Source: Public Orthodoxy
One of the aspects I’ve enjoyed in my faith pilgrimage in Orthodoxy has been the right-spirited acknowledgement of Mary Magdalene as the Apostle to the Apostles—Apostolorum Apostola—and the admirable regard the Orthodox Church holds for her. Witnessing to the Resurrection is a shining attribute, not only of Mary Magdalene, but of the Resurrection story as a whole. The Gospel stories we hear week after week during Pascha herald the joy and life-transformation we share with Mary Magdalene and all the other witnesses to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Seeing Mary at the beginning of the Easter story, and hearing her speak with Jesus, makes me trust that women were likely among those present at most of the Resurrection appearances—and just didn’t get recorded.
The miracle Mary Magdalene experienced is so luminous and unusual-sounding described in Scripture, so fragmented and lightning-bright, so jagged with tender details of human nature, that I believe it happened that way. Nothing can tarnish the “super-trifecta” of all four Gospels remembering her as the first witness to the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior (Mt 28:1-10, Mk 16:1-11, Lk 24:1-12, Jn 20:1-8). Yet, it is natural that the faithful would long for a fuller story of Mary Magdalene, just as people demanded a fuller narrative of the early years of Jesus. Thus, by the sixth century, hagiographic embroidery preached in the west by Pope Gregory I (Serm 33.2 PL76, col 1239) produced the biblical confusion of two other New Testament characters folded in with the identity of Mary Magdalene. Her story was now conflated with that of Mary of Bethany and also the Sinful Anointing Woman described in Luke 7:36-50—and this salacious mistake introduced sinfulness into her character.
Since then, her trumped-up immoral reputation has unfortunately received greater visibility in the history of art than her Resurrection witness. Indeed, the resilient need of ancient people to push the conviction of sinfulness onto women saints has colored in remarkable hues what little we know about several prominent Early Christian women. And even today, we continue to identify Mary Magdalene as a sensationalized repentant sinner, even though she is simply not described that way in the Bible. Therefore, it is Mary Magdalene who is often seen pouring the oil from the alabaster anointing jar and standing in as the notorious harlot in Luke 7, a character which Luke himself clearly identifies as different than the Resurrection witness. And mind you, the two other anointing stories only witness to a woman anointing the head of Jesus, with no sin mentioned (Mt 26:6-13, Mk 14:3-8)—but still, the more scandalous image connected with Mary Magdalene, of long-hair caressing through tears and foot-kissing, stubbornly persists.
“Sometimes in our lives, tears are the lens we need to see Jesus,” as Pope Francis is reported to have said. Granted, but let us not rub her so raw in our neediness that she loses her Resurrection radiance. Her four-Gospel Pascha witness is still her startling attribute—yet, perhaps we sometimes really need someone to hold the Anointing Jar. Still, it is inspiring to imagine Mary Magdalene confronting the Emperor Tiberius Caesar, before whom she brought an egg as a symbol of Resurrection re-birth. And when he demanded that she turn it red—it miraculously did, making it the world’s first Easter egg.
So, with her Resurrection egg in one hand and the anointing jar in the other, Mary Magdalene still stands before us as a Resurrection witness, even if the ingrained unjust sinfulness persists. Perhaps, in some ways, we still need it. For if, in our continuing progress toward the truth of the Savior Jesus, we still cannot admit that we are shamefully sinful and forgiven by the Salvation of Jesus; then, Mary Magdalene shines as a Resurrection witness, but she also shoulders the false accusation that she is a repentant prostitute. Elements of her life, after all, even if questionably ascribed to her, help us literally reach through the veil of our earthly life and into the transcendent dimension of experiencing the forgiveness of God’s love.
The attraction of Mary Magdalene runs so deep that it is often connected to aroma. Memories of childhood smells, whether provocative or repellant, rush to mind faster and deeper than any of our other senses. And the Jerusalem anointing oil, Spikenard, thought to have originated in the Himalayas, is a unique and exotic balm of pleasure, when you are lucky enough to find the authentic product. Like the exotic fragrance of pure Gloria Orthodox incense to worship the sacred Body of Jesus Christ, oil of Spikenard thrusts us into the aromatic room with Jesus being anointed by a woman.
