Professor at Harvard Divinity School Karen King I found a mention in the text about wife Jesus Christ on a Coptic papyrus dating from the 4th century AD. She spoke about this in a report on the 10th international congress Coptic Studies in Rome, The Harvard Gazette reported September 18.
"Jesus said to them, 'My wife'", says the fragment. The papyrus measures approximately 3.5 by 7.5 centimeters and belongs to a private collector. On one side it contains eight incomplete lines written by hand, and on the other side only three words and individual characters are preserved. The origin of the fragment is unknown, but based on the fact that the inscriptions on it were made in Coptic (the language of early Christians in Egypt), scientists suggest that the papyrus was found in Egypt.
On one side of the papyrus, the researcher found eight incomplete lines of text. The reverse side of the fragment was badly damaged, and due to faded ink, even after scanning with an infrared ray, only three words and a few individual letters could be distinguished on it. Despite the modest size of the find, the Harvard expert believes that the papyrus sheds long-awaited light on issues of family and marriage among ancient Christians. Karen King plans to publish her research in the January issue of the Harvard Theological Review. A draft of her work, along with images and a translation of the new fragment, is available on the website Harvard Divinity School.
Scientists' Find Shows Jesus Was Married
MAria Magdalene is one of the most mysterious personalities of the Gospel. People got their idea of her mainly from paintings on biblical themes. They usually depict a half-naked, repentant sinner with beautiful long hair, with which, according to the New Testament, she wiped the feet of Jesus.
"Complete Orthodox theological encyclopedic dictionary"You can learn a lot about it brief information: “—myrrh-bearing wife, originally from the city of Magdala. She led a dissolute life, and I. Christ, with his preaching, returned her to a new life and made her his most devoted follower. After the resurrection, I. Christ appeared to her before others.”
It turns out that he preferred a former harlot, who, in accordance with the strict Jewish laws he observed, had to be stoned to death. This strange predilection of the Savior for Mary Magdalene forced many scientists who studied the Bible and looked for evidence of the events that happened in history to take a closer look at this woman.
A detailed presentation of one of the hypotheses explaining the role of this mysterious figure in the New Testament is contained in the book by M. Baigent, R. Ley, G. Lincoln "Sacred Riddle". According to these researchers, the special relationship of Jesus Christ to Mary of Magdala can be explained very simply: she was... his wife. This version is confirmed by individual episodes described in the Bible, as well as existing Hebrew traditions and some Gnostic Gospels.
An expert on early Christianity, Professor Geza Vermes of the University of Oxford, writes: “The Gospels remain completely silent regarding the marital status of Jesus... This is a situation unusual in the Hebrew world, which deserves special study. After all, it is known from the Gospel that many of Jesus’ disciples, for example, Peter, were married, and Jesus himself does not praise celibacy (celibacy). “Have you not read that the Creator created man and woman from the very beginning? ... So let a man leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh,” he declares in chapter XIX of Luke. According to ancient Jewish tradition, marriage was mandatory for every man. Moreover, celibacy was condemned by society. One late 1st century Jewish writer even equates it to murder.
People were especially strict towards the “rabbi” - a person who chose the path of religious education, and it was precisely this path that Christ followed. Jewish law stated this most categorically: “An unmarried person cannot pretend to teach others.”
One piece of evidence for the theory that Jesus was married is the description in the Gospel of John of a wedding in Cana in Galilee, which was attended by Jesus and his mother. At this time, Christ had not yet preached a new faith or performed miracles.
As you know, at some point it was discovered that the wine at the wedding had run out. And here, unexpectedly, the mother of Jesus takes on the functions of a housewife: “And since there was not enough wine, the Mother of Jesus says to Him: “They have no wine,” and gives the order to the servants: “Whatever He tells you, do it.” Jesus fulfills his mother's wish and turns the water into wine. Although, if they were only guests at the wedding, then it is not their concern to monitor how wine and food are served.
Jesus' intervention becomes easily understandable (and even necessary) only in one case: if we're talking about about his own wedding. This interpretation of the episode is confirmed by the words of the “master of the table” addressed to the groom: “... every person first serves good wine, and when they get drunk, then the worst; and you have saved good wine until now.” And these words clearly refer to Jesus, who performed his first miracle in front of everyone.
According to the Gospel, researchers also establish the identity of Jesus’ wife. She was, whose role in the life of Christ seems deliberately obscured. As already mentioned, after the Resurrection, Jesus first appeared to her, which emphasizes her special significance in the life of Christ. And among the evangelists Mark and Matthew, Mary appears under her own name among the disciples of Jesus only at the moment of his crucifixion. The Evangelist Luke mentions it much earlier. Having met Jesus in Galilee, Mary accompanies him to Judea. But in those days for unmarried woman it was simply unthinkable to travel alone on the roads of Palestine. Even less likely was her presence surrounded by a rabbi. Therefore, Mary Magdalene must have been married to one of the disciples or to Jesus himself.
