The Quest for Mary Magdalene

by Michael Haag

  The Gospel of Mary Magdalene

  The codex purchased in Cairo in 1896 contains the most complete copy of the Gospel of Mary, as it is called in the manuscript, clearly meaning Mary Magdalene. Even so, over half the work is missing, six pages at the front and four in the middle. Copied and bound in the late fourth or early fifth century, the gospel is a translation into Coptic from the original Greek, of which two very small fragments were found at Oxyrhynchus during excavations from 1897 to 1906. The original Greek work has been dated no later than about 120 to 180, though some place it earlier, in the late first century, and one scholar, Professor Karen King of Harvard University, thinks it could date to the lifetime of Jesus – but then she is also the promoter of a tiny fragment of text to which she has given the name The Gospel of Jesus’ Wife, though it is widely thought among scholars that she has been taken in by a fraud. As for the origins of the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, all that is known is that the purchase in Cairo was made from a dealer in Akhmim near Sohag, an important Coptic community in both ancient and modern times. It was held at Berlin but owing to two world wars and other difficulties it was not published until 1955, after the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library, when a German edition appeared.

  In this only gospel named after a woman, Mary Magdalene plays a central role. The gospel records an appearance of Jesus to his disciples after his resurrection in which he answers their questions about the nature of this world and of sin; then after telling them to preach the gospel of the kingdom he disappears. This is a variation on the Great Commission of the canonical gospels in which Mary Magdalene did not feature, but here she appears and takes charge. At the departure of Jesus the disciples weep in distress and ask themselves fearfully, ‘How shall we go to the gentiles and preach the gospel of the Kingdom of the Son of Man? If they did not spare Him, how will they spare us?’

  Now Mary Magdalene rises and speaks. ‘Do not weep and do not grieve nor be irresolute for his grace will be entirely with you and will protect you. But rather let us praise his greatness for he has prepared us and made us into men. When Mary said this she turned their hearts to the Good and they began to discuss the words of the Saviour.’

  But now Peter says to Mary, ‘Sister we know that the Saviour loved you more than the rest of woman. Tell us the words of the Saviour which you remember which you know, but we do not, nor have we heard them. Mary answered and said, What is hidden from you I will proclaim to you’.

  Mary Magdalene continues and makes clear that authority lies in vision not in apostolic succession. ‘I saw the Lord in a vision and I said to him, Lord I saw you today in a vision. He answered and said to me, Blessed are you that you did not waver at the sight of me. For where the mind is there is the treasure.’ Jesus is praising Mary Magdalene for her steadfastness; her advanced spiritual development means she does not waver in his awesome presence. But how does one see a vision, she asks, through the soul or through the spirit? ‘The Saviour answered and said, a person does not see through the soul nor through the spirit, but the mind that is between the two that is what sees the vision.’ Four pages of the codex are missing here so we lack further information about soul and spirit and mind, but it would seem that gaining a vision is not a passive matter, not something simply received, but that an active mind rules the spirit and the soul and seeks the vision, seeks the kingdom. This active visionary quality of Mary’s allows her to be a leader among the disciples, to direct them away from fear and out into the world to preach the good news of the gospel.

  After the four missing pages, when the account resumes Mary is telling the disciples how the human soul ascends through the heavenly spheres controlled by forces opposed to it and makes its way to its heavenly home. Then ‘she fell silent, since it was to this point that the Saviour had spoken with her’. But now the brothers Andrew and Peter question whether Mary’s vision can be trusted. First Andrew speaks and says to the disciples, ‘Say what you wish to say about what she has said. I at least do not believe that the Saviour said this. For certainly these teachings are strange ideas’. Then Peter addresses the disciples. ‘Did he really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?’

  In the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, the only gospel named for a woman, she is the disciple Jesus most loves. She displays a visionary power that allows her to take the lead, to direct the disciples away from fear and out into the world to preach the word.

