There is a reference in Islam to Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene had children by Jesus Christ? Life of Mary Magdalene
The Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene was a native of the Galilean city of Magdala (tribe of Issachar), located on the western shore of the Lake of Gennesaret, near Capernaum. It is mentioned by all four evangelists. After the Lord healed her of evil spirits (see Luke 8:2), she joined those pious women who accompanied the Lord everywhere during His earthly life and served Him by their name. She was a witness to the Savior's suffering on the Cross and was present at His burial. At dawn on the first dayafter the Sabbath, she went with other pious women to the tomb of Jesus Christ to anoint His body with spices.
Therefore, the Church calls them myrrh-bearing women. To them the first angel announced the Resurrection of the Lord (see: Mk. 16:1-8). For her great devotion and sacrificial love for her Teacher, she was honored to be the first to see the resurrected Savior. He instructed her to announce His resurrection to the apostles. Saint Mary Magdalene appeared to the apostles as an evangelist.
This is sung in the stichera of Pascha (creation of St. John of Damascus):
“Come from the vision of the wife of the evangelist, and cry to Zion: receive from us the joys of the annunciation of the Resurrection of Christ; show off, rejoice and rejoice, Jerusalem, seeing the King of Christ from the tomb, as if the bridegroom is happening.
There is not a single word in the New Testament that Saint Mary Magdalene was a sinner. This opinion is rooted only in Western culture. A certain stage in the formation of this opinion was the identification of Mary Magdalene with the woman who anointed the feet of Jesus with myrrh in the house of Simon the Pharisee (see Luke 7:36-50). The Gospel text does not provide any basis for such an assertion. The Lord forgave that woman her sins, saying, “Your faith has saved you, go in peace” (Luke 7:50). It says nothing about casting out demons. If the Savior did this earlier, then why were sins not forgiven at the same time? Following this, the Evangelist Luke immediately (chapter 8) speaks of pious women who served the Lord.
The mention of Mary Magdalene is accompanied by a remark (“from which seven demons came out”), which clearly shows that she is mentioned for the first time.
The final approval in the West of an arbitrary and erroneous opinion about St. Mary Magdalene as a former sinner was facilitated by the book of the Italian Dominican monk, Archbishop of Genoa James of Voragina (now Varazze), the creation of which dates back to 1260.
This collection of legends and biographies of saints has become a source of subjects for painting and literature. The author of the collection identifies Mary Magdalene with Mary, sister righteous Lazarus and Martha. He writes that the names of their parents are Sirus and Eucharia, and they came from a royal family. Their children shared a rich inheritance: Mary got Magdala, Lazarus - part of Jerusalem, and Martha - Bethany.
It is easy to see in this story a naive projection of the feudal relations of medieval Europe onto ancient Palestine. Arriving by ship in Massilia (modern Marseille), Mary preached to the pagans. Then it is told about her removal to the desert, where there is no water and food, but where she received heavenly food. She spent 30 years there.
“A certain priest who settled nearby becomes a witness to this. He meets Mary Magdalene, who tells him of her imminent death and instructs him to inform Blessed Maximinus about this. Having met on a certain day with blessed Maximinus and having received the last communion from him, she dies. Maximinus buries her and orders her to be buried next to the saint after his death.
As a source for this part, Jacob presents us with “some kind of treatise” by Josephus Flavius and “the books of Maximinus himself”. It is not known what works we are talking about” (Narusevich I.V. The Life of Mary Magdalene in the “Golden Legend” by Yakov Voraginsky).
It is easy to notice the confusion of plots: the legendary biography of Mary Magdalene and the adapted life of St. Mary of Egypt († c. 522).
This combination of two personalities - the holy evangelist and the repentant harlot, who later became the great hermit - from the "Golden Legend" passes into European art and becomes a stable phenomenon.
So, around 1310, Giotto di Bondone and his students painted the chapel of Mary Magdalene in the Lower Church of San Francesco in Assisi. On the wall above the entrance to the chapel there is a scene, which is a direct borrowing from the Life of St. Mary of Egypt - "Mary Magdalene receives the robe of the hermit Zosima." A bronze-tinted wooden sculpture by Donatello (1445) expressively depicts a desert woman exhausted by her feat.
Her body is covered with tattered rags. This masterpiece has little to do with the real-historical image of St. Mary Magdalene. Again we see a mixture of images of two saints. Gradually, an extensive gallery of paintings on the theme of "Penitent Mary Magdalene" is being created.
Suffice it to recall such artists as Vecellio Titian (1477–1576), El Greco (1541–1614), Michelangelo da Caravaggio (1573–1610), Guido Reni (1575–1642), Orazio Gentileschi (1563–1639), Simon Vue ( 1590-1649), José de Ribera (1591-1652), Georges Dumesnil de Latour (1593-1652), Francesco Hayes (1791-1882); sculptors Pedro de Mena (1628-1688), Antonio Canova (1757-1822) and others.
