The Gnostic Gospel of Mary Magdalene

7/23/2019 The Gnostic Gospel of Mary Magdalene

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The Gnostic

Gospel ofMary

Magdalene


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Exploring the World Religions

Column, By James Bean

(ant!Mat"#u$lished %rticle && Copyright

%ugust ')' && %ll Rights

Reser*ed

+Mary stood up, greeted them all,

and said to her $rethren, o not

-eep and do not grie*e nor $eirresolute, for .is grace -ill $e

entirely -ith you and -ill protect

you/

+But rather, let us praise .is

greatness, for .e has prepared us


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and made us into Men/

+When Mary said this, she turnedtheir hearts to the Good, and they

$egan to discuss the -ords of the

a*ior/

+#eter said to Mary, ister -e

0no- that the a*ior lo*ed you

more than the rest of -oman/

+Tell us the -ords of the a*ior

-hich you remem$er -hich you

0no-, $ut -e do not, nor ha*e -eheard them/


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+Mary ans-ered and said, What is

hidden from you 1 -ill proclaim

to you/+ (Gospel of Mary"

+Thou art $lessed $efore all

-omen on the earth, $ecause thou

shalt $e the fulness of all

fulnesses and the perfection of all

perfections/+ (2eshua to Mary

Magdalene in the Boo0 of #istisophia"

Were Mary Magdalene and

2eshua Married3

%s 1 $egin this exploration of the


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teachings of Mary Magdalene,

also 0no-n as Miriam of Magdala

1 should first of all address the4uestion of Mary5s relationship

-ith 2eshua (Jesus"/ 2ou might $e

interested in the actual historic

$asis for the $elief that Mary and

Jesus -ere married or at least

-ere more than friends/ While

there has $een much speculationa$out this o*er the years, there is

an actual ancient text -hich

preser*es this understanding,

sho-ing that as far $ac0 as theecond %, pro$a$ly much

earlier then that, many held the


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*ie- that Jesus and Mary had

some 0ind of special or intimate

relationship/ The text thatdocuments the $asis for this *ie-

is called the Gospel of #hilip, one

of the ne-ly disco*ered gospels

unearthed at 6ag .ammadi in

upper Egypt/ %t Gnosis/org you

can access the Gospel of #hilip

online/ #hilip is a holy $oo0 onceused $y a denomination 0no-n as

the 7alentinians, named after a

mystic and spiritual Master from

%lexandria $y the name of7alentinius/


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e*eral places in the $oo0 of

#hilip Mary Magdalene is

descri$ed as +the companion+ ofChrist, saying that 2eshua lo*ed

Mary, -as closer to Mary than the

other disciples, and also records

that 2eshua used to often 0iss

Mary on her mouth/ %ctually that

last part8 +often 0iss Mary on

the///9mouth:+, is a restoration ofthe text, is li0ely -hat it said

according to Coptic scholars/ ;n

this page of #hillip in the original

Coptic papyrus it reads8 +used to0iss her often on her 9//////:+, then

there is a lacuna or $rea0 in the


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text -ith the last -ord missing/

Gi*en the other comments from

the disciples, -ho as0ed8 +Why doyou lo*e her more than us+, and

that Mary is +his companion+, 1

-ould say this is li0ely to $e an

accurate rendering/ %lso, the

surrounding context in the Gospel

of #hilip is a$out marriage, the

$ridal cham$er, and sexuality/acraments, in particular the

sacrament of marriage, are a

ma


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ome great $oo0s on this su$ +The

acred Em$race of Jesus and

Mary && The exual Mystery at

the .eart of the Christian

Tradition+, $oth authored $y Jean&

2*es ?eloup, and $oth are

pu$lished $y 1nner Traditions/ %*ery 0ey $oo0 to ha*e, the one

has gathers together many of the

ancient texts and 4uotes attri$uted

to Mary is8 +The Gospels of Mary&& The ecret Tradition of Mary

Magdalene the Companion of


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Jesus+, $y Mar*in Meyer and

Esther %/ e Boer, .arper

Collins/ 1 find the $est translationof the Gospel of Mary Magdalene

to $e contained in, +The Complete

Gospels+, edited $y Ro$ert J/

Miller, a great collection of -hat

sur*i*es of around t-enty gospels

from anti4uity/ The largest

num$er of chapters attri$uted toMary, a series of 4uestions of

Mary to Jesus along -ith her

mystical interpretation of the

.e$re- Boo0 of #salms andanother -or0 0no-n as the ;des

of olomon, can $e found in a


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holy $oo0 called, +#istis ophia+,

translated $y G/R// Mead/

% Gnostic&Buddhist Connection3

The phrase +the Blessed ;ne+

appears in the Gospel of Mary

Magdalene8

+When the Blessed ;ne had saidthis, he greeted them all, saying,

5#eace $e -ith you/ Recei*e my

peace to yoursel*es5+/

The thing is, the Buddha is

referred to as the Blessed ;ne in


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countless Buddhist sutras/

+Compassionate ;ne+ is a popular

Buddhist phrase and someho-also turns up in #istis ophia,

another Gnostic gospel8

+Jesus, the Compassionate,

ans-ered and said to Mary8 5Mary,

thou Blessed ;ne, -hom 1 -ill

complete in all the Mysteries ofthe .eight 9inner planes or

hea*enly realms:, spea0 openly,

thou art she -hose heart is more

directed to the @ingdom of.ea*en than all thy $rothers/5+


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%nd Mary herself is also called a