Researchers find confirmation of this latter assumption in the Gnostic Gospels, written by the first Christians and not included in the New Testament. For example, the Gospel of Philip testifies that Jesus’ disciples were very jealous of the fact that he only kissed Mary Magdalene on the lips. Peter was especially indignant and even became her implacable enemy because of this. It was the special attitude of Christ towards Mary Magdalene, as mentioned in the Gnostic Gospels, that served as the reason for the non-inclusion of these books in the Christian canon. Mary’s privileged position is also emphasized in the works of the first Christian writers, who called her “the wife of Christ.”
According to the authors of the book “The Sacred Riddle,” first the bride of Christ, and then his wife, was Mary Magdalene. They consider the veneration of Mary in the south of France to be another confirmation of their version. Churches and cathedrals were built in her honor. “All tourists know,” the researchers write in their book, “that Chartres Cathedral was dedicated to “Notre Dame” (in French - “our lady, our mistress, mistress”). It is usually translated as an address to Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Virgin Mary. Great Paris Cathedral also dedicated to "Notre Dame-". But in in this case in the south of France, Mary Magdalene is venerated, and not the Mother of God.
It turns out that most of the churches in Paris and its surroundings are sanctuaries of none other than Mary Magdalene. This fact became of interest to historians when they learned that many of these churches contained a statue of a woman with a child, usually represented as Mary with the child Jesus. However, it is possible that during the construction of these buildings, behind the obvious Christian cult, another - heretical - was hidden. There is reason to believe that Chartres Cathedral was secretly dedicated to Mary Magdalene, the supposed wife of Christ."
In the south of France, legends about the Grail, the sacred cup in which the blood of Christ crucified on the cross was collected, also arose. Mary Magdalene held the cup in her hands. Not only in the south of France, but also in Russia, there were legends about the special role of this woman in the life and death of Christ, sometimes reflected in icons.
In Tbilisi national museum Precious Byzantine enamel of the Crucifixion is kept. Experts attribute it to the 10th-11th centuries. There is a version that this image is an analogue of the enamel that adorned the Throne of Constantinople. The main thing in its plot is a female figure with a cup into which the blood of Christ is poured. By left hand from the crucifixion there is a woman dressed like a woman with a cup. Thus, the author of the work persistently suggests that this woman is depicted at different points in time. Who is she who collected the blood of the Savior into the Holy Grail and took it away from Golgotha? A specialist in Russian icon painting, N. Kandakov, believes that Mary Magdalene is depicted on the Tbilisi enamel of the Crucifixion of Christ.
There is another very important question that the authors of the book “The Sacred Riddle” are trying to answer: “If the marriage of Jesus with Mary Magdalene was concluded, then what was its purpose? Or more precisely, were dynastic marriages and political interests hidden behind it? »
The Gospel of Matthew establishes Jesus' descent from Kings David and Solomon. In this case, he turns out to be the only legal contender for the throne of Palestine. Therefore, the inscription “King of the Jews” placed on the cross is not a mockery of him, but a statement of a real fact. And proof of this is the famous “slaughter of the infants” carried out by Herod. He was mortally afraid of the appearance of a legitimate contender for the throne and was ready to go to any extreme to get rid of him.
But what connection is there between the fact that Jesus is the rightful king of Judea and the necessity of his marriage with Mary Magdalene? At the very beginning of the appearance of Jews in Palestine, the holy city of Jerusalem belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. But his enmity with the other tribes of Israel led to the fact that the tribe was forced to go into exile and power passed to representatives of the tribe of Judah. True, as the “documents of the Community” testify, many representatives of the tribe did not dare to leave their homeland.
Jesus, who belonged to the descendants of David, was a legitimate contender in the eyes of the tribe of Judah, but in the eyes of the remnants of the tribe of Benjamin who lived in this area, he was a usurper. The situation could change after his marriage to a woman from the tribe of Benjamin. There is no information in the Gospel about which tribe Mary Magdalene belonged to, but, according to some legends, she came from the royal dynasty of the tribe of Benjamin. Therefore, in this case, an alliance of two previously hostile dynasties could arise, which would have serious political consequences. Israel would have received a king-priest, Jerusalem would have returned to its rightful owners, National unity would have been strengthened, and Jesus' claim to the throne would have been reaffirmed.
About the opinion of the book's authors "Sacred Riddle", the fact of the existence of the Jesus family was inconvenient and even dangerous for the development of Christianity. This may explain the consistent and purposeful selection of information contained in the Gospels placed in the New Testament. In addition to the four canonical Gospels, there were others. Special place occupied by the Gospels of Thomas and Philip, which suggest that there were direct descendants of Jesus.
Jesus' wife Mary Magdalene and his children left the Holy Land and took refuge in Gaul, in the south of modern France, in the Jewish community. An indirect confirmation of this is the veneration of Mary Magdalene that has survived to this day, including the construction of churches dedicated to her, as has already been mentioned. Thus, the direct descendants of Jesus took root in Gaul - the royal blood of David, transmitted by Christ to his descendants, ended up in southern France.
