Beloved of Christ. Was Jesus Christ married to Mary Magdalene. Did Jesus Christ have a wife and children?

Mary 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 get very brief information about her: “Mary Magdalene is a 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 Jesus Christ 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 “The Sacred Riddle” by M. Baigent, R. Ley, and G. Lincoln. 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 from the very beginning the Creator created man and woman?... 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 Mary Magdalene, 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 last assumption in the Gnostic Gospels, written by the first Christians and not included in 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.

Turns out, most of The temples of 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, another heretical cult was hidden behind the obvious Christian cult. 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.

The Tbilisi National Museum houses the precious Byzantine enamel of the Crucifixion. 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 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 it, 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 Jesus being the rightful king of Judea and the need for his marriage to 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.

According to the authors of the book “The 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. A special place is 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- the Holy Grail. There are many legends about where this bowl is located.

One of the most popular legends connects the Grail 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 in which Mary Magdalene found refuge was located at the beginning of the first millennium. IN impregnable fortress The Albigensians of Montsegur kept the Grail, which was their great relic. In 1209, the Pope declared a crusade against the Albigenses. 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, the last stronghold of the Albigensians, Montsegur, fell. But the holy relic did not go to the crusaders. On the night before the surrender of the fortress, four “initiates” fled through complex system underground passages and took the Holy Grail with them.

The Holy Grail was remembered in the 30s in Nazi 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. After the end of the war, some newspapers reported that the Holy Grail, brought by Mary Magdalene to France almost 2000 years ago, had been found by the Nazis. However, there is still no reliable information about the location of the shrine.

More about Jesus Christ, and
Now it has been proven that the Messiah was married to a harlot Mary Magdalene and had two sons with her. These data are based on a manuscript written in Aramaic.
Controversy about the relationship between Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene flared up with new strength after the publication of The Lost Gospel. Its authors, Professor Barry Wilson and writer-filmmaker Simcha Jacobovic claim that Jesus Christ was not only married to Mary Magdalene, but that they had two children.

All this is based on a manuscript dating from the 70s of the 6th century and written in Aramaic, which was originally kept in the library of the Egyptian monastery of St. Macarius, and then in 1847 was bought on the cheap by cunning swindlers from Albion. Manuscript known in British Museum as the Ecclesiastical History of Zacharias Rhetor, has been carefully translated over several months in recent years and has come to the conclusion that Jesus was married man burdened with children.

The Lost Gospel, according to The Sunday Times, is not the first book to claim that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene. There are a great many such testimonies. Among the most famous in recent years, we can mention “The Last Temptation of Christ” by the Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis and “The Da Vinci Code” by the American Dan Brown. The latter borrowed facts from the international bestseller The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, written and published in the UK by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln back in 1982 .

The American Washington Post and the British Daily Mail believe that the authors of The Lost Gospel compare Jesus Christ and Mary or figuratively call them Joseph and Asenath - characters Old Testament mentioned in the book of Genesis. As one of the authors of the study puts it, Mary Magdalene is not just the spouse of the Redeemer, but also “co-Deity, as well as co-Redeemer.”

Among the critics of this newfangled hypothesis is religious studies professor Mark Goodacre of Duke University, who noted in an interview with ABC News that "there is no evidence in this text that Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalene, and even less evidence that they We had common children."

The surviving text on papyrus, alas, is not entirely crystal clear. Only a few fragments are to be read. Let's give them translated from English:

"...not for me. My mother gave me life..."

"The disciples said to Jesus..."

"deny. Mary is worthy of this" (Or: "deny. Mary is not worthy of this"),

"...Jesus said to them: 'My wife...'"

"...she can become my disciple (apostle)..."

"Give the sinners their replenishment..."

“As for me, I live with her so that...”

Accustomed to criticism, Jacobovitch referred to those who “troll” him as “people who didn’t bother to read this book.” In a documentary called "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" - The Lost Tomb of Jesus claims to have identified the exact location of Jesus' tomb. TV viewers really liked this, but it was ridiculed by pundits who said that the author, i.e. Yakobovich, misinterpreted the inscription.

In turn, Wilson puts forth the idea that the story he and Jacobovitch co-authored expands Christian understanding of the image of the “Son of Man.” "Rather, we begin to view him as a person, as a person, which we relate to much more simply than if he were a supernatural entity after his death," Wilson said.

However, the majority of orthodox scientists continue to declare that everything was said a long time ago in the Holy Scriptures and decided at the most holy Councils and there is no need to rewrite the history of the Church. In their authoritative opinion, there is no need to rewrite sacred history and attribute some secret wife to Jesus Christ. Especially now, when LGBT community activists around the world are trying in vain to prove that Christ was, if not a homosexual, then a misogynist.

Christ was married - says papyrus
A piece of papyrus told about the wife of Christ

There is an ongoing debate among religious historians and theologians about whether Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. The dispute between scientists has found its way into fiction and onto the screen - just remember the sensational “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown. Meanwhile, this discussion is as old as Christianity itself. This is convincingly proven by the inscription on one Coptic papyrus.
Harvard Divinity School professor Karen King discovered a documentary reference to his wife in a dialogue between Jesus Christ and the apostles. “And Jesus said to them, “My wife,” says a small fragment of Coptic papyrus dating from the 4th century AD. This was reported in a report at the X International Congress of Coptic Studies in Rome.

