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120-700: Since the end of the first century, the beloved disciple has been commonly identified with John the Evangelist . Scholars have debated the authorship of Johannine literature (the Gospel of John, Epistles of John , and the Book of Revelation ) since at least the third century, but especially since the Enlightenment . The authorship by John the Apostle is rejected by many modern scholars, but not entirely. There

240-534: A toponymic surname , meaning that she came from the town of Magdala , a fishing town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in Roman Judea . The Gospel of Luke chapter 8 lists Mary Magdalene as one of the women who traveled with Jesus and helped support his ministry "out of their resources", indicating that she was probably wealthy. The same passage also states that seven demons had been driven out of her ,

360-504: A beardless youth. The first way of depicting him was more common in Byzantine art , where it was possibly influenced by antique depictions of Socrates ; the second was more common in the art of Medieval Western Europe and can be dated back as far as 4th-century Rome. In medieval works of painting, sculpture and literature, Saint John is often presented in an androgynous or feminized manner. Historians have related such portrayals to

480-437: 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." For early Christians, kissing did not have a romantic connotation and it was common for Christians to kiss their fellow believers as a way of greeting. This tradition is still practiced in many Christian congregations today and

600-405: A crucified victim". Casey argues that Jesus was given a proper burial by Joseph of Arimathea, noting that, on some very rare occasions, Roman governors did release the bodies of executed prisoners for burial. Nonetheless, he rejects that Jesus could have been interred in an expensive tomb with a stone rolled in front of it like the one described in the gospels, leading him to conclude that Mary and

720-561: A distance, with three explicitly naming Mary Magdalene as present. Mark 15:40 lists the names of these women as Mary Magdalene; Mary, mother of James ; and Salome . Matthew 27:55–56 lists Mary Magdalene, Mary mother of James and Joseph, and the unnamed mother of the sons of Zebedee (who may be the same person Mark calls Salome). Luke 23:49 mentioned a group of women watching the crucifixion, but did not give any of their names. John 19:25 lists Mary, mother of Jesus , her sister, Mary, wife of Clopas , and Mary Magdalene as witnesses to

840-468: A friar of Venice , faced trial and was executed in 1550 for claiming that "St. John was Christ's catamite ". Wayne Dynes also makes a link to the modern day where in 1970s New York a religious group was established called the "Church of the Beloved Disciple", with the intention of giving a reading of the relationship to support same-sex relationships. Ramon K. Jusino (1998) proposed that

960-469: A highly emotional style of devotion that, in late-medieval culture, was thought to be poorly compatible with masculinity. Legends from the " Acts of John " contributed much to medieval iconography; it is the source of the idea that John became an apostle at a young age. One of John's familiar attributes is the chalice , often with a snake emerging from it. According to one legend from the Acts of John, John

1080-506: A member of the Society of St. John the Evangelist , writes that the author of the Gospel of John may have deliberately obscured the identity of the beloved disciple so readers of the gospel may better identify with the disciple's relationship with Jesus: Perhaps the disciple is never named, never individualized, so that we can more easily accept that he bears witness to an intimacy that is meant for each one of us. The closeness that he enjoyed

1200-543: A member of the Twelve, but the son of Martha (Sukkah 52b). He closely matches the description given by Bishop Polycrates in his letter, a sacrificing priest who wore the petalon (i.e., emblem of the high priest). This John "the Elder" was a follower of Jesus referred to by Papias of Hierapolis , and an eyewitness to his ministry. He was the right age to have lived until the time of Trajan (according to Irenaeus ). Baltz says John

1320-535: A narrative in an influential homily by Pope Gregory I ("Gregory the Great") in around 591, in which he not only identifies Magdalene with the anonymous sinner with the perfume in Luke's gospel and with Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus , but also, for the first time, explicitly identifies her sins as ones of a sexual nature: She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary, we believe to be

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1440-425: A poverty of imagination" and that they would have had all kinds of possible motives, especially since women were overrepresented in early Christian communities and women themselves would have had strong motivation to make up a story about other women being the first to find the tomb. He does conclude later, however, that Mary Magdalene must have been one of the people who had an experience in which she thought she saw

1560-583: A prostitute or in any way notable for a sinful way of life. The misconception probably arose due to a conflation between Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany (who anoints Jesus's feet in John 11:1–12 ), and the unnamed "sinful woman" who anoints Jesus's feet in Luke 7:36–50 . As early as the third century, the Church Father Tertullian ( c. 160 – 225) references the touch of "the woman which

1680-470: A scholar of early Christianity, states that the reference to the number of demons being "seven" may mean that Mary had to undergo seven exorcisms, probably over a long period of time, due to the first six being partially or wholly unsuccessful. Bart D. Ehrman , a New Testament scholar and historian of early Christianity, contends that the number seven may be merely symbolic, since, in Jewish tradition, seven

1800-406: A second witness. Origen also preserves a statement from Celsus that some Christians in his day followed the teachings of a woman named "Mariamme", who is almost certainly Mary Magdalene. Origen merely dismisses this, remarking that Celsus "pours on us a heap of names". A sermon attributed to Hippolytus of Rome ( c. 170 – 235) refers to Mary of Bethany and her sister Martha seeking Jesus in

1920-506: A statement which is repeated from Mark 16 . In all four canonical gospels, Mary Magdalene is a witness to the crucifixion of Jesus and, in the Synoptic Gospels , she is also present at his burial. All four gospels identify her, either alone or as a member of a larger group of women , as the first to witness the empty tomb , and, either alone or as a member of a group, as the first to witness Jesus's resurrection. Mary Magdalene

