Who was Mary and Jesus? Mary Magdalene: the true story

Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene was born in the town of Magdala on the shores of Lake Gennesaret, in Galilee, in the northern part of the Holy Land, not far from the place where John the Baptist baptized. When the Lord cleansed her soul and body from all sins, expelling seven demons from her, she, leaving everything, followed Him.

Saint Mary Magdalene followed Christ along with other myrrh-bearing women, showing touching care about Him. Having become a faithful disciple of the Lord, she never left Him. She, the only one, did not leave Him when He was taken into custody. The fear that prompted the Apostle Peter to renounce and forced all His other disciples to flee was overcome by love in the soul of Mary Magdalene. She stood at the Cross with Holy Mother of God, experiencing the suffering of the Savior and sharing the great sorrow of the Mother of God. When the soldier put the end of a sharp spear to the silent heart of Jesus, excruciating pain simultaneously pierced the heart of Mary.

Joseph and Nicodemus took down the Most Pure Body of the Lord Jesus Christ from the tree. The inconsolable Mother shed burning tears of immeasurable sorrow on the bloody wounds of the Immaculate Son. The precious Body of Jesus was, according to Jewish custom, wrapped in a thin shroud with incense.

It was about midnight, and the stars were already shining across the dark vault of the calm heavens, when Joseph and Nicodemus, lifting the Inestimable Burden on their shoulders, began to descend from the top of the mortal hill.

In deep silence they walked through the garden and reached its eastern side, adjacent to the rocky foot of Mount Moriah.

Here, in the stone wall formed by nature itself by the rocky ledges of the mountain, a new coffin was carved into the rock, in which no one had ever been laid. The servants rolled away the heavy stone that was blocking the entrance to the cave, and the light from the lit fires instantly penetrated under its gloomy arches. In the middle lay a smoothly hewn stone. The Body of the Unforgettable Teacher was placed on him by the disciples. The Most Holy Theotokos and Mary Magdalene looked at where He was laid.

A heavy stone was rolled against the door of the coffin.

After Saturday, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb very early, when it was still dark, to pay the last honors to the body of the Savior, anointing it, according to custom, with myrrh and aromas, and sees that the stone has been rolled away from the tomb. With tears, she runs to Peter and John and tells them: “They took the Lord away from the tomb, and we do not know where they laid Him.” They immediately followed her and, coming to the tomb, they saw only the linen cloths and the linen cloth with which the head of Jesus was tied, carefully rolled up, not with the cloths, but lying in another place. “They did not yet know from the Scriptures that He must rise from the dead” (John 20:1-10).

Maintaining deep silence, Peter and John returned to their place, and Mary Magdalene, exhausted by ignorance and sadness, stood at the tomb and cried. Crying, she bent down, looked into the tomb and saw: in the place where the body of Jesus lay, two Angels in white robes were sitting. “Woman, why are you crying?” - they ask.

“They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” Having said this, she turned back and saw Jesus standing; but did not recognize that it was Jesus.

“Woman, why are you crying? - Jesus tells her. “Who are you looking for?”

She, thinking that it is the gardener, says to Him: “Sir! If you have brought Him out, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him.”

"Maria!" – she suddenly heard a familiar, dear voice.

"Teacher!" - she exclaimed in her natural Aramaic language and threw herself at His feet.

But Jesus said to her: “Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; But go to My brothers and say to them: I ascend to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.”

Shining with happiness, revived to a new life, Mary Magdalene rushed to her disciples.

“I saw the Lord! He spoke to me!” - with blissful delight, shining with bright rays in the beautiful blue eyes, Mary informed the disciples of Jesus about the miraculous phenomenon that she had received. And her joy reached such proportions as her recent sorrow had reached.

"Christ is risen! He is truly the Son of God! I saw the Lord!…” - this was the first good news that Mary Magdalene brought to the apostles, the world’s first sermon about the Resurrection. The apostles were supposed to preach the gospel to the world, but she preached the gospel to the apostles themselves:

“Rejoice, you who first received the broadcast of the Resurrection from the lips of Christ;

Rejoice, you who first proclaimed the words of joy to the apostles.”

According to legend, Mary Magdalene preached the gospel not only in Jerusalem. When the apostles dispersed from Jerusalem to all corners of the world, she went with them. Mary, who preserved in her flaming divine love heart every word of the Savior, left native land and went to preach to pagan Rome. And everywhere she proclaimed to people about Christ and His teaching. And when many did not believe that Christ had risen, she repeated to them what she said to the apostles on the bright morning of the Resurrection: “I saw the Lord! He spoke to me." With this sermon she traveled all over Italy.