The papyrus measures approximately 3.8 by 7.6 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 papyrus is unknown, but judging by the fact that the text is written in the Coptic language, which was used by the first Christians, it was most likely found in Egypt. Although it is possible that the original copy was made from an unknown ancient Greek original written in the second half of the 2nd century, since it coincides with the recently studied apocryphal gospels of Thomas, Mary and Philip.

The apocryphal Gospel of Philip, found in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, says: “And the companion [of the Son is Mary] Magdalene. [The Lord loved Mary] more than [all] the disciples, and he [often] kissed her [mouth]. The rest [of the disciples, seeing] him [loving] Mary, said to him: “Why do you love her more than all of us?” The Savior answered them, he said to them: “Why don’t I love you as I love her?”

Words about a wife, as the researcher notes, are not yet proof that Jesus was married. Kissing on the mouth is evidence not so much of erotic love as the transfer of secret knowledge to an initiated adept. This phrase also indicates that in the 2nd century there was still no consensus among early Christians on the question of whether Jesus was married and whether the followers of his teaching should get married or should they remain single.

Karen King plans to publish the results of her research in the January issue of Harvard Theological Review. A draft of her work, along with images and a translation of the found fragment into English language available on the Harvard Divinity School website.

In the four canonical Gospels, recognized by the Council of Nicaea in 325 as divinely inspired, Mary Magdalene appears in the same capacity as the others characters"Good news." However, it is impossible to understand from the text why she was so close to the Messiah. Equal to the Apostles in Orthodoxy, Mary Magdalene came from the Galilean city of Magdala near Capernaum - that’s why she was called that. Jesus healed her of evil spirits and, according to the Evangelist Luke, out of gratitude, she joined the ranks of the few pious women who accompanied the Lord everywhere during his earthly life. During the suffering of the God-man on the cross, Mary Magdalene stood at a distance at the foot of the cross and was present at the burial.

Mary Magdalene was the first to whom the risen Savior appeared, and she was the first of the people to hear the command of the Teacher to go to the apostles and tell them that he had risen from the dead. The Crucified One turned to her with the words: “Wife! Why are you crying? Who are you looking for?” Perhaps because her eyes were full of tears or because of deep sorrow over the empty tomb, Mary at first mistook Christ for the heli-master. And only then did she recognize him by his voice, throwing herself at his feet with the words: “Rabbi! - Teacher!” The apostles did not believe Mary's testimony about the resurrection, attributing her statements to fantasies characteristic of women.

According to legend, Mary Magdalene preached the Gospel in Rome, brought a complaint to the Roman Emperor Tiberius against Pontius Pilate and presented Caesar with a red egg as a symbol of the suffering and resurrection of the Lord. Mary was buried in Ephesus, where her tomb was shown back in the 7th century. The relics of Mary Magdalene were transferred from Ephesus to Constantinople in 886 under the Byzantine Emperor Leo the Wise. The harlot and sinner was unexpectedly recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church, a holiday was dedicated to her, churches were consecrated in her name and the status of the “mystical bride of Christ” was established for her.

In the most ancient apocrypha of the New Testament one can find an echo of past polemics about marriage. For example, in the Acts of Paul, composed around the year 150, the apostle (or one who speaks on his behalf) preaches celibacy and dissolution of marriages, declaring that only those who “keep the body pure will be happy, for they will become the receptacle of God.” At first, “Christian women” were perceived as legal wives, but soon the Fathers of the Church preferred a different interpretation.

Since the 2nd century, Tertullian saw “Christian wives” as companions and servants, not spouses. However, he admitted that Peter was married, “as it is said about his mother-in-law.” Peter the “stone” denied his Teacher three times, while Mary Magdalene was present at his execution and at his grave.
Proof of Jesus Christ's wife found
Harvard Scientist Finds Jesus Christ's Wife

A unique document fell into the hands of American scientists - an ancient papyrus that talks about the wife of Jesus Christ. This sensational discovery could undermine one of the main tenets of Christianity - the idea of ​​​​the celibacy of the messiah, reports the Daily Mail.
On Tuesday, the papyrus was shown for the first time to the scientific community in Rome at the International Congress of Coptic Studies. It remains unknown who the owner of the papyrus is and how the manuscript has survived to this day. Karen Lee King, an expert on early Christianity and Gnosticism, called her find a fragment of the "Gospel of the Wife of Christ."

"News seven days a week" publishes a translation of the surviving phrases on parchment: "My mother gave me life," "The disciples told Jesus," "Deny. Mary is worthy of it," "Jesus told them: my wife," "She can become my student", "Let evil people swollen", "As for me, I will be with her to", "image".

The phrase about the wife of Jesus aroused the greatest interest. Disputes about whether Christ was married or not, whether Mary Magdalene was a disciple or a wife, flared up with renewed vigor. Researcher Karen King emphasized that the papyrus is not conclusive evidence that Jesus was married, because it could be about not only Mary Magdalene, but also his mother.

The papyrus came to Karen King in December 2011 from an anonymous private collector who wanted to know exactly what was written on the piece. According to him, he got it in 1997 from the previous owner from Germany. The collector accompanied the artifact with a letter written in the early 1980s in which Professor Gerhart Fecht, the late Egyptologist at the Free University of Berlin, declared the passage as evidence of the possible marriage of Jesus.

