Who is Mary Magdalene in Orthodoxy. Mary Magdalene: A True Story. Gospel of Luke and John

Recently, many Russian media discussed a sensation: in the museum of the small town of Irbit, Sverdlovsk region, viewers were presented with the original painting by P. Rubens "Penitent Mary Magdalene and her sister Martha". Whether the painting of the 17th century belongs to the brush of Rubens or not, experts will decide, but the name of the painting caused bewilderment among believers: on what basis did the great Flemish interrelate Mary Magdalene and Martha? It turns out that in the Catholic West it is widely believed that Mary Magdalene is the repentant sinner who anointed Jesus' feet with ointment and rubbed them with her hair (Luke 7: 37-38), and that she was not only a harlot, but also the sister of Lazarus Four-day. So to what extent does the character depicted in the paintings popular in the West called "The Penitent Mary Magdalene" correspond to the prototype?

Before starting our reasoning, let us clarify that in the lines of Scripture telling about the anointing of Christ with fragrant ointment, only the harlot and Mary from Bethany are narrated - Mary Magdalene is not mentioned anywhere in this situation.

The fact that all four evangelists write about this act testifies to its unusualness, but not to exclusivity. The very anointing of Jesus as a harlot, presumably, was widely discussed among the Jews, and caused idle talk not in favor of Christ. Perhaps that is why the pious Mary of Bethany repeated the anointing in order to suppress rumors that only harlots gather around the Teacher? And the fact that Lazarus' sister was a pious woman can be assumed from the following. It follows from the Gospel text that Mary's brother Lazarus was a man of strict rules and highly respected in society. It is very, very difficult to present to a respected in Jewish society a man whose sister living with him was a despised harlot.

In fairness, we note that all of the above is just reasoning, it is much more interesting to analyze the Gospel lines in order to separate the harlot and the sister of Lazarus.

How many anointings were there?

The 11th chapter of the Gospel of John says: "Mary, with whom brother Lazarus was sick, was the one who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair." About a woman who wiped off the Savior's legs with her hair is known from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 7, 37-38). And it is there that it is reported that this woman was a harlot, which gives rise to some researchers to assert that the sister of Lazarus is the very harlot. Those who disagree with this statement believe that in the 11th chapter the Apostle John mentions another case of anointing, which he cited a little later, in the 12th chapter: his feet; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the world ”(John 12: 3).

But here the question arises, why does the Evangelist John in the 11th chapter inform about the fact of the anointing with the world even before its detailed description in the next chapter? It can be assumed that by the time the Gospel of John was written, the story of the woman who anointed Christ on the eve of His burial was known to many, and the evangelist decided to clarify that this woman was Lazarus' sister Mary, and a little later he describes the very fact of the anointing. The inconsistency in the exposition of the Apostle John is not something unusual for the Holy Scriptures. Suffice it to recall the book of Genesis, which twice mentions the creation of man by God, which is one of the main imaginary arguments for incompetent critics of the Bible.

Proponents of the identification of the harlot and the sister of Lazarus often cite the following lines of the Lenten Triodion hymns as evidence of their assertion, which are sung at Matins on Holy Week: “Harlot come to You, pouring ointment with tears on Thy nose, and the stench of evil is delivered by your command! Breathing your grace, an ungrateful disciple puts it off, and dresses with a stench, selling it to you with avarice. In their opinion, if Mary of Bethany anointed Christ with peace on the eve of His burial, and the hymn clearly states that the woman who anointed Him on the day when the money-loving Judas betrayed Christ was a harlot, it turns out that this harlot was Lazarus' sister.

To agree or deny this statement, we read a passage from the Gospel of Matthew, which speaks of the anointing of Christ and the betrayal of Judas: “When Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him with an alabaster vessel of precious peace and poured out to Him who was reclining on head. Seeing this, His disciples were indignant and said: Why such a waste? For this myrrh could be sold for a great price and given to the poor. But Jesus, realizing this, said to them: Why confuse the woman? she has done a good deed for me: for you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me; having poured this ointment on my body, she prepared me for burial ... Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said: what will you give me, and I will give him to you? They offered him thirty pieces of silver; and from that time he looked for an opportunity to betray Him ”(Matt. 26: 6-16). If we consider that Judas betrayed the Savior on Wednesday, and Lazarus' sister Mary anointed Christ on another day - six days before Easter (John 12: 1), then we can conclude that the chant is not at all about Mary of Bethany.

When comparing the above chant with the text of the Gospel of Matthew, one can see some, at first glance, contradiction: if the chant speaks of the anointing of the Savior's feet, then from the Gospel it follows that the woman anointed His head with peace. But is this a contradiction? We have already mentioned that in the Holy Scriptures the presentation of events did not always strictly correspond to chronology; the main goal for the inspired authors was to convey to the reader the facts that, to one degree or another, determined the development of world history. The same principles were followed by the authors of the Holy Tradition, to which, in particular, church chants also belong. In this case, the authors of the Passion Week hymns combined the two events into one, confident that the woman who anointed the Savior's head on the eve of His Passion on the Cross is the same harlot who once wiped His legs with her hair with tears. That is, the repentant former harlot, who once anointed Christ with peace in Galilee (Gospel of Luke), followed Christ, and in Bethany on Holy Wednesday she came to the local residence of the Pharisee Simon, a former leper, where at that time the one who cleansed him of leprosy was staying Lord. The woman here repeated the anointing, but this time she dared to pour out the precious ointment on the Savior's head, thus, as if preparing Him for burial.