The legends about this were kept in the strictest secrecy for almost four hundred years. In the 5th century, the descendants of Jesus merged with the Franks to give birth to the Merovingian dynasty. These kings, according to legend, had the ability to heal people from the most terrible diseases by simply laying on hands, as Christ did. Duke Godefroy of Bouillon, one of the inspirers of the Crusade, who conquered the Holy Land from the Saracens, was descended from Jesus, and his capture of Jerusalem in 1099 was something more than just a victory over the infidels. It was a war for the reconquest of the sacred inheritance, which should have rightfully belonged to the Duke's ancestor Jesus.
There is another very important fact, indirectly confirming the arrival of Mary Magdalene in southern France. Together with her, one of the main Christian shrines arrived in Europe -. There are many legends about where this bowl is located.
One of the most popular legends connects with the Albigensians - followers of the heretical teaching that swept the south of France at the turn of the 12th-13th centuries. It was here, according to the authors of the book “The Sacred Mystery,” that the Jewish community was located at the beginning of the first millennium, in which it found refuge. IN impregnable fortress The Albigensians of Montsegur kept the Grail, which was their great relic. In 1209 the Pope declared crusade against the Albigensians. During 35 years of continuous wars, the richest provinces of France were completely devastated, thousands of people were executed, but did not abandon their religion. In 1244 he fell last stronghold Albigensians - Montsegur. But the holy relic did not go to the crusaders. On the night before the surrender of the fortress, four “initiates” fled through a complex system of underground passages and took with them the Holy Grail.
About the Saint Grail remembered in the 30s in fascist Germany. Otto Rahn, one of the developers of the theory of the existence of the Nordic race, visited the ruins of Montsegur, examined the area surrounding the fortress and visited some of the many natural caves where, in his opinion, the Holy Grail was hidden. In 1937, he organized an expedition, and, according to rumors, he managed to obtain information confirming that the Grail was located here.
Otto Rahn failed to send his next expedition: the scientist disappeared without a trace. In 1943, when Germany was already suffering an obvious defeat, a huge expedition organized by the Ahnenerbe society, part of the SS structure, arrived in Montsegur. Until the spring of 1944, the participants of the campaign conducted intensive searches in the caves under and around the fortress. In some newspapers after the end of the war there were reports that Holy Grail
My friend had a question about the life fate of Mary Magdalene. Was she a sinner before Jesus Christ cast out seven demons from her? In the West, her image is interpreted as a repentant sinner, but nowhere in the Gospel texts have we found confirmation of this. Only that Mary Magdalene became one of the myrrh-bearing women, faithfully following Christ until His death on the cross.
Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene was from the Galilean city of Magdala (tribe of Issachar), located on the western shore of Lake Gennesaret, near Capernaum. She is mentioned by all four evangelists. After the Lord healed her from evil spirits (see: Luke 8:2), she joined those pious wives who accompanied the Lord everywhere during His earthly life and served Him in their name. She witnessed the Savior's suffering on the cross and was present at His burial. At dawn on the first day after the Sabbath, she and other pious women went to the tomb of Jesus Christ to anoint His body with incense. Therefore, the Church calls them myrrh-bearing women. They were the first to be told by an angel about the Resurrection of the Lord (see: Mark 16: 1-8). For her great devotion and sacrificial love for her Teacher, she was honored to be the first to see the risen Savior. He instructed her to announce to the apostles about His resurrection. Saint Mary Magdalene appeared to the apostles as an evangelist. This is sung in the Easter stichera (the work of St. John of Damascus):
“Come from the vision of the wife of the good news, and cry to Zion: receive from us the joy of the annunciation of the Resurrection of Christ; show off, rejoice and rejoice, O Jerusalem, seeing the King Christ from the tomb, like a bridegroom coming.”
There is not a single word in the New Testament that Saint Mary Magdalene was a sinner. This opinion has taken root 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 ointment in the house of Simon the Pharisee (see: Luke 7: 36-50). The Gospel text does not provide any basis for such a statement. The Lord forgave that woman her sins, saying: “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7:50). However, nothing is said about casting out demons. If the Savior did this earlier, then why weren’t sins forgiven at the same time? Following this, the Evangelist Luke immediately (chapter 8) speaks of godly women who served the Lord. The mention of Mary Magdalene is accompanied by a remark (“out of whom came seven demons”), which clearly shows that she is being spoken about for the first time.
The final establishment in the West of an arbitrary and erroneous opinion about Saint Mary Magdalene as a former sinner was facilitated by the book of the Italian Dominican monk, Archbishop of Genoa James of Voragin (now Varazze) “The Golden Legend” (“Legenda Aurea”), the creation of which dates back to 1260. This collection of legends and biographies of saints became a source of subjects for painting and literature. The author of the collection identifies Mary Magdalene with Mary, the sister of the 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 received Magdala, Lazarus received part of Jerusalem, and Martha received Bethany. In this story it is easy to see a naive projection of feudal relations medieval Europe to 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. “This is witnessed by a certain priest who settled nearby. He meets Mary Magdalene, who tells him about her imminent death and instructs him to inform Blessed Maximinus about this. Having met Blessed Maximin on a certain day and having received the last communion from him, she dies. Maximin buries her and orders after his death to bury himself next to the saint. As the source of this part, James presents us with “some treatise” of Josephus and “the books of Maximinus himself.” It is unknown what works we are talking about" ( Narusevich I.V. The Life of Mary Magdalene in the “Golden Legend” of Jacob of Voraginsky).