2040-406: A week later (see John 20:24–29 ). Jesus then sent her to tell the other apostles the good news of his resurrection. The Gospel of John therefore portrays Mary Magdalene as the first apostle, the apostle sent to the apostles. Because scribes were unsatisfied with the abrupt ending of the Gospel of Mark, they wrote several different alternative endings for it. In the " shorter ending ", which

2160-433: A woman in private, without our knowledge? Should we all listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?" Andrew and Peter's responses are intended to demonstrate that they do not understand Jesus's teachings and that it is really only Mary who truly understands. Matthew the Apostle comes to Mary's defense, giving a sharp rebuke to Peter: "Peter, you are always angry. Now I see you arguing against this woman like an adversary. If

2280-464: A woman who understood everything." The Pistis Sophia , possibly dating as early as the second century, is the best surviving of the Gnostic writings. It was discovered in the 18th century in a large volume containing numerous early Gnostic treatises. The document takes the form of a long dialogue in which Jesus answers his followers' questions. Of the 64 questions, 39 are presented by a woman who

2400-413: Is a consensus among Johannine scholars that the beloved disciple was a real historical person, but there is no consensus on who the beloved disciple was. The disciple whom Jesus loved is referred to, specifically, six times in the Gospel of John: The other Gospels do not mention anyone in parallel circumstances who could be directly linked to the beloved disciple. For example, in Luke 24:12, Peter runs to

2520-597: Is a sign of the closeness that is mine and yours because we are in Christ and Christ is in us. In art, the beloved disciple is often portrayed as a beardless youth, usually as one of the Twelve Apostles at the Last Supper or with Mary at the crucifixion. In some medieval art, the beloved disciple is portrayed with his head in Christ's lap. Many artists have given different interpretations of John 13:25, which has

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2640-448: Is badly fragmented, and speculated but unreliable additions are shown in brackets: And the companion of the [saviour was] Mary Magdalene. [Christ] loved Mary more than [all] the disciples, [and used to] kiss her [often] on the [–]. The rest of the disciples [were offended by it and expressed disapproval]. They said to him, "Why do you love her more than all of us?" The Saviour answered and said to them, "Why do I not love you like her? When

2760-520: Is commonly identified as Mary Magdalene is constantly referred to as being loved by Jesus more than the others. In the Gospel of Philip , another Gnostic Nag Hammadi text, the same is specifically said about Mary Magdalene. The beloved disciple has also been identified with Lazarus of Bethany , based on John 11:5: "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus", and John 11:3, "Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest

2880-514: Is considered to be a saint by the Catholic , Eastern Orthodox , Anglican , and Lutheran denominations. In 2016, Pope Francis raised the level of liturgical memory on July 22 from memorial to feast , and for her to be referred to as the "Apostle of the apostles". Some Protestant churches honor her as a heroine of the faith. The Eastern Orthodox churches also commemorate her on the Sunday of

3000-445: Is found in very few manuscripts, the women go to "those around Peter" and tell them what they had seen at the tomb, followed by a brief declaration of the gospel being preached from east to west. This "very forced" ending contradicts the last verse of the original gospel, stating that the women "told no one". The " longer ending ", which is found in most surviving manuscripts, is an "amalgam of traditions" containing episodes derived from

3120-411: Is known as the " kiss of peace ". Ehrman explains that, in the context of the Gospel of Philip, the kiss of peace is used as a symbol for the passage of truth from one person to another and that it is not in any way an act of "divine foreplay ". The Gospel of Mary is the only surviving apocryphal text named after a woman. It contains information about the role of women in the early church. The text

3240-419: Is more likely, wanted to impress others by telling this fantastic tale, and so by this cock-and-bull story to provide a chance for other beggars". The Church Father Origen ( c. 184 – c. 253) defended Christianity against this accusation in his apologetic treatise Against Celsus , mentioning Matthew 28:1 , which lists Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" both seeing the resurrected Jesus, thus providing

3360-461: Is no consensus on how many of these may actually be the same individual. The exact identity of John – and the extent to which his identification with John the Apostle , John of Patmos and John the Presbyter is historical – is disputed between Christian tradition and scholars. The Gospel of John refers to an otherwise unnamed " disciple whom Jesus loved ", who "bore witness to and wrote"

3480-774: Is probably the Dialogue of the Saviour , a badly damaged Gnostic text discovered in the Nag Hammadi library in 1945. The dialogue consists of a conversation between Jesus, Mary and two apostles – Thomas the Apostle and Matthew the Apostle . In saying 53, the Dialogue attributes to Mary three aphorisms that are attributed to Jesus in the New Testament: "The wickedness of each day [is sufficient]. Workers deserve their food. Disciples resemble their teachers." The narrator commends Mary stating, "she spoke this utterance as

3600-407: Is probably the disciple "ον ηγαπα ο Ιησους" , and Eleazar is the disciple "ον εφιλει ο Ιησους" in the Gospel. Brian J. Capper argues that the beloved disciple was a priestly member of a quasimonastic, mystical, and ascetic Jewish aristocracy, located on Jerusalem's prestigious southwest hill, who had hosted Jesus's last supper in that location, citing the scholar D.E.H. Whiteley, who deduced that

