Mary Magdalene, since she is directly related to the Holy Grail, plays an almost paramount role in The Da Vinci Code. Brown borrows the Mary Magdalene theme from Holy Blood, The Holy Grail, which hypothesizes that this woman was the wife of Jesus Christ and the mother of his offspring - most likely a girl named Sarah. She became the ancestor of the royal dynasty of the Merovingians, who were later forced to hide their noble origins and lead a life under the protection of a secret society known as the Priory of Sion.
This is a hypothesis, but what facts do we know about Mary Magdalene mentioned in the New Testament?
The word "Magdalene", which supplements her name, obviously comes from the name of the city of Magdala. Magdalene is mentioned only a few times in the texts of the New Testament - to be precise, four times: in wanderings with Christ's disciples, in the scene of the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross, at the burial of the body and at the resurrection of the Savior.
One thing is for sure: the deep-rooted notion that Mary Magdalene was a harlot is completely false, because it is not true. In the 6th century, Pope Gregory I published an encyclical, which said that Mary Magdalene was a sinful woman, a vile harlot. However, most likely in her image by mistake, due to a misinterpretation of the Gospel of Luke (7 and 8), three completely different women merged. The church, however, was in no hurry to correct this mistake, still claiming that Mary Magdalene was a fallen woman, and only in 1969 a rather modest refutation appeared.
From the texts of the Gospels it is clear that Mary Magdalene can be quite attributed to the number of disciples of Christ. She was next to him three times, being present at very important events: at the execution on the cross, at his burial and at the resurrection. These facts in themselves distinguish Mary Magdalene from other disciples of Christ and may well explain the fact that Peter treated her with poorly concealed disapproval.
However, is there evidence of a close relationship between Mary Magdalene and Christ? Unfortunately, the New Testament does not give a precise answer to this question. The Gospels in the form that have come down to us do not even contain a hint of the possibility of a marriage relationship between them. However, having stated this, it should be remembered that the present New Testament has undergone numerous changes and serious revisions over the centuries. Much has been removed from the texts, and some have been added. In addition, when translating from one language to another in the New Testament, involuntary errors could creep in. What do the non-canonical gospels say about Christ and Mary Magdalene?
One of the so-called church fathers, Hippolytus, in his comments on the Song of Songs mentions Mary Magdalene, albeit in some indirect way: “In order for the women-apostles to believe in the angels, Christ himself would come to them, so that by their humility they would atone for the sin of their sister Eve.
Then he talks about how Christ turned to the male apostles and said: "I myself appeared to these women, and I myself wanted to send them to you."
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In the Gospel of Philip (63: 33-36) - the so-called Gnostic gospel of those found in Nag Hammadi - even more vague words are said about the possible connection between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. In particular, it says that Jesus "loved her more than the other disciples" and often "kissed her on the lips"; the men - disciples of Christ - were dissatisfied with his behavior. Although these words do not contain a direct reference to actual marriage or cohabitation, Mary in the Coptic text is called koinonos, which Susan Haskins in her book Mary Magdalene: Myth and Metaphor translates as "companion."
One of the texts of Nag Hammadi is called the Gospel of Mary. In it we find a reference to the fact that the Magdalene was the recipient of the revelation, to the great annoyance of the male disciples of Christ. In verse 17: 10-18 of this gospel we find the words that the apostle Andrew doubted that Mary Magdalene really saw the resurrection of Christ. Peter asks the question: "Did He really secretly talk to the woman, and we did not know about that?" Then he declares: "Did he prefer us over her?" Levi goes on to reproach Peter: “But if the Savior made her worthy, do you dare to reject her? Of course, the Savior knows her well. That is why he loved her more than us."
The content of the texts suggests a quite natural conclusion that Jesus gave women companions a much higher status than they tried to assure us of that, but this does not shed light on the question of whether Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene were spouses. Instead, the aforementioned texts give us hypotheses that cannot but be carried away due to their seductive nature, and incline us to the idea that these assumptions are correct. However, it should be remembered: the above quotes are taken from only a few sources, while there are a lot of such sources relating to this historical era - almost hundreds.
An original hypothesis was put forward by the authors of the book "Holy Blood, Holy Grail". They argue that the story of the marriage in Cana of Galilee, when Jesus performs a miracle by turning water into wine, is a distorted, deceitful account of Christ's own wedding. The hypothesis is far from flawless, and some important details are necessary for its complete reliability. This, and the fact that Jesus, as a true Jew, was obliged to marry and have a family, allows us to draw the following conclusions. Let's list them:
Mary Magdalene, referred to in the New Testament, could have a closer relationship with Jesus than we assume. Mary Magdalene was with Jesus at key moments in his life - during his execution, burial and resurrection. There are no direct texts and gospels known to us. There is no evidence that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene were husband and wife. Even in the non-canonical gospels discovered at Nag Hammadi in 1945, no evidence is given to support this hypothesis, except for the fact that Philip named Mary Magdalene the companion of the life of Christ.
What happened to Mary Magdalene after Christ's death? According to the dogmas of the Catholic Church, Mary Magdalene died in Ephesus, where she settled with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and John, who is supposedly the author of the fourth gospel. However, this claim is controversial. According to the 6th century legend, mentioned by Gregory of Tours, who reported that there was an even earlier document, Mary Magdalene, along with Maximinus, moved to Aix-en-Provence, a city in the territory of modern France. This story seems to have become something of a catalyst that hastened the emergence of modern hypotheses about Sangril (royal blood, royal lineage of Christ). It is also known how much honor and love Mary Magdalene enjoyed in Gnostic circles. Hence the thought of her marriage to Jesus involuntarily suggests itself.
This is described in sufficient detail in the book by Margaret Starbird "The Woman with the Alabaster Vessel". In his other book - "The Goddess in the Gospels, back to the origins of the sacred feminine" (1993) - the same author claims that, according to the Hebrew system of numerology, the name of Mary Magdalene and the corresponding number 153 indicate that she was a goddess. Starbird believes that Mary Magdalene has lived for quite some time in a prosperous and cosmopolitan city like Alexandria. This partly explains many of the myths and legends that have arisen around her name, since in the first centuries of our era, the cults of Mary Magdalene arose throughout the Mediterranean.
The hypothesis about the offspring of Christ may not be too new in itself, but the assumption that Mary Magdalene could have given birth to a child to Jesus seems to be quite modern and relevant (see the article "Holy Blood, the Holy Grail" of this book). Today, Mary Magdalene, as the embodiment of the sacred feminine principle and the spirit of the mother goddess, has given birth to a fundamentally new view of things. This is a completely different approach to the hypothesis of the dynasty of the descendants of Christ, especially since it is more likely based on metaphor and symbol than on facts and real manifestations of the material world. It seems quite logical that Mary Magdalene is either a companion of Christ, or the embodiment of the sacred feminine principle.
The story of Mary Magdalene is shrouded in myths, legends and symbols. She herself turned into a symbol and began to personify the spirit of the ancient goddess, who was worshiped thousands of years ago throughout Europe and the Middle East. Whether she was the wife of Jesus Christ and whether she gave birth to a child from him is from the historical point of view now unprovable. Nevertheless, myths about Mary Magdalene and her relationship with the Savior still exist and will sound even more convincing in the future. After all, after two thousand years of suppression of the feminine principle, the latter re-declares itself louder and louder.
Simon Cox