And what about the devils Jesus released from Mary Magdalene?—that’s in the Resurrection Gospel as well (Mk 16:9). Thinking in the context of contemporary science: What if, in the way we talk about people today, what if the devils removed by Jesus from the woman Mary Magdalene, like the devils released from any man, might actually mean some leprous skin rash, or maybe suffering a mentally disturbing autistic outburst. Or—what if the devils released were the very process of gaining understanding of Jesus, an understanding of Jesus’ message so deep that it garnered jealousy from the other Apostles who could clearly see it. I speak here of the “Gospel of Philip,” with their outcry: “Why do you love her more than all of us?” (NHC II, 3, p 64), and the “Pistis Sophia” (NHS9, 1, 17)—and even of the fragments of the “Gospel of Mary Magdalene;” in all of which, she appears to have become a significant theological dialoguing partner of Jesus.
What if the devils released from her were not sex after all, but simply the deep process of “getting it,” getting Jesus, and getting rid of everything else, as we all must do—of doing the theological work, to understand the radical message of Jesus. And Mary Magdalene gets it, and that was perhaps so threatening to those around her that the next words in her Gospel, explaining what the Lord, the Savior said to her, had to be ripped right off the page—as they were. (“In response the Savior said…” BG 8502, 1, 7.10, 4 pp missing.) Now, you already know that Mary Magdalene is indeed connected for all time with the narrative of the Resurrection—but also with other competing story traditions. Certainly, she is seen in Orthodox icons speaking the truth of Jesus’ message to the Apostles, as the Lord commanded her to do. These other roles where she is the archetype of the repentant sinner are, perhaps, inescapable—but, we as the faithful can still discern wisely our own priorities about her.
Mary Magdalene’s witness to the Resurrection can be seen through the sparkling prism of the entire Gospel corpus; so, if we think of her first in her mistaken identity as a prostitute, even though that may be fun, perhaps our priorities as one of the faithful could be put to better use. It is an unfortunate element of human nature that women are so often called upon to stand in as exemplars for adulterous sin of both men and women. But we can understand that tendency; and we can speak the truth and still enjoy the art. The story of Mary Magdalene witnesses boldly to the birth of Christianity, which we know was peopled with men and women alike. We know that from the Gospels, from Acts, and the Epistles of Paul. We know that men and women followed as disciples the teaching of Jesus, and they changed the world. Mary Magdalene is mentioned over a dozen times in the Gospels, and we can read glimpses of the fact that she understood Jesus and his interpretation of the Scriptures, even when the other disciples refused to believe her and did not yet understand.
What shall we make of all this, then, especially in the face of flagrant misappropriation and the vast treasury of sexy Western art? Here we are with the benefit of biblical research and archeological manuscript discovery, with Mary Magdalene also prominently witnessed in the extracanonical Gospels electronically available to us. We can choose for ourselves what to do with the core Gospel message, and we can contextualize that with other texts which we know were circulating in Early Christian times. We have the opportunity as the faithful today to align our priorities well within the complexity of Christian history.
So, am I asking you to untangle Pope Gregory’s frankly fabulist character composite?—no. Am I asking you to refrain from luxuriating in Renaissance paintings of a long-haired Magdalene setting aside her jewels to gaze at a skull? No—those images have grown to be a beloved part of our spiritual culture. However, we do cling to the lesser priorities about Mary Magdalene at our own peril, when we have a Gospel witness to the Resurrection standing before us, and she is proclaiming the “Go and tell the Good News” message spoken to her by the Resurrected Lord and quoted in three of the Gospels (Mt 28:10, Mk 16:7, Jn 20:17). This is the message, mind you, which established and activated Christian evangelism. So, how you regard Mary Magdalene beyond the four-Gospel witness is up to you as the faithful.
It is a joyful privilege to be venerating a witness to the Resurrection. Just think of the miracle of seeing the risen Christ—contemplating it in prayer thrusts us back into that astonishing sunrise at the tomb. So, can we venerate Mary Magdalene without the Sinful Anointing Woman coloring her wardrobe? Yes—so, it may not be the best use of your priorities if you are the one who mentions Mary Magdalene as a prostitute before any other attribute—with the truth of her presence at the Resurrection right there, just beyond your lips. Truly, we can still hold all these things together while honoring the Apostle to the Apostles which Mary Magdalene remains, and we can venerate her wisely and reverently on her feast-day.