It is believed that Mary Magdalene was born in a city located in the fertile plain of Genesaret on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, which in ancient times was also called Lake Tiberias. In biblical times, the coastal port city was the center of local trade. Today, these places are now home to the Jewish settlement of Migdal and the Arab village of Al-Majdal.
In comparison with religious Judea, the inhabitants of Galilee were distinguished by a freer disposition. In addition, port cities have at all times been famous for their special free and cheerful flavor, just look at the current seaside cities, for example, Odessa, Marseilles. Perhaps it was because of the free morals of the port city that the conservative and patriarchal inhabitants of the settlements located in desert oases stuck the label of a harlot on Mary Magdalene?
The "harlot" was especially insisted on by the Catholic Christian tradition, learned monks and scribes. While the armed defenders of the church, the medieval Western knights, these stern, pious Catholics, like a soldier, ingenuously endowed Mary Magdalene with aristocratic features.
I can’t believe that Mary Magdalene was in reality a harlot, and there is evidence of this. I do not know who exactly was Mary of Magdala to Jesus of Nazareth, and whether they were in a relationship. I am only expressing my personal value judgment about the events that happened 2,000 years ago, based on sources in the public domain. As a lawyer, I understand more clearly the message about Mary Magdalene as a woman, perhaps closer to Jesus than people are used to thinking.
Let's take a look at the financial value of the myrrh oil that Mary Magdalene used to lubricate Jesus' feet. The current oil of myrrh, used in church services, is brewed with olive oil, white wine, rose petals and about 30 other different ingredients. There is no single recipe for butter for all Christians; the manufacturers used the incense that was inexpensive, customary and widespread in the area of a particular church parish.
In the Gospel period, myrrh oil was made from nard, which was extracted from the roots of aromatic herbs that grew on the peaks of the Himalayas in India. "Yatamansi" is the so-called "Himalayan backgammon", and we meet its distant relative in our pharmacies, because this is a plant from the family valerian. From the roots of yatamansi, an amber-colored essential oil is obtained, which has a peaty-earthy aroma with animal notes.
In ancient times, yatamansi was highly valued because it was used to extract "backgammon", and "backgammon ointment" has been known since the time of Solomon and is mentioned in the Bible.
With this story about backgammon, I intend to show the reader that the gospel myrrh is not at all what was used and is used in the subsequent historical period.
The ancient “biblical” oil of myrrh was most often used diluted with cheaper ingredients. hundred dollars.
In Gospel times, Jewish women used small, narrow-necked alabaster jugs that could hold a few drops of incense. Alavastr is a white semi-precious stone.
I consider it necessary to give a reference, since the Internet confuses incorrect information in the Russian Wikipedia. In fact, today's alabaster and ancient alabaster are two big differences. Quite simply, "alabaster" is the name of two different minerals: gypsum (calcium diaquasulfate) and calcite (calcium carbonate), of which the first is alabaster, which we use today, and the second is mostly the name of the material in antiquity. species differ significantly from each other in relative hardness.
Gypsum is so soft that it can be scratched with a fingernail (Mohs hardness 2), while calcite is hard enough (Mohs hardness 3), but can be easily scratched with a knife. In addition, calcite alabaster, being a carbonate, reacts violently with hydrochloric acid, while gypsum alabaster in this case remains inert.
Let's go back to our rams.
Mary spent a whole pound (400 grams) of the precious oil by anointing Jesus with myrrh (John 12: 3), the cost of myrrh at the then prices was 300 denarii. For comparison, the daily salary in Galilee was 1 denarius. Therefore, Mary Magdalene spent 10 months' average salary on one bottle of myrrh oil,
and this is too high a price for a harlot. High material spending on a man is affordable only for a wealthy and in love woman. Wealthy, because Mary Magdalene paid a huge amount for the oil of myrrh, and in love, because this woman remained with Jesus until the end, until his painful death.
In the Gospel of John 6: 7, in the story of the miracle of feeding 5000 people, it is said: "They will not have enough bread for two hundred denarii, so that everyone gets at least a little", which means the apostles discussed the possibility of buying bread for five thousand people for 200 denarii. Biblical scholars estimate that in the time of Jesus, 300 denarii could feed 5,000 people.
And now all this wealth in the form of oil of myrrh is poured out by Mary on Jesus, regardless of the costs, and of course, the apostles reproached for this inappropriate wastefulness, but Jesus himself expressed support for Mary's actions.