Specialists from the Institute of Research ancient world in New York and the Jewish Institute in Jerusalem, which Professor King asked to investigate the authenticity of the papyrus, stated that judging by the texture of the papyrus itself, the manner of writing, language and grammar, it is similar to the real one, writes Gazeta.Ru.
The historian refuted the sensation that Jesus had a wife
Hoaxes and denials

British scientist Francis Watson refutes the authenticity of the papyrus, which allegedly contains details of the earthly life of Jesus Christ, including his marriage to Mary Magdalene.
A professor at the University of Durham conducted a thorough analysis of the text and, based on some data, concluded that the papyrus fragment is not genuine, writes NIRA "Aksakal". The historian is confident in the authenticity of the papyrus itself, but does not believe in the authenticity of the text, since, in his opinion, it is quite modern. "I would be very surprised if this was not a modern forgery, although it is possible that the text was composed in a similar way in the 4th century," said Francine Watson.

The papyrus came to early Christianity and Gnosticism expert Karen King in December 2011 from an anonymous private collector who wanted to know exactly what was written on the piece. According to him, he got it in 1997 from the previous owner from Germany. As Pravda.Ru wrote earlier, the collector accompanied the artifact with a letter written in the early 80s, where Professor Gerhart Fecht, the late Egyptologist from the Free University in Berlin, declared this passage as evidence of the possible marriage of Jesus.

“This passage does suggest that some ancient Christians believed Jesus was a married man. Then in the second century there were disputes about this,” King explained, as quoted by KaliningradToday.
The Vatican calls the text about Jesus' "wife" a fake
Mythology of Christianity

The Vatican has called the mysterious papyrus, which the media dubbed the “Gospel of the Wife of Jesus,” a fake. At the same time, specialists in early Christian literature Don't rush to conclusions yet.
“Strong arguments suggest that the papyrus is just an awkward fake,” reports the official newspaper of the Holy See, L’Osservatore Romano, citing Novosti 66.ru. In addition to this column, the newspaper published an analytical article by coptologist Alberto Camplani, who notes that no other sources except papyrus, oh marital status Jesus is not mentioned.

There are serious arguments in favor of the fact that the papyrus is a fake. Firstly, historians did not like the handwriting of the person who wrote down the text, notes Utro.ru. They think it looks more like handwriting modern man. In addition, his knowledge of the Coptic language, in which the “Gospel of the Wife of Jesus” was written, also leaves much to be desired. In addition, Camplani draws attention to the dubious origin of the papyrus, which was purchased on the antique market, and not found during archaeological excavations.

Let's remember: the papyrus came to the specialist in early Christianity and Gnosticism Karen King in December 2011 from an anonymous private collector who wanted to know what exactly was written on this piece. According to him, he got it in 1997 from the previous owner from Germany. As Pravda.Ru wrote earlier, the collector accompanied the artifact with a letter written in the early 80s, where Professor Gerhart Fecht, the late Egyptologist from the Free University in Berlin, declared this passage as evidence of the possible marriage of Jesus.
Vladimir Vigilyansky: The “find” of papyrus about the wife of Jesus is a war against Christ
Expert on the possibility of the existence of the wife of Jesus Christ

Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard and Columbia University stated that the ancient papyrus, which contains a mention of the wife of Jesus, is not a fake. A fragment of ancient papyrus measuring four by eight centimeters, which contains a reference to the wife of Jesus, contains an entry in the Coptic language. In one place in the recording you can read “Jesus said to them: “My wife ...””, in another ─ “She can be my disciple.” Modern analysis papyrus, ink, handwriting and the peculiarities of the Coptic language of the time show that the find is indeed ancient. This news is for Pravda. Ru commented by the archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church, rector of the Church of the Holy Martyr Tatiana at Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov Vladimir Vigilyansky.
“There have been a million such discoveries over all this time, remember the recent sensation - the Gospel of Judas or something else like that. Look on the Internet, you will see - I said a million, just for the sake of expression, but hundreds - that’s for sure. And where are they? And what did they change? What did they add? Nothing. I won’t pay attention to it and I don’t recommend it to others.

“If the Lord has not risen, then our preaching is in vain,” said the disciples of Christ. The main thing for such scientists is to prove that Christ is not Lord, nothing more. This is a war against Christ, the trial of Christ, the crucifixion of Christ, there are no other ideas for anti-Christian undertakings, this is all described in the Gospel. All this fits into the stories described in the Gospel, these are their main idea. There were three trials of Christ, there were false witnesses at these trials, they laughed and wrote “king of the Jews” that he was not the Lord. And this is the most important idea of ​​people for whom Christianity, the very existence of Christ and Christianity, is their own spiritual death. They are afraid of becoming dead, that’s their whole main idea. Scientists have fallen for this bait many times, and it shouldn’t be done again.”

Where is the author Mikhail Burleshin, talks about the wedding of Jesus and claims that Mary Magdalene was his wife: “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 “The 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 certain episodes described in the Bible, as well as by existing Hebrew traditions and some of the Gnostic Gospels."

“The intervention of Jesus becomes easily understandable (and even necessary) in only one case: if we are talking 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 serves good wine first, and when they get drunk, then the worst; but you have saved the good wine until now.” And these words clearly refer to Jesus, who performed his first miracle in front of everyone.”

“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, another heretical cult was hidden behind the obvious Christian cult. There is reason to believe that Chartres Cathedral was secretly dedicated to Mary Magdalene, the supposed wife of Christ."