It is easy to notice the mixture of subjects: the legendary life of Mary Magdalene and the adapted life of the Venerable 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 that is directly borrowed from the Life of the Venerable Mary of Egypt - “Mary Magdalene receives the robe of the hermit Zosima.” Donatello's bronze-tinted wooden sculpture (1445) expressively depicts a desert woman exhausted by her feat. Her body is covered with shabby rags. This masterpiece has little connection with the real-historical image of St. Mary Magdalene. Once again we see a mixture of the images of two saints. An extensive gallery of paintings on the theme “Penitent Mary Magdalene” is gradually 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 Vouet ( 1590-1649), José de Ribera (1591-1652), Georges Dumenil de Latour (1593-1652), Francesco Hayes (1791-1882); sculptors Pedro de Mena (1628-1688), Antonio Canova (1757-1822) and others.
Orthodox Church in the narration of the life of Saint Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, 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 his Epistle to the Romans has Saint Mary Magdalene in mind: “Greet Miriam, who labored much for us” (Rom. 16:6).
Why did the Church take up arms against the world bestseller - Dan Brown's book "The Da Vinci Code"?
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The novel “The Da Vinci Code” by American journalist Dan Brown became the best-selling book in the world last year - its circulation exceeded 20 million. However, in many countries Christian priests parishioners are prohibited from reading this work. And the Vatican is even considering whether to excommunicate Dan Brown from the Church. The reason is that the author allegedly undermines the foundations of Christianity with his work. Is it so? The scandalous novel for KP readers is commented by priest, author of several books on the history of early Christianity, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Deacon Vasily (Salnikov).
What is this book about?
For almost two millennia, the mysterious order of the Priory of Sion, which from time immemorial included the most intelligent and talented representatives of mankind - among them Leonardo da Vinci, Victor Hugo, Isaac Newton - has kept a certain great secret, capable of turning the entire history of Christianity upside down. Nowadays one of the initiates is killed. But he leaves an encrypted message, the key to which is found in the works of Leonardo da Vinci. Main character, Harvard professor Langdon, and Sophie, the granddaughter of the murdered man, are trying to solve the mystery and find secret documents, which they believe represent the legendary Holy Grail. That is, not only the cup from which Jesus and his disciples drank wine at the Last Supper. The heroes have to look for secret symbols in the paintings of the great Leonardo, engage in cryptography, study many documents from different eras... And in the end they come to a stunning conclusion - the secret is that Christ was not at all who the priests say he is. He was married to Mary Magdalene and they had a daughter, Sarah. And the Holy Grail is also a symbol of the feminine principle of Christianity. A beginning about which the clergy prefer to remain silent.
The author is a very talented person,” says Deacon Vasily. - The first half of the novel is generally read in one breath. Detective, murders, chases. At first, scientific facts are also very conscientiously selected - Fibonacci numbers, “divine proportion”, Leonardo’s paintings - puzzles that must be solved in order to find the Truth. There are also historical excursions, which absolutely accurately describe the history of the Templars and other secret societies. The reader is captivated by the plot, takes the novel for a documentary revelation and does not notice how the author begins to pour poison into his soul, prepared by the “scientific narrative”.
Let's start with the fact that the real Holy Grail exists. And her whereabouts are known.
In 1910, in Antioch, the ancient capital of Syria, on the site where the ancient cathedral stood, several Arabs, treasure hunters, dug out a reliquary in the ruins - a silver ark in the shape of a bowl, in which they found another, already unpolished silver bowl. The find came to the famous antiques dealers, the Kuchakzhi brothers, was exhibited at the Louvre, was in private collections, and is now kept in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Where did the “extra” Gospels come from?
Dan Brown argues that the four canonical Gospels contain only a small part of the information about the life of Christ. In fact, there are about 80 Gospels, from which only the whole truth can be learned. But the church hides it.
I’m not sure about the number 80, but there really are many Gospels. Some are even used in composing church services. But here we need to understand the situation that developed by the middle of the 1st century.
In the first decades after Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, the Gospel - the good news of his preaching and deeds - was spread orally. The “right holders” of this story were the apostles - direct participants in those events.
In the twentieth century, theologians, secular historians, and linguists conducted many examinations. And they dated the writing of the canonical Gospels very accurately:
50s - 60s 1st century - Gospel of Matthew; 65 - 70s. - Gospel of Mark; 70s - 80s. - Gospel of Luke; end of the 1st century - Gospel of John the Theologian.
I repeat, there is serious research behind this dating; no one argues with it anymore. We now even know how the canonical Gospels were added to over time. For example, linguists have discovered later insertions into the Gospel of Mark. And the Church agreed with science. But that's a completely different story...