3720-404: Is referred to as Mary or Mary Magdalene. At one point, Jesus says, "Mary, thou blessed one, whom I will perfect in all mysteries of those of the height, discourse in openness, thou, whose heart is raised to the kingdom of heaven more than all thy brethren." At another point, he tells her, "Well done, Mary. You are more blessed than all women on earth, because you will be the fullness of fullness and

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3840-497: Is sick." Also relevant, according to Ben Witherington III, is the fact that the character of the beloved disciple is not mentioned before the raising of Lazarus (Lazarus being raised in John 11 , while the beloved disciple is first mentioned in John 13 ). Frederick Baltz asserts that the Lazarus identification, the evidence suggesting that the beloved disciple was a priest, and the ancient John tradition are all correct. Baltz says

3960-518: Is the beloved disciple's presence established. Both scenes are claimed to have inconsistencies both internally and in reference to the synoptic Gospels. This rough editing therefore might have been done to make Mary Magdalene and the beloved disciple appear as different persons. In the Gospel of Mary , part of the New Testament apocrypha (specifically the Nag Hammadi library ) a certain Mary who

4080-631: Is today generally agreed to have a separate author, John of Patmos , c.  95 with some parts possibly dating to Nero 's reign in the early 60s. The feast day of Saint John in the Catholic Church , Anglican Communion , and the Lutheran Calendar, is on 27 December, the third day of Christmastide . In the Tridentine calendar he was commemorated also on each of the following days up to and including 3 January,

4200-470: Is true." Eusebius , writing in the fourth century, recorded in his Church History a letter which he believed to have been written by Polycrates of Ephesus ( c.  130s–196 ) in the second century. Polycrates believed that John was the one "who reclined upon the bosom of the Lord", suggesting an identification with the beloved disciple: John, who was both a witness and a teacher, "who reclined upon

4320-512: The Gospel of Luke 8:2–3 provides a brief summary of her role during his ministry: Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God . The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna , the wife of Herod 's steward Chuza, and Susanna , and many others, who provided for them out of their resources. According to

4440-505: The Gospel of Luke , Jesus exorcised "seven demons" from Mary Magdalene. That seven demons had possessed Mary is repeated in Mark 16:9, part of the "longer ending" of that gospel – this is not found in the earliest manuscripts and is possibly a second-century addition to the original text, possibly based on the Gospel of Luke. In the first century, demons were believed widely to cause physical and psychological illness. Bruce Chilton ,

4560-567: The Gospel of Mary . These texts portray her as an apostle, as Jesus's closest and most beloved disciple and the only one who truly understood his teachings. In the Gnostic texts , or Gnostic gospels, Mary's closeness to Jesus results in tension with another disciple, Peter , due to her gender and Peter's envy of the special teachings given to her. In the Gospel of Philip's text, Marvin Meyer's translation says (missing text bracketed): "The companion of

4680-565: The Johannine works —whether they were written by one author or many, and if any of the authors can be identified with John the Apostle. The gospel and epistles traditionally and plausibly came from Ephesus , c.  90–110 , although some scholars argue for an origin in Syria . Eastern Orthodox tradition attributes all of the Johannine books to John the Apostle. Some today agree that

4800-519: The Magdalene or the Madeleine ) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels , traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion and resurrection . She is mentioned by name twelve times in the canonical gospels, more than most of the apostles and more than any other woman in the gospels, other than Jesus's family. Mary's epithet Magdalene may be

4920-779: The Myrrhbearers , the Orthodox equivalent of one of the Western Three Marys traditions. Because she was the first to witness Jesus's resurrection, Mary Magdalene is known in some Christian traditions as the "apostle to the apostles". She is a central figure in Gnostic Christian writings, including the Dialogue of the Savior , the Pistis Sophia , the Gospel of Thomas , the Gospel of Philip , and

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5040-522: The Octave of the 27 December feast. This Octave was abolished by Pope Pius XII in 1955. The traditional liturgical color is white. Freemasons celebrate this feast day , dating back to the 18th century when the Feast Day was used for the installation of Grand Masters . John is traditionally depicted in one of two distinct ways: either as an aged man with a white or gray beard, or alternatively as

5160-463: The general epistles . The earliest and most reliable sources about her life are the three Synoptic Gospels of Mark , Matthew , and Luke , which were all written during the first century AD. Mary Magdalene's epithet Magdalene ( ἡ Μαγδαληνή ; lit.   ' the Magdalene ' ) probably means that she came from Magdala , a village on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee that

5280-490: The 13th century. There was also a legend that John was at some stage boiled in oil and miraculously preserved. Another common attribute is a book or a scroll, in reference to his writings. John the Evangelist is symbolically represented by an eagle , one of the creatures envisioned by Ezekiel (1:10) and in the Book of Revelation (4:7). Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala , or simply

5400-453: The Aegean island of Patmos , where he wrote the Book of Revelation . However, some attribute the authorship of Revelation to another man, called John the Presbyter , or to other writers of the late first century AD. Bauckham argues that the early Christians identified John the Evangelist with John the Presbyter . Since at least the 2nd century AD, scholars have debated the authorship of

5520-591: The Apostle John, though modern scholars believe the work to be pseudepigrapha . Christian tradition says that John the Evangelist was John the Apostle. John, Peter and James the Just were the three pillars of the Jerusalem church after Jesus' death. He was one of the original twelve apostles and is thought to be the only one to escape martyrdom. It had been believed that he was exiled (around AD 95) to