  Gospel of Mary. Wikimedia Commons.

  Mary weeps and says to Peter, ‘My brother Peter, what do you think? Do you think that I have thought this up myself in my heart, or that I am lying about the Saviour?’

  Levi, otherwise known as the apostle Matthew, answers and says to Peter, ‘Peter you have always been hot tempered. Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries. But if the Saviour made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Saviour knows her very well. That is why he loved her more than us. Rather let us be ashamed and put on the perfect man, and separate as he commanded us and preach the gospel, not laying down any other rule or other law beyond what the Saviour said. And when they heard this they began to go forth to proclaim and to preach.’

  Though some people make much of the seeming conflict between Mary Magdalene as a woman and Peter as a man, the earlier versions of the Gospel of Mary, that is the ones written in Greek, show no concern with gender; the argument is over Mary Magdalene’s teachings and how she came by them through her vision of Jesus. And even if later in the Coptic translation gender comes into play, nevertheless the greater matter is the value of vision and of Mary’s special quality of direct apprehension of the divine. She is the most beloved disciple, but there is no evidence of a sexual relationship; her special status is due entirely to her vision of the Saviour. She shows a far greater understanding of Jesus’ teaching than the other disciples, including Peter, and when the Saviour departs she comforts and encourages them, and in the Greek version she kisses each of them, an act that conveys spiritual nourishment and power. For the gnostics this is their challenge against the authority of Peter and with it the authority of priests and bishops who claim apostolic succession from Peter; the challenge is of vision over bureaucracy. As Mary Magdalene says, let us separate as he commanded us and preach the gospel, ‘not laying down any other rule or other law beyond what the Saviour said’.

  The Dialogue of the Saviour

  The Dialogue of the Saviour, which was found at Nag Hammadi in 1945, is a badly damaged Coptic codex that dates from the second century, possibly as early as 120 and no later than 200. The gospel includes a description of the origin of the world, a natural history, and a vision of Hell seen by Matthew, Didymus Judas Thomas and Mary Magdalene who are told by an angel that the material world is an unintended and evil creation which will continue to perpetuate itself as long as women bear children.

  Most of it, however, has Jesus answering questions put to him by these same three followers, a dialogue in which Jesus reveals the secrets of salvation while Mary Magdalene plays the leading role, not only asking more questions than the others but also saying things found in the New Testament where they are spoken by Jesus, so that again she is described as ‘a woman who knows the all’.

  Pistis Sophia

  After Jesus himself, Mary Magdalene is the dominating figure in Pistis Sophia which means the Faith of Sophia, Sophia being for the gnostics the syzygy of Jesus, the female aspect of his spirit. The codex was written in a late fourth-century Coptic dialect of Upper Egypt but had been translated from an older Greek text dating from the third century, though it could be older than that; tradition attributes it to Valentinus who was writing in the early second century. But in fact the origin of Pistis Sophia is a mystery; it was acquired by the British physician and book collector Anthony Askew in 1773, but where it was found and how it reached his hands is unknown. Though the British Museum bought it from Askew’s heirs in 1795 it remained in obscurity until
its translation into German in 1851; from then until the Nag Hammadi discoveries in 1945 this was one of the very few codices of gnostic writings known to have survived obliteration by the Church.

  Pistis Sophia narrates the fall of Sophia, her lamentations and her redemption through the intervention of the Saviour, that is Jesus, who recounts his journey through the splendours of the upper world after his ascension. After his return to earth and in the course of dialogues with his disciples lasting twelve years, Jesus reveals to them the secrets of the universe. He discusses with them the existence of evil, injustice, violence, riches and poverty; the varieties of animals and plants; why there is light and darkness. Everything is commented upon and explained; it is a complete spiritual exploration and a natural history of the universe, making Pistis Sophia one of the fundamental texts of gnosticism.