“It was not possible to send the next expedition to Otto Rahn: 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. After the end of the war, some newspapers reported that the Holy Grail, brought by Mary Magdalene to France almost 2000 years ago, had been found by the Nazis. However, there is still no reliable information about the location of the shrine.”

Vladimir, is it a shame to buy into this nonsense with Jesus’ offspring? Everyone has already laughed about “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail,” as well as plagiarism from it - The Da Vinci Code, and have forgotten about it. There are THOUSANDS of Jews who are quite officially descendants of King David. And at the time of Jesus they existed, so his hypothetical offspring were not distinguished by anything unique.

All this has been sucked out of thin air. Mary Magdalene is an ordinary character in the Bible and there is nothing mysterious about her. There is no point in looking for something where it is not there. Or, as the classic said, it is difficult to look for a black cat in a dark room, especially if it is not there.

- According to ancient Jewish tradition, marriage was mandatory for every man.
- Marriage was mandatory, but there were exceptions for those men who devoted themselves to a more important matter - the study of God's law. Jesus was one of those cases.

"and the two will become one flesh."
That Jesus trusted Mary Magdalene with his “secrets” more than the other disciples is clear from many sources. It’s like Vladimir Ilyich’s Nazhezhda Konstantinovna, she’s like his wife, but don’t you dare touch her, her status is different. Mary Magdalene could fly under, from any other of the disciples, but not from Jesus, the position of teacher did not allow her to become one flesh.

In the Gospel of John, chapter 19, verses 25-27, we read:
25 Standing at the cross of Jesus were His Mother and His Mother’s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.
26 Jesus, seeing His Mother and the disciple standing there, whom He loved, said to His Mother: Woman! Behold, Your son.
27 Then he said to the disciple: Behold, your mother! And from that time on, this disciple took Her to himself.
We see that both the Mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene stood at the cross. But Jesus instructed John to take care only of His mother. If Mary Magdalene had been His wife, then naturally He would have entrusted His beloved disciple to her care.

It would be nice to start with finding the original Bible...or at worst the Gospels themselves...otherwise everything seems to be going wrong again. Nobody saw it but everyone is talking. No one has read it, but everyone is discussing it...like adults!?

Strange interpretations are given in the article as evidence that the marriage in Cana of Galilee was his, Christ’s, with Mary Magdalene.
=== One of the proofs of the version 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. ===
How could he not preach when he already had four disciples: John, Andrew, Peter and Nathinael?
“Jesus and his disciples were also invited to marriage” (John 2:2).
=== “And because there was not enough wine, the Mother of Jesus said to Him: “They have no wine.” ===
This gopa was late for the wedding and showed up for the ceremony when the other guests had already drunk all the wine and were lying with their heads in the dishes, to put it mildly, inadequate. Which is what the Mother of Jesus hissed in his ear. And he answered her, they say, don’t worry, mom, we’ll fix everything. And he poured out 200 liters - almost 40 liters per brother.
John 2:10 - And he said to him (the master of the feast to the bridegroom, but not to Jesus): Every man serves good wine first, and WHEN THEY ARE DRINKED, then the worst; and you saved the good wine UNTIL.
And where is Mary Magdoline?..

The article is good, I remember reading about this somewhere before. I believe that this just proves the greatness of the earthly man that Jesus was, because greatness is in his thinking, in that direction ethical teachings which he gave to the people. This was the basis of the foundations of ethics and humanism of people, and 12 centuries to what, at that time, was the greatest, most extraordinary and most brilliant mind.
But there are hypotheses that an earthly person of the 9th century could not have had such a mentality, that this could not have happened without the intervention of an alien intelligence. And what difference does it make whether he had a wife or not... is his physiology important to us?

That Mary of the Merovech family of the royal tribe of Benjamin (rulers of Jerusalem) was a harlot is a lie invented by the Roman Church in the 7th century after the departure of the heirs of Jesus - the long-haired Merovingian kings - from the political arena. Until that period, the popes spoke of her very respectfully.
And wiping the feet of the chosen one with the hair of the bride, dipped in sacred oil - myrrh, is a rite of betrothal of the Veniamin family. More details can be found in the books by Oksana Gor - “Secrets of the Merovingians” and “Translation Errors”.

According to Jewish Law, a man was required to marry before the age of 32 to fulfill God’s commandment to “be fruitful and multiply.” Jesus was a righteous Jew. Maria, extremely beautiful woman, for three years she was his faithful companion and beloved intelligent student, the Apostle above the apostles, as He called her. The apostles were jealous. She came from the wealthy Meroch clan of the royal tribe of Benjamin - the rulers of Jerusalem. And centuries later the Roman Catholic Church called her a “harlot,” confusing her with another character in the Gospels. Even the head of the Roman Church, Pope Gregory the Great (540 - 604), spoke of her standing at the tomb of Jesus with great respect: “We must remember the state in which this woman is, how enormous the power of love is that ignites her ... engulfed in the flames of love, she burned with desire for the one who, as she thought, had left this world.” Mary, according to the ancient custom of their family, as the legal spouse, performed the rite of anointing for the kingdom over Jesus. There was also a wedding where Jesus “made wine out of water.” Jesus' mother noted that there were many guests, but there was not enough wine for everyone. Jesus ordered spring water to be poured into wineskins.

