rabbi could be completely entrusted not only with his future, but also with the future of his people. In addition, Jesus assured more than once that his kingdom was approaching, and his disciples, now suffering hardships and persecution, would be in power, acting as shepherds for the lambs of men. And they will have to herd sheep at a distance from sunrise to sunset, and rule in a capital more powerful than Rome itself. And their teacher, who is now naked and barefoot, will crown his forehead with a royal crown.
Returning to Jerusalem, Judas immediately began to talk everywhere about the new prophet, praising his talents and skills. And at the same time spread in secret that this just man Jesus comes from Bethlehem, from the house of David, as the wise men calculated. This means that he really is the prophet for whom the people of Israel have been secretly waiting for a long time.
A little time will pass, and Pilate, the Roman procurator of Judea, Samaria and Idumea, will begin to talk about the new prophet, to whom the insolence uttered by Jesus, recorded by people specially sent for surveillance, was reported. It turned out that in many places where he visits, he gathers crowds of people around him to openly condemn the lawyers and Pharisees, and he also says boldly:
“Don’t think that I came to bring peace to earth.” I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
But at the same time, the overseers sent on a secret mission noted, this prophet gives such surprisingly simple, but such evasive answers to all provocative questions that it becomes difficult to convict him of a crime.
“By all appearances, he is an intelligent, but dangerous man,” noted the learned Pharisees, conducting anxious conversations in their homes. “It would be necessary to send to him the most dexterous, most intelligent people who would be able to extract sedition from him in front of numerous witnesses, so that, if necessary, they would be able to accuse him with evidence in hand.”
Pontius Pilate in Giotto di Bondone's fresco "The Flagellation of Christ"
Some of those denounced by Jesus only nodded their heads when they heard the name of their ill-wisher, while others called out:
“We should ask several of his disciples, whom we saw in the city the other day, about his plans.” They are all in joy that their teacher is close.
– How close is it? - the household members of the speaker asked worriedly.
- On the way to Jerusalem... Let him go, but let him not see or think that he poses a great danger to us. We will be able to defeat all the arguments and thoughts of this Nazarene, we just have to try.
Already approaching Jerusalem, the prophet sent two apostles accompanying him to the city so that they would visit Simon, asking him for shelter. Martha, who had long been filled with curiosity, encouraged by Lazarus, joyfully began to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. It was assumed that the prophet and his disciples would be in the city during the day and return to the suburbs, to Bethany, to spend the night. So Mary was destined to meet this amazing man called the Son of God. However, the prepared meeting took place under the strangest, most unfavorable circumstances... This is what most sources tell about the life of Mary Magdalene, representing this golden-haired beauty as a harlot.
The origin of Jesus Christ: important or not?
Based on the official version, the name Jesus Christ is a “translation” into Greek of the Hebrew name Yeshua Meshiya, which allegedly was the name of the strange Teacher, born during the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus (30 BC - 14 AD) in Palestinian city of Bethlehem in the family of Joseph the Carpenter, later called a descendant of King David, and his wife Mary. The birth of this baby (hence the holiday: the Nativity of Christ) answered the Old Testament prophecies about the birth of the coming messianic king from the line of David and in the “city of David” Bethlehem. The appearance of an extraordinary baby was predicted by an angel of the Lord to his mother (hence: Annunciation), and through her to her husband Joseph.
Jesus and Pilate. Artist Nikolay Ge
Yeshua (Joshua) Meshiya contains the concepts: God and salvation, the anointed messiah; however, this man entered the history of Christianity and human history under the name of Jesus. Some biblical critics emphasize that the New Testament confirms that Jesus was a Jew who was perceived as a healer and teacher, that he was baptized by John the Baptist, and at the end of his short life was accused of inciting rebellion against the Roman Empire and was crucified in Jerusalem by order of the Roman procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate.
