Question: Was Mary Magdalene a harlot before Jesus
Christ drove seven demons from her? In the West, she is
considered to be a repentant harlot, but I have not found
anything in the Gospels to support this view. I have only
found that St. Mary Magdalene became one of the
Myrrh-Bearing women, who faithfully followed Christ, even
to His death on the Cross.
Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene was born the
Galilean town of Magdala (the tribe of
Issachar), located on the Western bank of the sea of
Gennesaret, near Capernaum. She is mentioned in all four
Gospels. After the Lord healed her of the seven devils
(cf. Lk. 8:2), she joined the pious women who accompanied
the Lord during His earthly life and served Him. She was a
witness of the Savior's sufferings on the Cross, and
was present at His burial. Before the dawn of the first
day after the eventful Saturday, she and other pious women
came to the tomb of Jesus Christ in order to anoint His
body with sweet spices. Therefore, the Church calls them
the Myrrh-Bearing women. The angel first told them of the
Lord's Resurrection (cf. Mk. 16:1–8). For her
great love and devotion to her Savior, she was worthy to
be the first to see the risen Lord. He instructed her to
announce His resurrection to the Apostles. St. Mary
Magdalene appeared to the Apostles as a bringer of glad
tidings. The stichera of Pascha (composed by St. John
Damascene) sings of this:
"Come from that scene, O Women, bearers of good
tidings, and say to Sion: receive from us the glad tidings
of joy of the Resurrection of Christ. Exult, rejoice; and
be glad O Jerusalem, beholding Christ the King as a
Bridegroom come forth from the tomb."
There is not a single word in the New Testament that would
imply that Mary Magdalene was a harlot. This opinion has
only taken root in Western culture. A determining stage in
the formation of this opinion was the equating of Mary
Magdalene with the woman who anointed the feet of Jesus in
the house of Simon the Pharisee (cf. Lk. 7:36–50).
The Gospel text does not provide any basis for such an
assumption. The Lord forgave that woman her sins, saying,
Thy faith has saved thee; go in peace (Lk. 7:50).
Nothing is said here about the casting out of devils. If
the Savior had done that earlier, the why would He not
have forgiven her sins at that time? Right after this, the
Evangelist Luke talks about (chapter 8) the godly women
who served the Lord. The mention of Mary Magdalene is
accompanied by the note (out of whom went seven
devils), which shows without a doubt that she was
being mentioned here for the first time.
Giotto. Scene from the life of St. Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene recieves the garment of Zosima (sic). Source: wga.hu
The
final conviction in the West about the willful and
mistaken opinion that St. Mary Magdalene had been a
harlot was made possible by a popular book by an
Italian Dominican monk, Archbishop Jacobus de Voragine
(Giacomo da Varazze), the Golden Legend
(Legenda Aurea), which is thought to have been
written in 1260. This collection of legends and lives
of saints became the source of themes for art and
literature. The author of the anthology equates Maria
Magdalene with Mary the sister of Lazarus and Martha.
He writes that the names of their parents were Cyrus
and Eucharia, and that they came from a royal lineage.
Their children had divided a wealthy inheritance: Mary
received Magdala, Lazarus received part of Jerusalem,
and Martha received Bethany. It is not hard to see in
this story the naive projection of a medeival European
fuedalsim onto ancient Palestine. Having arrived by
ship to Massilia (modern Marseilles), Mary preached to
the pagans. Then the story tells of her departure to
the desert where there was no food or water, but where
she received heavenly food. She lived there for thirty
years. "A witness to this becomes one priest who
settled not far away. He met St. Mary Magdalene, who
tells him about her impending death, and asks him to
inform blessed Maximinus of it. Meeting on a designated
day with blessed Maximinus and recieving her last Holy
Communion from him, she dies. Maximinus buries her and
asks that when he dies, he be buried next to the saint.
Jacobus cites as his source for this information 'a
certain treatise' by Josephus Flavius and 'the
books of Maximinus himself'. The works that he is
referring to are unknown." (I. V. Narusevich,
The Life of St. Mary Magdalene in the "Golden
Legend" of Jacobus de Voragine.)
Wooden statue of St. Mary Magdalene by Donatello.
It
is easy to see here a blend of two stories: the
legendary life of St. Mary Magdalene and an adapted
life of St. Mary of Egypt (+ c. 522). This combination
of two individuals—the holy bringer of good
tidings and a repentant harlot who later became a great
desert-dweller—entered European art from the
Golden Legend and took a lasting form. Thus in
around 1310, Giotto di Bondone and his students painted
the chapel of St. Mary Magdalene in the lower church of
St. Francis of Assisi. On the wall above the entrance
to the chapel is a scene taken straight from the life
of St. Mary of Egypt: "Mary Magdalene receives the
garment from the hermit Zosima." The bronze-toned
wooden sculpture of Donatello (1445) expressively
depicts the exhausting asceticism of a desert dweller.
Her body is barely covered by an age-worn tunic. This
masterpiece has little in common with the true,
historical image of St. Mary Magdalene. Again, we have
a combination of two saints. Gradually, a vast gallery
of pictures was painted on the theme of "The
Repentant Mary Magdalene". It is sufficient to
remember such artists as Tiziano Vecellio
(1477–1576), El Greco (1541–1614),
Caravaggio (1573–1610), Guido Reni
(1575–1642), Orazio Gentileschi
(1563–1639), Simon Vouet (1590–1649),
Jusepe de Ribera (1591–1652), Georges de La Tour
(1593–1652), Francesco Hayez (1791–1882);
sculptors Pedro de Mena (1628–1688), Antonio
Canova (1757–1822), and others.
The Orthodox Church strictly adheres in its writings on
the life of St. Mary Magdalene to the Gospel testimony and
reliable Church tradition. The saint preached the Gospels
in Rome. Some researchers suppose that the Apostle Paul is
speaking precisely of St. Mary Magdalene in his epistle to
the Romans: Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on
us(Rom. 16:6).
During her final years of life, the saint helped the
Apostle John the Theologian preach the Gospel in Ephesus.
There she reposed. During the reign of Leo the Wise in
886, her holy relics were translated from Ephesus to
Constantinople. She is commemorated on July 22/August 4,
and on the Sunday of the Holy Myrrh-Bearing Women, the
second Sunday after Pascha.
Giotto. Scenes from the life of St. Mary Magdalene. The Resurrection of Lazarus. Source: wga.hu
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4 августа 2011 г.
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