And Christianity in the 1st century spread like this: the apostles wandered around cities and countries, preaching and creating Christian communities. Moving on, the apostle appointed, as it seemed to him, the most “advanced” student as bishop of the community. In some cities, Christians became a powerful organization, in others they disappeared in confrontation with adherents of pagan cults.
The news of the crucifixion and subsequent resurrection, like any significant event, quickly became overgrown with legends and myths in accordance with the traditions of a particular area.
The Church was not yet an organization in modern sense this word, and it was impossible to control the spread of “rumors”.
Therefore, in the 2nd - 4th centuries, and this is also confirmed by modern linguistic examinations, numerous manuscripts appeared - “Egyptian Gospel”, “Gospel of the Hebrews”, “Gospel of Peter”, “Gospel of Thomas”, “Gospel of the Childhood of Jesus”, very interesting “ The First Gospel of James,” which also tells about childhood Mother of God, and about the brothers of Christ, and much more...
A document has been preserved in which Sarapion, Bishop of Antioch, around 200 AD. e. addressed the Keleseri flock with an admonition against the liturgical use of the “Gospel of Peter”
For example, it says that the Roman soldiers who were guarding the cave with the body of the Savior saw the risen Christ coming out and two angels supporting him. This moment is not present in the canonical Gospels, because: a) the soldiers, clearly pagans, could not see the risen Christ - only those who believed in him saw him; b) Christ is an omnipotent God, and it is not clear why the angels needed to support him. These are the subtleties.
Such Gospels are called apocrypha. The Church still recognizes some of them and allows Christians to read them. For example, Orthodox holiday The Dormition of the Mother of God is celebrated only thanks to one of these apocrypha, which describes the scene of the death of the Mother of God. But they are still not considered documents, since there is no evidence of their authenticity. And other apocrypha, which incorrectly reflect the essence of the teaching, are recognized as heretical.
By the way, the four canonical Gospels are written in Koine, the language of business writing of that time. A apocryphal gospels created in the form of ordinary religious stories.
Magdalene - Jesus' wife?
Dan Brown informs readers that “the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is recorded in historical records” (p. 297). And he refers to the apocrypha of the Gospel of Philip.
This interesting document really exists and, according to linguists, was created at the end of the 2nd century. How much truth there is in it, how much fiction, no one knows.
But Brown, interpreting the apocrypha, stoops to outright lies:
“...Mary Magdalene is called the “companion of the Savior,” and any expert in the Aramaic language will tell you that the word “companion” in those days literally meant “wife” (p. 298 according to the Da Vinci Code edition, Ast publishing house, 2004).
In fact, any specialist knows that the apocrypha of the Gospel of Philip was written not in Aramaic, but in the Saidic dialect of the Coptic language. And based on the presence of Greek words in the text, there is reason to assume that the apocrypha was translated into Coptic from a Greek source. And in Coptic and Greek the word "companion" means only what it means.
The Savior and Magdalene from the royal family
In the novel, Brown, through the mouth of the villain Tibbing, reports that Christ and Magdalene, descendants of two royal families, were supposed to unite and give the people of Israel a king - the messiah.
The Gospel of Matthew gives the genealogy of Christ - King David is also present among the ancestors. And in the Gospel of Luke, the angel tells the Virgin Mary the same thing. But the fact that Mary Magdalene descended from the first king of Israel, Saul, is a late legend based on apocryphal texts. There is no canonical data on this matter. By the way, apocrypha from different places give various information about the supposedly existing descendants of Christ and Magdalene. Some talk about their daughter, others call their son. And still others say that they had two children. And this is the strangest version, since the first child should have been born before the crucifixion of Christ.
QUOTE ON THE TOPIC
“Never underestimate the commercial potential of heresy dressed up in the form of a compelling story.”
Baptist theologian Albert Mohler discussing the book The Da Vinci Code.
ATTENTION!!!
Was Christ God or man? What was Magdalene's true role in the life of Jesus? Did Leonardo da Vinci lead a secret society, and what do his paintings say? We will tell you about this and much more in the next issue of “fat girl”. Or maybe you have your own questions that arose after reading Dan Brown’s book, or have you been worried about some biblical mystery for a long time? Send us your questions and opinions at [email protected] or to the editorial office with a note on the envelope “Da Vinci Code”. And scientists will give you their explanations. We are waiting for your responses!
Andrey MOISEENKO.
While theologians argue, tourists run around with the “Code” as if it were a guidebook
Well, of course, my friends and I, like fools, convincing each other that the book as a whole was nothing special, as soon as we arrived in London, we rushed to look for this very Temple - the Temple of the Templars, where Langdon and Sophie are trying to find the clue to the knights among the lying statues . Why weren’t we looking for this temple before reading the world bestseller? After all, it was always in good guidebooks! And the subway station hinted at this - it’s called “Temple”. The great power of art, one word!
And it really turned out to be a place! As Brown aptly points out, the Temple is located at the back of Fleet Street. And its existence is announced by a tiny sign, which a tourist, after two pints of Guinness, will not even notice near the inconspicuous black gate.