I hope many have heard about such a strange process as channeling, meaning receiving information from a certain Higher Mind (Messengers, etc.) through a “channel” through an earthly person. Among us live so-called contactees, through whose mouths certain higher powers speak. According to Pamella Kriebe, she was in contact with Jesus, Mary Magdalene and some other historical figures. This is what the disembodied Jesus “told” her (us) during the 2002 contact:
“I am the one who lived among you and whom you knew as Jesus.” I am not the Jesus of the church tradition and I am not the Jesus of the religious scriptures. I am Yeshuaben Joseph. I lived as a person of flesh and blood. And I reached Christ consciousness before you, but I was supported by forces beyond my current understanding. My coming was a cosmic event, and I placed myself at its disposal. In my earthly incarnation I carried the energy of Christ. This energy can be called Christ. In my terminology, Jesus is the name of the God-like man who emerged as a result of the infusion of Christ energy into the physical and psychological reality of Yeshua.
View of Bethlehem. Lithograph by D. Roberts
Quite a curious explanation for those who like to reason and philosophize... It is likely that such an explanation of the presence and role of Jesus on earth has a very real basis, but it is difficult for us, ordinary people, to understand and accept.
But let's give the floor to our contemporaries who are arguing on the World Wide Web about the origin and deeds of Christ. After all, among the virtual debaters there are many well-read and thoughtful people. And they are concerned about the same questions as many of us.
Evangelist:– Why is Jesus Christ considered a Jew? After all, if you carefully delve into the genealogy, He was not a Jew by blood: Mary was a Galilean on both her father and mother (Akim and Anna), who were not Jews. The names of the parents and the name Maria are by no means Jewish. Joseph, as you all know, was the named father. The appearance of Christ was also not at all Jewish: he was tall, slender, with long or blue eyes and white skin, that is, he was of the Aryan race, so to speak. And the words in scripture: “King of the Jews” do not at all indicate the nationality of Christ. I think making Jesus Jewish was beneficial to the church, which is still based on the Old Testament.
Blueberry: – I think Jesus Christ is considered a Jew because through the Jews Jesus was revealed to the world.
Alex095:– First of all, Mary’s name was Miriam. She was Jewish, like all her relatives. From childhood to adolescence she worked on decorating the Temple. Do you think they could have allowed a non-Jewish woman there? She was a Galilean by place of residence.
Fedor Manov: – The real name of Yeshua’s mother is Miriam, she is from the tribe of Levi, from the family of Aaron. That is, from a priestly family. I think you can guess that the priests at the Temple in Judea were only Jews. Joseph was not the named father, but the normal father of Yeshua.
Christmas. Artist Martin de Vos
Fea:– In Jesus the Divine and Human Natures were united. He is God manifested in the flesh. And just according to the flesh He was a Jew; “that is, the Israelites, to whom belong the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the law, and the worship, and the promises; theirs are the fathers, and from them is Christ according to the flesh, who is God over all, blessed forever, amen. (Rom 9:4,5)." But among His earthly ancestors there were indeed not only Jews. Ruth, for example, was a Moabite. Although this is a family close to the Jewish one.
Ahmed ermonov: – Can God be of some nationality? Fear Him! Christ was not only a Jew, but also a Jew!
Yeshua: – Mary was from the line of David, that David whom God anointed to rule over all the Jews.
Evangelist: – If Joseph was a real father, then it follows that you do not recognize the divine nature of Christ?! If so, then what is there to argue about...
Antidepressant: – Judging by some famous icons, Jesus and His mother were either Hindus or blacks.
Kadosh2: – The Gospels state that Mary is a relative of John the Baptist’s mother Elizabeth, who was from the tribe of Levi, like his father Zechariah. And Joseph, a Jew from the tribe of Judah, could not marry a woman of a different clan. And here are the very first words of the New Testament: “Jesus Christ is the son of Abraham, the son of David” also speaks of nationality.