Tradition says that in Italy, Mary Magdalene appeared to Emperor Tiberius (14-37) and told him about the life, miracles and teachings of Christ, about His unrighteous condemnation by the Jews, about the cowardice of Pilate. The Emperor doubted the miracle of the Resurrection and asked for evidence. Then she took the egg and, giving it to the emperor, said: “Christ is Risen!” At these words, the white egg in the emperor’s hands turned bright red.

The egg symbolizes the birth of a new life and expresses our faith in the coming general Resurrection. Thanks to Mary Magdalene, the custom of giving gifts to each other easter eggs on Easter Day Christ's Resurrection spread among Christians all over the world. In one ancient handwritten Greek Charter, written on parchment, stored in the library of the monastery of St. Anastasia near Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki), there is a prayer read on the day of Holy Easter for the consecration of eggs and cheese, which indicates that the abbot, distributing the consecrated eggs, says to the brethren : “So we received from the holy fathers, who preserved this custom from the very times of the apostles, for the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene was the first to show the believers an example of this joyful sacrifice.”

Mary Magdalene continued her evangelism in Italy and in the city of Rome itself until the arrival of the Apostle Paul there and for another two years after his departure from Rome, after his first trial. Obviously, this is what the holy Apostle means in his Epistle to the Romans (Rom. 16:16), when he mentions Mary (Mariam), who “worked much for us.”

Mary Magdalene selflessly served the Church, exposing herself to dangers, sharing the labors of preaching with the apostles. From Rome the saint, already in old age, moved to Ephesus (Asia Minor), where she preached and helped the Apostle John the Theologian in writing the Gospel. Here, according to Church tradition, she reposed and was buried.

Where to venerate the relics of Mary Magdalene

In the 10th century under Emperor Leo the Philosopher (886-912) imperishable relics Saint Mary Magdalene was transferred from Ephesus to Constantinople. It is believed that during crusades they were transported to Rome, where they rested in the temple in the name of St. John Lateran. Later this temple was consecrated in the name of St. Mary Equal to the Apostles Magdalene. Part of her relics is located in France, in Provage, near Marseille. Parts of the relics of Mary Magdalene are kept in various monasteries of Mount Athos and in Jerusalem. Numerous pilgrims of the Russian Church who visit these holy places reverently venerate its holy relics.

“Rejoice, glorious evangelist of Christ’s teachings;

Rejoice, you who have loosed the sinful bonds of many people;

Rejoice, having taught everyone the wisdom of Christ.

Rejoice, holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene, who loved the sweetest Lord Jesus more than all the blessings.”

Glorification of Mary Magdalene

We magnify you, holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene, and honor your holy memory, who enlightened the whole world with your teachings and led you to Christ.

Therefore, the Church calls them myrrh-bearing women. They were the first to be told by an angel about the Resurrection of the Lord (see: Mark 16: 1–8). For her great devotion and sacrificial love for her Teacher, she was honored to be the first to see the risen Savior. He instructed her to announce to the apostles about His resurrection. Saint Mary Magdalene appeared to the apostles as an evangelist.

This is sung in the Easter stichera (creation St. John Damascene):

“Come from the vision of the wife of the good news, and cry to Zion: receive from us the joy of the annunciation of the Resurrection of Christ; show off, rejoice and rejoice, O Jerusalem, seeing King Christ from the tomb like a bridegroom.”

There is not a single word in the New Testament that Saint Mary Magdalene was a sinner. This opinion has taken root only in Western culture. A certain stage in the formation of this opinion was the identification of Mary Magdalene with the woman who anointed the feet of Jesus with ointment in the house of Simon the Pharisee (see: Luke 7: 36–50). The Gospel text does not provide any basis for such a statement. The Lord forgave that woman her sins, saying: “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7:50). However, nothing is said about casting out demons. If the Savior did this earlier, then why weren’t sins forgiven at the same time? Following this, the Evangelist Luke immediately (chapter 8) speaks of godly women who served the Lord.