The Orthodox Church in the story of the life of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene strictly adheres to the gospel testimonies and reliable church tradition. The saint preached the gospel in Rome.
Some researchers believe that the Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Romans has in mind precisely St. Mary Magdalene: “Greet Miriam, who worked hard for us” (Rom. 16: 6).
IN last years the saint helped the Apostle John the Theologian in Ephesus to preach the Gospel.
There she died. Under Leo the Wise in 886, her holy relics were transferred from Ephesus to Constantinople. Her memory is celebrated on July 22/August 4 and on the week of the myrrh-bearing women.
Mary Magdalene in Orthodoxy is a person revered as a saint equal to the apostles. She was a myrrh-bearing woman who followed Christ until His Crucifixion. Mary Magdalene was the one before whom the resurrected Messiah first appeared. It is mentioned not only in Orthodoxy, but also in Catholicism and Protestantism. The saint is considered the patroness of preachers and teachers, and Renaissance masters admired her image.
The role of the Magdalene in Christianity
The description of her activities is inscribed in only a few fragments. The veneration of this woman is different in the traditions of Catholicism and Orthodoxy. For the latter, she appears exclusively as a myrrh-bearing woman cured of demonic obsession. The Catholic Church speaks of Mary as an extraordinary beauty and repentant harlot, sister of the resurrected Lazarus. Besides western tradition adds colossal mythical material to the gospel texts.
Icon of the holy myrrh-bearing Mary Magdalene
The Equal-to-the-Apostles saint was born and raised in a city called Magdala. Today, in its place stands the small village of Mejdel. In the Holy Scriptures there is no story about the young years of Magdalene, but it is said that Jesus Christ healed her from the invasion of seven demons. This radical change in her fate stimulated the woman to follow in the footsteps of the Great Teacher and Savior.
- Mary was the inseparable companion of God's Son during the period when He and His chosen apostles preached Christianity in the settlements of Judea and Galilee.
- Along with Magdalene, other pious women also served Christ: Joanna, Susanna, Solomiya, and others. These myrrh-bearing women shared the work of the apostles, spreading the good news about the coming of the Savior.
- Mary Magdalene was the first to follow Christ when He was led to Golgotha. Luke claims that the myrrh-bearing women wept when they saw the suffering of Jesus, but He consoled them and reminded them of the Kingdom of God. Mary was with the Mother of God and John at the Cross at the time of the Crucifixion of the Messiah.
- Magdalene showed fidelity to Jesus not only in the period of His exaltation, but also in the days of utter humiliation. She attended the funeral of God's Son and saw with her own eyes how His body was carried into the tomb. Further, the saint Equal to the Apostles witnessed the closing of this cave with a large stone.
- Maria, faithful God's law, along with other myrrh-bearing women, who coincided with the feast of Easter, remained in complete peace. On the first day of the week, the faithful disciples planned to come to the tomb and anoint the body of Christ with incense. The myrrh-bearing women reached the burial place at sunrise, and Mary arrived when the darkness of the night still reigned.
Additional articles:
The Equal-to-the-Apostles saint saw that the stone that closed the entrance had been rolled away. In fear, she rushed to the apostles Peter and John, who lived closer than the others. Arriving at the place, they were surprised to see a folded shroud and shrouds. The apostles left the cave without saying anything, but Magdalene remained and wept, yearning for her Lord.
Mary Magdalene and Angels in the Holy Sepulcher
Wanting to make sure that there really was no body, she went to the coffin. Suddenly, a divine light shone in front of the woman, and she saw two angels in snow-white robes.
- When she answered the question of the heavenly messengers about the cause of her grief and turned away in the other direction, the Risen Christ appeared at the entrance to the grotto. However, the disciple did not recognize God's Son until He spoke to her. This voice initially became a great ray of light for Mary after being healed from a demonic disease. She said with great joy, "Master!" In this exclamation, respect and love, grandiose reverence, recognition and tenderness merged together.
- Magdalene threw herself at the feet of Christ to wash them with tears of divine joy, but Jesus did not allow them to touch her, for "the Son has not yet ascended to the Father."
- After everything she had seen, Mary went to the apostles and told the news that everyone was looking forward to. This is how the first sermon about the divine Resurrection of the Savior took place.
- When the apostles dispersed throughout the world to tell people about the great teachings of the Savior, the brave Mary Magdalene went with them. The saint, in whose heart the fire of love for the Lord did not subside, was on her way to pagan Rome. She announced the Resurrection, but a small number of people took the words of the preacher for the truth.
Walking in Italy and death
Scripture states: the first disciple of Christ appeared in the palace of Emperor Tiberius and presented him with a red egg - a symbol of the Resurrection. She told the story of the innocently condemned Christ, who worked miracles and was executed on the evil slander of the high priesthood.
Red egg - a symbol of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
She recalled that salvation from worldly fuss comes through the blood of a pure Lamb, and not through gold or silver items.