We definitely didn't see it right the first time. They tried to find Temple from below, from the embankment - but the iron patterned gates to the private courtyard, where a dozen Rolls-Royces were resting, were closed, and a piece of paper pinned to them politely informed that those invited to the ball were allowed only in tuxedos and Scottish national skirts Well, I didn’t really want to!
Conclusion one: in everything that concerns Temple, Brown is documented accurately. The temple is strange, the spirit of mystery hovers over it, stone knights recline gloomily. Neither a ball nor an apple (those who read it understood). But! The last name of one of the statues is Rose. A? What's it like? How did Brown get past this? With such an obsession with Rose during the search! Moreover: upstairs, on the dome - again Golden Rose! Or something very similar to it - see photo. And again - not a word about her in the book. Why?
Here is the second conclusion: most likely, at first the trace in the Temple was not false, and only then, realizing that tourists should also be attracted to Roslyn, Scotland, Dan Brown extended his story by promoting Westminster Abbey along the way.
And let this cute scientific guess bring new tourists to the UK. Personally, we swore on the grave of Isaac Newton to get to Roslin in the spring, find Sonya’s grandmother and ask in our own, proletarian way: why didn’t you call your granddaughter when her grandfather died? I called - if there weren’t a book, our pounds would be safer!
Vladimir KONSTANTINOV.
11.11.2014
Is it possible that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene and they had children? Of course, you think that this “sensation” was found somewhere in the pages of bestsellers...
After all, this is exactly what was stated in the famous “Da Vinci Code” - one of the best-selling books of the last decade. But now the authors of the new book "The Lost Gospel" ( The Lost Gospel, claim to have unearthed evidence in a manuscript that tells the story of Jesus' two sons and his marriage to Mary Magdalene.
Mary Magdalene and Jesus are characters in the film Messiah.
Of course, there have been various discoveries of “new” Gospels over the years, and claims of a romantic relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene have persisted for centuries. For example, in the fifties, the book “The Last Temptation of Christ” was published, where its author suggested that the couple got married when Jesus was taken down from the cross. Martin Scorsese turned this idea into a film of the same name in 1988.
Both the book and the film received sharp negative reviews from the church, in some countries the picture is actually prohibited from being shown to the general public. For example, in Russia.
But a new book by Canadian professor Barry Wilson and Christian scholar and documentary filmmaker Simcha Jakubovich is based on an actual 1,500-year-old manuscript they found in the archives of a British library and translated from Syriac into English.
The manuscript, or rather the writing on tanned leather, was kept in the archives of the British Library for approximately 170 years, where it came after the British Museum bought it in 1847 from a certain seller who claimed to have found it in the monastery of St. Macarius in Egypt.
Over the past 160 years, this document has been studied by several scholars, but has been found to be rather ordinary.
Appearance of the Risen Jesus to Mary Magdalene
But Jakubovich and Wilson, after six years of studying it, came to the conclusion that they had discovered the missing fifth Gospel - the lost part of the canonical four Gospels that tell the story of the life of Christ and were written by the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the 1st century AD, saying about the unmarked 12 years of Christ’s life before the crucifixion on Golgotha.
If this is true, then this is - greatest discovery in the study of the life of Jesus over almost 2000 years. Jakubovich argues that the manuscript, divided into 29 chapters, is a 6th-century copy of the original 1st-century Gospel and casts the contents of the Bible in a completely different light.
According to the authors of The Lost Gospel, the document was encrypted, which is why it was not noticed before. The manuscript tells about the life of the Old Testament Joseph the Beautiful and his wife Asenath, but in fact it is about Jesus. Coding under the Old Testament history was necessary in order to hide the true Gospel and its guardians from the persecution that persecuted Christians at the beginning of our era.
It is also known that the Roman Emperor Constantine, the first Christian Emperor, ordered the destruction of all other Gospels, leaving only the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, because their version corresponded to Constantine's views on Christianity.
“Since then, people have found pieces of other [destroyed] Gospels,” says Yakubovich. “They tend to come from antique dealers and are usually declared fakes. Besides, it’s usually only a few lines.” But the British Library manuscript, he says, “is a full-blown gospel.”
The document (pictured) is preceded by a covering letter written in the 6th century by the person who translated the manuscript into Syriac from Greek. It says that this manuscript is “words about our Lord, our God.”
In the document, just at the moment when it seems as if the hidden inner meaning of the text is about to be revealed, there is a large gap. “There is a cut across the page, right through the line of the Syriac script, indicating that the chapter is missing not because of damage from time, but because of censorship, someone took it out,” Jakubovich and Wilson say.
Some scholars believe that it is entirely possible that there were other Gospels and that Jesus was indeed married. Others firmly believe that this is complete nonsense.
History is replete with such disputes.
In 1213, for example, several residents of the city of Beziers, in the south of France, were burned alive for "their scandalous assertion that Mary Magdalene and Christ were lovers." And just two years ago, Harvard University professor Karen L. King announced that she had found a fragment of papyrus, presumably also from Egypt, called the “Gospel of the Wife of Jesus.”
