Mary Magdalene - Saint or Sinner
Mary Magdalene was a woman infamous in Western Christianity as an adulteress and repentant whore. The depiction of Mary as a fallen woman has no factual basis in biblical or historical texts. Her sullied reputation was due to Pope Gregory the Great’s faulty conflation of Mary Magdalene with the unnamed sinful woman mentioned in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 7:36-50), who anoints Jesus’ feet in the house of Simon the Pharisee.
Some have suggested that Gregory knowingly changed Mary’s past to make a better emphasize Jesus’ power of redemption. Whatever his motive, his characterization led to the widespread oft-repeated false belief that she was a repentant prostitute. The Roman Catholic Church officially cleared the misconception in 1969, when it separated the liturgical celebration of Mary Magdalene from that of the sinful woman in Luke’s Gospel, thus acknowledging the error and reaffirming Mary Magdalene’s role as a disciple of Jesus, not as a prostitute. This has led to a reevaluation of her significance in Christian history, with a greater emphasis on her role as a witness to the resurrection and a key figure in the early Church.
Discoveries of new texts from the dry sands of Egypt, along with sharpened critical insight, have now proven that this portrait of Mary is entirely inaccurate. She was indeed an influential figure, but as a prominent disciple and leader of one wing of the early Christian movement that promoted women’s leadership. Readers should note that none of the referred books are canonical and are considered “gnostic.” Early Christian church fathers such as Origen, Tertullian, Justin Martyr and Eusebius of Caesarea condemned gnostic teachers and beliefs as heretical.
The cited gnostic texts exemplify the prominence of women in the early church and confirm their leadership roles. Certainly, the most prominent among these in the texts was Mary Magdalene. A series of spectacular 19th and 20th century discoveries of early Christian texts in Egypt dating to the second and third century have yielded a treasury of new information.
It was already known from the New Testament gospels that Mary was a Jewish woman who followed Jesus of Nazareth. Apparently of independent means, she accompanied Jesus during his ministry and supported him out of her own resources (Mark 15:40-41; Matthew 27:55-56; Luke 8:1-3; John 19:25). Although other information about her is more fantastic, she is repeatedly portrayed as a visionary and leader of the early movement. (Mark 16:1-9; Matthew 28:1-10; Luke24:1-10; John 20:1, 11-18; Gospel of Peter). In the Gospel of John, the risen Jesus gives her special teaching and commissions her to take the apostles the good news. She obeys and is thus the first to announce the resurrection. Later tradition, however, will herald her as “the apostle to the apostles.” The strength of this literary tradition makes it possible to suggest that historically Mary was a prophetic visionary and leader within one sector of the early Christian movement after the death of Jesus.
The newly discovered Egyptian writings elaborate this portrait of Mary as a favored disciple. Her role as “apostle to the apostles” is frequently explored, especially in considering her faith in contrast to that of the male disciples who refuse to believe her testimony. She is most often portrayed in texts that claim to record dialogues of Jesus with his disciples, both before and after the resurrection. In the Dialogue of the Savior, for example, Mary is named along with Judas (Thomas) and Matthew in the course of an extended dialogue with Jesus. During the discussion, Mary addresses several questions to the Savior as a representative of the disciples as a group. She thus appears as a prominent member of the disciple group and is the only woman named. Moreover, in response to a particularly insightful question, the Lord says of her, “´You make clear the abundance of the revealer!'” (140.17-19). At another point, after Mary has spoken, the narrator states, “She uttered this as a woman who had understood completely”(139.11-13). These affirmations make it clear that Mary is to be counted among the disciples who fully comprehended the Lord’s teaching (142.11-13).
In another text, the Sophia of Jesus Christ, Mary also plays a clear role among those whom Jesus teaches. She is one of the seven women and twelve men gathered to hear the Savior after the resurrection, but before his ascension. Of these only five are named and speak, including Mary. At the end of his discourse, he tells them, “I have given you authority over all things as children of light,” and they go forth in joy to preach the gospel. Here again Mary is included among those special disciples to whom Jesus entrusted his most elevated teaching, and she takes a role in the preaching of the gospel.
In the Gospel of Philip, Mary Magdalene is mentioned as one of three Mary(s)”who always walked with the Lord” and as his companion (59.6-11). The work also says that Lord loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often (63.34-36). The portrayal seems to affirm the special relationship of Mary Magdalene to Jesus based on her spiritual perfection.
In the Pistis Sophia, Mary again is preeminent among the disciples, especially in the first three of the four books. She asks more questions than all the rest of the disciples together, and the Savior acknowledges that: “Your heart is directed to the Kingdom of Heaven more than all your brothers” (26:17-20). Indeed, Mary steps in when the other disciples are despairing in order to intercede for them to the Savior (218:10-219:2). Her complete spiritual comprehension is repeatedly stressed.
She is, however, most prominent in the early second century Gospel of Mary, which is ascribed pseudonymously to her. More than any other early Christian text, the Gospel of Mary presents an unflinchingly favorable portrait of Mary Magdalene as a woman leader among the disciples. The Lord himself says she is blessed for not wavering when he appears to her in a vision. When all the other disciples are weeping and frightened, she alone remains steadfast in her faith because she has grasped and appropriated the salvation offered in Jesus’ teachings.
Mary models the ideal disciple: she steps into the role of the Savior at his departure, comforts, and instructs the other disciples. Peter asks her to tell any words of the Savior which she might know but that the other disciples have not heard. His request acknowledges that Mary was preeminent among women in Jesus’ esteem, and the question itself suggests that Jesus gave her private instruction.
Mary agrees and gives an account of “secret” teaching she received from the Lord in a vision. The vision is given in the form of a dialogue between the Lord and Mary; it is an extensive account that takes up seven out of the eighteen pages of the work. At the conclusion of the work, Levi confirms that indeed the Saviour loved her more than the rest of the disciples (18.14-15). While her teachings do not go unchallenged, in the end the Gospel of Mary affirms both the truth of her teachings and her authority to teach the male disciples. She is portrayed as a prophetic visionary and as a leader among the disciples.
