Gnosticism - The Gospel of Mary Magdalene - Salvation through Self-Knowledge of the Soul & Mind

it's truly difficult to imagine the first century or so of early Christianity to peer back through the glare of two Millennia to witness a period before an elaborate rigid hierarchy exclusively dominated by men decided Doctrine back before the Cradle formulations of nicaea or even the apostolic Creed back even before the New Testament existed as a collection of Sacred Scriptures much less elaborate christologies are trinitarian economics even when before there was even a concept of what salvation meant and the christhood of Jesus was still widely being debated it was truly a period of Daring spiritual philosophical and mystical development and while that period is honestly difficult to imagine the past few centuries have given us a small window onto just that period through the recovery of ancient text from that very Crucible in Christian history one of those texts presents us a radically different Christianity than the one that's come down to most of us here the Savior teaches that an inward spiritual turn is key to Salvation rather than the tortured death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth that the key to Salvation May lie in secret teachings revealed through prophetic visions that Apostolic Authority rests on understanding that secret rather than dynastic transmission and that Mary Magdalene and not the rock of Peter was the true recipient of that secret and thus the true heir of apostolic Christianity recovered in the late 19th century let's explore one of those texts the Gospel of Mary the only gospel attributed to a woman to have survived from that early period in Christian history and one that presents a Christianity utterly unlike what has survived down to us today if you're interested in gnosticism Magic hermetic philosophy Alchemy Kabbalah or the general history of the occult make sure to subscribe here to esoterica and check out my other content on topics in esotericism including curated playlists on various genres also if you want to support this work of providing accessible scholarly and free content on topics and as a terrorism here on YouTube for free I'd hope you consider supporting my work on patreon you could do that with a one-time donation or you could even use the Nifty super thanks feature down below the video but now let's turn to the Gospel of Mary in its radical vision for Christian salvation I'm Dr Justin Sledge and welcome to esoterica where we explore the Arcane in history philosophy and religion [Music] [Music] the Gospel of Mary is well it's kind of not a gospel in the sense of a retelling of the life teachings execution and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth as in the four gospels that you're probably more familiar with but in early Christianity the term gospel was just the term good news and could be more broadly understood as extolling that good news the good news of the Salvation by Christ such as in other texts like the valentinian Gospel of Truth in this sense the genre was more extensive and in that sense the Gospel of Mary can be rightly called well a gospel as we have it the Gospel of Mary survives in three fragmentary texts the most extensive is a 5th Century Coptic manuscript purchased in 1896 but there are two other much more fragmentary texts so earlier in fact those sections have been recovered in ancient Greek sadly less than half of the original text is preserved with the first six to eight text of the beginning lost along with another four pages either again missing or lost they might turn up one day we can hope indeed the publication of the text itself seems positively cursed with everything from broken pipes to the discovery of the more famous nag hamadi Library the gospel Mary isn't found in that collection just FYI and even the Advent of the World Wars all helped to stall production for nearly a century after its Discovery dating the text is also a thorny issue though most Scholars date it somewhere on a spectrum from early to late in the second century of the Common Era personally I have to say that I do find the arguments for an earlier dating in the second century rather plausible if not totally convincing obviously you should read the literature and decide for yourself the Gospel of Mary is anonymous but considering the Central and authoritative role played by Mary Magdalene in the text it's certainly possible that it was composed by a woman or at least dictated by a woman or at least in an environment where feminine or gender egalitarian Christian Authority was practiced though there is some debate about just what Mary is presented in this text there were at least a half a dozen Mary's in the early Jesus movement from the mother and the aunt of Jesus who is all but in name Apostle and financial backer Mary of magdala one of several such prominent women in the early Jesus movement Mary of magdala is a extraordinarily complex character in the gospels whom Luke for instance has being exercised of seven demons but who was among the very earliest followers of Jesus at his execution apparently there were no men there just women followers and she may have been the first witness of the empty tomb at least there in the Gospel of John further she's also witness to the Risen Christ who famously bids her not to touch him or cling to him because he has not yet ascended to the father whatever that means in the Gospel of John Mary would also continue to feature in non-canonical Christian scriptures where she's often found among the other disciples and apostles discussing a wide range range of topics with Jesus both pre and post-resurrection though her questions and even her very presence as a woman is a common source of vexation for the men in these texts however in texts like the piste Sophia the Gospel of Philip and the Gospel of Mary her spiritual and authoritative preeminence are apparent despite this preeminence or probably because of that preeminence Mary Magdalene is only infrequently mentioned in the patristic sources indeed in Western Christendom the Mary's of the New Testament underwent a process of conflation they all the Mary's all got flattened together with the result that Mary of magdala eventually emerges as a repentant sex worker and an important homily of Pope Gregory the first and around 591 of the Common Era this view would become