This is how the compilers of the "Interpretation on the Gospel of Matthew", based on the interpretations of the Church Fathers (Trinity Leaves, 1896-1899), reveal these events: "The Holy Orthodox Church, following St. Chrysostom, Blessed Theophylact and other ancient fathers, adheres to that tradition, that Jesus Christ was anointed three times - by the zeal of two Gospel wives: for the first time in the midst of His public service to the human race, clearly repented as a sinner in Galilee, in the house of Simon the Pharisee, as Saint Luke preaches; in another - in Bethany, in the house of Lazarus, by Mary, the sister of Lazarus, six days before Easter, about which St. John preaches; and for the third time in the house of the same Simon the Pharisee, in Bethany, and the same repentant sinner who anointed Him for the first time, about which St. Matthew and St. Mark are preaching ”.

So, analyzing the Gospel texts, we can conclude with a certain degree of certainty that Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus the Four-Day, was not a prostitute known to the Jewish community. It remains to find out, and where does Mary Magdalene?

Who was Mary Magdalene?

As already mentioned, on the basis of the opinion of some of the Holy Fathers of the Western Church, in particular St. Gregory the Great, Pope of Rome, the Catholic Church has developed a tradition to identify Mary Magdalene with an evangelical harlot. Many paintings have been written on the theme of Mary Magdalene's repentance, the most famous of which is Titian's painting "The Penitent Mary Magdalene." This opinion is so widespread that even the painting of the Russian artist Alexander Ivanov "The Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection", written in 1835, our contemporaries do not hesitate to call "The Penitent Mary Magdalene". Moreover, the name Magdalene has become a catchword that characterizes the repentant representatives of the ancient profession, and is often used in works of art.

Meanwhile, there is no information in the New Testament that Mary Magdalene was a famous harlot. It only says that Christ expelled seven demons from her. Of course, if we assume that one of the seven demons was a demon of fornication, then she can be called a sinner-harlot, but this stretch is too great.

It is known that Mary followed Christ during His earthly life, and after His crucifixion and Resurrection boldly preached the faith of the Savior who appeared in the world. It is unlikely that the pagan world, not yet enlightened by the Christian light of forgiveness and love, could adequately perceive the words of a harlot, albeit a former one. Here is what is written about this in the notes to the life of St. Mary Magdalene, Equal to the Apostles (Comm. 22 July according to the church calendar): “But the Orthodox Eastern Church does not confuse the sinner of an unknown name, forgiven in the house of Simon the Pharisee, with Mary Magdalene ... And St. Demetrius of Rostov writes: "If Magdalene was a harlot, then Christ and His disciples were clearly a sinner, walking for a long time, so that they would advertise Christ's haters to the Jew, looking for whatever guilt he might have, that they would deceive and condemn Him. If Christ's disciples once saw the Lord with Talking to a Samaritan woman, wondering, as if she was a verb with her wife, since the enemies would not keep silent, when they clearly saw a sinner all the days following and serving Him. "

Regarding the alleged identity of Mary Magdalene with Mary from Bethany, the following excerpt from the life of Mary Magdalene can be cited: "By origin from the city of Magdala, the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary is called Magdalene, to distinguish her from other pious wives mentioned in the Gospel with the name of Mary."

The question remains, where did Lazarus' sister Mary of Bethany go during the Savior's sufferings on the Cross? Why was she not next to her beloved Teacher? Why does none of the evangelists mention her when they speak of the myrrh-bearing wives? And actually, why should she be in Jerusalem at this time? In the texts of the New Testament, Mary, along with her sister Martha, appears only when the Savior visits His friend Lazarus in Bethany. It is quite possible that at the time of the Holy Cross, the sisters remained with their brother in their hometown. Although it can be assumed that the evangelists noted both Mary and Martha among other myrrh-bearing wives, calling them “others” (Luke 24, 10), it is not for nothing that they are called myrrh-bearing wives in the church calendar. In any case, the assumption that the evangelists, for the purpose of conspiracy, called Mary from Bethany Mary Magdalene (from Magdala) sounds somehow unconvincing.

The one who repented is innocent

I would like to especially note that the very fact that an Orthodox saint could be a former harlot is by no means something offensive and unacceptable. Even in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, set forth by the Evangelist Matthew, the harlot Rahab (Rahab) from Jericho is mentioned. In Orthodoxy, there are many examples when people, possessed by the most terrible sins, having purified themselves by the Sacrament of Baptism, as if they were “bathing in the bathhouse”, became revered saints. And the purpose of the above reasoning is not to cleanse St. Mary Magdalene of some kind of libel, but to present the opinion that has developed in Orthodoxy about the history with the chrismation of Christ.

As for Mary Magdalene herself, whom Christ cleared from enslavement by seven demons, in conclusion I would like to cite verses that were published several years ago in the newspaper Vecherny Novosibirsk, written by the Novosibirsk poetess Anna Vil.

You are healed by faith!

Get up Mary of Magdala!

Your disease is defeated!

And Magdalene became a light;

Listening to the subtle wise speech,

Taking in the purity of the eyes

Maria straightens her shoulders

And the pain of the nights subsides ...

Touching with a gentle hand

He taught not to feel sorry for himself,

He showed her life differently,

Professor at the Harvard School of Theology Karen King found a mention in the text of wife Jesus Christ on Coptic papyrus dating from the 4th century AD. She spoke about this in a talk at the 10th International Congress of Coptic Studies in Rome, The Harvard Gazette reported on September 18.
"Jesus said to them: my wife", Says the snippet. The papyrus is about 3.5 by 7.5 centimeters in size and belongs to a private collector. On the one side, it contains eight incomplete handwritten lines, while on the other side, only three words and individual signs have survived. The origin of the fragment is unknown, but based on the fact that the inscriptions on it were made in Coptic (the language of early Christians in Egypt), scholars suggest that the papyrus was found in Egypt.