  Mary Magdalene’s leading role among the disciples is unmistakeable. In the dialogues with the Saviour she asks more questions and offers more interpretations of Jesus’ words than all the others put together. Jesus himself affirms that her ‘heart is more directed to the kingdom of heaven’ than all the other disciples and says that along with John she is superior to them.

  But Peter protests. ‘My Lord, we are not able to bear with this woman speaking instead of us; she has not let any of us speak but often speaks herself’. When Jesus replies that he will make Mary Magdalene a man so that she can gain entry to the kingdom of heaven he is talking of returning to the original order of things, to the time when Adam was created male and female: ‘So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them’ (Genesis 1:27). When the primal unity is restored death will be no more, for as the gnostic Gospel of Philip says, ‘When Eve was in Adam there was no death; but when she was separated from him death came into being’.

  The Gospel of Philip

  The Gospel of Philip, found at Nag Hammadi in 1945, is most famous for the lines that can be interpreted to mean that Mary Magdalene was the wife or lover of Jesus. Here she does not engage with a vision or a resurrected Jesus as in other gnostic gospels; instead she is the favourite disciple of the living historical Jesus, the companion who walks beside him during his earthly existence and who alone understands his real nature and his teachings. But this is not a narrative work like the canonical gospels; rather it is an anthology of sermons and philosophical epistles as well as aphorisms and brief dialogues set down in Coptic sometime in the third century but based on an earlier Greek original, possibly an early second-century work of Valentinus.

  Twice the Gospel of Philip portrays the intimacy between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. ‘There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary, his mother, and her sister, and Magdalene, the one who was called his companion. His sister and his mother and his companion were each a Mary’. The sister is first described as the sister of Mary but then described as a sister of Jesus; the first is probably a translation error; in both cases ‘his sister’ is most likely meant, and as we know from Mark 6:3 Jesus did have at least two sisters. Mary Magdalene is described as his companion, and here the Coptic text uses a variant on the Greek word koinonos which is used in the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament, to mean partner, companion, sharer, joint participant or wife. Interestingly the prominent American New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman translated koinonos as ‘lover’ in his version of the Gospel of Philip published in 2003: ‘There were those who always walked with the Lord: Mary, his mother and her sister and Magdalene, whom they call his lover. A Mary is his sister and his mother and his lover’. But 2003 was also the year that Dan Brown published The Da Vinci Code which drew on the Gospel of Philip to make the assertion that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. That seems to have made Bart Ehrman feel that he had fallen into the camp of Dan Brown groupies, for in a 2006 book Ehrman was saying the opposite of what he had said before about the meaning of koinonos: ‘This is not the Greek word for “spouse”. It normally means “associate” or “companion”’. So much for what Ehrman had to say before; and so much for the Septuagint; Ehrman now tells us that what once meant lover or wife or spouse does not mean lover or wife or spouse anymore.

  In the second instance the Gospel of Philip says, ‘As for the Wisdom who is called “the barren”, she is the mother of the angels. And the companion of the [Saviour was] Mary Magdalene. [Christ loved] her more than all the disciples, and used to kiss her [often] on her [mouth]. The rest of the disciples [were offended and expressed disapproval]. They said to him “Why do you love her more than all of us?” The Saviour answered and said to them,”Why do I not love you like her? When a blind man and one who sees are both together in darkness, they are no different from one another. When the light comes, then he who sees will see the light, and he who is blind will remain in darkness.”’

  Wisdom being barren is apparently a reference to Sophia’s abortive attempt at creation, but also Mary Magdalene is here as elsewhere in gnostic writings equated with Sophia in another guise, the bringer of light, she who brought the promise of the divine spark to mankind, and so she becomes the gnostic mother, the mother of angels. Where part of the original text is missing some translations fill in the gaps, for example by suggesting that it was ‘Christ’ who ‘loved’ Mary Magdalene more than all the disciples and used to kiss her ‘often on the mouth’ as in the above example – but other alternatives have been suggested such as Jesus kissing her on her hand or on her forehead or on her cheek or on her feet. Whatever the exact wording, it is clear that according to the Gospel of Philip Jesus and Mary Magdalene enjoyed a close and special relationship, though probably the gnostic understanding was that it was strictly spiritual. After all, as Paul said in Romans 16:16, ‘Salute one another with an holy kiss’.