The mention of Mary Magdalene is accompanied by a remark (“out of whom came seven demons”), which clearly shows that she is being spoken about for the first time.
The final establishment in the West of an arbitrary and erroneous opinion about Saint Mary Magdalene as a former sinner was facilitated by the book of the Italian Dominican monk, Archbishop of Genoa James of Voragin (now Varazze) “Legenda Aurea”, the creation of which dates back to 1260.

This collection of legends and biographies of saints became a source of subjects for painting and literature. The author of the collection identifies Mary Magdalene with Mary, the sister of the righteous Lazarus and Martha. He writes that the names of their parents are Sirus and Eucharia, and they came from a royal family. Their children shared a rich inheritance: Mary received Magdala, Lazarus received part of Jerusalem, and Martha received Bethany.

In this story it is easy to see a naive projection of feudal relations medieval Europe to ancient Palestine. Arriving by ship in Massilia (modern Marseille), Mary preached to the pagans. Then it is told about her removal to the desert, where there is no water and food, but where she received heavenly food. She spent 30 years there.

“This is witnessed by a certain priest who settled nearby. He meets Mary Magdalene, who tells him about her imminent death and instructs him to inform Blessed Maximinus about this. Having met Blessed Maximin on a certain day and received her last communion from him, she dies. Maximin buries her and orders after his death to bury himself next to the saint.

As the source of this part, James presents us with “some treatise” of Josephus and “the books of Maximinus himself.” About what works we're talking about, unknown” (Narusevich I.V. The Life of Mary Magdalene in the “Golden Legend” by Jacob Voraginsky).
It is easy to notice the mixture of subjects: the legendary life of Mary Magdalene and the adapted life of the Venerable Mary of Egypt († c. 522).

This combination of two personalities - the holy evangelist and the repentant harlot, who later became the great hermit - from the “Golden Legend” passes into European art and becomes a stable phenomenon.

So, around 1310, Giotto di Bondone and his students painted the chapel of Mary Magdalene in the Lower Church of San Francesco in Assisi. On the wall above the entrance to the chapel there is a scene that is directly borrowed from the Life of the Venerable Mary of Egypt - “Mary Magdalene receives the robe of the hermit Zosima.” Donatello's bronze-tinted wooden sculpture (1445) expressively depicts a desert woman exhausted by her feat.

Her body is covered with shabby rags. This masterpiece has little connection with the real-historical image of St. Mary Magdalene. Once again we see a mixture of the images of two saints. An extensive gallery of paintings on the theme “Penitent Mary Magdalene” is gradually being created.

Suffice it to recall such artists as Vecellio Titian (1477–1576), El Greco (1541–1614), Michelangelo da Caravaggio (1573–1610), Guido Reni (1575–1642), Orazio Gentileschi (1563–1639), Simon Vouet ( 1590–1649), José de Ribera (1591–1652), Georges Dumesnil de Latour (1593–1652), Francesco Hayes (1791–1882); sculptors Pedro de Mena (1628–1688), Antonio Canova (1757–1822) and others.

Orthodox Church in the narration of the life of Saint Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, he strictly adheres to the gospel testimonies and reliable church tradition. The saint preached the Gospel in Rome.

Some researchers believe that the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Romans has Saint Mary Magdalene in mind: “Greet Miriam, who labored much for us” (Rom. 16:6).
IN recent years The saint helped the Apostle John the Theologian preach the Gospel in Ephesus.

She died there. Under Leo the Wise in 886, her holy relics were transferred from Ephesus to Constantinople. Her memory is celebrated on July 22/August 4 and on the week of the Myrrh-Bearing Women.

Mary Magdalene remains the most enigmatic and mysterious figure.

Throughout church history it has been the subject of many different theories and myths. In the Holy Scriptures regarding this woman, about whom all four Gospels say that she was present both at the crucifixion of Christ and at the empty tomb on the morning of the Resurrection, we know nothing more about her.

The Bible nowhere definitely says that Mary Magdalene was a harlot at any time in her life. Luke does not mention her name in his account of the “penitent harlot” wiping Christ’s feet with her hair.

Nor is she named as the woman who was caught in the act of adultery and saved by Jesus from being stoned. She is spoken of only once, as being possessed by a demon.

However, the assumption that her sinful past was primarily sexual sin is an assumption that is not usually made of previously sinful men.

"Magdalene" traditionally stands for "native of the city of Migdal-El." The literal meaning of this toponym is “tower,” and since the tower is a feudal, knightly symbol, in the Middle Ages this noble shade of meaning was transferred to the personality of Mary and aristocratic features were given to her.