5640-410: The Beloved Disciple was the host at the last supper. Capper suggests, to explain the largely distinctive designation of the beloved disciple as one loved by Jesus, that the language of 'love' was particularly related to Jewish groups which revealed the distinctive social characteristics of 'virtuoso religion' in ascetic communities. The British scholar Richard Bauckham reaches the similar conclusion that

5760-476: The Bible. In these apocryphal texts, Mary Magdalene is portrayed as a visionary and leader of the early movement whom Jesus loved more than he loved the other disciples. These texts were written long after the death of the historical Mary Magdalene. They are not regarded by bible scholars as reliable sources of information about her life. Sanders summarizes the scholarly consensus that: ... very, very little in

5880-424: The Gospel in the late second century. John 19:25–27 in particular only mentions the beloved disciple's presence at the foot of the cross immediately after Mary Magdalene is named among the list of women also present and not prior. Moreover, the beloved disciple is not listed accompanying Jesus's mother at the cross prior to the listed women; only upon being acknowledged and commissioned by Jesus to look after his mother

6000-486: The Gospel of Thomas, where women can only be saved by becoming men, in the Gospel of Mary, they can be saved just as they are. Peter approaches Mary and asks her: "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". And she began to speak to them these words: "I", she said, "I saw

6120-402: The Gospel's message. The author of the Gospel of John seemed interested in maintaining the internal anonymity of the author's identity, although interpreting the Gospel in the light of the Synoptic Gospels and considering that the author names (and therefore is not claiming to be) Peter, and that James was martyred as early as AD 44, Christian tradition has widely believed that the author was

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6240-571: The Gospel's publication. The author may have been a highly placed person in Jerusalem who was hiding his affiliation with Christianity, or the anonymity may have been appropriate for one living the withdrawn life of an ascetic, and one of the many unnamed disciples in the Gospel may have been either the beloved disciple himself or others under his guidance, who out of the humility of their ascetic commitment hid their identity or subsumed their witness under that of their spiritual master. Martin L. Smith,

6360-441: The Lord in a vision and I said to Him, Lord I saw you today in a vision". Mary then proceeds to describe the Gnostic cosmology in depth, revealing that she is the only one who has understood Jesus's true teachings. Andrew the Apostle challenges Mary, insisting, "Say what you think about what she said, but I do not believe the savior said this. These teachings are strange ideas." Peter responds, saying, "Did he really speak with

6480-554: The Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark. What did these seven devils signify, if not all the vices? It is clear, that the woman previously used the unguent to perfume her flesh in forbidden acts. What she therefore displayed more scandalously, she was now offering to God in a more praiseworthy manner. She had coveted with earthly eyes, but now through penitence these are consumed with tears. She displayed her hair to set off her face, but now her hair dries her tears. She had spoken proud things with her mouth, but in kissing

6600-464: The New Testament. Some scholars believe that at least a few of these sayings may authentically be traced back to the historical Jesus. Two of the sayings reference a woman named "Mary", who is generally regarded as Mary Magdalene. In saying 21, Mary herself asks Jesus, "Whom are your disciples like?" Jesus responds, "They are like children who have settled in a field which is not theirs. When

6720-512: The Syrian ( c. 306 – 373). Part of the reason for the identification of Mary Magdalene as a sinner may derive from the reputation of her birthplace, Magdala, which, by the late first century, was infamous for its inhabitants' alleged vice and licentiousness. In one of his preserved sayings, Gregory of Nyssa ( c. 330 – 395) identifies Mary Magdalene as "the first witness to the resurrection, that she might set straight again by her faith in

6840-468: The Twelve. Thus, the most frequent identification is with John the Apostle , who would then be the same as John the Evangelist . Merril F. Unger presents a case for this by a process of elimination. Nevertheless, while some modern academics continue to share the view of Augustine and Polycrates, Tilborg suggests that the portrait in the Gospel of John is "positively attuned to the development of possibly homosexual behaviour". However, he cautions that "in

6960-486: The [...] is Mary of Magdala. The [...] her more than [...] the disciples, [...] kissed her often on her [...]." It is widely accepted among secular historians that, like Jesus, Mary Magdalene was a real historical figure. Nonetheless, very little is known about her life. Unlike Paul the Apostle , Mary Magdalene left behind no known writings of her own. She was never mentioned in any of the Pauline epistles or in any of

7080-472: The apocryphal gospels could conceivably go back to the time of Jesus. They are legendary and mythological. Of all the apocryphal material, only some of the sayings in the Gospel of Thomas are worth consideration. Nonetheless, the texts have been frequently promoted in modern works as though they were reliable. Such works often support sensationalist statements about Jesus and Mary Magdalene's relationship. The earliest dialogue between Jesus and Mary Magdalene

7200-483: The beloved disciple in the Gospel of John was originally Mary Magdalene . But Matkin and others note that Mary and the beloved disciple appear in the same scene in John 20. To make this claim and maintain consistency with scripture, the theory is suggested that Mary's separate existence in the two common scenes with the beloved disciple, John 19:25–27 and John 20:1–11, is due to later modifications, hastily done to authorize

7320-458: The beloved disciple, who also authored the Gospel attributed to John, was probably a literarily sophisticated member of the surprisingly extensive high priestly family clan. Gerd Theissen and Annette Merz suggest the testimony may have come from a lesser known disciple, perhaps from Jerusalem. James D. Tabor argues that the beloved disciple is James, brother of Jesus (the type of relative to Jesus, brother or cousin, depends on how one translates