On one side of the papyrus, the researcher found eight incomplete lines of text. The reverse side of the fragment is badly damaged, and due to the faded ink, even after scanning with an infrared beam, only three words and a few individual letters could be distinguished on it. Despite the small size of the find, the Harvard expert believes the papyrus sheds long-awaited light on family and marriage issues among ancient Christians. Karen King plans to publish the results of her research in the January issue of the Harvard Theological Review. A draft of her work, along with images and a translation of the new fragment, is available on the website Harvard Divinity School.

Scientists' find reveals Jesus was married

Maria Magdalene is one of the most mysterious personalities of the Gospel. People formed an idea of \u200b\u200bher mainly from paintings on biblical themes. They usually depict a half-naked repentant sinner with beautiful long hair, which, according to the New Testament, she wiped the feet of Jesus.

Antiquity materials. The riddle of Mary Magdalene

In the "Complete Orthodox Theological Encyclopedic Dictionary" you can get very brief information about her: "- Myrrh-bearing wife comes from the city of Magdala. She led a dissolute life, and I. Christ, with his sermon, returned her to a new life and made her his most devoted follower. After the resurrection I. Christ appeared to her before others.

It turns out that he preferred the former harlot, who, in accordance with the strict Jewish laws he observed, had to be stoned to death. This strange addiction of the Savior to Mary Magdalene made many scholars who studied the Bible and were looking for evidence of the events in history in it, to take a closer look at this woman.

A detailed exposition of one of the hypotheses explaining the role of this mysterious figure in the New Testament is contained in the book by M. Bigent, R. Leigh, G. Lincoln "Sacred riddle"... According to these researchers, the special relationship of Jesus Christ to Mary of Magdala can be explained very simply: she was ... his wife. This version is confirmed by individual episodes described in the Bible, as well as existing Hebrew traditions and some of the Gnostic Gospels.

Early Christianity professor Geza Vermesh of Oxford University writes: “The Gospels are completely silent about the marital status of Jesus ... This is an unusual situation in the Hebrew world that deserves special research. Indeed, it is known from the Gospel that many of Jesus' disciples, for example, Peter, were married, and Jesus himself does not praise celibacy (celibacy). “Haven't you read that the Creator created man and woman from the very beginning? ... So let the man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two will be one flesh, "he declares in chapter XIX of Luke. According to ancient Jewish tradition, marriage was compulsory for every man. Moreover, celibacy was condemned by society. One Jewish writer of the late 1st century even equates it with murder.

People were especially strict about the "rabbi" - a person who chose the path of religious education, namely, Christ walked to them. Jewish law stated this in the most categorical way: "An unmarried person cannot claim to teach others."

One of the proofs of the version that Jesus was married is the description in the Gospel of John of the wedding in Cana of Galilee, which was attended by Jesus and his mother. At this time, Christ did not yet preach a new faith and did not perform miracles.

As you know, at some point it was discovered that the wine at the wedding was over. And here, unexpectedly, the mother of Jesus takes over the functions of the hostess: “And as the wine was lacking, the Mother of Jesus said to Him:“ They have no wine, ”and gives the order to the servants:“ Whatever He tells you, do it ”. Jesus fulfills the mother's desire and turns water into wine. Although, if they were only guests at the wedding, then it is not their concern to monitor how the wine and food are served.

Jesus' intervention becomes easily explainable (and even necessary) only in one case: when it comes to his own wedding. This interpretation of the episode is confirmed by the words of the "owner of the table" addressed to the groom: "... every person first serves good wine, and when they are drunk, then the worst; and you have kept good wine until now. " And these words clearly refer to Jesus, who performed his first miracle in front of everyone.

According to the Gospel, researchers also establish the identity of the wife of Jesus. She was, the role of which in the life of Christ looks deliberately obscured. As already mentioned, after the Resurrection, Jesus first appeared to her, which emphasizes her special importance in the life of Christ. And among the Evangelists Mark and Matthew Mary appears under her own name among the disciples of Jesus only at the moment of his crucifixion. The evangelist Luke mentions her much earlier. After meeting Jesus in Galilee, Mary accompanies him to Judea. But in those days it was simply unthinkable for an unmarried woman to travel alone along the roads of Palestine. Even less likely was her presence with the rabbi. Consequently, Mary Magdalene had to be married to one of the disciples or to Jesus himself.

Researchers find confirmation of this last assumption in the Gnostic Gospels, written by the first Christians and not included in the New Testament. For example, the Gospel of Philip testifies that Jesus' disciples were very jealous of the fact that he only kissed Mary Magdalene on the lips. Peter was especially indignant and even because of this became her implacable enemy. It is the special relationship of Christ to Mary Magdalene, which is mentioned in the Gnostic Gospels, and served as the reason for the non-inclusion of these books in the Christian canon. The privileged position of Mary is also emphasized in the works of the first Christian writers who called her "the wife of Christ."

According to the authors of The Sacred Riddle, first the bride of Christ and then his wife was Mary Magdalene. They consider the veneration of Mary in the south of France to be another confirmation of their version. Churches and cathedrals were built in her honor. “All tourists know,” the researchers write in their book, “that Chartres Cathedral was dedicated to“ Notre Dame - ”(in French -“ our lady, our lady, mistress ”). It is usually translated as an appeal to Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Virgin Mary. The Great Paris Cathedral is also dedicated to "Notre Dame". But in this case, Mary Magdalene is revered in the south of France, and not the Mother of God.