In the ancient Greek language of medieval writers, “Magdalene” can be interpreted as “constantly accused” (Latin manens rea), etc.

The Orthodox tradition does not identify Mary Magdalene with the gospel sinner, but reveres her exclusively Equal-to-the-Apostles Holy Myrrh-Bearer, from which demons were simply cast out.

IN Catholic tradition Magdalene takes on the characteristics of a repentant harlot. Its main attribute is a vessel with incense.

According to this tradition, Magdalene earned money by fornication, after seeing Christ, she left her craft and began to follow him, then in Bethany she washed his feet with myrrh and wiped them with her hair, was present at Calvary, etc., and then became a hermit in the territory of modern France.

One of the main reasons for identifying Magdalene with the harlot is the confession western church that she was the nameless woman who washed Jesus' feet with ointment.

And so, a woman of that city, who was a sinner, having learned that He was reclining in the house of a Pharisee, brought a vessel of ointment and, standing behind His feet and weeping, began to wet His feet with tears and wipe them with the hair of her head, and kissed His feet, and smeared with peace. (Luke 7:37-38).

The many positive contributions women made to the early church have been minimized throughout history.

But women, especially Mary Magdalene, were the main witnesses to the resurrection of Christ. The prominent role of women disciples was an early and firmly established part of a tradition that quickly became a hindrance to the male leaders of the nascent church institutions.

Jesus taught the disciples by example how to treat everyone with equal dignity and respect, including the sick, the poor, the oppressed, the outcast, and women. Jesus certainly did not object to men and women sharing power and leadership positions. Some of his followers, however, were not brave enough to be so radical. Thus, in the case of the Gospel of John, the beloved female disciple had to become a man.

Today, most biblical scholars, both Catholic and Protestant, argue that St. John of Zebedee did not write the Gospel that bears his name. They attribute the authorship to an anonymous "beloved student."

There is no doubt that the "beloved disciple" in the canonical version of the Fourth Gospel is an anonymous male disciple. Yet, as we have seen, the scriptures repeatedly name Mary Magdalene as the disciple whom Jesus loved.

The relationship between Peter and the "beloved disciple" in the Fourth Gospel is very similar to the relationship between Peter and Mary Magdalene

This suggests that the editor of the Fourth Gospel replaced Mary Magdalene with an anonymous male disciple

If Mary Magdalene was the leader and hero of the Fourth Gospel community, then she was likely recognized as an Apostle within that community. And indeed, given the fact that she was the first to announce the Resurrection of Christ, the Roman- catholic church awarded her the title "apostola apostolorum", which means "apostle above the apostles".

Why is Mary Magdalene known as the world's most promiscuous woman when the Bible never says she was ever a prostitute?

The evidence supporting the view that Mary Magdalene is the author of the Fourth Gospel is much stronger than that which established John Zebedee as its author for nearly two thousand years.

The church has no problem with mainstream knowledge that a man whose name we don't even know wrote one of the most sacred documents of Christianity.

Imagine - even a nameless person is preferable to a woman. Despite Gnostic documents and structural inconsistencies, the church, as a system now established, will probably never recognize Mary Magdalene the author of the New Testament.

The legend of Magdalene has many parallels or even possible direct borrowings from the life of St. Mary of Egypt, her namesake and late contemporary, who, unlike Magdalene, is directly testified to have been a harlot.

Researchers note that the borrowing may have occurred in the 9th century and the attributes merged with the plot of both saints. That is, the harlot Mary of Egypt is another woman whose image was united with Magdalene and contributed to the perception of her as a sinner.

Mary was born in Egypt in the middle of the 5th century and at the age of twelve she left her parents, going to Alexandria, where she became a harlot.
One day, Mary, seeing a group of pilgrims heading to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord, she joined them, but not with pious thoughts, but “so that there would be more with whom to indulge in debauchery.”

In Jerusalem, Mary tried to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, but some force held her back. Realizing her fall, she began to pray in front of the icon of the Mother of God, located in the vestibule of the temple. After this she was able to enter the temple and bow Life-giving Cross. Coming out, Maria again turned to thanksgiving prayer to the Virgin Mary and heard a voice saying to her - “If you cross the Jordan, you will find blessed peace.”

Having listened to this command, Mary took communion and, crossing the Jordan, settled in the desert, where she spent 47 years in complete solitude, fasting and prayers of repentance.