positively pervasive in Western Christianity though it's worth noting that this whole merry conflation and the sex worker Legend Never developed in eastern Christianity not that women were going to be playing a central role in the development of Christendom and that neck of the woods either though it's not like a sex worker couldn't rise to prominence as a leading Apostle disciple of Jesus whatever the idea that women in general in Mary Magdalene specifically were destined to a second-class spiritual or authority position in the development of Christianity is not only far from obvious but positively contraindicated in texts like the Gospel of Mary as I just mentioned we have just shy of half of the text but the sections that do survive are theologically breathtaking sadly the first six to eight pages are missing as I mentioned but the text appears to be a kind of post-resurrection q a session question and answer session between Jesus and his disciples some of which were women including Mary most prominently when the text does pick up the Savior answers a question about the fate of all substances in the cosmos here and in other places as we'll see the answers strike a rather stoic and platonic rather than rather than a Jewish tone we learned that while all of matter and spirit are now intermingled at the end of time they will return to their respective Roots matter back to the unformed state of raw potentiality look very aristillion idea and spirit back to its source and the Divine realm note the lack of any apocalyptic judgment in this answer that's more common in Jewish than in Pagan philosophical currents for instance in stoicism everything just gets swallowed up in a giant fire and that question Bears on the next question taken up by Jesus what is sin again Jesus strikes the middle platonist philosopher rather than the Jewish Sage concerned with I don't know demonic uncleanliness you might see in the Dead Sea Scrolls in a pretty shocking Revelation the Savior reveals that sin as such it doesn't exist rather it comes into being as much as it can be said to have any kind of real ontological status through a kind of metaphysical adultery where the material flesh is indulged in over and against the true spiritual self because the true spiritual self is eternal taking the temporal temporary physical self as the true self it's a kind of infidelity literally of faithlessness in our true self and our Eternal Destiny by extension the Savior declares that this is the true origin of both sickness and death because of true self can and will never grow ill and die Souls don't get sick and die only if one confuses the true spiritual self with the material self giving into the delusion of the physical body as the true self can one ever really grow ill and die it's this disturbing confusion that the teachings of the Savior are meant to upend and thus free people such that they will enjoy Eternal spiritual life just as a savior does despite his physical execution and death but note what isn't the key issue for this salvific teaching it's not the death and resurrection of Jesus then the Gospel of Mary the soteriology or the theory of Salvation is truly about understanding the teachings of the Savior and avoiding this disturbing confusion and thus the metaphysical adultery that causes one to cling to Temporary physical reality and thus prevents final and eternal spiritual freedom from this material realm indeed gaining that understanding in typical stoic and platonic fashion even liberates one from suffering in this world one simply becomes indifferent a diaphora apathya to use something like stoic language because this isn't this isn't truly real finally the realm or the Divine isn't a remote heaven or hell it isn't a place of punishment frankly there doesn't appear to be a hell at all in this theology rather the Divine realm or the Divine kingdom is imminent to one's true spiritual self it's a return to that substance dependent on grasping that simple but counter-intuitive truth you aren't this this isn't real indeed in the savior's final message to his disciples he desperately urges them not to look here and there but only to turn within such that those who turn to their true spiritual selves will become liberated further that no external law will provide them salvation no amount of external rule following or rituals of any kind will substitute for the radical self-understanding as an eternal spiritual being that will return you to the Divine after one's physical body returns to its proper root source that the Magdalene has grasped this understanding while the other Apostles have not is apparent in just the next section the Savior bids all the disciples farewell and all of them but Mary break out in tears they are terrified that if they teach the message of the Savior publicly they will share his fate cruel physical execution again a fate that Jesus and Mary Magdalene who understands the true message of the savior aren't in the least bit afraid of indeed the Savior has given them the truth that allows them to become true human beings transcending physical limitations like death and gender a limitation that men in power have a more difficult time transcending than even death as women and gender non-conforming people just witness all the time at this point in the dialogue Peter The Rock upon which the church WIll in fact be built defers to Miriam for the teachings that the Savior has provided to her given that she was uniquely loved by the Savior and as he admits this much indeed other gospels especially the Gospel of Philip have Mary denoted as the companion of Jesus such that Christ loved Mary more than all the other disciples and he used to often kiss her on the mouth the rest of the disciples were offended by this and expressed disapproval they said to Jesus why do you love her more than all of us and the Savior answered and said to them why do I not love you like her when a blind man and one who sees are both together in the darkness they are no different from one another but when the light comes then he who sees will see the light and he who is blind will remain in darkness I think I'll need some cold water for that burn now there is a lot going on here but the Gospel of Philip is likely using physical intimacy as part of his complex use of symbolism and such kisses were also part of early Christian ritual and it's also possible that the