It turns out that most of the temples in Paris and its surroundings are the sanctuaries of none other than Mary Magdalene. This fact piqued the interest of historians when they learned that in many of these churches there is a statue of a woman with a baby, who is usually represented as Mary with the baby Jesus. However, it is possible that during the construction of these buildings, another - heretical - was hidden behind an obvious Christian cult. There is reason to believe that the Cathedral of Chartres was secretly dedicated to Mary Magdalene, the alleged wife of Christ. "

In the south of France, legends arose about the Grail, the sacred cup, in which the blood of Christ crucified on the cross was collected. Mary Magdalene held the cup in her hands. Not only in the south of France, but also in Russia, there were legends about the special role of this woman in the life and death of Christ, sometimes reflected in the icons.

The precious Byzantine enamel of the Crucifixion is kept in the Tbilisi National Museum. Experts attribute it to the X-XI centuries. There is a version that this image is an analogue of the enamel that adorned the See of Constantinople. The main thing in her plot is a female figure with a bowl into which the blood of Christ is merged. To the left of the crucifixion is a woman dressed like a woman with a cup. Thus, the author of the creation persistently suggests that this woman is depicted at different times. Who is the one who collected the Savior's blood in the Grail and carried it away from Calvary? Nikolai Kandakov, a specialist in Russian icon painting, believes that Mary Magdalene is depicted on the Tbilisi enamel of the Crucifixion of Christ.

There is another very important question that the authors of The Sacred Riddle are trying to answer: “If the marriage of Jesus to Mary Magdalene was concluded, what was the purpose of it? Or more precisely, was there a dynastic marriage and political interests behind it? "

The Gospel of Matthew establishes the origin of Jesus from the kings David and Solomon. In this case, he turns out to be the only legal contender for the throne of Palestine. Therefore, the inscription “King of the Jews”, placed on the cross, is not a mockery of him, but a statement of a real fact. And the proof of this is the famous "beating of babies" arranged by Herod. He was mortally afraid of the appearance of a legitimate claimant to the throne and was ready to go to any extreme in order to get rid of him.

But what is the connection between the fact that Jesus is the legitimate king of Judea and the need to conclude his marriage with Mary Magdalene? At the very beginning of the appearance of the Jews in Palestine, the holy city of Jerusalem belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. But his enmity with other tribes of Israel led to the fact that the tribe was forced to go into exile and power passed to the representatives of the tribe of Judah. True, as evidenced by the "documents of the Community", many representatives of the tribe did not dare to leave their homeland.

Jesus, who belonged to the offspring of David, in the eyes of the tribe of Judas was a legitimate claimant, but in the eyes of the remnants of the tribe of Benjamin living in this area, a usurper. The situation might have changed after his marriage to a woman from the tribe of Benjamin. In the Gospel there is no information about which tribe Mary Magdalene belonged to, but, according to some legends, she came from the royal dynasty of the tribe of Benjamin. Therefore, in this case, an alliance of two formerly hostile dynasties could arise, which would have serious political consequences. Israel would receive a priest-king, Jerusalem would return to its rightful owners, national unity would be strengthened, and Jesus' right to the throne would be reaffirmed.

About the opinion of the authors of the book "Sacred riddle", the fact that Jesus' family existed was inconvenient and even dangerous for the development of Christianity. This can explain the consistent and purposeful selection of information contained in the Gospels placed in the New Testament. In addition to the four canonical Gospels, there were others. A special place is occupied by the Gospels of Thomas and of Philip, which allow us to assume that there was a direct descendant of Jesus.

Jesus' wife Mary Magdalene and his children left the Holy Land and took refuge in Gaul, in the south of modern France, in the Jewish community. An indirect confirmation of this is the veneration of Mary Magdalene, which has survived to this day, including the construction of churches dedicated to her, which has already been mentioned. Thus, the direct offspring of Jesus took root in Gaul - the royal blood of David, transmitted by Christ to his descendants, ended up in southern France.

Legends about this were kept in the strictest secrecy for almost four hundred years. In the 5th century, the offspring of Jesus, merging with the Franks, gave birth to the Merovingian dynasty. According to legend, these kings possessed the ability to heal people from the most terrible diseases by a simple laying on of hands, as Christ did. The Duke of Godefroy of Bouillon, one of the inspirers of the Crusade, who conquered the Holy Land from the Saracens, came from Jesus, and his capture of Jerusalem in 1099 was more than just a victory over the infidels. It was a war to reclaim the sacred inheritance that should have belonged by right to the Duke's ancestor Jesus.

There is another very important fact that indirectly confirms the arrival of Mary Magdalene in southern France. Together with her, one of the main Christian shrines arrived in Europe -. There are many legends about where this bowl is located.

One of the most popular legends associates with the Albigensians - followers of the heretical doctrine that swept the south of France at the turn of the 12th-13th centuries. It was here, according to the authors of the book The Sacred Riddle, that the Jewish community was located at the beginning of the first millennium, in which it found refuge. In the impregnable fortress of the Albigensians of Montsegur, the Grail was kept, which was their great relic. In 1209, the Pope announced a crusade against the Albigensians. For 35 years of continuous wars, the richest provinces of France were completely ruined, thousands of people were executed, but they did not give up their religion. In 1244, the last stronghold of the Albigensians fell - Montsegur. But the sacred relic did not go to the crusaders. On the night before the surrender of the fortress, four "initiates" fled through a complex system of underground passages and took away the Holy Grail.

About Saint Graale remembered in the 30s in Nazi Germany. Otto Rahn, one of the developers of the theory of the existence of the Nordic race, visited the ruins of Montsegur, surveyed the surrounding area and visited some of the many natural caves, where, in his opinion, the Holy Grail was hidden. In 1937, he organized an expedition, and, according to rumors, he managed to get information confirming that the Grail is located here.

