The extant text of The Gospel of Mary can easily be
divided into two parts. The first section (7,1-9,24) describes the dialogue
between the (risen) Savior and the disciples. He answers their questions
concerning matter and sin. Relying on an exegesis of Romans 7, as Anne Pasquier
has shown, the Savior argues, in effect, that sin is not a moral category,
but a cosmological one; it is due to the improper mixing of the material and the
spiritual. In the end all things will be resolved into their proper root.
After finishing his discourse, the Savior gives them a final greeting,
admonishes them to beware of any who may try to lead them astray and commissions
them to go and preach the gospel of the kingdom. After he departs, however, the
disciples are grieved and in considerable doubt and consternation. Mary
Magdalene comforts them and turns their hearts toward the Good and a
consideration of the Savior's words.
The second section of the text (10,1-23; 15,1-19,2) contains a
description by Mary of special revelation given to her by the Savior. At Peter's
request, she tells the disciples about things that were hidden from them. The
basis for her knowledge is a vision of the Lord and a private dialogue with him.
Unfortunately four pages of the text are missing here so that only the beginning
and end of Mary's revelation are extant.
The revelation is in the form of a dialogue. The first
question Mary asks the Savior is how one sees a vision. The Savior replies that
the soul sees through the mind which is between the soul and the spirit. At this
point the text breaks off. When the text resumes at 15,1, Mary is in the midst
of describing the Savior's revelation concerning the rise of the soul past the
four powers. The four powers are most probably to be identified as essential
expressions of the four material elements. The enlightened soul, now free of
their bonds, rises past the four powers, overpowering them with her gnosis, and
attains eternal, silent rest.
After Mary finishes recounting her vision to the disciples,
Andrew and then Peter challenge her on two grounds. First of all, Andrew says,
these teachings are strange. Secondly, Peter questions, would the Savior really
have told such things to a woman and kept them from the male disciples. Levi
admonishes Peter for contending with the woman as against the adversaries and
acknowledges that the Savior loved
her more than the other disciples. He entreats them to be ashamed, to put on the
perfect man, and to go forth and preach as the Savior had instructed them to do.
They immediately go forth to preach and the text ends.
The confrontation of Mary with Peter, a
scenario also found in The Gospel of Thomas, Pistis Sophia, and The
Gospel of the Egyptians, reflects some of the tensions in second-century
Christianity. Peter and Andrew represent orthodox positions that deny the
validity of esoteric revelation and reject the authority of women to teach. The
Gospel of Mary attacks both of these positions head-on through its
portrayal of Mary Magdalene. She is the Savior's
beloved, possessed of knowledge and teaching superior to that of the public
apostolic tradition. Her superiority is
based on vision and private revelation and is demonstrated in her capacity to
strengthen the wavering disciples and turn them toward the Good.
The text belongs to the genre of the gnostic dialogue. It has,
however, also been classified as an apocalypse due to several
characteristics it shares with other texts of that genre: revelation dialogue,
vision, an abbreviated cosmogony, a description of otherworldly regions and the
rise of the soul (though there is no heavenly journey as such), final
instructions, and a short narrative conclusion. The difficulty in determining
genre is due in part to the fact that the text has undergone secondary
redaction. Most scholars agree that the two parts of the text described above
were originally separate pieces (oral or written) that were artificially
combined to form the present whole. The role of Mary at the end of the first
section and the altercation among the disciples at the end provide the narrative
connection.
The Gospel of Mary was
originally written in Greek some time in the second century. Unfortunately the
two extant copies of The Gospel of Mary are extremely fragmentary. The
earliest text comprises only a single, fragmentary leaf written in Greek, dated
to the early third century (P. Rylands 111463 [22:16,1-19,4]). A longer portion
of the text is extant in an early fifth-century Coptic codex (P . Berolinensis
8502,1), though considerable portions of the text are missing there too. Of
eighteen pages, only eight are extant (7-10 and 15-19,5). Though the text of the
Greek fragment varies considerably from the Coptic version, it parallels the
Coptic pages 17,5-21 and 18,5-19,5 and hence does not provide any new material.
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THE GOSPEL OF MARY MAGDALENE
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[. ..] (pp. 1-6 missing) will matter then be [destroyed] or
not?" The Savior said, "All natures, all formations, all
creatures exist in and with one another, and they will be resolved again
into their own roots. For the nature of matter is resolved into the (roots)
of its nature alone. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
Peter said to him, "Since you have explained everything
to us, tell us this also: What is the sin of the
world?" , The Savior said, " There is no sin, but it is you who make
sin when you do the things that are like the nature of adultery, which is called
'sin.' That is why the Good came into your midst, to the (essence) of
every nature, in order to restore it to its root." Then he continued and
said, "That is why you' [become sick] and die, for [. ..] of the one who [.