I haven’t read Dan Brown and don’t want to, but Jose Saramago’s novel “The Gospel of Jesus” describes how Jesus became the husband of a native of Bethany, Mary, who practiced the most ancient craft in Magdola, Galilee. Evangelists do not report marriage, apparently because the woman was assigned minor role housewives. After the death of Jesus, the party of Peter, who did not love Mary, won in the dispute “about the inheritance”, therefore, mentions of the closeness of Mary and Jesus were crossed out from handwritten sources.

Jesus and Mary - husband and wife?)

Mary of Magdala was never a prostitute. This folk tale is absent both in the canonical Gospel and in the apocrypha. But where did it come from, perhaps it’s worth figuring out...

Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Myrrh-Bearer Maria- this is exactly what her full rank sounds like in Orthodoxy - she was a very real person. But not everyone liked this reality. However, like the reality of Jesus Christ himself. Finding himself at a reception with the Emperor of Rome Tiberius, Maria brought him a painted egg(for reference: eggs in the Mediterranean were painted by the Etruscans). Since then, getting to her true biography is as impossible as tasting the yolk right away: first you need to break the inedible shell, then swallow the useless white, and only then will the kernel be exposed.

Magdalene's extraordinary closeness to Christ, involvement in key episodes of his life serve as a powerful barrier to those who encroached on her image, but the same proximity often exposed the Apostle of the Apostles (as the Catholic Church calls Mary) in a false light. The unraveling of her life is like an investigation that stretched over 2 thousand years, where the truth dawned quite recently, when some things became possible to talk about and, scary to say... think.

Inner circle

When a corpus of Coptic manuscripts was discovered in Nag Hammadi (Egypt) in 1945, the earliest of which were translations from Greek originals of the late 1st century, scientists became convinced that many of the already known apocrypha had survived almost intact. However, their meaning has not become clearer. Gnostic texts were compiled for initiates. And the canonical gospels are simple only at first glance.

This deceptive simplicity pushed thousands of zealous pastors to rant about the “son of the carpenter” who suddenly turned out to be the Son of God. In this way they hoped to make religion more truthful. But the historical truth in the case of Christ is much closer to fairy tales, which people love for good reason. Remember the story about the newborn prince, who was immediately taken from the palace to a forest hut? Only here it’s even cooler: more than the first generation of kings and queens lived in the hut. Because the incoming Herod dynasty (which took the throne in 63 BC) tried to eliminate all serious competitors. The aristocracy of Israel was not eager to advertise its ancestry before regaining power in the country. And the more noble the Israelis were, the more strictly they guarded the secret of genealogy. That's why when in the family of Joseph the “naggar” (which only in religious cartoons is translated as “carpenter”, but in the Talmud it means “ educated person", "erudite") The long-awaited firstborn appeared, the family immediately emigrated to Egypt. Mary and her husband had a chance to raise a real “Mashiach”, a “king-high priest” (“Christ” in Greek), who would return to Israel the glory of David and Solomon.

The move also had another meaning, which is best called a messianic “scenario.” Beginning with the parents of the Virgin Mary, this scenario, based on the prophecies of the Bible, certain moment included the role of Magdalene. The flight of Joseph and Mary with the baby, for example, was a prerequisite for the fulfillment a few years later of the verses of the prophet Hosea about the coming Messiah: “Out of Egypt I called my Son.”

The future king, as the Jews believed, had to have not only a pedigree, but also a destiny in which the favor of higher powers would be manifested. Well and higher power“the people of the Book” perceived nothing other than through the letter of Scripture. Both before and after Jesus, who became God for Christians, many claimed the role of Messiah. However, only Christ Jesus succeeded in fulfilling almost all the ancient prophecies. This was his strength and this also explains the hatred that he aroused among the scribes and Pharisees when they finally understood what he was going to use his spiritual leadership for.

Most of the events in the life of Jesus that we know of relate to the last 3 years, when he openly declared himself. In full agreement with the “program,” Christ first chose 12 apostles (according to the number of tribes of Israel), and then another 70 (according to the number of nations of mankind). When we say “Christ” today, we mean “apostles” and, to paraphrase Mayakovsky, vice versa. But 12 and 70 are only the outer surroundings of Christ. These disciples, like the hostile party of the Pharisees, saw in him a king-liberator in the literal sense, not suspecting that Jesus brought a fundamentally new revelation and was not a political, but a spiritual revolutionary. The voluntary death of Christ was a shock for the apostles, which is why they (except John) fled during the crucifixion.

Jesus' inner circle had formed much earlier and behaved very differently. None of them abandoned the Crucified One. It was his immediate circle who achieved his removal from the cross and buried him with great honor. In addition to the Mother of God, it included her sister, two influential members of the Sanhedrin, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, a friend of Christ, resurrected by him, Lazarus, his sisters Martha and Mary Magdalene. (A clear overkill for “just a carpenter.”) Unlike the apostles, who (again minus John) suffered martyrdom, all the people in the inner circle died of natural causes. Their mission was clearly not limited to evangelism. The inner circle stands at the beginning of Christ's public preaching, and it seems to seal it.

Magdalene washes Jesus' feet with myrrh, wiping them with her luxurious hair.