- Mary continued to spread the good news in Italy. The apostle Paul praised her labors in the Epistle to the Romans, recognizing her extraordinary courage and selfless devotion to the Almighty. The Scripture says: Magdalene left Rome at an advanced age after Paul had been judged for the first time. The Equal-to-the-Apostles saint went to Ephesus to help the Apostle John preach. Here she quietly and peacefully left the mortal world.
- Her imperishable relics were transferred from Ephesus to Constantinople in the 9th century. Some researchers suggest that the remains were transported to Rome during the Crusades. The relics were placed in the church of John Lateran, which was soon renamed and consecrated in honor of the most reverend Mary Magdalene.
- Some of the remains are in France, near Marseilles, as well as the monasteries of Mount Athos and Jerusalem. A huge number of pious pilgrims come to venerate the relics of the saint.
Interesting articles:
On a note! Thanks to the preacher throughout the Christian world, the custom of giving Easter eggs with exclamations: “Christ is risen! He is truly Risen!" After the apostolic period, prayers were read in churches for the consecration of eggs and cheese. The brethren and parishioners heard laudatory songs to the glory of Magdalene, who was the first to set an example of a joyful sacrifice.Orthodox church in honor of St.
The church is located in an area called Gethsemane, in East Jerusalem. Nearby is the tomb of the venerable Virgin Mary. This church was erected by the Orthodox community of Palestine at the expense of the imperial family and was consecrated in 1888. Since 1921, the remains of the Great Martyrs Elizabeth and Barbara have been kept here.
The Church of St. Mary Magdalene is part of the complex of the Gethsemane Orthodox Monastery
- The idea of building and choosing the area on the slope of the Mount of Olives belongs to Archimandrite Antonion. The first stone of the Church of Mary Magdalene was laid in 1885. In 1934, an Orthodox women's community was organized on the territory, the abbess of which was the nun Mary, who was of Scottish origin.
- The monastery houses the Hodegetria icon, famous for its miracles in 1554. The remains of the Great Martyrs Elizabeth and Barbara are located in separate shrines. Here, parishioners worship the miraculous image of Mary Magdalene.
- The seven-domed temple in Jerusalem was built from white stone and is made in the style of Moscow architecture. The bell tower is small, and the iconostasis is made of marble with a bronze ornament.
Icons and images of Mary Magdalene
The images of the Equal-to-the-Apostles saint demonstrate to believers an example of the greatest love and devotion to the Most High Father. The holy faces of Magdalene point to the true path and require patience and spiritual stamina from a person.
- Orthodox iconography depicts Mary with a red Easter egg, as well as a vessel in which myrrh is concentrated.
- Often on the canvases she is shown together with the Mother of God and John the Theologian next to the crucifix. The saint can be observed on icons with a plot demonstrating the position of Christ in the tomb. In the Orthodox tradition, she is depicted among the myrrh-bearing women who came, who saw the emptiness in the cave and the evangelizing angels.
- The scene of the appearance of Christ after the Resurrection for domestic church- a rare event. It can only be seen in examples of later Greek-style icons.
- Before the holy face, they ask for gaining the true faith and getting rid of harmful habits, flattering temptations. Prayers before the image relieve bodily and mental ailments.
In Catholicism, Mary Magdalene appears as a "repentant harlot", who at the end life path retired to a desert area and indulged in severe austerities, regretting her sins. Her robe fell apart from decay, and her hair covered her entire body in a miraculous way. After divine healing, she was taken up by angels to the Kingdom of Heaven. This legend has had a huge impact on Western art.
- Many works where Magdalene is the main character are made in the Vanitas (Vanity) genre. A skull is shown next to the woman, symbolizing the awareness of frailty and understanding of the importance of the true path. Additional attributes are a lash and a wreath of thorns. The scene of the action is a cave in France: here the saint meditates, reads the Scriptures or repents, looking up to heaven.
- In Western European icon painting, Magdalene is depicted washing the Messiah's feet and wiping them with her luxurious hair.
- In the Catholic tradition, the myrrh-bearing woman is depicted with loose hair and holding a vessel with fragrant oils.
- In other variations, she is supported above the ground by winged angels. This story has been found in Western art since the 16th century.
- Very rarely in Catholicism and Protestantism is depicted the last communion of Mary and her death.
- On some canvases, she mournfully hugs the leg of the Savior, crucified on the cross of Golgotha. On the icons of “mourning”, she holds the feet of the Savior and mourns for the loss.
This woman showed divine love for her Teacher, remained forever devoted to Him and carried the good news along with the apostles. In the Orthodox tradition, Mary Magdalene is considered a saint, cured by Jesus Christ of the disease of "seven demons", and following Him until the Resurrection. Little is said about her in orthodox texts, but various legends with the participation of the Equal-to-the-Apostles student have gained popularity in Catholicism.
