There are 59 secret religious texts in the world today, including the forbidden Gospels, the so-called apocrypha. One of them, the Gospel of Mary, makes you look at the Christian faith differently. And who knows where the truth is actually described: in those four Gospels that we all know, or in the forbidden ones? After all, they say: "He who rules the world writes history." What if they rewrote something in religion too?
Coptic papyrus
The gospel of Mary was found at the end of the 19th century, but it did not immediately become public knowledge. The manuscript was found by the scientist Karl Reinhard in Cairo in 1896. Walking through the local market, he unexpectedly drew attention to an ancient papyrus in a bad state, with text in Coptic. Copts are the ancient Christian population of Egypt, the only descendants of the Egyptians since the time of the pharaohs.
The fact that one of the texts is the Gospel, Reinhard identified almost immediately. His delight knew no bounds. Find such a rare artifact among the junk! Unprecedented luck. And even more incredible was the fact that the story in the papyrus was told from the person of Mary. Ancient documents written by a woman were very rare in general, and in this Gospel Mary narrated about her conversations with Jesus …
60 years of waiting
Of course, the scientist immediately acquired the ancient manuscript and took it to Berlin. And there the German Egyptologist Karl Schmidt began to study this text. He translated it and prepared it for publication. In 1912, the gospel of Mary was to see the light. But…
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At first, due to a faulty water supply, the entire printing house in which the book was supposed to be printed was simply flooded, like all the artifacts located there. Schmidt had to start all over again. However, the manuscript was not published again: the First World War began. After the war, Schmidt continued to work on the manuscript, but now the publication was now and then interfered with by his life circumstances. And in 1938, Schmidt died, and the work was transferred to the German scientist Walter Thiel.
Thiel finished his work by 1943, but because of the Second World War, the manuscript was not published this time either. After the war, several more manuscripts were found, among which, according to Thiel, there could be a continuation of the Gospel of Mary. But his hopes were in vain, and in 1955 the manuscript was finally published.
The Gospel of Mary, this important document from early Christianity, had been waiting for nearly 60 years to be published.
What Maria?
What kind of Mary are we talking about? In the early centuries, famous names were frequently mentioned in many manuscripts to arouse interest in them. It is quite possible that we will never know the name of the real author of the Apocrypha. But there are two popular versions based on the title of the Gospel of Mary.
First, it is the most logical that the author of the Gospel is Mary Magdalene. This woman was always close to Jesus, and, of course, all the biblical events took place in front of her eyes. She witnessed the resurrection of Christ, was present at the crucifixion. And why not tell her about the Savior's teachings too? Moreover, in the text of the Gospel there are fragments that make it clear that it is about Mary Magdalene.
The second version is based only on the title of the Gospel: in it, the mother of Jesus Mary is nominated for the role of the author. But there are no facts confirming this hypothesis, just as nothing is known about the role the Virgin Mary played in the environment of Christ. In addition, it follows from the text that it was not written by the mother at all.
Other evangelical Mary could be potential authors: Egyptian, Jacobleva, Cleopova, Zavedeeva (Salomeeva), Lazarus' sister. But the fact that the Gospel was written by one of them is even less likely.
Christ's revelations
Of course, in order to understand the value of the manuscript of the Gospel of Mary, you need to know its content. Unfortunately, the text of the Apocrypha has not reached our days completely, only in fragments. The first six pages are missing and four more in the middle of the text, which is why the narrative breaks off, as is usually the case, at the most interesting places.
The meaning of the Gospel can be divided into three parts, in which the teaching of Christ appears from a rather unexpected side. Jesus Christ answers the questions of his disciples about the world and about sin and, having given them certain parting words, leaves the apostles in upset feelings. This all happens in the first part of the Gospel.
But the second part needs to be described in a little more detail. Here Mary appears, trying to comfort and cheer up the upset disciples. At Peter's request, she describes her vision, that is, the revelations of Christ given to her. At this point, the text is interrupted by four pages. And the narration is resumed from the middle of the story about the human soul, which left the physical body and aspires to the heavenly abode. On the way there, she overcomes certain authorities that personify sins. There are four of these authorities. The first was spoken of in the missing fragments, the second - lust, the third - ignorance, the fourth power appears in seven forms - these are the seven dominions of anger. Having overcome them all, the soul rejoices, as it finally reaches peace. This is where Mary's story ends.
And the third part begins, where the disciples, in particular Andrew and Peter, question the vision of Mary. It is supported only by Levi. He says that Jesus loved Mary more than anyone, so he could tell her much more. As a result, all disciples decide to continue preaching the good news.
Upon reading this apocryphal Gospel, the differences between what it describes and what is ultimately preached by the Christian church today become apparent. The main idea of the Gospel of Mary is the salvation of each person within himself. In this text, Jesus is presented not as the Savior, but as the Teacher who teaches about salvation, but does not save.
The Church does not recognize this ancient apocryphal text, but in any case, everyone decides and feels what to believe in.
Saint or harlot?
Mary Magdalene is a mysterious biblical figure. Her personality has always raised many questions. Who is this mysterious woman and who was she with Christ? This is the most discussed issue. All historians of the world are still arguing about the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. But who and why attributed to her the past of a harlot? Let's figure it out. In Orthodoxy, Mary Magdalene has always been revered as a saint whom Jesus healed from demoniacal possession. Scripture also does not say anywhere that Mary Magdalene was a harlot. This opinion is characteristic only of Western culture and belongs to the Catholic Church.
For the first time Pope Gregory called Mary Magdalene a harlot in his speech in 591. Moreover, there is not a word about this in the biblical texts. The Gospel of Luke only mentions Mary Magdalene, from whom seven demons emerged. Later, the Italian Archbishop Jacob added fuel to the fire, who, on the pages of his book The Golden Legend, which was published in 1260, mixed images of all the biblical Mary: Mary Magdalene with Mary, the sister of righteous Lazarus and Martha, and also with Mary of Egypt. And it was the confusion of the personalities of Mary Magdalene and Mary of Egypt, a saint and repentant harlot, that from the book of Archbishop Jacob passed into European art. As a result, both in many paintings by Western artists and in the works of European writers, these two biblical personalities merged into one - Mary Magdalene. This is how the saint turned into a harlot.