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7440-479: The bosom of the Lord", and, being a priest, wore the sacerdotal plate. He fell asleep at Ephesus . Augustine of Hippo (354–430 AD) also believed that John was the beloved disciple, in his Tractates on the Gospel of John . The assumption that the beloved disciple was one of the Apostles is based on the observation that he was apparently present at the Last Supper , and Matthew and Mark state that Jesus ate with

7560-401: The burial of Jesus. Matthew 27:61 lists Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" as witnesses. Luke 23:55 mentions "the women who had followed him from Galilee", but does not list any of their names. John 19:39–42 does not mention any women present during Joseph's burial of Jesus, but does mention the presence of Nicodemus , a Pharisee with whom Jesus had a conversation near the beginning of

7680-424: The circumstances of the believers for whom they were intended. For instance, John's feminine features are argued to have helped to make him more relatable to women. Likewise, Sarah McNamer argues that because of John's androgynous status, he could function as an 'image of a third or mixed gender' and 'a crucial figure with whom to identify' for male believers who sought to cultivate an attitude of affective piety ,

7800-431: The code   [...] such imaginary homosexual behaviour is not an expression of homosexuality." Meanwhile, theologian Ismo Dunderberg has also explored the issue and argues that the absence of accepted Greek terms for "lover" and "beloved" discounts an erotic reading. As early as the sixteenth century (albeit in a heretical context) – it was documented, for example, in the trial for blasphemy of Christopher Marlowe , who

7920-513: The completion of completion." Simon Peter, annoyed at Mary's dominance of the conversation, tells Jesus, "My master, we cannot endure this woman who gets in our way and does not let any of us speak, though she talks all the time." Mary defends herself, saying, "My master, I understand in my mind that I can come forward at any time to interpret what Pistis Sophia [a female deity] has said, but I am afraid of Peter, because he threatens me and hates our gender." Jesus assures her, "Any of those filled with

8040-504: The cross is probably historical because Christians would have been unlikely to make up that the main witnesses to the crucifixion were women and also because their presence is attested in both the Synoptic Gospels and in the Gospel of John independently. Maurice Casey concurs that the presence of Mary Magdalene and the other women at the crucifixion of Jesus may be recorded as an historical fact. According to E. P. Sanders ,

8160-458: The crucifixion. Virtually all reputable historians agree that Jesus was crucified by the Romans under the orders of Pontius Pilate . James Dunn states of baptism and crucifixion that these "two facts in the life of Jesus command almost universal assent". Nonetheless, the gospels' accounts of Jesus's crucifixion differ. Ehrman states that the presence of Mary Magdalene and the other women at

8280-530: The dead and instructed them to tell the male disciples that he would meet them in Galilee. Instead, the women ran away and told no one, because they were too afraid. The original text of the gospel ends here, without the resurrected Jesus making an appearance to anyone. Casey argues that the reason for this abrupt ending may be because the Gospel of Mark is an unfinished first draft. According to Matthew 28:1–10 , Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" went to

8400-479: The disciple whom Jesus loved "reclining next to Jesus" (v. 23; more literally, "on/at his breast/bosom," en to kolpo ). John the Evangelist John the Evangelist ( c. 8 AD - c. 100 AD) is the name traditionally given to the author of the Gospel of John . Christians have traditionally identified him with John the Apostle , John of Patmos , and John the Presbyter , although there

8520-499: The earliest Church Fathers do not mention Mary Magdalene, and those who do mention her usually only discuss her very briefly. In his anti-Christian polemic The True Word , written between 170 and 180, the pagan philosopher Celsus declared that Mary Magdalene was nothing more than "a hysterical female... who either dreamt in a certain state of mind and through wishful thinking had a hallucination due to some mistaken notion (an experience which has happened to thousands), or, which

8640-405: The empty tomb, regardless of whether or not they are accurate, can definitely be traced back to the historical Mary Magdalene, saying that, in Jewish society, women were regarded as unreliable witnesses and were forbidden from giving testimony in court, so early Christians would have had no motive to make up a story about a woman being the first to discover the empty tomb. In fact, if they had made

8760-402: The family of the children of Boethus , known from Josephus and rabbinic literature, is the same family in John 11: Lazarus, Martha, and Mary of Bethany. This is a beloved family, according to John 11:5. The historical Lazarus was Eleazar son of Boethus, who was once Israel's high priest, and from a clan that produced several high priests. The Gospel's traditionally-ascribed author, John, was not

8880-432: The garden like Mary Magdalene in John 20 , indicating a conflation between Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene. The sermon describes the conflated woman as a "second Eve " who compensates for the disobedience of the first Eve through her obedience. The sermon also explicitly identifies Mary Magdalene and the other women as "apostles". The first clear identification of Mary Magdalene as a redeemed sinner comes from Ephrem

9000-524: The gospel and epistles may have been written by a single author, whether or not this was the apostle. Other scholars conclude that the author of the epistles was different from that of the gospel, although all four works originated from the same community. In the 6th century, the Decretum Gelasianum argued that the Second and Third Epistle of John have a separate author known as " John

9120-414: The gospel deals with Jesus's parting words to his followers after a post-resurrection appearance. Mary first appears in the second part, in which she tells the other disciples, who are all in fright for their own lives: "Do not weep or grieve or be in doubt, for his grace will be with you all and will protect you. Rather, let us praise his greatness, for he has prepared us and made us truly human." Unlike in