Video about the life of Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene
", we continue to collect and link together the scattered information about the mysterious, covered with ancient legends, secrets and sacred venerations of the name. Why delve into the legends of a thousand years of antiquity, when you do not know for sure what happened just a century ago, the reader will ask. is it easier to leave it as it is and habitually be content with the universally recognized versions of the Orthodox and Catholic traditions? bloody wars, conquests and crusades, milestones of economic enslavement, as a result of which they built just a technocratic model of a consumer society in which knowledge about the nature of man and the purpose of his short stay on this small beautiful planet are completely lost. And today, even if someone does not believe, but we have approached the brink, beyond which another global destruction is possible. Why? We will try to answer this question through an in-depth examination of the essence of such a grandiose, seemingly fantastic and unthinkable phenomenon for ordinary mediocre consciousness, like. Indeed, behind this name, believe me, there is much more than the story of one of the devoted disciples of one of the Teachers of mankind.
Let us not at all 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. Worryingly, there is a well-founded suspicion that true teachings of Christ was distorted, rewritten and adapted to create a new powerful, more advanced religious institution, the purpose of which is ordinary power and manipulation of the consciousness of the masses. We will certainly highlight in the near future the striking paradoxicality 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 tritely casts doubt on almost all the basic sources, which for some reason are unshakable and unshakable for the billionth church electorate. untouchable phenomena of "manifestations 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 dustiness of centuries-old snows. Judging by the information found in the Gnostic works of the Nag Hammadi library, there is good reason to believe that the true Teaching of Christ went with her, Mary Magdalene, to 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 DISCISENTS and APOSTOLIC CHRISTIANS. As a result, the second simply destroyed the first. Read more about this in.
So, not unreasonably continuing to assume that Mary Magdalene is That, thanks to which our human civilization has been "floating" 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 tradition. We will use the most authoritative information from Wikipedia.
Mary Magdalene(Hebrew מרים המגדלית, other Greek Μαρία ἡ Μαγδαληνή, lat. Maria Magdalena) - a devoted follower of Jesus Christ, a Christian saint, myrrh-bearer, who, according to the gospel text, followed Christ, was present at his crucifixion and was a witness to his posthumous apparition. In the Orthodox and Catholic churches, the veneration of Magdalene differs: Orthodoxy honors her according to the gospel text - exclusively as a myrrh-bearing woman cured of seven demons and appearing only in a few episodes of the New Testament, and in the tradition of the Catholic Church for a long time it was customary to identify with her image of a penitent harlot and Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus, and to include 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 property (Mark 15:40-41, Luke 8:3)
- Then she was present at Golgotha at the death of Jesus (Matt. 27:56, etc.)
- After that, she witnessed his burial (Mt. 27:61, etc.)
- She also became one of the myrrh-bearing women to 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 mistook him for a gardener, but when she found out, she rushed to touch him. Christ did not allow her to do this (Do not touch Me), but instead instructed the apostles to announce his resurrection (John 20:11-18).
In the Orthodox tradition
In Orthodoxy, Mary Magdalene is revered as a saint Equal to the Apostles, relying only on the gospel testimonies listed above. In Byzantine literature, you can find a continuation of her story: 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 is worth noting that it is John who provides the most information about Magdalene out of the four evangelists).
It is believed that Mary Magdalene preached the gospel in Rome, as evidenced by the appeal to her in the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Romans: "Greet Miriam, who worked hard for us" (Rom. 16:6). Probably, in connection with this 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, unlike Catholicism, does not identify Mary Magdalene with the unnamed evangelical sinner, and venerates her exclusively Equal-to-the-Apostles holy myrrh-bearer. There is no mention of fornication in her Akathist. In addition, Orthodoxy did not identify the Magdalene with several other evangelical women, which happened in Catholicism, it traditionally honored these women separately. Dimitry of Rostovsky emphasizes: “The Eastern Greek-Russian Orthodox Church now, as before, recognizes all these three personalities, mentioned in the Gospels with different signs, as different, special ones, not wanting to base historical information on arbitrary, only probable interpretations.”
Relics in Orthodoxy.
According to Demetrius of Rostov's Readings of the Menaion, in 886, during the reign of Emperor Leo VI the Philosopher, the relics of the saint who had died in Ephesus were solemnly transferred to the monastery of Saint Lazarus in Constantinople. Their further fate is not described. At present, the relics of Mary Magdalene are known to be found in the following Athos 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 New Testament testimonies listed above, was identified with several other gospel characters:
- Mary, mentioned in the Gospel of John as the sister of Martha and Lazarus, who received Jesus at 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)
- a nameless sinner (harlot) who washed Christ's feet with ointment in the house of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:37-38) (for more details, see Anointing of Jesus with ointment).
Thus, Magdalene, identifying with these characters (as well as borrowing some plots from the life of the non-evangelical repentant sinner of the 5th century, St. Mary of Egypt), acquires the features of a penitent harlot. Its main attribute is a vessel with incense.
