LillaThere's Something About Mary (Magdalene)?
January 20th 2007 22:17
Warning: The following post contains progressive ideas of a non-traditional kind, which may offend those whose beliefs rely on strong Christian fundamentalism. Please do not read ahead if you feel this is you and you do not wish to be sullied by being exposed to material which your faith may consider blasphemous.
For those of you left high and dry after Holy Blood, Holy Grail (and then the fictional masterpiece, The Da Vinci Code), The Secret Teachings Of Mary Magdalene is the logical, ‘next step.’ However, like Holy Blood, Holy Grail, this is not a work of fiction, but drawn from the real thing, Mary Magdalene’s own handwritten Gospel.
Yes it exists. Her beautiful and enigmatic gospel is part of a collection of texts, three in all, referred to by scholars as Papyrus Berlinensis 8502. They were bought by a German academic Dr Carl Reinhardt in Cairo in 1896, 18 years before the outbreak of the Great War. It is widely understood that Dr Reinhardt found them on sale in an antique shop containing many Egyptian relics. Not surprising since Mary Magdalane was a highly educated and wealthy, Egyptian woman of true royal birth.
Since the suppression of all other gospel texts besides the canonical four, by decree of the emperor Constantine in the fourth century, nothing had been known of The Gospel Of Mary Magdalene until Dr Reinhardt’s discovery. There was a rumour, especially in France, where Mary was revered, but nothing concrete.
Known today as The Berlin Codex, Mary’s Gospel is being called “the Book of Love,” as it contains the complimentary esoteric teachings of Christ’s words and as such, many believe that humanity was not ready until now, to hear them. Indeed, hearing Mary 'speak,' reveals that Tradition is not fixed and newly discovered texts like the Gospel of Mary, allow us to hear other voices in an ancient Christian debate.
The three texts included in the Berlin Codex are of direct and complete relevance to the New Age which Christ prophesised. They are:
The Apocryphon of John, The Sophia of Jesus Christ, and The Gospel of Mary.
The Gospel of Mary is tiny, running only to just over eight pages. Ten pages have been lost, so less than half of the original text is extant. Nevertheless, it contains a unique poetry and grace, a mystical beauty, and a timeless – indeed, strangely modern – tone.
Outside of this remarkably researched and written book, fragments of Mary’s words can be found online Here. Some bits and pieces of Chapters 4, 5, 8 and 9 can be found online Here.
The Famous Nag Hummadi Gnostic Gospels , were recovered in 1945 (again, shortly after the cease of hostilities) and perfectly compliment the Berlin Codex, putting the message of Jesus and Mary’s hugely significant part in the story and contribution to the teachings, into their proper, holistically balanced, perspective.
The jars containing the Dead Sea Scrolls contained a library of Gnostic material of immeasurable value - 13 volumes survive, comprising 51 different works on 1153 pages. 6 were copies of works that were already known; 6 others were duplicated within the library, and 41 were new, previously unknown works. Included were The Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Truth, Treatise on the Resurrection, Gospel of Philip, Wisdom of Jesus Christ, Revelation of James, Letter of Peter to Philip, On the Origin of the World and other writings. Of these, the Gospel of Thomas is considered the most important. It was a collection of the sayings of Jesus which were recorded very early in the Christian era. A later Gnostic author edited the Gospel. Some liberal theologians rank it equal in importance to the four Gospels of the Christian Scriptures.
The confrontation of Mary with Peter, a scenario also found in The Gospel of Thomas, Pistis Sophia, and The Gospel of the Egyptians, reflects some of the tensions in second-century Christianity. Peter and Andrew represent orthodox positions that deny the validity of esoteric revelation and reject the authority of women to teach.
The Gospel of Mary attacks both of these positions head-on through its portrayal of Mary Magdalene. She is the Saviour’s beloved, possessed of knowledge and teaching superior to that of the public apostolic tradition. Her superiority is based on vision and private revelation and is demonstrated in her capacity to strengthen the wavering disciples and turn them toward the Good.
Indeed, the Gospel of Mary communicates a vision that the world is passing away, not toward a new creation or a new world order, but toward the dissolution of an illusory chaos of suffering, death, and illegitimate domination. The Savior has come, so that each soul might discover its own true spiritual nature, its "root" in the Good, and return to the place of eternal rest beyond the constraints of time, matter, and false morality.
My point is this;
Emperor Constantine and after him King James, each re-wrote the Bible to suit themselves, for the times in which they lived. Today, we have the Gospels of the people closest to Jesus (who weren’t working for the Romans, or the King); those of Mary herself, Jesus’ brother James, Philip and all those mentioned above, as well as many others pertaining to esoteric world knowledge of our true place on the planet.