KolyaN: – I have nothing against the Jews themselves. I am against their lies. My point of view is that Jesus is not God for the Slavs. That's all! It is high time to clear the minds of some Christians who have lost their heads over the “divinity” of the entire Jewish people.
Ivanpetja: – In fact, Jesus was not a Jew. He was born and lived in a family that lived in Nazareth. Just like today, there was no Jewish spirit in this town. The inhabitants professed Judaism for mercantile reasons, since the territory was part of the Roman province of Judea. The ethnic composition of the population was mixed. These were immigrants from different territories of Assyria. But the official texts of the Bible about the origin of Jesus were written in the Middle Ages, and it is naive to consider them the ultimate truth. By the way, the names Yeshua (Jesus), Mariam (Mary) are not only Jewish, but also Syrian.
Panorama of Bethlehem from Jerusalem. Photo 1898
Troll: – I recognize every person who is created in His image and likeness as a divine creation. Including Yeshua of Nazareth. But in him the image and likeness was fully embodied. That is why He could say: “I and the Father are one.”
Maria: – Everyone will understand the Truth themselves to the extent of their closeness to God.
The Gospels present Jesus Christ as an extraordinary person throughout his entire life: from his miraculous birth to the amazing end of his earthly life. In the Bible we read that the Archangel Gabriel, talking with the virgin Mary, speaks about the child miraculously conceived by her: “ He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of His father David.” From these words it is clear that David was indeed the ancestor of Jesus. And since Gabriel talked with Mary, and not with Joseph, there is reason to assume that Mary herself belonged to the family of David. For the father of the child was supposed to be the Holy Spirit, and not the woman’s husband.
However, in Luke we find information that Joseph’s genealogy also goes back to the same King David - but this is not surprising, because among Jews, consanguineous marriages have always been common. The child in this family is born miraculously through an immaculate conception. As we all know well, the appearance of the exceptional baby Jesus, born in a stable, being praised by a host of angels, is like a fairy tale. Shepherds and wise men come to worship him, the bright star of Bethlehem moving across the sky indicating their path to his dwelling.
Having learned about the appearance of the Messiah, the Jewish king Herod the Great, in fear for his power, orders the extermination of all babies in Bethlehem and the surrounding area, but Joseph and Mary, warned by an angel, flee with Jesus to Egypt. After a three-year stay in Egypt, Joseph and Mary, learning of the death of Herod, return to their hometown of Nazareth in Galilee, in Northern Palestine. Then, over the course of seven years, Jesus' parents moved with him from city to city, and everywhere the glory of miracles performed followed him, among which are the following: people were healed, died and were resurrected at his word, wild animals were humbled, inanimate objects and even water came to life. The full-flowing Jordan parted. As a twelve-year-old child, Jesus amazes with his thoughtful answers the teachers of the laws of Moses, with whom he talks in the Jerusalem temple. However, then, for some mysterious reasons, “He began to hide His miracles, His secrets and sacraments, until He was thirty years old.”
Madonna della Melagrana, Mary with the Christ Child and six angels. Artist Sandro Botticelli
When Jesus Christ reaches this age, he is baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist (around 30 AD), and the Holy Spirit descends on him, which leads him into the desert. There, for forty days, Jesus fights the devil, rejecting three temptations one after another: hunger, power and faith. Upon returning from the desert, Jesus Christ begins preaching work. He calls his disciples to him and, wandering with them throughout Palestine, proclaims his teaching, interprets the Old Testament Law and performs miracles. The work of Jesus Christ unfolds mainly in the territory of Galilee, in the vicinity of Lake Gennesaret, also known as Lake Tiberias, but from time to time he visits Jerusalem... On one of these visits, our heroine Maria met an amazing teacher.
“He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her!”
The tired, beautiful Mary, returning through the streets of Jerusalem from another date, did not expect that someone would dare to attack the Libyan slaves carrying her palanquin (in Ancient Rome it was called lektika).