Otto Rahn failed to send the next expedition: the scientist disappeared without a trace. In 1943, when Germany was already suffering an obvious defeat, a huge expedition arrived in Montsegur, organized by the Ahnenerbe society, which is part of the SS structure. Until the spring of 1944, the participants of the campaign conducted intensive searches in the caves under the fortress and around it. After the end of the war, some newspapers reported that Holy grail

Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene was born in the town of Magdala on the shores of Lake Genesaret, in Galilee, in the northern part of the Holy Land, not far from the place where John the Baptist baptized. When the Lord cleansed her soul and body from all sins, driving out seven demons from her, she, leaving everything, followed Him.

Saint Mary Magdalene followed Christ together with other myrrh-bearing wives, showing a touching concern for Him. Having become a faithful disciple of the Lord, she never left Him. She, the only one, did not leave Him when He was taken into custody. The fear that prompted the apostle Peter to renounce and forced all his other disciples to flee, in the soul of Mary Magdalene was defeated by love. She stood at the Cross with the Most Holy Theotokos, experiencing the suffering of the Savior and sharing the great sorrow of the Mother of God. When the warrior put the end of a sharp spear to the silent heart of Jesus, excruciating pain simultaneously pierced Mary's heart.

Joseph and Nicodemus removed the Most Pure Body of the Lord Jesus Christ from the tree. The inconsolable Mother poured the bloody wounds of the Immaculate Son with burning tears of immeasurable sorrow. The precious Body of Jesus was, according to Jewish custom, wrapped in a thin shroud with incense.

It was about midnight, and the stars had already lit up across the dark vault of the tranquil skies, when Joseph and Nicodemus, lifting the Invaluable Burden on their shoulders, began to descend from the top of the mortal hill.

In deep silence, they walked through the garden and reached its eastern side, adjacent to the rocky foot of Mount Moria.

Here, in the stone wall, formed by nature itself by the rocky outcrops of the mountain, a new coffin was carved into the rock, in which no one had ever been laid. The servants rolled away the heavy stone that blocked the entrance to the cave, and the light from the lighted fires instantly penetrated its gloomy arches. In the middle lay a smoothly hewn stone. The body of the Unforgettable Teacher was entrusted to him by the disciples. The Most Holy Theotokos and Mary Magdalene looked where they put Him.

A heavy stone was rolled against the door of the coffin.

After Saturday, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb very early, when it was still dark, to pay the last honors to the body of the Savior, anointing it, according to custom, with peace and fragrances, and sees that the stone has been rolled away from the tomb. With tears, she runs to Peter and John and says to them: "They took the Lord out of the grave, and we do not know where they laid Him." They immediately followed her and, coming to the tomb, they saw only the shroud and the linen cloth, which was tied around the head of Jesus, carefully folded, not with shroud, but lying in another place. “They did not yet know from the Scriptures that He had to rise from the dead” (John 20: 1-10).

Keeping a deep silence, Peter and John returned to themselves, and Mary Magdalene, tormented by ignorance and sorrow, stood at the tomb and wept. Weeping, she bent down, looked into the tomb and saw: in the place where the body of Jesus lay, two Angels in white robes are sitting. "Woman, why are you crying?" They ask.

"They took away my Lord, and I do not know where they laid Him." Having said this, she turned back and saw Jesus standing; but did not know that it was Jesus.

“Woman, why are you crying? Jesus says to her. - Whom are you looking for? "

She, thinking that this is a gardener, says to Him: “Master! If you have carried It out, tell me where you put It and I will take It. ”

"Maria!" - she suddenly heard a familiar voice dear to her.

"Teacher!" - she exclaimed in her natural Aramaic language and threw herself at His feet.

But Jesus said to her: “Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to my brothers and say to them: I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God ”.

Shining with happiness, revived to a new life, Mary Magdalene rushed to her disciples.

“I saw the Lord! He spoke to me! " - with blissful delight, shining with bright rays in beautiful blue eyes moistened with tears, Mary informed the disciples of Jesus about the miraculous phenomenon that she had received. And her joy reached such proportions as her recent sorrow reached.

"Christ is risen! He is truly the Son of God! I saw the Lord! ... ”- this was the first good news that Mary Magdalene brought to the apostles, the first sermon on the Resurrection in the world. The apostles were to preach the gospel to the world, and she preached the gospel to the apostles themselves:

“Rejoice, receiving the broadcasting of the Resurrection first from the lips of Christ;

Rejoice, for the first to proclaim the words of joy to the apostles ”.

According to legend, Mary Magdalene preached the gospel not only in Jerusalem. When the apostles dispersed from Jerusalem to all the ends of the world, she went with them. Mary, who preserved every word of the Savior in her heart burning with divine love, left her native land and went to preach to pagan Rome. And everywhere she proclaimed to people about Christ and His teaching. And when many did not believe that Christ was resurrected, she repeated to them the same thing that she said to the apostles on the bright morning of the Resurrection: “I saw the Lord! He spoke to me. " With this sermon, she went all over Italy.

Tradition says that in Italy Mary Magdalene appeared to the emperor Tiberius (14-37) and told him about the life, miracles and teachings of Christ, about His unrighteous condemnation by the Jews, about Pilate's cowardice. The emperor doubted the miracle of the Resurrection and asked for proof. Then she took the egg and, giving it to the emperor, said: "Christ is Risen!" At these words, the white egg in the hands of the emperor turned bright red.