Magdalene is the myrrh-bearer in a square. If the rest of the “myrrh-bearing women” (Mary of Cleopas, Salome, etc.) went to the Tomb to anoint the body of the deceased Messiah with myrrh, then she poured the precious composition onto the head of the still living one. The grand gesture, which aroused the indignation of the apostles with its extravagance, was not just the whim of an exalted woman, but a thoughtful ceremony. Confirmation is a royal sacrament (the last Russian autocrat also partook of it), because hence the very name of the Messiah - “anointed one”. By dedicating Jesus to the kingdom 2 days before his death, Mary Magdalene shared with him virtually sacred power and, unlike the apostles who dreamed of a public accession to the throne, she understood that the only possible ritual for installing the king of the Jews was taking place here and now.

Conversion of the "harlot"

Who is Magdalene? As the sister of Martha and Lazarus, Mary lived with them in Bethany, a suburb of Jerusalem, in a luxurious estate. The house had a large garden with a cave grotto (where Lazarus was buried). Jesus often visited the sisters, and they organized crowded (and not so crowded) gatherings in honor of the teacher. So Bethany was a kind of headquarters, first for the “inner” circle, and in the last years of Jesus’ life for the “outer” circle. The family friendly to Christ belonged to the elite. Suffice it to remember that Magdalene’s closest friend was the wife of Herod’s housekeeper Antipas. Potentially, Jesus also belonged to high society, but he could not come out of the shadows for the time being, fully remembering the Bethlehem massacre that Herod the Great (Antipas’ predecessor) committed because of him.

Accompanying Christ, Magdalene and other admirers “served him,” i.e. they simply financed the teaching activities of God’s chosen one. The expenses required were sometimes quite impressive: one sermon in Tiberias gathered about 5 thousand people, and after that the whole crowd followed the Messiah to Capernaum. Roughly speaking, the asceticism of a group of myrrh-bearers - and their husbands (for who at that time would have allowed unmarried Jewish women to wander around Palestine?) - is comparable to financing the election campaign of the favorite in the presidential race.

In contrast to the gospels, which emphasize the aristocracy of the Magdalene, it is bitterly denied by Greco-Roman and Jewish opponents of Christianity. “A simple woman who came from some very miserable village” is what the philosopher Porfiry calls Mary, and the Talmudic rabbis generally confuse her with the Mother of God, demonstrating complete disdain for the tales of mins (Christians).

The hostility of the Jews towards the “companion of the Lord” (as she is called by the Gospel of Philip) is quite understandable: they considered Christians to be heretics, schismatics of their own tradition. But where does this ardor come from from coldly condescending citizens? Eternal City? All because of the notorious audience of Magdalene with the emperor (and the Palestinian peasant women surrendered to Caesar!). After her, Tiberius wished to include Christ among the revered gods. However, the Roman Senate objected and failed the vote. Maria automatically became non grata.

Let us note that opponents of Christianity would not fail to talk about the “prodigal past.” Their silence is more eloquent than any defense argument.

According to the Golden Legend (a Catholic collection of the lives of saints), Mary’s father’s name was Sir, and her mother’s name was Eucharia. These are Persian and Greek names, so their historicity is questionable; rather, they hint at Magdalene’s dedication to some kind of cult of non-Jewish origin. It is not for nothing that the Gospels and Neoplatonist philosophers unanimously talk about Jesus casting out seven demons from it. The symbolism of seven indicates the number of pagan deities: the ancients had 7 planets available for observation, which formed the astrological foundation for many pantheons.

It is difficult to say who Mary served - Ishtar, Innana, Isis, Cybele, but in any case, from the point of view of monotheism, this was an apostasy (possibly secret), and her return to the faith of the forefathers by Christ was something akin to exorcism. Servants of Ishtar passed through 7 degrees of initiation. Initiations had to be earned, but getting rid of them was not so easy. The adept had the right only to include them in a higher and even more effective system. Magdalena had to realize the magical gifts of her former hobby as obstacles on the path of spiritual ascent. She calls them the “seven dominions of wrath” in her own “Gospel of Mary”: darkness, lust, ignorance, mortal jealousy, the kingdom of the flesh, the wickedness of the flesh, and wrathful wisdom. In the canonical Gospel the names of the demons are not revealed, but Jesus tells a parable there about the “seven spirits of evil” who settled in the “swept house” (the purified soul of Mary).

Magdalene was a very educated and well-read lady (in medieval paintings she can often be seen with a book) and she was forced to convert to someone else’s faith by doubts that none of the legal scribes could, alas, dispel. The stumbling block, apparently, was the teaching about the Messiah: the prophecies about him in the Old Testament seemed too contradictory and inconsistent with each other. From a psychological point of view, Jesus had to present some compelling arguments in order for the beautiful apostate (and Magdalene was divinely beautiful) to agree to return to the fold of the orthodox religion. It is known from the Gospel that Christ’s crowning argument has always been his own personality. Apparently, Jesus revealed to Mary the secret of the royal genealogy and his sonship to the Heavenly Father, after which she turned into his closest and most devoted disciple.

"Penitent Mary Magdalene" Titian

The story of Magdalene's repentance was widely known to the first Christians. It was she who became (from about the 6th century) the reason for the fatal identification of Mary with the harlot. Among the Nag Hammadi manuscripts there is most interesting essay“Interpretation of the Soul,” which carries an echo of the ancient mystery, during which the soul of the penitent experienced liberation from previous mistakes and joyful renewal. All this is described using sexual and marital symbolism. While staying with the Father in heaven, the soul had a masculine (androgynous) nature, and, having descended into the body, it lost its original integrity, became a woman and went to the panel. When she repented, the Father sent her a heavenly bridegroom (Jesus very often likened himself to a bridegroom) - her male half lost in the fall. Through union with him, the soul receives new unity, is saved and returns to the Heavenly Father.