After these many years of temptations, her passions left her, the food taken from Jerusalem ran out, and her clothes decayed from wear and tear, but, as her life tells, “from that time on... the power of God transformed my sinful soul and my humble body in everything.”

They also mention the influence of the legend of the harlot St. Taisia of Egypt, a famous courtesan converted by Abbot Paphnutius.

According to life, Taisiya was the daughter of a harlot who taught the girl, who was distinguished by her beauty, her craft.

Taisiya became a highly paid courtesan who ruined men and played with them. Hearing about this, the Monk Paphnutius the Great came to her. After a conversation with him, Taisiya burned all the treasures she had earned in the city square. Then she followed Paphnutius to convent, where she secluded herself in a cell for three years, eating food only once a day.

Three years later, Paphnutius went to Anthony the Great to find out whether God had forgiven Taisia or not. Anthony ordered his disciples to pray to receive an answer, and one of them, Paul the Simple, saw in a vision a bed in heaven covered with robes of inimitable beauty and guarded by three divas with bright and beautiful faces. Paul said with delight: “Surely, this is ready for my father Anthony.” Then a voice told him: “No, this is not for Anthony, but for the harlot Taisia.”

This is how Paphnutius learned the will of God about Taisiya.

Paphnutius returned to the monastery and decided to take Taisia out of her cell, which she resisted. But he still said that the Lord forgave her and brought her outside. 15 days after this, Taisiya fell ill and died three days later

Researchers analyze the development of the cult of Magdalene, arguing that the thoughts of churchmen about women in the Middle Ages began with the opposition between Eve and the Virgin Mary.

The first personified ordinary women, the second was an unattainable ideal. And in the 12th century, foremother Eve became the object of even more fierce criticism (even to the point of being defined as “the daughter of the devil”).

material from "Mary Magdalene: Author of the Fourth Gospel?" by Ramon K.Jusino, M.A.
published in the magazine "Knowledge of Reality" in 1998.

Thus, Mary Magdalene, or rather her cult, arose “from the yawning abyss between two diametrically opposed symbols
Magdalene begins new life. However, who needed this new Maria Magdalene? Women for whom the road to heaven was thorny and almost endless. The sinner woman pointed the way to possible salvation. She gave small but real hope associated with confession, repentance and penance; hope that opened a middle path between eternal life and eternal damnation."

Thus, for the next five hundred years, church culture was dominated by three female images: woman-temptress, woman-forgiven sinner and woman-Queen of Heaven. Magdalene occupied the psychological niche necessary for ordinary parishioners who did not have the courage to compare themselves with the Mother of God and the desires to compare themselves with the temptress; and they found the closest analogy to their earthly life precisely in the repentant Magdalene.
In the popular consciousness of the inhabitants of medieval Europe, the image of the repentant harlot Mary Magdalene acquired extreme popularity and colorfulness and has been entrenched to this day.
In the 20th century, the Catholic Church, seeking to correct possible errors of interpretation, softened the wording - after the reform of 1969, Magdalene no longer appears as a “penitent” in the Novus Ordo calendar.
But despite this, the traditional perception of her as a repentant harlot by the mass consciousness, which has developed over the centuries thanks to the influence large quantity works of art remains unchanged.

Icon of the Cathedral of saints named after the family of Tsar Alexander III: Alexander Nevsky, Mary Magdalene, Nicholas the Wonderworker, St. George the Victorious, Princess Olga, Prince Mikhail of Chernigov, Venerable Ksenia. 1888. Along the lower field of the icon is the inscription: “In memory of the miraculous rescue of the Sovereign Emperor and His entire August family from the danger that threatened them during a train crash on October 17, 1888 on the Kursk-Kharkov-Azov railway between Taranovka and Borki stations." Comes from the church in the village of Znamenka, Irbit district. Nowadays it is located in the Holy Trinity Church in Irbit.

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Garth Davis won awards and recognition for his film Lion, which detailed an emotional and spiritual journey young man. The bold and interesting goal of revealing a person from what seems to be the most spiritual source, i.e., the Bible, establishes the correct premise, gives modern assessment and, perhaps, to some extent even offers a new interpretation of the well-known plot. The focus of the story is not on Jesus, but on how he is perceived by his only disciple, whose authority should be admired. However, the pulse of the project is hard to find; the drama has virtually no explosive power, making Mary Magdalene feel like some kind of bland theatrical production. The desire for poetry devalued the characters' struggle for faith.