9240-418: The gospel. Ehrman, who previously accepted the story of Jesus's burial as historical, now rejects it as a later invention on the basis that Roman governors almost never allowed for executed criminals to be given any kind of burial and Pontius Pilate in particular was not "the sort of ruler who would break with tradition and policy when kindly asked by a member of the Jewish council to provide a decent burial for

9360-401: The gospels. This passage made no mention of Mary Magdalene, the other women, or the story of the empty tomb, but rather credits Simon Peter with having been the first to see the risen Jesus. Despite this, all four canonical gospels, as well as the apocryphal Gospel of Peter, agreed that Mary Magdalene, either alone or as a member of a group, was the first person to discover that Jesus's tomb

9480-456: The life. Jesus said: Behold, I shall lead her, that I may make her male, in order that she also may become a living spirit like you males. For every woman who makes herself male shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. In the ancient world, many patriarchal cultures believed that women were inferior to men and that they were, in essence, "imperfect men" who had not fully developed. When Peter challenges Mary's authority in this saying, he does so on

9600-681: The male apostles. That women played such an active and important role in Jesus's ministry was not entirely radical or even unique; inscriptions from a synagogue in Aphrodisias in Asia Minor from around the same time period reveal that many of the major donors to the synagogue were women. Jesus's ministry did bring women greater liberation than they would typically have held in mainstream Jewish society. All four canonical gospels agree that several other women watched Jesus's crucifixion from

9720-434: The manuscript was not published until 1955. Roughly half the text of the gospel in this manuscript has been lost ; the first six pages and four from the middle are missing. In addition to this Coptic translation, two brief third-century fragments of the gospel in the original Greek ( P. Rylands 463 and P. Oxyrhynchus 3525 ) have also been discovered, which were published in 1938 and 1983 respectively. The first part of

9840-437: The mother of James went to the tomb and found the stone already rolled away, as in Mark. They went inside and saw two young men dressed in white who told them that Jesus had risen from the dead. Then they went and told the eleven remaining apostles, who dismissed their story as nonsense. In Luke's account, Jesus never appears to the women, but instead makes his first appearance to Cleopas and an unnamed "disciple" on

9960-406: The other gospels. First, it describes an appearance by Jesus to Mary Magdalene alone (as in the Gospel of John), followed by brief descriptions of him appearing to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (as in the Gospel of Luke) and to the eleven remaining disciples (as in the Gospel of Matthew). In his book published in 2006, Ehrman states that "it appears virtually certain" that the stories of

10080-467: The other women are mentioned throughout the gospels indicate strongly that they were vital to Jesus's ministry and that Mary Magdalene always appears first, whenever she is listed in the Synoptic Gospels as a member of a group of women , indicates that she was seen as the most important out of all of them. Carla Ricci notes that, in lists of the disciples, Mary Magdalene occupies a similar position among Jesus's female followers as Simon Peter does among

10200-407: The other women must not have seen the tomb. Sanders affirms Jesus's burial by Joseph of Arimathea in the presence of Mary Magdalene and the other female followers as completely historical. The earliest description of Jesus's post-resurrection appearances is a quotation of a pre-Pauline creed preserved by Paul the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 15:3–8 , which was written roughly 20 years before any of

10320-533: The owners of the field come, they will say, 'Let us have back our field.' They (will) undress in their presence in order to let them have back their field and to give it back to them." Following this, Jesus continues his explanation with a parable about the owner of a house and a thief, ending with the common rhetoric, "Whoever has ears to hear let him hear." Mary's mention in saying 114, however, has generated considerable controversy: Simon Peter said to them: Let Mary go forth from among us, for women are not worthy of

10440-431: The possessed person wailing, thrashing, and tearing his or her clothes in front of a crowd. By contrast, that Mary's exorcism receives little attention may indicate that either Jesus performed it privately or that the recorders did not perceive it as particularly dramatic. Because Mary is listed as one of the women who supported Jesus's ministry financially, she must have been relatively wealthy. The places where she and

10560-434: The possibility that Mary of Bethany and the unnamed sinner from Luke might be the same person, but did not associate Mary Magdalene with either of them. Instead, Augustine praised Mary Magdalene as "unquestionably... surpassingly more ardent in her love than these other women who had administered to the Lord". The portrayal of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute began in 591, when Pope Gregory I identified Mary Magdalene, who

10680-722: The present, but they are mentioned by the early Christian heretic-hunter Epiphanius of Salamis in his Panarion . Epiphanius says that the Greater Questions of Mary contained an episode in which, during a post-resurrection appearance, Jesus took Mary to the top of a mountain, where he pulled a woman out of his side and engaged in sexual intercourse with her. Then, upon ejaculating , Jesus drank his own semen and told Mary, "Thus we must do, that we may live." Upon hearing this, Mary instantly fainted, to which Jesus responded by helping her up and telling her, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" This story

10800-456: The priest ." Historical critics like H.P.V. Nunn, Reza Aslan and Bart Ehrman , believe with most modern scholars that the apostle John wrote none of these works. Some scholars, though, such as John Robinson , F. F. Bruce , Leon Morris , and Martin Hengel , still hold the apostle to be behind at least some of the works in question, particularly the gospel. The Book of Revelation

10920-463: The reason why the women watched the crucifixion even after the male disciples had fled may have been because they were less likely to be arrested, they were braver than the men, or some combination thereof. All four canonical gospels, as well as the apocryphal Gospel of Peter , agree that Jesus's body was taken down from the cross and buried by a man named Joseph of Arimathea . Mark 15:47 lists Mary Magdalene and Mary, mother of Joses as witnesses to