For modern era these ideas were adapted by Carl Gustav Jung. Psychoanalysis according to Jung differs from psychoanalysis according to Freud in the same way as “Interpretation of the Soul” differs from the “harlot” Magdalene.

Who is she to Jesus, who is Jesus to her?

This is where another problem arises related to the personality of Magdalene, whose titillation gives a hundredfold odds to the poorly interpreted story about the prostitute. What about the bridal chamber in a literal rather than figurative sense? Could Jesus have held the title of “rabbi” without being married? And wasn’t Mary that very hypothetical wife, without whom he did not have, according to the Law, the right to teach? And there are less than one single kings in history...

Confused heads, romantics from theology, reaching this far in their research, as a rule, rush to declare Magdalene the bride or (why waste time on trifles!) the wife of Jesus. But there are serious objections here.

Firstly, the nickname Nazarite, which Jesus accepted in fulfillment of another prophecy about the Son of God, could testify not only to his settlement in Nazareth, but also to a certain vow, Nazariteism, which he took upon himself. Nazariteism sometimes included abstinence from sexual intercourse. By the way, Naziriteism may also explain the strange slowness that Jesus showed when he was informed of Lazarus’s dying illness: a Nazirite should not be present at someone’s death. Both Martha and Mary, when Christ finally reached Bethany, reprimanded him in their hearts that if he had found his brother still alive, he would not have died.

True, not everything goes well with Christ’s Nazariteship either. According to the Law of Moses, those who took a vow are obliged to abstain from wine, but with Jesus it’s the other way around - he defiantly drank wine in the most inappropriate company.

The main problem is the nature of the intimate, but clearly not sexual, relationship between Christ and Magdalene. “And the companion of the Son is Mary Magdalene,” points out the Apostle Philip. “The Lord loved Mary more than all the disciples, and He often kissed her lips. The rest of the disciples, seeing Him loving Mary, said to Him: “Why do you love her more than all of us?” The Savior answered them, He said to them: “Why don’t I love you as I love her?” The situation clearly does not fit with the role of a wife: is it possible is a husband jealous of his wife and what is so exciting about him kissing the latter on the mouth? However, the marriage of Christ cannot be dismissed out of hand: the vicissitudes of the famous wedding in Cana of Galilee, where he and the Mother of God gave orders as if at their own holiday, are difficult to explain from a different position. Maybe it’s worth paying attention not to Mary herself, but to her sister, the busy and inconspicuous Martha, who is betrayed by her too private tone in her communication with Jesus?

"Jesus in the House of Martha and Mary" painting by Vermeer

"Martha and Mary" painting by Caravaggio

Mary Magdalene was also married to someone from the “inner circle”. Most likely with Joseph of Arimathea. Together with him, as well as Martha, Lazarus and some other persons, she, according to Western legend, went to Rome, and from there to Gaul. With them, members of the inner circle carried the Holy Grail, a vessel containing the blood of Jesus, dripping from the Cross and collected by Mary Magdalene. Therefore, all images of Magdalene with a vessel carry a double connotation: this is the alabaster vessel from which she anointed Christ as king and the chalice into which his blood flowed.

Jan van Skorel Maria Magdalina, 1528

Saint Graal sounds almost like Sang Real (“royal blood”). Hence the belief (shared, for example, by Louis XI) that Magdalene is the ancestor of the Merovingians - the first Christian dynasty of the Franks, and indeed the Christian dynasty of kings in general. It is important to remember that Jesus' earthly parents were Mary and Joseph, but Christian tradition he is considered the Son of God. To also place the couple Joseph and Mary at the foundation of their clan seems quite logical for the Merovingian kings, who believed that power was entrusted to them by Christ by right of birth. How true is this, you can ask their descendants: they say they are still hiding somewhere...

Magdalene or John?

Several years ago, lightning cut through the already heavy clouds on the horizon of Magdalene studies, and after a short interval thunder struck. An unknown master humanities Ramon C. Jusino blessed the baptized world with an article under the modest title “Is Mary Magdalene the author of the Fourth Gospel?” Venerable theologians have long doubted that the Gospel of John (which stands apart in composition and content from the other three gospels) was written by the Apostle John the Theologian. They prefer to call its author as he speaks of himself - “beloved student.” Jusino's precedent should have seemed to overwhelm the Vatican's patience, but everything turned out differently.

The young scientist’s argumentation is so impeccable that professors from major theological institutions one by one join his theory. A sea of ​​literature has been published, and most importantly, Christian feminism has finally found its long-awaited banner. The veneration of Magdalene is experiencing a real renaissance in the West (in our country, as always, we have never heard of it) and sometimes unites people with diametrically opposed beliefs.

The conclusions of experts significantly complement the existing portrait of Mary and largely clarify the role that she actually played in the drama conceived and staged by Christ on the stage of planet Earth.

The record number of precise references to Palestinian places and customs in the Fourth Gospel points to the authorship of an eyewitness who lived in the Holy Land before the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. Mary Magdalene, of course, could have emanated a living and accurate testimony about the events described in the Gospel of John. This explains the striking differences between it and the other three (so-called Synoptic) gospels, which, according to most Bible scholars, were not written by eyewitnesses.