historical Jesus and Mary Magdalene hooked up or something I mean there's not much evidence for that kind of gnostic rom-com that needs to be you know starring George Clooney as Yeshua and Julia Roberts as Miriam but what's stopping what's stopping someone from making this movie regardless this is the only place in Christian literature where Mary and Mary alone seems to be the the person who gets the true teachings of Christ and the much later piste Sophia which is a truly psychedelic and underappreciated text we have the Savior extolling Mary as such Mary you are the blessed one who I will perfect in all mysteries of those of the height discourse and openness you whose heart is raised to the kingdom of heaven more than all of your brothers and Well Done Mary you are more blessed than all the women on the earth because you will be the fullness of the fullness and the completion of the completion of course this praise will also earn Mary Magdalene the ire of some of her brothers especially Peter more on that in a moment but at this point in the gospel Mary begins to instruct Peter and the rest of the disciples on the secret teachings that were revealed to her in a vision by the Savior now visions and prophecy were common in the early church and this would have been not that unusual the Visions like many Visions were however apparently terrifying how many Angels have to start their Visions with all Torah like fear not ditto Jesus Praises Mary for not wavering during the vision further it's her mental grasp on the truth of the vision that is evidence of her Spiritual Development mirroring the stoic Sage whose grasp of reality is always the result of a strong Ascent to a catalyptic impression and thus never wavers in their steadfast inner Tranquility so to marry while the soul appears to be the aspect of the human being that enlivens them it's the Mind according to the Gospel of Mary that grasped the salvific truth or as the Savior tells to Mary for where the mind is there is the treasure sadly there are four more pages missing at this key point in the discourse in which the revelation of the secret teachings from the Savior to Mary to Peter and the other disciples but when the text picks back up Mary is describing the process by which the Eternal Soul escapes the Demonic Gatekeepers of this material world which seek to confuse trap and torture it the soul apparently faces a series of celestial Gatekeepers that the text calls the power of Wrath namely Darkness desire ignorance Zeal for death Realm of the flesh foolish wisdom of the Flesh and wisdom of the wrathful person we learn how to escape past desire and ignorance and perhaps Zeal for death or wrath more generally desire is conquered in that in that it lays claim to the physical body that descended to the material realm but the soul contends that desire only has power power over the Garment of the soul that is the body and not the soul itself she ascends the soul encounters then ignorance who claims that the soul is bound by the judgments that it made in accordance to an external law remember Jesus warning us not to uh attach ourselves to an external law but the soul rejects that it judges according to such a law because while such laws can bind the body they cannot bind the soul thus free of Law and judgment the soul escapes and this gives new and profound meaning to the statement of Jesus judge not least you be judged then finally the soul comes to the powers of Wrath where the soul is accused of nothing less than murder for shedding its physical body of course the soul reminds wrath that the death of the body is not truly death that the true self is the soul of course and that will now rest in a new aeon of Silence I suspect this is also one of the criticisms of the forms of the Zeal for death this actually may be an attack on early Christian Notions that martyrdom physical death guarantees salvation note that Zeal for death is still only Zeal for physical death but physical death has nothing to do with true salvation for the Gospel of Mary that salvation only occurs when the Mind grass the true reality of the inner self as Eternal Soul thus Zeal for death would only accomplish physical death and thus trap it at this very level on the route to its final Redemptive escape from this realm finally Mary takes Repose in just the silence that she mentioned her soul is at rest at ataraxia it's peaceful and also this is just the limit of what the secret teaching was revealed to her in her vision by the savior and that's when the attack comes Andrew pounces first arguing that the Savior never taught these strange ideas and then Peter continues The Assault on Mary arguing that not only with the favor not have taught such ideas and private but he would have never revealed them to a woman this Echoes other attacks by Peter on the teachings and centrality of Mary Magdalene and other Christian teachings in the piste Sophia Peter exclaims my master we cannot endure this woman who gets in our way and does not let any of us speak though she talks all the time bossy lady stereotype indeed Mary expresses her fear of Peter in his attack on her because of her gender and not because of the character of her teachings which the actual savior concludes by telling all of them any of those filled with the spirit of light will come forward to interpret what I say no one will be able to oppose them thus settling that gender has no bearing on spiritual truth and and its teaching more famous and more shocking than that is the final teaching in the Gospel of Thomas which everybody loves for some reason Simon Peter said to them let Mary go forth from Among Us for women are not worthy of the life Jesus said behold I shall lead her Thou shalt make her male in order that she will also become a Living spirit like y'all males for every woman who makes herself male shall enter the kingdom of Heaven of course a great deal of ink has been spilled on that last section and I am not going to try to settle that here although I have some ideas about it that are actually related to The Gospel of Mary here but we see in these texts is a literary rivalry between Mary and Peter that may very well mirror a rivalry in the early Christian factions more generally this literary rivalry may actually be mirroring an actual reality in early Christianity that is to say we might have a Marian soteriology that perhaps represents an