The egg symbolizes the birth of a new life and expresses our faith in the coming common Resurrection. Thanks to Mary Magdalene, the custom of giving each other Easter eggs on the day of the bright Resurrection of Christ has spread among Christians all over the world. In one ancient handwritten Greek Rite, written on parchment kept in the library of the monastery of St. Anastasia near Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki)), there is a prayer read on the day of Holy Easter for the consecration of eggs and cheese, which indicates that the abbot, distributing consecrated eggs, speaks to the brethren “Thus we received from the holy fathers, who preserved this custom from the very times of the apostles, for the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene was the first to show the believers an example of this joyful sacrifice.”

Mary Magdalene continued her evangelism in Italy and in the city of Rome itself until the arrival of the Apostle Paul there and two more years after his departure from Rome, after his first trial. Obviously, this is what the holy apostle has in mind in his Epistle to the Romans (Romans 16:16), when he mentions Mary (Miriam), who “worked hard for us”.

Mary Magdalene served the Church selflessly, exposed to dangers, sharing with the apostles the work of preaching. From Rome, the saint, already at an advanced age, moved to Ephesus (Asia Minor), where she preached and helped the Apostle John the Theologian in writing the Gospel. Here she, according to the tradition of the Church, died and was buried.

Where to bow to the relics of Mary Magdalene

In the 10th century, under the emperor Leo Philosophe (886-912), the imperishable relics of Saint Mary Magdalene were transferred from Ephesus to Constantinople. It is believed that during the crusades they were transported to Rome, where they rested in the church in the name of St. John Lateran. Later, this temple was consecrated in the name of St. Mary Magdalene, Equal to the Apostles. Part of her relics are in France, in Provage, near Marseille. Parts of the relics of Mary Magdalene are kept in various monasteries of Mount Athos and in Jerusalem. Numerous pilgrims of the Russian Church who visit these holy places reverently worship her holy relics.

“Rejoice, glorious evangelist of Christ's teaching;

Rejoice, for you have resolved the sinful bonds of many people;

Rejoice, for you taught everyone the wisdom of Christ.

Rejoice, Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene, more than all the blessings of the sweetest Lord Jesus who loved ”.

Magnification of Mary Magdalene

We magnify thee, Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene, and we honor your holy memory, who has enlightened the whole world with your teachings and led to Christ.

A life Mary Magdalene, shrouded in many myths and legends, still
causes desperate controversy among historians of religion and theologians. Who is she, this mysterious woman, who did she belong to Christ, why her image was deliberately distorted, and who was profitable to ascribe to her the past of a harlot. This review provides answers to these controversial questions.

In the Orthodox and Catholic faiths, the interpretation of the image of Mary Magdalene is fundamentally different: in Orthodoxy she is revered as a holy myrrh-bearer, healed by Jesus from seven demons, and in the tradition of the Catholic Church she is identified with the image of the penitent harlot Mary from Bethany, sister of Lazarus. Although it is reliably known from the Bible that the Holy Scriptures do not directly say anywhere that Magdalene was a harlot at any period of her life.

Mary Magdalene - the gospel harlot

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It was the Roman Catholic Church, whether by chance or deliberately in the person of Pope Gregory the Great, who invented a nickname that was offensive to Magdalene - “harlot” and identified her with the evangelical sinner.

Mary Magdalene - Equal to the Apostles Holy Myrrhbearer

However, the Orthodox saint Dmitry of Rostov spoke out against considering Mary a corrupt woman, who argued his opinion as follows: "If Magdalene had a tarnished reputation, the opponents of Christ would not fail to take advantage of this. But for all their hatred of the Savior, the Pharisees never caught Him that there was a former harlot among the apostles."

The Orthodox Church was inclined to see in Mary one of the women healed by Christ, possessed by demons. This liberation became the meaning of her life, and in gratitude the woman decided to devote her whole life to the Lord. And according to the Orthodox tradition, unlike Catholicism, Mary is considered a symbol of the personification of a Christian woman and is revered as an equal to the apostles holy myrrh-bearing.

Mary Magdalene - the best disciple of Christ and the author of the Fourth Gospel

Among the disciples of the Savior, Mary occupied a special place. She was revered for such a sincere and ardent devotion to Christ. And it was not by chance that the Lord honored Mary with the honor of becoming the first witness who saw him resurrected.

Not only that, most Bible scholars today claim that the Fourth Gospel was created by an unknown follower of Jesus, mentioned in the text as a beloved disciple. And there is an assumption that it was Mary Magdalene, who was one of the first founding apostles and leaders of the early Christian church.

But over time, her image became a common victim of the struggle for church power. By the 4th-5th centuries, even imagining a woman leader had already become heresy, and they decided to overthrow Mary Magdalene. "This topic has become part of the constant internal church struggle between supporters of the authority of the Church and defenders of personal revelation."

Mary Magdalene - the wife of Jesus Christ and the mother of his sons

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The image of the Gospel Magdalene was widely popularized by masters of Italian painting, especially Titian, Correggio, Guido Reni. By her name"кающимися магдалинами" стали называть женщин, после развратной жизни одумавшихся и вернувшихся к нормальной жизни.!}

According to the traditions of Western art, Mary Magdalene has always been depicted as a penitent, half-naked exile with an uncovered head and loose hair. And all works of art on this topic are so similar that most of us are still convinced of its great sin.

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In 1850, the first version of this painting was purchased by Nicholas I for the Hermitage museum collection. Now it is in one of the Italian offices of the New Hermitage.