+Blessed ;ne+ in another *erse of

#istis ophia8

+Mary, thou Blessed ;ne, thou

#leroma 9.ea*enly Aullness: or

thou all&$lessed #leroma, -ho

-ill $e $lessed among all

generations+/

Those are the ones 1 ha*e noticed,

and 15m sure there must $e lots

more/ These four examples could

ma0e one -onder if perhaps theremight ha*e $een a slight Buddhist

influence in the West during those


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days/

The 7ery +Eastern+ oundingMystical Teachings of Mary

Magdalene

% saying of 2eshua found in the

Gospel of Mary8

+When the Blessed ;ne had saidthis, he greeted them all/ 5#eace $e

-ith you5 he said/ 5%c4uire my

peace -ithin yoursel*es/ Be on

your guard so that no onedecei*es you $y saying, 5?oo0

o*er here5 or 5?oo0 o*er there5


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Aor the eed of True .umanity

exists -ithin you/ Aollo- it

Those -ho search for it -ill findit/+

ome commentary found in a

footnote of the same translation

adds8

+The disciples must search -ithinthemsel*es, to find the eed of

True .umanity that is -ithin each

person/ They must guard against

those -ho try to lead them astray$y re4uiring that a person

conform to -hat is outside/+ (The


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Complete Gospels, Ro$ert J/

Miller"

Regarding +the eed of True

.umanity+, another translation

renders that as +on of Man+ or

+on of %dam+, +the on of Man

is -ithin you+/ The Eastern term

is +atman+, the true self or pirit

of ?ife -ithin/

Aor the mystic&soul there is no

need to construct out-ard temples

made of -ood and stone, as thehuman $ody itself is already a

temple of the pirit/ 15m sure this


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+-ithin you+ message of the

Gnostic or mystical gospels is one

of the reasons -hy they -ere notpolitically useful to some in

anti4uity, and thus they -ere

$anned/ The saying a$o*e reflects

a theme found in the teachings of

countless mystics and Masters,

that the focus is +-ithin+, not

else-here in the outer -orld ofthe fi*e senses/ Thus

contemplati*e meditation for

mystics ser*es as a 0ind of

+portal+ or +door-ay+ to thei*ine/ 1n the poetry of the 1ndian

mystic adu it says8


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+God is -ithin the self> .e is

close to the -orshiper/ But

lea*ing .im aside, men ser*eexternal constructions, lamenteth

adu/ This is the mos4ue, this is

the temple, so has the Master

sho-n/ The ser*ice and salutation

are performed -ithin/ With

happiness and $liss -ithin, there

is happiness and $liss in allplaces/ Without happiness and

$liss -ithin, none -as seen happy/

The treasure is no-here to $e

found, that treasure is -ithine*eryone/ There are t-o hearts

inside, one o$scure and the other


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lustrous/ Within the o$scure heart

nothing is *isi$le, $ut -ithin the

lustrous the upreme Being isre*ealed/ 1 found the true home

-ithin the house itself/ Entering

the state of $lissful meditation,

d-ell -ithin/ Thus hath the

Master disco*ered and taught/ Aor

the sa0e of that home, 1 -andered

e*ery-here, $ut the ?ord has $eenre*ealed -ithin my *ery self/ The

doors of the palace ha*e $een

thro-n open, the E*erlasting

%$ode has $een sho-n/ %ll fears,dou$ts and delusions ha*e

disappeared/ That state of $liss


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has it entered, -here the self,

transcending the $ody, ascends/+

(ant adu ayal, Criterion#u$lications, 6e- elhi"

Mary -as an apostle or Master

-ho -as a *isionary, one -ho sa-

many *isions of *arious inner

planes or hea*enly regions during

her meditations/ % $eautifulpassage from the Gospel of Mary

a$out a soul Mary sa- during one

of her *isions -hen she -as

exploring the econd .ea*en/This soul -as $eing 4uestioned $y

a $eing or po-er gi*en the name


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+esire+8

+The soul ans-ered saying, 2oudid not see me nor did you 0no-

me/ 2ou mistoo0 the garment 1

-ore for my true self/ %nd you

did not recognie me/+

There is a similar passage in one

of the Mandaean Gnostic textsfrom 1ra4 that goes something

li0e8

+The soul says, 51 d-elt in yourmidst $ut you ne*er recognied

me, you ne*er really 0ne- me/5+


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.o- easy it is to only see the

surface, to in fact $e -asting

a-ay -hole lifetimes $eing asurface&d-eller, neither 0no-ing

one5s self nor seeing the true

identity of others as souls/ 1n truth

-e are all particles of ?ight

d-elling -ithin $odies, -e are

6otes that ma0e up a di*ine

symphony8

+%ll $eautiful forms and tones of

this -orld are mere reflections of

some aspect of that ultimate?o*e&Music of the Great Creati*e

Word/ Within the *ast complex of


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creation, each indi*idual spirit is

himselfDherself a spar0 of that

Eternal ong of ?o*e/+ (George%rns$y Jones"

1n Gnostic scriptures such as the

Gospel of Mary, unenlightened

human existence is portrayed as a

0ind of night of the li*ing dead,

souls li*ing in a -orld of sleepcaught up in dreams of illusion,

trapped in spiritual ignorance

some-here in time, limited to

only a couple of dimensions,tethered to material existence

seemingly una$le to $ecome


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a-are of anything more/ ;ne of

my fa*orite passages from Mary

is -hen a li$erated soul exclaims8

+1 -as set loose from a -orld and

from the chain of forgetfulness

that exists in time+

%nother +Mary+ further to the

East $y the name Mira Bai oncesaid,

+My mind, $irth after $irth,

lost in slum$er,%-o0e on hearing the ound

my Master ga*e/+


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Documents

The Gnostic Gospel of Mary Magdalene