Massacre of the innocents. Artist Matteo di Giovanni
But this happened, and the abandoned helpless woman, looking after the fleeing slaves, heard hateful cries sent straight to her face:
- Harlot!
Following the consciousness-stunning words, stones were thrown at her. Some of the attackers grabbed her by the arms, others by the hair, to drag her to an unknown place for savage reprisal. Maria screamed in horror at the top of her lungs.
At some point, she realized that she had been dragged to the square, and just a moment ago the empty space began to be filled with mobs running from all sides, wanting to either look at what was happening or take part in the action. One thing was clear: there were more and more people wanting to deal with her. The woman wriggled her whole body, trying to escape from the hands of the cackling, excited executioners.
And only one person did not show visible curiosity; he was sitting high on the step of the white marble staircase of the magnificent temple standing on the same square. His look would be peaceful and calm, and his neatly combed, slightly wavy hair would shine gold in the sun. Harmony and divine purity were visible in his entire appearance. The stranger was dressed in long white clothes, his dark cape lay next to him. It was Jesus.
Hearing the noise and following the movement, he raised his hand to attract attention and thereby intervene in what was happening. But he immediately stopped his gesture when he saw the Pharisees running towards him in red vestments. This development of events could only mean one thing: they want to drag him into another adventure, force him to make decisions that would diverge from the opinion of the majority. And do this in front of a large crowd of witnesses. Otherwise, why would the bureaucrats need him?
Jesus winced with annoyance and, feigning indifference, bowed down, as if thinking about something of his own.
Jesus and the woman caught in adultery. Artist Gustave Dore
When he raised his eyes, he saw right in front of him a beautiful woman, trembling with fear, who was tenaciously held by someone’s hands. There was a crowd around, and the first of the nearest Pharisees was already boldly asking Jesus sitting on the steps:
“Rabbi, this woman was taken in adultery and among us there are those who directly testify against her!”
The crowd shouted loudly:
- We testify! We testify! We testify!
The Pharisee smiled contentedly and continued:
“Moses, in his divine law, commanded us to stone such girls. What is your word against the word of Moses?
Jesus looked once again at the unfortunate creature, and although her bare arms and neck were bruised, and her face showed signs of violence, she was still beautiful, and her thick luxurious hair, located at arm's length from him, smelled of expensive oils. Her strong breasts, hidden under a pale blue tunic, heaved heavily, and she trembled all over, like a hunted doe. And her ankles, covered in the golden braid of her sandals, shook and twitched slightly. The woman did not lower her gaze, as if she was waiting for the verdict, realizing that her fate depended on this beautiful stranger, pondering every word inside himself.
Jesus stood up, a quiet, calm smile running across his lips. And, turning to those gathered, he said, with subtle irony, quietly but firmly:
- He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her!
The smiles faded on the cunning faces of the Pharisees and the mob, realizing that there would be no reprisals, retreated in amazement at the simple answer heard even in the back rows.
Christ and the sinner. Artist Jacopo Tintoretto
Gradually, people, clearly disappointed, but at the same time looking at each other meaningfully, dispersed to attend to pressing matters. And soon there was practically no one left on the steps of the temple, and in the entire square, except Jesus and the girl, still seized with a slight trembling. Mary saw the light in front of her, and saw the wise eyes of the savior. As if through a dream, she heard a question relating to herself:
– Woman, you see, no one has judged you? And I'm not your judge. Go in peace and sin no more.
She smiled gratefully, afraid to ask his name, and knowing in her heart that she already knew the name of this strange gentleman, then she turned, intending to leave the steps. He, clearly touched by her appearance, called out:
Maria turned around to accept from his hands the cape he held out to cover her tattered clothes.
A previously unknown tenderness crept into the girl’s heart. And tears of gratitude rolled down her cheeks, bathed in a gentle blush. He, as if not noticing anything, headed towards the gates of the temple and soon disappeared behind the colonnade.
End of introductory fragment.
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