11040-400: The reference often include an attempt to explain why this anonymizing idiom is used at all, rather than stating an identity. Suggestions accounting for this are numerous. One common proposal is that the author concealed his name due simply to modesty. Another is that concealment served political or security reasons, made necessary by the threat of persecution or embarrassment during the time of

11160-452: The resurrection, what was turned over in her transgression". Ambrose ( c. 340 – 397), by contrast, not only rejected the conflation of Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany, and the anointing sinner, but even proposed that the authentic Mary Magdalene was, in fact, two separate people: one woman named Mary Magdalene who discovered the empty tomb and a different Mary Magdalene who saw the risen Christ. Augustine of Hippo (354–430) entertained

11280-489: The risen Jesus approached her. She at first mistook him for the gardener, but, after she heard him say her name, she recognized him and cried out " Rabbouni! " (which is Aramaic for 'teacher'). His next words may be translated as " Don't touch me , for I have not yet ascended to my Father" or "Stop clinging to me, [etc.]", the latter more probable in view of the grammar (negated present imperative: stop doing something already in progress) as well as Jesus's challenge to Thomas

11400-443: The risen Jesus, citing her prominence in the gospel resurrection narratives and her absence everywhere else in the gospels as evidence. New Testament apocrypha writings mention Mary Magdalene. Some of these writings were cited as scripture by early Christians. However, they were never admitted to the canon of the New Testament . Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant churches generally do not view these writings as part of

11520-416: The road to Emmaus . Luke's narrative also removes the injunction for the women to tell the disciples to return to Galilee and instead has Jesus tell the disciples not to return to Galilee, but rather to stay in the precincts of Jerusalem. Mary Magdalene's role in the resurrection narrative is greatly increased in the account from the Gospel of John. According to John 20:1–10 , Mary Magdalene went to

11640-531: The savior made her worthy, who are you to reject her? Surely the savior knows her well. That is why he loved her more than us." The Borborites , also known as the Phibionites, were an early Christian Gnostic sect during the late fourth century who had numerous scriptures involving Mary Magdalene, including The Questions of Mary , The Greater Questions of Mary , The Lesser Questions of Mary , and The Birth of Mary . None of these texts have survived to

11760-455: The second century apocryphal Second Apocalypse of James as indicating James to be the beloved disciple. This passage reads: And Jesus kissed my mouth. He took hold of me saying: 'My beloved! Behold, I shall reveal to you those things that the heavens nor the angels have known. Behold, I shall reveal to you everything, my beloved. Behold, I shall reveal to you what is hidden. But now, stretch out your hand. Now, take hold of me'. Theories about

11880-457: The spirit of light will come forward to interpret what I say: no one will be able to oppose them." The Gospel of Thomas , usually dated to the late first or early second century, was among the ancient texts discovered in the Nag Hammadi library in 1945. The Gospel of Thomas consists entirely of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus. Many of these sayings are similar to ones in the canonical gospels, but others are completely unlike anything found in

12000-407: The story of the empty tomb can only be a later invention because there is virtually no possibility that Jesus's body could have been placed in any kind of tomb and, if Jesus was never buried, then no one alive at the time could have said that his non-existent tomb had been found empty. He concludes that the idea that early Christians would have had "no motive" to make up the story simply "suffers from

12120-457: The story up, they would have had strong motivation to make Peter, Jesus's closest disciple while he was alive, the discoverer of the tomb instead. He also says that the story of Mary Magdalene discovering the empty tomb is independently attested in the Synoptics, the Gospel of John, and in the Gospel of Peter. N. T. Wright states that, "it is, frankly, impossible to imagine that [the women at

12240-531: The texts found in Nag Hammadi in 1945. In a manner very similar to John 19:25–26 , the Gospel of Philip presents Mary Magdalene among Jesus's female entourage, adding that she was his koinônos , a Greek word variously translated in contemporary versions as 'partner, associate, comrade, companion': There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary, his mother, and her sister , and Magdalene, who

12360-430: The tomb when it was still dark and saw that the stone had already been rolled away. She did not see anyone, but immediately ran to tell Peter and the " beloved disciple ", who came with her to the tomb and confirmed that it was empty, but returned home without seeing the risen Jesus. According to John 20:11–18 , Mary, now alone in the garden outside the tomb, saw two angels sitting where Jesus's body had been. Then

12480-429: The tomb. An earthquake occurred and an angel dressed in white descended from Heaven and rolled aside the stone as the women were watching. The angel told them that Jesus had risen from the dead. Then the risen Jesus himself appeared to the women as they were leaving the tomb and told them to tell the other disciples that he would meet them in Galilee. According to Luke 24:1–12 Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary

12600-489: The tomb. Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not mention any one of the 12 disciples having witnessed the crucifixion. The New Testament also makes two references to an unnamed "other disciple" in John 1:35–40 and John 18:15–16, which may be to the same person based on the wording in John 20:2. The closing words of the Gospel of John state explicitly concerning the beloved disciple that "It is this disciple who testifies to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony

12720-547: The tomb] were inserted into the tradition after Paul's day." Casey challenges this argument, contending that the women at the tomb are not legal witnesses, but rather heroines in line with a long Jewish tradition. He contends that the story of the empty tomb was invented by either the author of the Gospel of Mark or by one of his sources, based on the historically genuine fact that the women really had been present at Jesus's crucifixion and burial. In his book published in 2014, Ehrman rejects his own previous argument, stating that