Is it time the Bible was updated with the newfound Gospels being made available, perhaps as annexes, to offset the technological chasm that is creating anarchy on this planet, through repeated generations of alienated masses ... or do you think the truth is best kept hidden from the masses, each finding his own truth by themselves ... if so, why?
Further reading of All gospels can be found Early Christian Writings.
Source: The Secret Teachings of Mary Magdalene by Claire Nahmad and Margaret Bailey and the online Nag Hummadi texts and websites used under GNU agreement.
Yes it exists. Her beautiful and enigmatic gospel is part of a collection of texts, three in all, referred to by scholars as Papyrus Berlinensis 8502. They were bought by a German academic Dr Carl Reinhardt in Cairo in 1896, 18 years before the outbreak of the Great War. It is widely understood that Dr Reinhardt found them on sale in an antique shop containing many Egyptian relics. Not surprising since Mary Magdalane was a highly educated and wealthy, Egyptian woman of true royal birth.
Since the suppression of all other gospel texts besides the canonical four, by decree of the emperor Constantine in the fourth century, nothing had been known of The Gospel Of Mary Magdalene until Dr Reinhardt’s discovery. There was a rumour, especially in France, where Mary was revered, but nothing concrete.
Known today as The Berlin Codex, Mary’s Gospel is being called “the Book of Love,” as it contains the complimentary esoteric teachings of Christ’s words and as such, many believe that humanity was not ready until now, to hear them. Indeed, hearing Mary 'speak,' reveals that Tradition is not fixed and newly discovered texts like the Gospel of Mary, allow us to hear other voices in an ancient Christian debate.
The three texts included in the Berlin Codex are of direct and complete relevance to the New Age which Christ prophesised. They are:
The Apocryphon of John, The Sophia of Jesus Christ, and The Gospel of Mary.
The Gospel of Mary is tiny, running only to just over eight pages. Ten pages have been lost, so less than half of the original text is extant. Nevertheless, it contains a unique poetry and grace, a mystical beauty, and a timeless – indeed, strangely modern – tone.
Outside of this remarkably researched and written book, fragments of Mary’s words can be found online Here. Some bits and pieces of Chapters 4, 5, 8 and 9 can be found online Here.
~oOo~
The Famous Nag Hummadi Gnostic Gospels , were recovered in 1945 (again, shortly after the cease of hostilities) and perfectly compliment the Berlin Codex, putting the message of Jesus and Mary’s hugely significant part in the story and contribution to the teachings, into their proper, holistically balanced, perspective.
The jars containing the Dead Sea Scrolls contained a library of Gnostic material of immeasurable value - 13 volumes survive, comprising 51 different works on 1153 pages. 6 were copies of works that were already known; 6 others were duplicated within the library, and 41 were new, previously unknown works. Included were The Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Truth, Treatise on the Resurrection, Gospel of Philip, Wisdom of Jesus Christ, Revelation of James, Letter of Peter to Philip, On the Origin of the World and other writings. Of these, the Gospel of Thomas is considered the most important. It was a collection of the sayings of Jesus which were recorded very early in the Christian era. A later Gnostic author edited the Gospel. Some liberal theologians rank it equal in importance to the four Gospels of the Christian Scriptures.
The Magnification of Mary (and Peter) in Da Vinci's, Last Supper
The Gospel of Mary attacks both of these positions head-on through its portrayal of Mary Magdalene. She is the Saviour’s beloved, possessed of knowledge and teaching superior to that of the public apostolic tradition. Her superiority is based on vision and private revelation and is demonstrated in her capacity to strengthen the wavering disciples and turn them toward the Good.
Magdalene
~oOo~
My point is this;
Emperor Constantine and after him King James, each re-wrote the Bible to suit themselves, for the times in which they lived. Today, we have the Gospels of the people closest to Jesus (who weren’t working for the Romans, or the King); those of Mary herself, Jesus’ brother James, Philip and all those mentioned above, as well as many others pertaining to esoteric world knowledge of our true place on the planet.
Is it time the Bible was updated with the newfound Gospels being made available, perhaps as annexes, to offset the technological chasm that is creating anarchy on this planet, through repeated generations of alienated masses ... or do you think the truth is best kept hidden from the masses, each finding his own truth by themselves ... if so, why?
Further reading of All gospels can be found Early Christian Writings.
Source: The Secret Teachings of Mary Magdalene by Claire Nahmad and Margaret Bailey and the online Nag Hummadi texts and websites used under GNU agreement.
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