Mark. 14: 3-9: "And when He was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, and reclined, a woman came with an alabaster vessel of peace made of pure and precious nard and, breaking the vessel, poured it on His head." Some were indignant and spoke among themselves: what is this waste of the world for? For it could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor. And they murmured at her. But Jesus said: leave her; why are you embarrassing? She did a good deed for Me. For you always have the poor with you, and when you want, you can do them good; but you do not always have Me. She did what she could: she came beforehand to anoint my body for burial. Truly I say to you: wherever this Gospel is preached in the whole world, it will be said, in her memory, and of what she did. "
It was to Mary Magdalene, the first of the people, that Jesus appeared after the Resurrection: John 20, 11-18; Mk 16, 9-11 "Mary Magdalene was crying at the tomb of the Lord and suddenly she saw two Angels." Woman! - they said, - why are you crying? " She, probably not understanding with whom she was speaking, answered: “They took my Lord away, and I don’t know where they put Him.” And then, turning around, she saw Jesus Himself standing nearby, Who turned to her with the words: “Woman, why are you crying? Whom are you looking for? " She did not recognize Him and, thinking that he was a gardener, said to Him: Master, if you carried Him out, tell me where you put Him, and I will take Him. Then the Lord addressed her by the name: "Mary!" She exclaimed in Hebrew: "Rabboni!" Which means: Teacher! But the Lord said to her: "Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brothers (that is, the disciples and apostles) and say to them that I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God. ”As a witness of the resurrection of Christ, Mary Magdalene hurried to the apostles and announced to them that she had seen the Lord and what He had told her.”
Of course, the fact that the resurrected Jesus first saw Mary of Magdala is not in itself proof of their special closeness, but ...
Consider now another piece of evidence, the wedding at Cana of Galilee. The text of the Gospel of John reads: “On the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the Mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and His disciples were also invited to the marriage. And as there was a lack of wine, the Mother of Jesus said to Him: They have no wine. Jesus says to her: what is to me and to you, wife? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants: whatever He says to you, do it.
There were also six stone waterpots, standing according to the custom of the cleansing of the Jews, containing two or three measures. Jesus says to them: Fill the vessels with water. And filled them to the top. And he said to them: Now draw out and take it to the master of the feast. And they carried it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine - and he did not know where this wine came from, only the servants who drew the water knew - then the steward calls the groom and says to him: every person serves good wine first, and when they get drunk, then the worst; and you have saved good wine until now. So Jesus started miracles in Cana of Galilee and showed His glory; and his disciples believed in him. " John (2: 1-11).
In other canonical gospels, there is no mention of this episode, although this is the first miracle performed by Jesus. Theologians believe that the description of the Evangelist John contains an allusion to the replacement of the old Jewish times with new, Christian ones,
from the point of view of scholarly biblical historians, this is a completely justified version, but another is closer to me. I think that the evangelist John described a very real wedding and not anyone, but Jesus himself.
Let's reconstruct this event together mentally. So, at the wedding, the wine ran out, a matter of everyday life, and one of the female guests helped out the hosts, got hold of wine. I think this is a problem with reality,
it would be more logical to assume that for additional wine the wedding manager turned not to the woman-guest, but either to the mistress of the house or to the groom's relatives. In this particular case, the steward turned to Mary, the mother of Jesus, she informed her son about the problem (who else was there to contact?) And Jesus performed a miracle by filling the jugs with wine. And the guests are drunk and rejoicing, and the manager flatters, talking about the best wine reserved at the end of the wedding.
Agree, this reconstruction is quite realistic, although, of course, this is nothing more than an assumption. Too much time has passed, events have been interpreted in many different ways.
It just seemed to me not logical that the guest was taking care of wine at the wedding, but logical that the groom's mother, to whom the manager informed about the lack of wine.
Finally, I see evidence in the presence of Mary of Magdala at the execution of Jesus of Nazareth. I turn to the main, clear, understandable to me argument, to the presence of Mary Magdalene at the execution of Jesus of Nazareth. According to Roman laws of that time, the presence of female relatives at the execution of a man was allowed in any case. It was an inalienable birthright, to hinder the exercise of this right and did not occur to the Romans, selfish, belligerent but enlightened.
Three women were present at the execution of Jesus in the immediate vicinity of the cross: mother Mary, aunt Anna, and ... Mary Magdalene! I'll make a reservation about the "aunt", I know the version that it could have been both "Jesus' cousin" and "the sister of his mother Mary", and that the aunt could have been named Ruth or Salome. But the name of the aunt is not the main thing here, because I am not a historian or a theologian, I am not interested in who exactly was Jesus' “aunt”. It is important that this woman was a relative of Jesus, and therefore the Romans allowed her to be executed.
Do you wonder why Mary the mother of Jesus did not drive the "harlot" out of the place of execution? After all, it was enough to declare to any legionnaire standing in the cordon of Mount Calvary: “I am Mary, mother, I am present here by law. Next to me is Jesus' aunt, also a relative. But this woman (pointing to Mary Magdalene) is unknown who. She is a harlot. Remove her from the place of execution. " And the nearest legionnaire, with a blow of the blunt end of the pilum, this short spear with a very long blade made of soft, unhardened metal, would have driven Mary Magdalene from the place of execution of Jesus of Nazareth. But it was the three above-mentioned women who remained with Jesus until his very earthly end, until his last breath.
I dare not draw conclusions from what I have written, because a lot of time has passed, there are different sources and traditions and mystical teachings that have come from them, scientists even know the apocrypha "The Gospel of Mary Magdalene." Personally, I do not consider Mary of Magdala described in the gospels to be a harlot.
Mosaic by N.K.Bodarevsky (1895-1907, Savior on Spilled Blood)