According to this tradition, Magdalene earned fornication, after seeing Christ, she left the craft and began to follow him, then in Bethany she washed his feet with the world and wiped them with her hair, was present at Golgotha, etc., and then became a hermit in the territory of modern France.
Opinion of the Fathers of the Church. The image of a harlot.
One of the main reasons for identifying Magdalene with a harlot is the recognition by the Western Church that she was the nameless woman who washed the feet of Jesus with the world.
And behold, a woman of that city, who was a sinner, having learned that He was reclining in the house of the Pharisee, brought an alabaster vessel of ointment, and, standing behind at His feet and weeping, she began to pour her tears over His feet and wipe her head with the hair of her head, and kissed His feet. , and smeared with peace. (Luke 7:37-38).
The problem of reconciling the gospel stories about the anointing of Jesus by an anonymous woman was solved by the Fathers of the Church in different ways (for more details, see Anointing of Jesus with Chrism). In particular, St. Augustine believed that all three anointings were performed by the same woman. Clement of Alexandria and Ambrose of Milan also admitted that we could be talking about the same woman.
Indirect evidence of the identification of Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalene is first found in the Commentary on the Song of Songs by Hippolytus of Rome, indicating that the first to whom the resurrected Jesus appeared were Mary and Martha. This is obviously about the sisters of Lazarus, but placed in the context of the morning of the Resurrection, in which Mary Magdalene actually appears in all four Gospels. The identification of all the women appearing in the gospel stories about the anointing of Jesus with Mary Magdalene was finally made by the Pope of Rome, St. Gregory the Great (591): that Mary, from whom seven demons were expelled according to Mark ”(23 omily). The unspecified sin of Mary Magdalene/Mary of Bethany was interpreted as fornication, that is, prostitution.
In the popular consciousness of the inhabitants of medieval Europe, the image of the penitent harlot Mary Magdalene gained extreme popularity and colorfulness and has been entrenched to this day. This myth found reinforcement and literary processing in the "Golden Legend" by Yakov Voraginsky - a collection of the lives of the saints, the second most common book in the Middle Ages after the Bible.
In the 20th century, the Catholic Church, in an effort to correct possible errors of interpretation, softens the wording - after the reform in the Novus Ordo calendar of 1969, Mary Magdalene no longer appears as a "repentant". But, despite this, the traditional perception of her as a repentant harlot by the mass consciousness, which has developed over the centuries due to the influence of a large number of works of art, remains unchanged.
SUMMARY
And again we are faced with an impenetrable "sacred" fog, cast in the early Christian centuries by the brilliant "architects" of human history. Do not let it go then, who knows what creative path our civilization would have taken and what heights it could have reached. In the meantime, nothing is known for certain about Mary Magdalene from official sources, but on a subconscious level, the vast majority formed an erroneous opinion: " this story doesn't look very clean, so don't go into too much detail ". This is at least what the author of these lines thought until now. And given that 90% of the parishioners have no idea at all who is depicted on the icons, just a slight unobtrusive hint of "impurity" is enough to compare with the "most holy church fathers" the name of Magdalene was bypassed.
To be fair, let's sum up a little intermediate result:
- Mary Magdalene was not a harlot possessed by demons- because there is no direct indication of this anywhere.
- Mary Magdalene was the most favorite student Jesus Christ, of which the testimonies are:
- - Gospels of Philip
- - Gospel of Mary
- - the mysterious painting by Leonardo da Vinci "The Last Supper",
- - the version of Rigden Djappo himself (!!!), about it later...
- Pure Knowledge from Jesus went with Mary to the early Gnostic groups, which were subsequently ruthlessly destroyed by representatives of apostolic Christianity (here we can draw a tragic analogy with the Cathars, in the XII century).
- It was Mary Magdalene that Jesus Christ entrusted secret of the holy grail(more on this in our next posts).
- In addition, the history of the Knights Templar deserves special consideration, who worshiped her as the greatest shrine ...
In conclusion, we can say the following, in our opinion, the fog was not thrown by chance, and it is far from accidental that the name of Mary today is indirectly defamed, and defined in the church shadow. They try not to mention her, she is not on revered icons, they do not know about her. IN Orthodox churches her image can be seen near the crucifixion of Christ - hunched back, with a darkened face, downcast eyes. This is how I see her from those ancient and memorable times, when I first crossed the threshold of an Orthodox church. Neither in the large-circulation Orthodox literature that I read later, nor in the "soul-saving conversations" with confessors later, have I ever heard any mention of either her life or her spiritual feat.
Consciously or unknowingly, the Church diligently keeps silent about Mary Magdalene. And we already know why.
Prepared by: Dato Gomarteli (Ukraine-Georgia)
The Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene was born in the town of Magdala on the shores of the Lake of Gennesaret, 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, having cast out seven demons from her, she, leaving everything, followed Him.
