Mary Magdalene it is written in the Holy King James Bible the gospel of saint Mark the Jewish evangelist 50 AD Anno Domini in the year of our Lord Jesus Chris Mark 16:9 Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus had cast seven devils. amen & amenMary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, travelled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion and resurrection. Mary Magdalene is accepted by scholars, secular and religious, as a historical figure. Her epithet is usually taken to mean that she came from Magdala, though Elizabeth Schrader Polczer and Joan Taylor have argued that Magdalene ("tower") may instead have been an honorific nickname. She is seen as a prominent follower of Jesus who was believed to have been healed by him, supported his ministry financially, and was present at his crucifixion and burial. She played a key role among his female disciples. Overall, there is limited information about her life.
During the Patristic era, Mary Magdalene was mentioned only briefly by early Church Fathers, with her image evolving from a minor gospel figure to being conflated with other women in the Bible. Eventually she became viewed in Western Christianity, largely due to Pope Gregory I's influential 591 sermon, as a repentant prostitute, despite there being no biblical basis for this portrayal. Gnostic writings often portray Mary Magdalene as a prominent, spiritually insightful figure favoured by Jesus, challenging traditional patriarchal norm. The Eastern Orthodox Church has always viewed Mary Magdalene as a virtuous Myrrhbearer and "Equal to the Apostles", distinct from other biblical women. The Catholic Church historically conflated her with the repentant sinner in Luke 7 but later emphasized her role as the first witness to the resurrection and honoured her as the "Apostle to the Apostles". Many alleged relics of Mary Magdalene, including her skull, a piece of forehead flesh, a tibia, and her left hand, are preserved in Catholic sites in France and Mount Athos, with notable displays and annual processions honouring them.
Life Historians, secular & religious alike agree that, like Jesus, Mary Magdalene was a real historical figure. Nonetheless, very little is known about her life. Unlike Paul the Apostle, Mary Magdalene left behind no known writings of her own. She was never mentioned in any of the Pauline epistles or in any of the general epistles. The earliest and most reliable sources about her life are the three Synoptic Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, which were all written during the first century AD.
During Jesus' ministry Photograph taken c. 1900 of al-Majdal, a village standing among the ruins of Magdala, Mary Magdalene's hometown Mary Magdalene's epithet Magdalene (ἡ Μαγδαληνή; lit. 'the Magdalene') probably means that she came from Magdala, a village on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee which was primarily known in antiquity as a fishing town. Mary was, by far, the most common Jewish given name for girls and women during the first century, so it was necessary for the authors of the gospels to call her Magdalene in order to distinguish her from the other women named Mary who followed Jesus. Although the Gospel of Mark, reputed by scholars to be the earliest surviving gospel, does not mention Mary Magdalene until Jesus' crucifixion, the Gospel of Luke 8:2–3 provide a brief summary of her role during his ministry: Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.
— Luke 8:1–3 The Conversion of Mary Magdalene (c. 1548) by Paolo Veronese According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus exorcised "seven demons" from Mary Magdalene. That seven demons had possessed Mary is repeated in Mark 16:9, part of the "longer ending" of that gospel – this is not found in the earliest manuscripts and is possibly a second-century addition to the original text. In the first century, demons were believed widely to cause physical and psychological illness. Bruce Chilton, a scholar of early Christianity, states that the reference to the number of demons being "seven" may mean that Mary had to undergo seven exorcisms, probably over a long period of time, due to the first six being partially or wholly unsuccessful.
The number seven may be merely symbolic, since, in Jewish tradition, seven was the number of completion, so that Mary was possessed by seven demons may simply mean she was completely overwhelmed by their power. In either case, Casey and Ehrman infer that Mary must have suffered from severe emotional or psychological trauma for an exorcism of this kind to have been perceived as necessary. Consequently, her devotion to Jesus resulting from this healing must have been very strong. Because Mary is listed as one of the women who supported Jesus' ministry financially, Casey and Ehrman conclude that she must have been relatively wealthy. The places where she and the other women are mentioned throughout the gospels indicate strongly that they were vital to Jesus' ministry & that Mary Magdalene always appears first, whenever she is listed in the Synoptic Gospels as a member of a group of women, indicates that she was seen as the most important out of all of them. Carla Ricci notes that, in lists of the disciples, Mary Magdalene occupies a similar position among Jesus' female followers as Simon Peter does among the male apostles I love you all enjoy my website be blessed by God the Father God the Son & God the Holy Spirit Hallelujah Hallelujah ‿̩͙⊱༒︎༻♱༺༒︎⊰‿̩͙Blessed be the word of the Lord for Christ is risen Hallelujah Hallelujah peace be still in Nomine Patris et FiLii et Spiritus Sancti amen & amen
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Mary Magdalene 2018
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