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", мы продолжаем собирать и связывать воедино рассыпанную информацию о загадочном, овеянном древними легендами, тайнами и священными почитаниями имени. Зачем копаться в преданиях тысячелетней старины, когда не ведаешь достоверно, что творилось всего век назад, спросит читатель. За окнами дел непроворот, может проще оставить как есть и привычно довольствоваться общепризнанными версиями православной и католической традиции? В этом привычном и равнодушном довольствовании, признаем ведь, человечество провело поистине страшных две тысячи лет, пройдя через кровавые войны, завоевательские и крестовые походы, вехи экономического порабощения, в результате построив всего-то технократическую модель потребительского общества, в которой полностью утрачены знания о природе человека и цели его кратковременного пребывания на этой маленькой прекрасной планете. И сегодня, пусть кто-то и не верит, но мы приблизились к грани, за которой возможно очередное глобальное уничтожение. Почему? На этот вопрос мы и попытаемся ответить через глубинное рассмотрение сути такого грандиозного, кажущегося фантастическим и немыслимым для обычного посредственного сознания явления, как . Ведь за этим именем, поверьте, стоит намного больше, нежели история одного из преданных учеников одного из Учителей человечества.!}

Let us not in the least doubt the historical fact of the coming of the Savior as the Son of God, in those distant times and in his epoch-making mission. The well-founded suspicion that the real Teachings of Christ was distorted, rewritten and adapted for the creation of a new, powerful, more improved religious institution, the purpose of which is the ordinary power and manipulation of the consciousness of the masses. We will certainly highlight in the near future the striking paradox of the fanatical conviction of the religious consciousness of Christians in their own exclusivity and ambitions for the Truth, while the officially recognized and objective point of view of modern historians banally casts doubt on almost all basic sources, which for some reason are unshakable for the billion-dollar church electorate and untouchable phenomena of "manifestation of divine revelation." Not in order to encroach on the dignity of believers of one of the revered religions, but in order to look at the situation from a slightly different angle, in order to still see the truth through the deceitful dusting of age-old snows. Judging by the information found in the Gnostic works of the Nag Hammadi library, there is full reason to believe that the true Teachings of Christ went exactly with her, Mary Magdalene, into the circles of the early Gnostic Christians, while the other branch, the apostolic "through Peter and Paul" created what we see today. Further confrontation or struggle for power divided the followers of Christ into RASKOLNIKOV and APOSTOLIC CHRISTIANS. As a result, the latter simply destroyed the former. Read more about this.

So, not unreasonably continuing to assume that Mary Magdalene is the One that has kept our human civilization afloat for two millennia, let's take a closer look at the form in which information about her has come down to our days through the Orthodox and Catholic traditions. We will use information that is authoritative for the majority from Wikipedia.

Mary Magdalene (Hebrew מרים המגדלית, Old Greek Μαρία ἡ Μαγδαληνή, Latin Maria Magdalena) - a devoted follower of Jesus Christ, a Christian saint, a myrrh-bearer who, according to the Gospel text, followed Christ, was present at His Crucifixion and was a witness of his posthumous appearance. In the Orthodox and Catholic churches, the veneration of Magdalene differs: Orthodoxy venerates her according to the Gospel text - exclusively as a myrrh-bearer, healed of seven demons and appearing only in several episodes of the New Testament, and in the tradition of the Catholic Church for a long time it was customary to identify with it the image of the penitent harlot and Mary of Bethany, sister of Lazarus, as well as provide extensive legendary material.

In the New Testament, her name is mentioned only in a few episodes:

• She was healed by Jesus Christ from being possessed by seven demons (Luke 8: 2; Mark 16: 9)
• Then she began to follow Christ, serving him and sharing her wealth (Mark 15: 40-41, Luke 8: 3)
• Then she was present at Calvary at the death of Jesus (Matthew 27:56 and others)
• Then she witnessed his burial (Matt. 27:61 and others).
• And she also became one of the myrrh-bearing wives, whom the angel announced the Resurrection (Matt. 28: 1; Mark. 16: 1-8)
• She was the first to see the resurrected Jesus, at first she took him for a gardener, but when she recognized him, she rushed to touch him. Christ did not allow her to do this (Do not touch Me), but ordered her to announce his resurrection to the apostles (John 20: 11-18).

In the Orthodox tradition

In Orthodoxy, Mary Magdalene is revered as an Equal-to-the-Apostles saint, relying only on the evangelical testimonies listed above. In Byzantine literature, you can find a continuation of its history: after spending some time in Jerusalem, some time after the Crucifixion, Mary Magdalene went to Ephesus with the Virgin Mary to John the Theologian and helped him in his labors. (It should be noted that it is John who gives the most information about the Magdalene of the four evangelists).

It is believed that Mary Magdalene preached the gospel in Rome, as evidenced by the appeal to her in the epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans: “Greet Mary, who worked hard for us” (Rom. 16: 6). Probably, in connection with this her journey, an Easter tradition associated with her name arose later. The death of Mary Magdalene, according to this current of Christianity, was peaceful, she died in Ephesus.

Orthodox tradition, in contrast to Catholicism, does not identify Mary Magdalene with a nameless evangelical sinner, and venerates her exclusively as an equal to the apostles holy myrrh-bearer. There is no mention of fornication in her akathist. In addition, in Orthodoxy, the identification of Magdalene with several other evangelical women, which happened in Catholicism, did not occur; it traditionally venerated these women separately. Dimitri Rostovsky emphasizes: "The Eastern Greek-Russian Orthodox Church now, as before, recognizes all these three persons mentioned in the Gospels with different signs as different, special, not wanting to base historical information on arbitrary, only probable interpretations."

Relics in Orthodoxy.

According to the "Chetya Menaei" by Demetrius of Rostov, in 886, under Emperor Leo VI Philosophus, the relics of the saint who died in Ephesus were solemnly transferred to the monastery of St. Lazarus in Constantinople. Their further fate is not described. At present, it is known about the finding of the relics of Mary Magdalene in the following Athonite monasteries: Simonopetra (hand), Esfigmen (foot), Dochiar (particle) and Kutlumush (particle).