inward turning decentralized theory of Salvation where Authority is based on correct knowledge of the savior's teachings on the other hand there may have been a petrine mode of outward salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus properly maintained through the immediate intermediation of a more institutional body with diagnostic Authority flowing from Peter indeed this Marian model might be further pushed back against a combined Peter Paul Duality recall that Paul has Peter at the itty tomb first not Mary Magdalene like in some of the other gospels especially in terms of the ability of women to teach and lead in the ancient Church First Corinthians 14 infamously has it that as in all the congregation of the Saints women should remain silent in the churches they are not allowed to speak but must be in submission as the law says if they want to inquire about something they should go home and ask their husbands for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the Ecclesia and of course don't forget First Timothy 2 a woman should learn in quietness and full submission I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man she must remain silent yes despite Galatians actually noting there's no longer male and female in Christ but let's just ignore that for a minute the pushback here is clearly about the gender of Mary and her selection for those secret teachings despite Peter's own acknowledgment of her special place among the disciples certainly the field of christianities that existed during the time of the composition of the Gospel of Mary debated a wide range of fundamental topics and surely the role of prophetic woman-led Apostolic Authority must have been one of them the Gospel of Mary may give us a window onto that debate not only a debate in the early church but also to a mode of Christianity practiced for hundreds of years but now lost to us remember we have evidence of this text being probably used from the second century to at least the fifth that's hundreds of years in which the Gospel of Mary may have been authoritative in at least some communities but the attack by Peter Rouse's Miriam ha magdali out of her Serene silence bursting she bursts into tears as Peter questions her integrity and the Integrity of her teachings only Levy often thought to have been a hated tax collector chides Peter for his Infamous temper I mean he did cut off a guy's ear at once but then Jesus put it back on thanks JC and for treating her like one of the very demonic adversaries that the soul must face in its final Ascent Levy Compares Peter to an archon he then argues that clearly the Savior held her in favor and thus her teaching should likewise be held in such esteem and those who do otherwise Peter yeah and Andrew you too Andrew should be ashamed of themselves finally the text leaves us with two different slightly nuanced endings which could be of some importance in the Greek ending Levy and Mary apparently go forth and begin teaching the gospel apparently according to the secret Revelation that Mary gets the Coptic text just ends such that they they perhaps all the disciples went forth to teach the gospel but what gospel note that the text never reconciles Mary with Peter and Andrew for all we know and I think this is to the point Peter and Andrew go forth with their gospel and Marion Levy go forth with their gospel thus explaining perhaps the origins of the then rivalry between perhaps the more Marian and Petron churches during the time the Gospel of Mary was being written down thus Peter's inability to accept Mary magdalene's leadership merely because of her gender despite her prophetic Visions her unique status with Jesus and even Peter's own acknowledgment of her Spiritual Authority he asks her to teach him may actually cause him to go forth and teach a gospel that not only will not liberate people but will trap their souls and the realm of the archons the final words of the Gospel of Mary are indeed a stark warning to the would-be reader into the would-be initiate into that disturbingly confused Petron Christianity as the Gospel of Mary might have had it and perhaps of the very progenitor of so-called Orthodoxy itself notice that I haven't really called this amazing text Gnostic really even once during the whole episode but mostly because I'm not really sure it's a terribly helpful category for understanding what's going on in this text in fact the ascent of the soul the mild dualism and even The Gatekeepers of the Soul could just as well be found in hermetic and other middle platonic text it really reminds me a lot in the ways of the poimandres more than anything else surely understanding of the truth of the nature of the self as soul is kind of nastic but it's also kind of hermetic kinda stoic and kind of platonic and I've tried to point that out along the way in my discussion of this really wonderful text categories are never real but they're sometimes useful and sometimes they're not I think gnosticism may be a case here where that category just might not be that useful for understanding what's going on in the Gospel of Mary of course if you want to study this text on your own I would actually pick it up and read it in the Meyer edition of the nakamati scriptures although it wasn't found in nakamadi this is truly a necessary and affordable purchase but the studies by King Douglas de Boer and Tuckett are all wonderful if you really want to get out your gospel married chops and you're going to work through all of those Brock's study of Mary Magdalene is among the very best I love that text and I'd say that Kings the Gospel of Mary magdala is my favorite study of the Gospel of Mary her translation in that text is wonderful and it highlights the difference between the Greek and the Coptic text really really well and it really covers the text in a very deep yet really accessible way even for a non-specialist it's also affordable which is not a guarantee if you've been hanging around here for long at all it's like 20 bucks and brand new of course more Gnostic content is always on the way despite my distrust of that term until next time I'm Dr Justin Sledge and thank you for watching esoterica where we explore the Arcane and history philosophy and religion

Channel: ESOTERICA

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Length: 31min 5sec (1865 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 07 2022