Maria lives and grows up in a family of fishermen, takes care of sheep, plays the role of midwife in the local commune and tries to find her place in the suffocating patriarchal order. Maria's refusal to marry worries her conservative family. Once Mary meets Jesus Christ, she seems to find her purpose in spreading Christianity and finding answers to painful spiritual questions.

Almost three decades have passed since Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, and in comparison, Mary Magdalene looks too liberal. I mean, despite the obvious freshness of the perspective, it is worth distinguishing between the canon and following modern trends. There's nothing wrong with the latter, but it still feels out of place in a scenario like this. Main goal The filmmakers' goal was to change the image of Mary Magdalene in the public consciousness. A fallen woman is not a woman free from the shackles of the way of life of those times. The idea is even breakthrough in some ways, but this is not a story where you should allow yourself such liberties. Even if you have talent and still try to present a topic about independent woman, then her image will fade in comparison with God or Christ. The divine essence somehow overshadows man, no matter how independent and progressive it may be.

Overall, Davis keeps the narrative of Mary Magdalene extremely restrained, silently analyzing the biblical source, trying not to slide everything into melodrama. Mary spends her time meditating and studying with Christ, and the Son of God performs miracles. Davis himself seems to have been afraid of the unconventional interpretation in his story, where almost everything is based on new interpretation one of the central characters of the New Testament, so he had to follow some lifeless path. I mean that everything is presented somehow one-sidedly, only the way Davis and his screenwriters apparently wanted, which takes away creativity and food for thought. Only in the scene when Jesus takes liberties with the Pharisees in the Jerusalem market does “Mary Magdalene” provide some spark of life, and then a clinical blur sets in: such important events how the gathering in the Garden of Gethsemane and the crucifixion are presented crumpled and without zest.

It's surprising that Davis couldn't find any drama or chemistry in the main characters' relationship, since this is supposedly one of the great male-female relationship stories, and of course there's a connection to the actors: Phoenix and Mara are in a relationship. romantic relationships V real life. Joaquin Phoenix is certainly an interesting choice to play the son of God. His image oozes weariness; he's on the other side of the pop culture image of Jesus Christ, but he's otherworldly and appealing in his own way. Unfortunately, rough dialogues and formal phrases did not allow the actor to show his human traits your image. Rooney Mara's performance remains largely expressionistic; This role can hardly be called the best in her career, but she reacted perfectly to everything emotional changes her heroines. Also worth noting is Tahar Rahim as Judas, whose portrayal is more wary and mournful than that of a clear-cut traitor. But Chiwetel Ejiofor confused me: I’m unlikely to be able to accept the black Apostle Peter.

The film is certainly beautifully shot. Most of the scenes were filmed in Puglia and Trapani, but they managed to restore the real “biblical” places and capture the atmosphere. For musical accompaniment answered the late Jóhan Jóhannsson, and the sounds of his strings cover the theatricality of the production.

"Mary Magdalene", both the script and the character who gave the film its name, ultimately reaches Jerusalem to witness the crucifixion of Christ. Davis was not interested in creating his own version of The Passion of the Christ, keeping the focus on Mary. But if the film's feminist slant even brings some kind of peculiar passion to the work, the emphasis on Maria's role feels unintentional and even incomplete, although the film seems to be dedicated to her. In addition, the final information block before the credits is even a little confusing, because the creators clearly did not make it clear what the text said. Well, Davis's visual poetry is strong, but "Mary Magdalene" is still cold and unspecific.

My friend had a question about the life fate of Mary Magdalene. Was she a sinner before Jesus Christ cast out seven demons from her? In the West, her image is interpreted as a repentant sinner, but nowhere in the Gospel texts have we found confirmation of this. Only that Mary Magdalene became one of the myrrh-bearing women, faithfully following Christ until His death on the cross.

Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) answers:

Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene was from the Galilean city of Magdala (tribe of Issachar), located on the western shore of Lake Gennesaret, near Capernaum. She is mentioned by all four evangelists. After the Lord healed her from evil spirits (see: Luke 8:2), she joined those pious wives who accompanied the Lord everywhere during His earthly life and served Him in their name. She witnessed the Savior's suffering on the cross and was present at His burial. At dawn on the first day after the Sabbath, she and other pious women went to the tomb of Jesus Christ to anoint His body with incense. Therefore, the Church calls them myrrh-bearing women. They were the first to be told by an angel about the Resurrection of the Lord (see: Mark 16: 1-8). For her great devotion and sacrificial love for her Teacher, she was honored to be the first to see the risen Savior. He instructed her to announce to the apostles about His resurrection. Saint Mary Magdalene appeared to the apostles as an evangelist. This is sung in the Easter stichera (the work of St. John of Damascus):

There is not a single word in the New Testament that Saint Mary Magdalene was a sinner. This opinion has taken root only in Western culture. A certain stage in the formation of this opinion was the identification of Mary Magdalene with the woman who anointed the feet of Jesus with ointment in the house of Simon the Pharisee (see: Luke 7: 36-50). The Gospel text does not provide any basis for such a statement. The Lord forgave that woman her sins, saying: “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7:50). However, nothing is said about casting out demons. If the Savior did this earlier, then why weren’t sins forgiven at the same time? Following this, the Evangelist Luke immediately (chapter 8) speaks of godly women who served the Lord. The mention of Mary Magdalene is accompanied by a remark (“out of whom came seven demons”), which clearly shows that she is being spoken about for the first time.

The final establishment in the West of an arbitrary and erroneous opinion about Saint Mary Magdalene as a former sinner was facilitated by the book of the Italian Dominican monk, Archbishop of Genoa James of Voragin (now Varazze) “Legenda Aurea”, the creation of which dates back to 1260. This collection of legends and biographies of saints became a source of subjects for painting and literature. The author of the collection identifies Mary Magdalene with Mary, the sister of the righteous Lazarus and Martha. He writes that the names of their parents are Sirus and Eucharia, and they came from a royal family. Their children shared a rich inheritance: Mary received Magdala, Lazarus received part of Jerusalem, and Martha received Bethany. In this story it is easy to see a naive projection of the feudal relations of medieval Europe onto ancient Palestine. Arriving by ship in Massilia (modern Marseille), Mary preached to the pagans. Then it is told about her removal to the desert, where there is no water and food, but where she received heavenly food. She spent 30 years there. “This is witnessed by a certain priest who settled nearby. He meets Mary Magdalene, who tells him about her imminent death and instructs him to inform Blessed Maximinus about this. Having met Blessed Maximin on a certain day and received her last communion from him, she dies. Maximin buries her and orders after his death to bury himself next to the saint. As the source of this part, James presents us with “some treatise” of Josephus and “the books of Maximinus himself.” It is unknown what works we are talking about" ( Narusevich I.V. The Life of Mary Magdalene in the “Golden Legend” of Jacob of Voraginsky).

It is easy to notice the mixture of subjects: the legendary life of Mary Magdalene and the adapted life of the Venerable Mary of Egypt († c. 522). This combination of two personalities - the holy evangelist and the repentant harlot, who later became the great hermit - from the “Golden Legend” passes into European art and becomes a stable phenomenon. So, around 1310, Giotto di Bondone and his students painted the chapel of Mary Magdalene in the Lower Church of San Francesco in Assisi. On the wall above the entrance to the chapel there is a scene that is directly borrowed from the Life of the Venerable Mary of Egypt - “Mary Magdalene receives the robe of the hermit Zosima.” Donatello's bronze-tinted wooden sculpture (1445) expressively depicts a desert woman exhausted by her feat. Her body is covered with shabby rags. This masterpiece has little connection with the real-historical image of St. Mary Magdalene. Once again we see a mixture of the images of two saints. An extensive gallery of paintings on the theme “Penitent Mary Magdalene” is gradually being created. Suffice it to recall such artists as Vecellio Titian (1477-1576), El Greco (1541-1614), Michelangelo da Caravaggio (1573-1610), Guido Reni (1575-1642), Orazio Gentileschi (1563-1639), Simon Vouet ( 1590-1649), José de Ribera (1591-1652), Georges Dumenil de Latour (1593-1652), Francesco Hayes (1791-1882); sculptors Pedro de Mena (1628-1688), Antonio Canova (1757-1822) and others.

The Orthodox Church, in its narration of the life of Saint Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, strictly adheres to the Gospel testimonies and reliable church tradition. The saint preached the Gospel in Rome. Some researchers believe that the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Romans has Saint Mary Magdalene in mind: “Greet Miriam, who labored much for us” (Rom. 16:6).

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