In the Catholic tradition

In the Catholic tradition, Mary Magdalene, called directly by name only in the above-mentioned New Testament testimonies, was identified with several more evangelical characters:

• Mary, mentioned in the Gospel of John as the sister of Martha and Lazarus, who received Jesus in their home in Bethany (John 12: 1-8)
• unnamed woman who anointed the head of Jesus in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper (Matt. 26: 6-7, Mark. 14: 3-9)
• an unnamed sinner (harlot), who washed Christ's feet with peace in the house of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7: 37-38) (for more details, see Jesus' anointing with peace).

Thus, the Magdalene, identifying with these characters (and also borrowing some scenes from the life of the non-Gospel repentant sinner of the 5th century, St. Mary of Egypt), acquires the features of a repentant harlot. Its main attribute is a vessel of incense.

According to this tradition, the Magdalene earned fornication, when she saw Christ, left her craft and began to follow him, then in Bethany she washed his feet with peace and wiped her hair, was present at Calvary, etc., and then became a hermit in the territory of modern France.

The opinion of the Church Fathers. The image of the harlot.

One of the main reasons for the identification of Magdalene with a harlot is the recognition by the Western Church that she was that nameless woman who washed Jesus' feet in peace.

And behold, the woman of that city, who was a sinner, learning that He was reclining in the house of the Pharisee, brought an alabaster vessel with ointment and, standing behind at His feet and weeping, began to pour tears on His feet and wipe the hair of her head, and kissed His feet , and smeared with the world. (Luke 7: 37-38).

The problem of reconciling the Gospel stories about the anointing of Jesus by an anonymous woman was solved by the Church Fathers in different ways (for more details, see The Anointing of Jesus with Myrrh). In particular, Saint Augustine believed that all three anointings were performed by the same woman. Clement of Alexandria and Ambrose of Mediolan also admitted that it could be about the same woman.

Indirect evidence of the identification of Mary from Bethany with Mary Magdalene is first encountered in the "Interpretation on the Song of Songs" by Hippolytus of Rome, who indicates that the first to whom the resurrected Jesus appeared were Mary and Martha. Obviously, this is about the sisters of Lazarus, but placed in the context of the morning of Resurrection, in which Mary Magdalene actually appears in all four Gospels. The identification of all the women who appear in the Gospel stories about the anointing of Jesus with Mary Magdalene was finally made by the Pope Saint Gregory the Great (591): “The one whom Luke calls a sinful woman whom John calls Mary (from Bethany), we believe that Mary, from whom seven demons were expelled according to Mark ”(23 omiliya). The unspecified sin of Mary Magdalene / Mary of Bethany was interpreted as fornication, that is, prostitution.

In the popular minds of the inhabitants of medieval Europe, the image of the repentant harlot Mary Magdalene gained extraordinary popularity and beauty and has been entrenched to this day. This myth found support and literary processing in the "Golden Legend" by Yakov Voraginsky - the collection of the lives of saints, the second most popular book in the Middle Ages after the Bible.

In the 20th century, the Catholic Church, seeking to correct possible errors of interpretation, softens the wording - after the reform in the 1969 Novus Ordo calendar, Mary Magdalene no longer appears as "repentant." But, despite this, the traditional perception of her as a repentant harlot by the mass consciousness, which has developed over the centuries thanks to the influence of a large number of works of art, remains unchanged.

SUMMARY

And again we are faced in an impenetrable "sacred" fog, let loose in the early Christian centuries by the brilliant "architects" of human history. Do not let it go then, who knows what kind of creative path our civilization would go and what heights it could reach. In the meantime, nothing is reliably known about Mary Magdalene from official sources, but at a subconscious level the absolute majority has formed an erroneous opinion: " this story doesn’t seem entirely clean, so don’t go into too much detail "This is exactly what the author of these lines thought until now. And if we consider that 90% of the parishioners have no idea at all who is depicted in the icons, just a slight unobtrusive hint of" impurity "is enough to compare with the" holy the church fathers "ignored the name of Magdalene.

In fairness, let's summarize a small intermediate summary:

• Mary Magdalene was not a harlot, not possessed by demons - because there are no direct indications of this anywhere.
• Mary Magdalene was the most favorite student Jesus Christ, of which the testimonies:
• - the Gospel of Philip,
• - The Gospel of Mary,
• - the mysterious painting by Leonardo da Vinci "The Last Supper",
• - the version of Rigden Djappo himself (!!!), about her later ...
• Pure Knowledge from Jesus went with Mary to the early Gnostic groups, which were later mercilessly destroyed by representatives of apostolic Christianity (here you can draw a tragic analogy with the Cathars, in the XII century).
• It was Mary Magdalene that Jesus Christ entrusted the secret of the holy grail (more on this in our next publications).
• In addition, the history of the Order of the Templars, who worshiped her as the greatest shrine, deserves special consideration ...

In conclusion, we can say the following, in our opinion, it is no coincidence that the fog was thrown, and it is no coincidence that the name of Mary has been indirectly discredited today, and defined in the church shadow. They try not to mention her, she is not on the revered icons, they do not know about her. In Orthodox churches, her image can be seen near the crucifixion of Christ - with a hunched back, with a darkened face, a downcast look. This is how I see her since those ancient and memorable times, when I first crossed the threshold of an Orthodox church. Neither in the large-circulation Orthodox literature I read later, nor in the "soul-saving conversations" with the confessors later, have I ever heard any mention of either her life or her spiritual feat.

Consciously or unknowingly, the Church is diligently silent about Mary Magdalene. And we already know why.

Prepared by: Dato Gomarteli (Ukraine-Georgia)