If in the canonical gospels the name of the “beloved disciple” is not directly mentioned anywhere (and according to established tradition, John was considered to be him), then in recently discovered manuscripts only one person is called this epithet with enviable consistency - Mary Magdalene. The unique place given to myrrh-bearing women in the Gospel of John was very different from their debased position in the Christian Churches of the first century, and indeed in the subsequent fate of the Church. The simplest hypothesis: The Fourth Gospel was written by a woman, more specifically, Mary Magdalene. It is interesting that only this gospel contains the famous parable of the woman in labor, which Christ, presumably, addressed personally to Magdalene. The same image will appear later in the Apocalypse of John the Theologian.

Background last chapters The fourth Gospel is the theme of the superiority of the “beloved disciple” over Peter. And in the Nag Hammadi texts, the jealousy of the other apostles towards Mary is generally boundless. She literally had to prove with tears that when conveying the words spoken to her by the Savior in private, she was not lying. The Apostle Thaddeus even once had to make a remark to St. To Peter, who drove Mary into hysterics with his suspicion: “Peter, you are always angry. Now I see you competing with a woman as opponents. But if the Savior found her worthy, who are you to reject her? Of course, the Savior knew her very well. That's why he loved her more than us. We'd better be ashamed! And having clothed ourselves with the perfect man, let us go away, as he commanded, and preach the Gospel, without setting any other limit, nor any other law, except what the Savior said.” This antagonism began during the life of Jesus, when Simon Peter literally stated the following:

“Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life.”

Then Jesus answered him:

“Look, I will guide her to make her a man, so that she will also become a living spirit, like you men.” For every woman who becomes a man will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

This episode is spoken of in the Nag Hammadi manuscript, but the adoption itself is described in the canonical Fourth Gospel, but without apocryphal overtones it completely loses its hidden meaning. This final mystery takes place in the last minutes of Christ's earthly life, during the Crucifixion, when Jesus adopted the “beloved disciple” of his Mother. It was he who adopted, and not adopted, thereby finally returning the lost androgyny to the soul of Mary Magdalene.

“Is Mary Magdalene the author of the Fourth Gospel?”

Mary was the first among Christ's disciples to acquire a new nature of soul. And this explains that she was the first among all people to see the risen Jesus. From her the ability to see, hear and even touch the Lord, like a chain reaction, was passed on to the rest of the apostles. This explains the Catholic title of Magdalene “Apostle of Apostles.”

Ivanov A.A.. The appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene after the resurrection

The antagonism of the apostolic disciples in the “inner circle” grew steadily, which led to the formation of a separate Johannine (as it is conventionally called) community, which included the youngest among the apostles, John, the brother of James Zebedee, who was later named the Theologian. It was they who, somewhere between the mid-50s and late 80s AD, wrote down the gospel from the words of the leader of the community, Mary Magdalene.

High dedication takes away the right to write down your words in your own hand. When John the Theologian gets old and wants to immortalize his “Apocalypse” in exile on the island of Patmos, he will not do it himself, but with the help of his disciple, St. Polycarp, to whom the opening visions will begin to dictate. As we would now put it, Mary was a medium and her conflict with the male apostles flared up precisely because of their initial lack of this ability. Over time, it apparently appeared to them: this is evidenced by the apocalypses of the apostles Peter, James and even Paul, who was not familiar with Christ in his earthly life.

After the death of Mary Magdalene in the 80-90s, under pressure from a well-organized Apostolic Church, which finally took away the right of women to teach, the Fourth Gospel was rewritten. Its editor did not want to aggravate contradictions with the majority of Christians, so as not to turn the community into a closed sect. On the other hand, he could not betray the memory of Magdalene, to whom Christ himself promised that her deeds would never be consigned to oblivion. So the editor resorted to a trick. In a number of places, he gave the “beloved disciple” a male gender (which he did not lie about, given the last will of Christ), and in others, where John and Mary appear side by side, he left logical inconsistencies that become completely obvious to those who carefully read the text and are endowed with sense of logic.

For those who do not have it, we point to the Orthodox icon “Apostle John in Silence,” where he is depicted with a finger put to his lips. What do you think he's keeping quiet about? And why was the winged female figure, Wisdom Sophia, bending right next to his ear? After all, the story of the fallen Soul was conveyed by later Gnostics as the story of Sophia’s return to God, identified on the earthly level with Mary Magdalene.

Saint John the Evangelist in silence and the Winged Sophia on his shoulder

The knowledge of who the “beloved disciple” really was has never faded in the Christian Church. After the last restoration of the brilliant “Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci in 1999, it became especially clear that John the Evangelist is depicted with completely feminine features. At the last supper, the “beloved disciple” reclined on the chest of Christ. In Leonardo he (she?) is written at the moment when the impatient Peter asks John (Mary?) to find out the name of the traitor from Jesus. The outlines of the figures of the “disciple” and the Savior form the letter “M”.

The Last Supper - Leonardo da Vinci (detail of a copy) He (she?) was written at the moment when the impatient Peter asks John (Mary?) to find out the name of the traitor from Jesus

Roman Bagdasarov, "Egoist generation"

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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 prohibit parishioners 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 a priest, author of several books on the history of early Christianity, doctor 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 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 the modern sense of the 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 business letter that time. And the apocryphal Gospels are 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 chronicles"(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 gives different 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 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”. Great power 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.