  Looking for Mary Magdalene

  So who is Mary Magdalene in these gnostic gospels and how does she compare with the Mary Magdalene of the canonical gospels? Scholars are divided, some saying it is possible to trace genuine traditions in the gnostic gospels about the Mary Magdalene who walked with Jesus in Galilee, others saying that there is no real evidence that they reflect a historical figure.

  Here in these gnostic gospels Mary Magdalene appears as something of a device, asking and answering questions, but then the gnostic gospels are like that. They lack the narrative and characterisation of the canonical gospels which have the feel of being rooted in the everyday, whereas the gnostic gospels inhabit a spiritualised environment. The canonical gospels are like Dante in Purgatory, the gnostic gospels like Dante in Paradise.

  Partly Mary Magdalene’s purpose is polemical, to argue against the apostolic and hierarchical structure of the Church, an argument with some flesh and blood on it if Mary Magdalene really did come to Egypt and if Peter came too – his legendary presence in Rome being nothing more than a fiction to serve the apostolic argument of the Church bureaucracy.

  The gnostic idea of dualism, of two worlds, is found in the Chnoubis, the gnostic demiurge with the head of a lion and the body of a serpent. It was often engraved on semi-precious stones and worn as a talisman against disease or harm. The lion’s head represents the sun and the upper world, the seven rays round the head representing the seven planets or seven heavens, with a crescent moon and a star to the left; while the serpent’s tail represents earth and the lower impulses. In this example the name of the demiurge, XNOVBIC, is written round the head in Greek; round the border of the stone the inscription reads IAWCABAWTHABPACASMIXAHLEW, which is a series of magical names including Iaw, Sabaoth, Abrasax and the archangel Michael, followed by ‘I am’.

  Chnoubis gem. Christie’s.

  But the gnostics would say that the struggle has a cosmic dimension; they would say that the Church is a creature of the demiurge whereas they are seeking the light.

  From the point of view of what became in the fourth century the established Church, the need to construct and defend its hierarchy meant controlling Mary Magdalene. She was too close to Jesus; she knew too m
uch. And unlike Mary the mother of Jesus, there was nothing passive about Mary Magdalene. The assault against Mary Magdalene in the coming centuries had less to do with her being a woman; in the gnostic gospels, as in the canonical gospels too, her powers are vision and inspiration, the antithesis of rules and dogma.

  The gnostics were defeated; they buried their holy books in the sand and died. But Mary Magdalene did not die. She appears again among the Cathars who make Mary Magdalene the bride of Jesus and the Queen of Heaven – she is Isis again.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Changing Roles: The Virgin and the Whore

  THE EARLIEST KNOWN COMPREHENSIVE attack against Christianity was written by the pagan philosopher Celsus in the AD 170s. The myths put about by the Christians, he wrote with some exasperation in The True Word, were now becoming better known than the doctrines of philosophers. ‘Who has not heard that Jesus was born of a virgin, that he was crucified, and that his resurrection is an article of faith among many?’, he wrote, adding that reason does not enter into their argument; instead Christians will say, ‘Do not question, but believe’, and ‘Your faith will save you’. When Christians’ views are challenged, writes Celsus, they retreat behind the remark that ‘to God everything is possible’.

  Yet for these fables, wrote Celsus, Christians were willing to die. Though the emperor Hadrian would not tolerate actions against Christians for their faith, only if they broke the law, there had been some sporadic persecutions and executions of Christians under his predecessors Nero and Domitian in the first century and under Trajan in the early second century, and there would be more to come.