The fragment is small. According to the Harvard University newspaper The Harvard Gazette, its size is 4 by 8 centimeters. This rectangle contained 8 lines (traces of the ninth are visible), handwritten and representing fragments of phrases. Among them are the following: “...no. Mary is worthy of this..." "...she can become my follower..." And the two most important passages: "...and Jesus said to them: My wife...""... As for me, I live with her for this...".
In total, four of the seven lines of the papyrus (pictured) directly lead to the assumption: Jesus was married. This time. And second: married to Mary Magdalene. Jakubovich believes that his "Lost Gospel" supports Professor King's research.
He is also convinced that the marriage of Jesus is also spoken of in the canonical Gospels of the New Testament.
He says, “Jesus is called “rabbi” in the Gospels. And to this day, in order to have a community and ministry, a rabbi must be married. If he is going to lead the flock, he must be a model of behavior. In the first century, you simply weren’t considered a full-fledged adult unless you were married.” And so, he insists, there can be “no doubt” that even in the canonical Gospels Jesus must have a wife.
Mary Magdalene was present at two of the most important events in the life of Christ - at the Crucifixion and was a witness to his posthumous appearance.
To prove the idea that Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus, Jakubowicz again refers to the New Testament. He describes her decision to come to his body on the Sunday after the Crucifixion. “The Gospels say that she went there to wash and anoint his body. But she just one of his followers, and yet she's going to work with his naked body? Women did not wash rabbis or men's bodies in general. Only men did this, women - only wives.”
There is a fairly popular version that in Leonardo da Vinci’s fresco “The Last Supper” right hand It is Mary Magdalene who is depicted from Christ.
"When you add up the individual evidence for Jesus' marriage, it becomes overwhelming," Jakubowicz says.
It is not surprising that almost all Christian historians were skeptical about this book. Diarmaid McCulloch, professor of church history at Oxford University, argued thatThe Lost Gospel surprises him with one thing: how its authors were even allowed into the British Library.
, .Qumran manuscripts found in caves near Dead Sea, contain a rich collection of the ancient community that lived here in the first centuries of Christianity. In addition to historically reliable evidence, it contains a number of pseudepigrapha. Scattered texts, which have only partially survived, as well as some documents stolen by local smugglers, give great freedom to conjecture non-existent information. In particular, it is claimed that a passage from the Gospel was found in which it is written that Christ had a wife. But still scientific community The authenticity of the text has not been confirmed, while the authenticity of the papyrus is beyond doubt.
Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene knew each other really well - this is confirmed by the Four Gospels - documents of the Church that have proven authenticity. The various gospels of Mary Magdalene, Judas Iscariot and other documents are called apocrypha.
These are books that were written by authors of antiquity and the Middle Ages - they have been preserved in whole or in part, but so much so that the scientific community has proven their ahistorical nature, bias, or even direct discrepancy with the facts. Also, many books of antiquity are pseudepigraphic, that is, they do not correspond to the declared authorship. Only four gospels are completely historical, epigraphic and reliable - John, Matthew, Mark and Luke. They are recognized by all Christian denominations of the world.
The story of Mary Magdalene is unusual and mysterious: under the influence of modern culture and some personal judgments of those who understood the biblical story in their own way, a whole aura of mystery was created around the saint. Some believe that Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus Christ because in the brilliant painting “The Last Supper” the Apostle John the Theologian is located on Christ’s chest, has long hair and has no beard.
Many considered him a girl, and since Mary Magdalene, among other myrrh-bearing wives, followed Christ everywhere, she was chosen as the supposed wife depicted at the Last Supper. But the storytellers miss the fact that, according to the periodization of the gospel events, the “beloved disciple” of Christ - as he calls himself in his gospel - John was still a very young man. From his Gospel we read where John was located at the Last Supper, when there was a conversation between the disciples about the traitor:
“Having said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.” Then the disciples looked around at each other, wondering who He was talking about. One of His disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus’ breast. Simon Peter made a sign to him to ask who it was that he was talking about.” (John 13:21-24)
Thus, John testifies that at the Last Supper he actually reclined on Christ’s chest.
Some people conclude that Mary Magdalene is a harlot when reading about the repentant woman described in the Gospel:
“And behold, a woman of that city, who was a sinner, having learned that He was reclining in the house of a Pharisee, brought an alabaster flask of ointment and, standing behind His feet and weeping, began to wet His feet with tears and wipe them with the hair of her head, and kissed His feet. And she anointed him with myrrh.” (Luke 7:37-38)
This woman’s action was dictated by gratitude to the Savior for her forgiven sins. That source of Divine love in her heart, opened by such forgiveness, allowed her to come to the feast without fear and express her repentance and gratitude to the Teacher. But nowhere is it said that it was Magdalene and there is no evidence that Mary was a harlot, and speculation regarding her vices remains speculation, as well as the desire of people to turn historical accuracy into a romantic (in their opinion) theory.
In reality, Mary Magdalene was possessed by demons, no one could help her, and she came to Christ asking for healing and received it.