Saint Mary Magdalene followed Christ along with other myrrh-bearing women, showing touching concern for Him. Becoming a faithful disciple of the Lord, she never left Him. She alone did not leave Him when He was taken into custody. The fear that prompted the Apostle Peter to renounce and forced all of His other disciples to flee was overcome by love in the soul of Mary Magdalene. She stood at the Cross with Holy Mother of God, experiencing the suffering of the Savior and sharing the great sorrow of the Mother of God. When the soldier put the end of a sharp spear to the silent heart of Jesus, excruciating pain simultaneously pierced the heart of Mary.
Joseph and Nicodemus took down from the tree the Most Pure Body of the Lord Jesus Christ. With burning tears of immeasurable sorrow, the inconsolable Mother poured over the bloody wounds of the Immaculate Son. The precious body of Jesus was, according to Jewish custom, wrapped in a thin shroud with spices.
It was about midnight, and the stars were already lit up in the dark vault of calm skies, when Joseph and Nicodemus, having lifted the Priceless Burden on their shoulders, began to descend from the top of the mortal hill.
In deep silence they passed through the garden and reached the eastern side of it, adjacent to the rocky foot of Mount Moria.
Here, in the stone wall, formed by nature itself by the rocky ledges 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 kindled fires instantly penetrated its gloomy vaults. In the middle lay a smoothly hewn stone. The body of the Unforgettable Teacher was assigned to him by the disciples. The Most Holy Theotokos and Mary Magdalene watched where He was placed.
A heavy stone was rolled against the door of the coffin.
After Saturday, on the very 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, as usual, with peace and aromas, and sees that the stone has been rolled away from the tomb. With tears, she runs to Peter and John and tells them: “They took the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they put Him.” They immediately followed her and, having come to the tomb, they saw only linen sheets and a linen kerchief with which the head of Jesus was tied, carefully folded, not with linen, but lying in another place. "They did not yet know from the Scriptures that He was to rise from the dead" (John 20:1-10).
Keeping a deep silence, Peter and John returned to their place, and Mary Magdalene, exhausted by ignorance and sadness, stood at the tomb and wept. Weeping, she bent down, looked into the tomb and sees: in the place where the body of Jesus lay, two Angels in white robes are sitting. “Woman, why are you crying?” they ask.
"They have carried away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him." Having said this, she turned back and saw Jesus standing; but did not know it was Jesus.
“Woman, why are you crying? Jesus tells her. Who are you looking for?
She, thinking that this is a gardener, says to Him: “Sir! If you have carried it, tell me where you have put it, and I will take it.”
"Maria!" She suddenly heard a familiar, dear voice.
"Teacher!" she exclaimed in her natural Aramaic, 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 brethren and say to them: I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.”
Radiant with happiness, reborn to a new life, Mary Magdalene rushed to the students.
“I saw the Lord! He spoke to me!” - with blissful delight, shining with bright rays in beautiful blue eyes, Mary informed the disciples of Jesus about the miraculous phenomenon that she was honored with. And her joy reached such proportions as her recent grief had 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 in the world about the Resurrection. The apostles were supposed to preach the gospel to the world, but she preached the gospel to the apostles themselves:
“Rejoice, from the mouth of Christ the announcement of the Resurrection was the first to receive;
Rejoice, thou who first proclaimed to the apostles the words of joy.”
According to legend, Mary Magdalene preached the gospel not only in Jerusalem. When the apostles departed from Jerusalem to all the ends of the world, she went with them. Mary, having preserved in her heart burning with divine love every word of the Savior, left her native land and went to pagan Rome with a sermon. And everywhere she proclaimed to people about Christ and His teachings. And when many did not believe that Christ had risen, she repeated to them the same thing that she had said to the apostles on the bright morning of the Resurrection: “I saw the Lord! He spoke to me." With this sermon, she traveled 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 the cowardice of Pilate. 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!” With these words 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 Christ's bright Resurrection has spread among Christians all over the world. In one ancient handwritten Greek Rule, written on parchment, stored in the library of the monastery of St. Anastasia near Thessalonica (Thessalonica), there is a prayer read on the day of Holy Easter for the consecration of eggs and cheese, which indicates that the abbot, distributing the consecrated eggs, says to the brethren : “So 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 the first trial of him. Obviously, this is what the holy apostle has in mind in his Epistle to the Romans (Rom. 16:16), when he mentions Mary (Mariam), who "worked hard for us."
Mary Magdalene selflessly served the Church, being exposed to dangers, sharing with the apostles the labors 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, reposed and was buried.
Where to venerate the relics of Mary Magdalene
In the 10th century, under the emperor Leo the Philosopher (886-912), the incorruptible relics of St. 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 temple in the name of St. John Lateran. Later, this temple was consecrated in the name of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene. Part of her relics is 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 visiting these holy places reverently venerate her holy relics.
“Rejoice, glorious evangelist of Christ's teachings;
Rejoice, having loosed the sinful bonds of many people;
Rejoice, thou who taught the wisdom of Christ to all.
Rejoice, Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene, who loved the sweetest Lord Jesus more than all blessings.”