12840-606: The unnamed "sinful woman" was still a major controversy in the years leading up to the Reformation , and some Protestant leaders rejected it. During the Counter-Reformation , the Catholic Church emphasized Mary Magdalene as a symbol of penance . In 1969, Pope Paul VI removed the identification of Mary Magdalene with Mary of Bethany and the "sinful woman" from the General Roman Calendar , but

12960-400: The view of her as a former prostitute has persisted in popular culture. The unnamed "sinful woman" in Luke 7:36–50 is never identified as a prostitute and, in Jewish society at the time the gospel was written, "sinful" could have simply meant that she "did not assiduously observe the law of Moses ". The notion of Mary Magdalene specifically being a former prostitute or loose woman dates to

13080-404: The widely accepted premise that she is a woman and therefore an inferior human being. When Jesus rebukes him for this, he bases his response on the same premise, stating that Mary and all faithful women like her will become men and that salvation is therefore open to all, even those who are presently women. The Gospel of Philip , dating from the second or third century, survives in part among

13200-432: The word). One of several pieces of evidence Tabor offers is a literal interpretation of John 19:26: "Then when Jesus saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, Woman, behold your son." However, elsewhere in the Gospel, the beloved disciple refers to the risen Jesus as "the Lord" rather than as "my brother". Tabor also cites a passage of Jesus referring to James as "my beloved" (twice) in

13320-559: Was a sinner" in effort to prove that Jesus "was not a phantom, but really a solid body". This may indicate that Mary Magdalene was already being conflated with the "sinful woman" in Luke 7:36–50 , though Tertullian never clearly identifies the woman of whom he speaks as Mary Magdalene. Elaborate medieval legends from Western Europe then emerged, which told exaggerated tales of Mary Magdalene's wealth and beauty, as well as of her alleged journey to southern Gaul (modern-day France ). The identification of Mary Magdalene with Mary of Bethany and

13440-471: Was accused of claiming that "St. John the Evangelist was bedfellow to Christ and leaned always in his bosom, that he used him as the sinners of Sodoma ". In accusing Marlowe of the "sinful nature" of homosexual acts, James I of England inevitably invited comparisons to his own erotic relationship with the Duke of Buckingham , which he also compared with that of the beloved disciple. Finally, Francesco Calcagno ,

13560-561: Was called his companion. His sister, his mother and his companion were each a Mary. The Gospel of Philip uses cognates of koinônos and Coptic equivalents to refer to the literal pairing of men and women in marriage and sexual intercourse, but also metaphorically, referring to a spiritual partnership, and the reunification of the Gnostic Christian with the divine realm. The Gospel of Philip also contains another passage relating to Jesus's relationship with Mary Magdalene. The text

13680-406: Was challenged to drink a cup of poison to demonstrate the power of his faith, and thanks to God's aid the poison was rendered harmless. The chalice can also be interpreted with reference to the Last Supper , or to the words of Christ to John and James: "My chalice indeed you shall drink." According to the 1910 Catholic Encyclopedia , some authorities believe that this symbol was not adopted until

13800-440: Was empty. Nonetheless, the details of the accounts differ drastically. According to Mark 16:1–8 , the earliest account of the discovery of the empty tomb, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went to the tomb just after sunrise, a day and half after Jesus's burial and found that the stone had already been rolled away. They went inside and saw a young man dressed in white, who told them that Jesus had risen from

13920-524: Was introduced in Luke 8:2, with Mary of Bethany (Luke 10:39) and the unnamed "sinful woman" who anointed Jesus's feet in Luke 7:36–50. Pope Gregory's Easter sermon resulted in a widespread belief that Mary Magdalene was a repentant prostitute or promiscuous woman. Her reputation in Western Christianity as being a repentant prostitute or loose woman are not supported by the canonical gospels, which at no point imply that she had ever been

14040-462: Was primarily known in antiquity as a fishing town. Mary was, by far, the most common Jewish given name for girls and women during the first century, so it was necessary for the authors of the gospels to call her Magdalene in order to distinguish her from the other women named Mary who followed Jesus. Although the Gospel of Mark , reputed by scholars to be the earliest surviving gospel, does not mention Mary Magdalene until Jesus's crucifixion,

14160-466: Was probably written over a century after the historical Mary Magdalene's death. The text is not attributed to her and its author is anonymous. Instead, it received its title because it is about her. The main surviving text comes from a Coptic translation preserved in a fifth-century manuscript ( Berolinensis Gnosticus 8052,1) discovered in Cairo in 1896. As a result of numerous intervening conflicts,

14280-499: Was supposedly the basis for the Borborite Eucharist ritual in which they allegedly engaged in orgies and drank semen and menstrual blood as the "body and blood of Christ" respectively. Ehrman casts doubt on the accuracy of Epiphanius's summary, commenting that "the details of Epiphanius's description sound very much like what you can find in the ancient rumor mill about secret societies in the ancient world". Most of

14400-486: Was the number of completion, so that Mary was possessed by seven demons may simply mean she was completely overwhelmed by their power. In either case, Mary must have suffered from severe emotional or psychological trauma for an exorcism of this kind to have been perceived as necessary. Consequently, her devotion to Jesus resulting from this healing must have been very strong. The Gospels' writers normally relish giving dramatic descriptions of Jesus's public exorcisms, with

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