..He who] , understands, let him understand. [Matter gave birth to] a passion
that has no equal, which proceeded from (something) contrary to nature. Then
there arise a disturbance in the whole body. That is why I said to you, 'Be of
good courage,' and if you are discouraged (be) encouraged in the presence of the
different forms of nature. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.'
When the blessed one had said this, he greeted them all,
saying, "Peace be with you. Receive my peace to yourselves. Beware that no
one lead you astray, saying, 'Lo here!' or 'Lo' there!' For the Son of Man is
within you. Follow after him! Those who seek him will find him. Go then and
preach the gospel of the kingdom. Do not lay down any rules beyond what I
appointed for you, and do not give a law like the lawgiver lest you be
constrained by it." When he had said this, he departed.
But they were grieved. They wept greatly, saying, "How
shall we go to the gentiles and preach the gospel of the kingdom of the Son of
Man? If they did not spare him, how will they spare us?" Then Mary stood
up, greeted them all, and said to her brethren, "Do not weep and do not
grieve nor be irresolute, for his grace will be entirely with you and will
protect you. But rather let us praise his greatness, for he has prepared
us and made us into men." When Mary said this, she turned their hearts to
the Good, and they began to discuss the words of the [Savior].
Peter said to Mary, 'Sister, I we know that the Savior
loved you more than the rest of women. Tell us the words of the Savior which you
remember - which you know (but) we do not, nor have we heard them." Mary
answered and said, "What is hidden from you will proclaim to you." And
she began to speak to them these words: "I," she said, " I saw
the Lord in a vision and I said to him, 'Lord, I saw you today in a vision.' He
answered and said to me, 'Blessed are you, that you did not waver at the sight
of me. For where the mind is, there is the treasure. 'I said to him, 'Lord, now
does he who sees the vision see it (through) the soul (or) through the spirit?'
The Savior answered and said. 'He does not see through the soul nor through
the spirit, but the mind which [is] between the two - that is [what] sees the
vision and it is [. ..].' (pp. 11-14 missing)
"[. ..] it. And desire
that, 'I did not see you descending, but now I see you ascending. Why do
you lie, since you belong to me?' The soul answered and said, 'I saw you. You
did not see me nor recognize me. I served you as a garment, and you did not know
me.' When it had said this, it went away rejoicing greatly.
"Again it came to the third power,
which is called ignorance. [It (the power)] questioned the soul saying, 'Where
are you going? In wickedness are you bound. But you are bound; do not judge!'
And the soul said, 'why do you judge me although I have not judged? I was bound
though I have not bound. I was not recognized. But I have recognized that the
All is being dissolved, both the earthly (things) and the heavenly.'
When the soul had overcome the
third power, it went upwards and saw the fourth power, (which) took seven forms.
The first form is darkness, the second desire, the third ignorance, the fourth
is the excitement of death, the fifth is the kingdom of the flesh, the
sixth is the foolish wisdom of flesh, the seventh is the wrathful wisdom. These
are the seven [powers] of wrath. They ask the soul, 'Whence do you come, slayer
of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?' The soul answered and said,
'What binds me has been slain, and what surrounds me has been overcome, and my
desire has been ended, and ignorance has died. In a [world] I was released from
a world, [and] in a type from a heavenly type, and (from) the fetter of oblivion
which is transient. From this time on will I attain to the rest of the time, of
the season, of the aeon, in silence.'
When Mary had said this, she fell
silent, since it was to this point that the Savior had spoken with her. But
Andrew answered and said to the brethren, "Say what you (wish to) say I
about what she has said. I at least do not believe that the Savior said this.
For certainly these teachings are strange ideas." Peter answered and spoke
concerning these same things. He questioned them about the Savior: "Did he
really speak with a woman without our knowledge (and) not openly? Are we to turn
about and all listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?"
Then Mary wept and said to Peter,
"My brother Peter, what do you think? Do you think that I thought this up
myself in my heart, or that I am lying about the Savior?" Levi answered and
said to Peter, "Peter, you have always been hot-tempered. Now I see
you contending against the woman like the adversaries. But
if the Savior made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the
Savior knows her very well. That is why he loved her more than us. Rather
let us be ashamed and put on the perfect man and acquire him for ourselves as he
commanded us, and preach the gospel, not laying down any
other rule or other law beyond what the Savior said. When [ ...] and they
began to go forth [to] proclaim and to preach.