Magnification of Mary Magdalene
We magnify you, Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene, and we honor your holy memory, enlightening the whole world with your teachings and leading to Christ.
Mentioned both in Catholicism and in Orthodoxy and Protestantism. Shelters for fallen women are named after her, the image of a penitent sinner is identified with her, and prayers addressed to the icon of Magdalene grant humility, courage, help in persecuting and admonishing the Gentiles. Mary is traditionally considered the patroness of social workers, preachers and teachers. Mary Magdalene was also a favorite subject for Renaissance artists.
Childhood and youth
The biography of Magdalene is full of mysteries and secrets, because the only source indicating the reality of the life of the legendary follower of Jesus Christ is the gospel text. Therefore, biographers and scientists cannot confirm or refute whether Mary Magdalene is a historical person to this day.
There is practically no information about the childhood and youth of this heroine. The name of the supporter of the messiah is mentioned only in some sources - in the Gospel of Luke, where miraculous healing from demons is mentioned in the story of the existence of the Son of God, as well as in other three manuscripts - John, Matthew and Mark - the name of a woman can be found only in a few episodes.
Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene was born in the Israeli city of Magdala, located on the shores of Lake Gennesaret, in the northern part of the Holy Land.
One can only guess about the family in which Mary grew up and was brought up, and who her parents were, because the scriptures are silent about this. Although Western European legends say that her parents were named Sir and Eucharia, other sources indicate that Magdalene was an orphan and worked in the market.
It is worth paying attention to the name of the disciple of Jesus Christ. Mary comes from the Hebrew language, and the Christian tradition translates this name as "lady." According to traditional biblical ideas, this was the name of the mother of Jesus Christ, after whom other revered Christian figures were named. And the nickname Magdalene has geographical roots and means "a native of the city of Migdal-El."
Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane The toponym literally stands for "tower", and there are reasons for this. The fact is that in the Middle Ages these buildings were a feudal knightly symbol, and, therefore, this noble connotation was transferred to the personal qualities of Magdalene, who was endowed with an aristocratic character.
But there is another assumption regarding the nickname of the Equal-to-the-Apostles virgin: in the multi-volume religious code of the Talmud there is an expression "magadella", which in Hebrew means "curling her hair."
Encounter with Jesus Christ
Based on the Holy Scriptures, it can be assumed that the first meeting of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene took place in the house of the Pharisee Simon, where the Savior was anointed with the world. Confirmation is a sacrament in which the believer, along with specially prepared consecrated oil, is given the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
According to legend, the woman who appeared to Christ poured water on the head of Jesus from an alabaster vessel, and also washed His feet with her tears and wiped her hair with her head. Judging by the four Gospels, the disciples of Jesus were dissatisfied with the fact that the guest who came irrationally spent expensive oil that could be sold and the proceeds given to the poor. The Pharisee also noted that the one who touched Christ was a sinner, but Jesus, comparing the inhospitality of Simon and the efforts of Mary, said:
“Therefore I say to you: her many sins are forgiven because she loved much, but whoever is forgiven little, loves little. He said to her: Your sins are forgiven.
But some suggest that the meeting of the Magdalene and Jesus took place earlier than in the house of Simon. Christ said that she “loved much,” that is, Himself, so it can be assumed that perhaps Mary was among those who followed the messiah to Jerusalem. After forgiveness, Magdalene began to be listed with Christ as the best disciple, but Mary was not among the 12 apostles in the painting “The Last Supper”.
Magdalene began to follow Christ, serving him and sharing her property, and the messiah trusted this woman even with the most secret secrets, because of which Magdalene won the dislike of the disciples of Christ, who demanded to remove the virgin from His environment.
According to legend, this woman was the only one who did not leave the Savior when he was arrested, while Peter, the most devoted of the apostles, denied his leader three times after his imprisonment.
It is known that Mary Magdalene was present at the execution of Jesus Christ along with His mother, mother's sister and Mary Cleopova. The follower of the Son of God stood near Christ, sharing the great maternal suffering of the Mother of God. When the heart of the Savior stopped beating, Mary mourned the Savior, and then accompanied the body of Jesus to the coffin carved by Joseph in the rock.
Byzantine literature indicates that after the crucifixion, Mary Magdalene, together with the Mother of God, went to ancient city Ephesus, to John the Theologian, and helped him in his labors. By the way, it is the Gospel of John that contains the most information about the life of Magdalene.
According to legend, Mary Magdalene returned a day after the death of Christ to that cave to show her devotion to the Savior by smearing His body with aromatic oils and myrrh. But when the companion of Jesus approached the rocky mountain, she found that the stone that closed the entrance to the cave had been moved, and the cave itself was empty.
Desperate Mary in grief went to John and Peter in order to tell that the body of the messiah had disappeared from the burial place. Then the apostles, together with Magdalene, again went to the rocky mountain and saw that the cave was empty. The disciples of Christ left the grotto in sorrow, while Mary remained near the tomb, crying and trying to understand the reason for the disappearance of Jesus Christ.