Mary of Magdala, a Galilean, was chosen by Christ to serve himself, since, of course, such service is a gift and a high honor. The Lord cast out seven demons from her - a number signifying completeness and absolute deliverance from all passion. After such a gift, Mary’s whole heart belonged to Christ, and she followed Him, as she was convinced that He was her Savior and God.
Together with other myrrh-bearing wives, Mary helped with housekeeping so that the Teacher would not lack servants regarding cooking and other household details. Her love for Christ was indeed very touching: from the gospel narrative we know that she never left Him, was not afraid when the Savior was taken into custody, stood not far from the Crucifixion, saw His torment and death, took part in the swaddling and placing in the coffin , became the first to see Christ after the Resurrection.
Thus, Mary Magdalene is a key figure, a symbol of the Good News, because she was the first to exclaim the very words that we repeat every year on the greatest holiday: “Christ is Risen!” Her faith knew no doubt, the simplicity of her devotion made possible her apostolic service on a par with the Twelve main disciples of Christ - the founders of the teaching.
According to legend, after Pentecost, Mary preached the gospel throughout the world along with the apostles. For her enormous contribution to the work of preaching, Mary Magdalene is called equal to the apostles. She preached in Italy and one day came to the pagan emperor Tiberius, telling him “Christ is Risen” and handed him a gift - egg, the only thing the ascetic had. The Emperor contemptuously replied that he would rather this egg immediately turn red than he would believe in the Resurrection. The egg turned red at the same moment. Historians do not recognize the event with the miraculous egg as reliable, but the tradition itself was loved by Christians.
The appearance of the risen Christ to Mary Magdalene is a meeting of two friends, because this is exactly how Christ treats his followers: “you are my friends,” says the Creator of the world through his apostles to us. But such friendship must be earned by devotion, which was shown by a simple woman from Magdala, an unremarkable ordinary resident.
Maria, as soon as it was dawn and the end of Shabbat - the time of rest - was already in the grotto and discovered empty shrouds. She was frightened and cried, because she thought that Christ had been stolen and hidden, and the revelation of His resurrection was not yet known to people.
Rabbi!
What did she feel at that moment when, together with the unthinkable and unimaginable Resurrection, the new reality with endless life and a new world order. When the familiar picture of the world was instantly transformed, and immortality given by the Redemption became available to man. At the first moment, she didn’t even recognize His face - she couldn’t comprehend that everything could be so good.
It is unlikely that at that moment she thought about the meaning of what happened. After all, the main thing is that the Teacher is nearby and death no longer separates them - what could be more important for a loving heart.
“I saw the Lord!” – that’s all Maria could say to the questioning glance of the students. That was incredible. “He is truly the Son of God!” - how difficult it was to believe it after the bloody mess into which the “servants of the law” turned the Teacher.
The tomb of Mary Magdalene is located in Ephesus, where John the Evangelist lived in exile. It was under the strict guidance of St. He wrote his 20th chapter of the Gospel to Mary Magdalene, which describes the meeting with Christ after His Resurrection. Anyone can find the tomb with her resting place today, but the holy relics have not been there since the time of Leo the Philosopher, who brought them to the capital of the Byzantine Empire in the 9-10th century.
The relics of Mary Magdalene were transferred first to Constantinople, and after the destruction of the city - to Rome to the Cathedral of St. John Lateran, which was later renamed in honor of Mary Magdalene. Some of the relics are located in France near Marseille, in the town of Provazhe, in a temple consecrated in her honor. Another part of the relics is kept by Athonite monks in their monasteries on the Holy Mountain, where women have no access, and some are kept in Jerusalem. Particles of relics can also be found in some churches in Russia, since the veneration of this holy woman is very widespread here.
What do they pray to Mary Magalina for? Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene was a courageous person, in whom her immeasurable love for God conquered fear, cowardice and unbelief. Therefore, Christians of some denominations pray to her for courage and pure faith. The saint constantly traveled to preach Christian faith different peoples– you can ask her for strengthening in faith and enlightenment with the truth. As one of the myrrh-bearing wives, Mary Magdalene represented the ideal of femininity pleasing to God - sacrificial, loving and faithful.
The feast day of Mary Magdalene is set on July 22 (August 4) and on the day of the Myrrh-Bearing Women on the 3rd Sunday after Easter.
The fact that Mary Magdalene is the wife of Jesus Christ contradicts and destroys the entire ideology of Christianity about the Consubstantial Trinity, elevating the God-man Christ to the level ordinary person for earthly purposes to be fruitful and multiply. But the commandment to “be fruitful and multiply” was given by God to Adam and Eve in paradise, and not vice versa. Therefore, attempts to reduce God to the level of man will not end in success, because true Christianity is indestructible and goes through the centuries, despite attempts powerful of the world suppress it through persecution and other obstacles. Because the word that we hear from the Gospel is true: “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 14:18). And all Christians firmly believe that true Christianity will not be destroyed even before last day existence of the universe, and the chaff and tares of false teachings will fall away and be burned in unquenchable fire.