Mary Magdalene raised her tear-stained eyes and saw that two angels were sitting in front of her. When they asked about the reason for the suffering of the unfortunate maiden, she replied that she was tormented by the unknown. Then the woman raised her eyes and saw Jesus Christ, whom she initially mistook for a gardener and asked him to point out where the teacher's grave was. But when the visitor uttered her name, she recognized the Son of God and threw herself at His feet. Based on the Gospel vaults, Jesus answered Mary:
“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."
Christianity
According to biblical legends, the holy virgin became a follower of Jesus Christ after being healed from evil spirits and repenting of sins, so many admirers of Christian traditions have the idea that Mary Magdalene was a great harlot and sinner.
Such identification of Mary with the nameless evangelical woman who washed the feet of the Savior can be found in the Catholic tradition, but the fornication of a follower of Christ is not mentioned either in the Menaion or in her akathist. Thus, in Catholicism, the Magdalene takes the form former harlot, and the Italian painter managed to convey the emotions of a woman in his painting “Penitent Mary Magdalene”.
According to Catholicism, Mary Magdalene was a representative of the oldest profession, and having met the Son of God, she abandoned her craft and became his follower.
It is worth noting that Orthodox scriptures only speak of Magdalene's possession by demons, denying her rampant past. But Mary's life was not sweet, because the maiden was not married and had no children. In those days, such women were viewed with suspicion, and in order to protect herself from the harassment of men, Mary had to pretend to be possessed.
In the Orthodox tradition, Mary Magdalene appears as the Equal-to-the-Apostles holy myrrh-bearer (in Protestantism, exclusively as the holy myrrh-bearer). She made an indisputable contribution to the preaching work. Mary spread the word about Jesus in Italy and once visited the pagan leader Tiberius.
The woman handed him a gift egg, for lack of another thing, and said "Christ is Risen!". Tiberius stated that resurrection is just as impossible as the fact that a donated egg will turn scarlet. However, the egg turned blood red. Thus the Easter tradition was born.
It is believed that the comrade-in-arms of Christ worked hard in Rome, as evidenced by the book of the New Testament, which contains the collections of the epistles of the holy Apostle Paul.
As for Catholicism, it is said that Mary Magdalene spent the second part of her life in the desert, where she led an ascetic life and repented of her sins every day. The clothes of the holy virgin decayed, so the nakedness of the woman was covered long hair, and Mary herself was taken up to heaven by angels in order to heal her exhausted old body. But it is worth saying that this plot is borrowed from the description of the life of the Christian Saint Mary of Egypt, who is considered the patroness of confessing women.
love theories
The personal life of Mary Magdalene is shrouded in a halo of mystery, so it is not surprising that various love theories about the Equal-to-the-Apostles saint appear among historians. For example, some believe that Mary Magdalene was the wife of John the Theologian, while others are sure that the myrrh-bearing woman was the wife of Jesus Christ, because this woman plays a significant role in almost the most important episode of the New Testament.
Since the representatives of the church tried to get rid of unofficial books, there is practically no news about who the beloved of Jesus was, and there is an assumption that the lines about the family life of the messiah in the New Testament were cut out on purpose.
But most scholars are inclined in favor of the Magdalene. In the Gospel, an episode is indicative when the disciples of the Son of God were jealous of Jesus for Magdalene because of a kiss on the lips.
Also in those days, an unmarried woman did not have the right to accompany wanderers on the road, unlike the wife of one of them. Among other things, scientists refer to the fact that after the resurrection, Christ appeared to Mary, and not to his disciples. And besides, men who did not have a spouse were considered a strange phenomenon, so an unmarried Jesus could hardly have become a prophet and teacher.
Death
In Orthodoxy, Mary Magdalene died quietly and calmly, a woman died in Ephesus, and her relics were transferred to the monastery of St. Lazarus in Constantinople.
According to another branch of the Christian movement, while Mary was a hermit in the desert, she was communed by a priest who accidentally wandered into those parts, who at first was embarrassed by the naked appearance of a woman. According to Catholicism, the remains of the Equal-to-the-Apostles saint are kept in the church of Saint-Maximin-la-Saint-Baume, in Provence.
In memory of Mary Magdalene, many colorful paintings were painted and taken documentaries. It is noteworthy that on the canvases the disciple of Christ is depicted in individual scenes extremely rarely, while often she can be seen in the form of a myrrh-bearing woman, with a vessel of incense.
Memory
- 1565 - painting "Penitent Mary Magdalene" ()
- 1861 - poem "Mary Magdalene" (Nikolai Ogarev)
- 1923 - cycle of poems "Magdalene" ()
- 1970 - rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar" (Andrew Lloyd Weber)
- 1985 - song "Maria Magdalena" ()
- 2017 - the film "Mary Magdalene" (Garth Davis)