Nonetheless, doubt had already been expressed about Mary’s levitations as described in The Golden Legend: David Mycoff, The Life of Saint Mary Magdalene and of Her Sister Martha (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1989), lines 2299-2326. Such doubt is not surprising, since levitation was by this time associated with witchcraft.
154 Mary’s bones had long been venerated at Vezelay: This had been going on since the eighth century, according to the monks there; see Saxer, Le culte de Marie Madeleine en Occident, pp. 50, 53, 69, 70. As Saxer points out, the claim is not verifiable until the twelfth century.
156 Just seventy-five years earlier, relics said to be Mary’s, including a skull, had been looted during the sack of Constantinople: If there is a Templar connection in the development of Mary’s legend, this sorry episode may be the root of it. They were active participants in the sack of Constantinople in 1204, then still the capital of the Roman Empire and the seat of the patriarch of the Orthodox Church. The financial motivation for this atrocity was the repayment of financiers back in Venice, but the relics kept in Constantinople offered another attraction. Venice itself had profited centuries earlier by receiving the remains of Saint Mark, famously smuggled out of Alexandria in a barrel of pork.
Her bones are mixed in with those of thousands of other victims who were hacked to death in Magdala: I describe the final battle of Magdala in chapter 8, on the basis of }osvp’t‘tus Jewish War 3.462—542.
The Magdalene inheritance is not for Christianity alone or for Judaism alone: I have to disagree with Jane Schaberg’s description of “Magdalene Christianity” or “Magdalene Christianity”; see Jane Schaberg, “Magdalene Christianity,” in On the Cutting Edge: The Study of Women in Biblical Worlds—Essays in Honor of Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, eds. Jane Schaberg, Alice Bach, and Esther Fuchs (New York: Continuum, 2004), pp. 193—220. As she rightly says (p. 210), “Magdalene Christianity was not Christianity but a developing form (one of many) of first-century c.e. Judaism.” But since that is the case, we should avoid conflating Mary with religious categories that came after her. “Magdalene inheritance” seems to me a better description of her legacy.
Appendix
The Magdalene Source in the Synoptic Gospels (A Direct Translation from Luke and Mark)
And there were some women who had been healed from evil spirits and ailments—Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, Khuza’s wife (Herod’s commissioner), and Susanna and many others who provided for them from their belongings. [Luke 8:2—3!
And they proceed into Capernaum. At once on the Sabbaths he entered into the synagogue and taught. And they were overwhelmed at his teaching, because he taught them as having authority, and not as the letterers. And at once there was in their synagogue a person with an unclean spirit. He cried out and said, We have nothing for you, Nazarene Jesus! Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the holy one of God! Jesus scolded it and said: Shut up, and get out from him! The unclean spirit convulsed him, sounded with a big sound, and got out from him. And all were astonished. Result: they argued together, saying, What is this? A new teaching with authority? Even the unclean spirits he directs, and they obey him. And his fame went out at once everywhere, into all the surrounding land of Galilee. [Mark 1:21-28]
And they came to the opposite side of the Sea, into the area of the Gerasenes. He got out from the boat, and at once there met him from the tombs a person with an unclean spirit. He had the habitation among the tombs, and no one was any longer able—even with a chain—to bind him. (For many times he had been bound with fetters and chains, and the chains were torn apart by him, and the fetters smashed, and no one was capable of subduing him. And all night and day he was among the tombs and in the hills, shouting and wounding himself with stones.) He saw Jesus from a distance, and ran and worshipped him, and shouting with a big sound he says, I have nothing for you, Jesus Son of the highest God! I adjure you by God, do not torment me! Because he had been saying to him, Unclean spirit, get out from the person! And he interrogated him, What is your name? And it says to him, Legion is my name, because we are many. And they summoned him a lot, so that he would not dispatch them outside of the area. Yet there was there by the hill a big herd of pigs grazing. They summoned him and said, Send us into the pigs, so that we may enter into them. And he permitted them. The unclean spirits got out and entered into the pigs, and the herd rushed over the cliff into the sea, about two thousand, and they were choked in the sea. [Mark 5:1-13]
And a woman who had a flow of blood twelve years (and had suffered a lot from many physicians and had expended everything that was hers and had not improved, but rather got worse) had heard things concerning Jesus. She came in the crowd from behind, touched his garment. Because she was saying that: If I touch even his garments, I shall be saved. And at once the fountain of her blood dried up, and she knew in the body that she was cured from her plague. Jesus at once recognized in himself the power gone out from him and turned back in the crowd; he was saying, Who touched my garments? And his students were saying to him, Look at the crowd pressing you around, and you say, Who touched me? And he glared around to see the woman who had done this. But the woman was afraid and trembling: she knew what had happened to her. She came and fell before him and said all the truth to him. But he said to her, Daughter, your faith has saved you; depart in peace and be healthy from your plague. [Mark 5:25-34]
From there he arose and went away into the regions of Tyre. He entered into a home, and wished no one to know. And he was not able to be hid, but at once there heard about him a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit. She came, fell at his feet (but the woman was Greek, Syro-Phoenician by race), and asked him so that he would throw the demon out of her daughter. And he was saying to her, Let the children be satisfied first, because it is not fair to take the bread of the children and to throw it to the dogs. But she replied and says to him, Indeed, Lord: even the dogs under the table eat from the scraps of the children. He said to her, Because of this word, Depart: the demon has gone out from your daughter. She went away to her house, and found the child thrown upon the stretcher, and the demons having gone out. [Mark 7:24-30]
He again went out from the regions of Tyre and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the middle of the regions of Ten Cities. And they carry to him a deaf and mute person and they summon him so that he might lay the hand on him. He took him away from the crowd privately and put his fingers into his ears, spat and touched his tongue. He looked up into heaven and sighed and said to him, Ephatha (that is, Be opened up). And his hearings were opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke clearly. He ordered them strictly so that they would speak to no one, but as much as he ordered them, they announced rather all the more. And they were overwhelmed beyond all measure, saying, He was done everything well: he even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak. [Mark 7:31—37]
And they come into Bethsaida, and they carry to him a blind person and summon him, so that he would touch him. He took hold of the blind person’s hand and carried him away outside the village; he spat into his eyeballs, laid hands on him and interrogated him, You looking at anything? He looked up and was saying, I am looking at people, because I see them as walking trees. Then he laid hands on his eyes again; and he directed his gaze and was restored and perceived everything clearly. And he delegated him into his house, saying, Do not even enter the village. [Mark 8:22-26]
They came to the students and saw a big crowd around them and letterers arguing with them. At once all the crowd saw him and were completely astonished; they ran and greeted him. And he interrogated them, What are you arguing about with them? One from the crowd answered him, Teacher, I brought my son to you, who has a dumb spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it tosses him down, and he foams and gnashes his teeth and shrivels. And I talked to your students, so they would throw it out, and they were not capable. He answered them and says, Faithless generation, how long will I be for you? How long
will I endure you? Bring him to me! And they brought him to him. The spirit saw him and at once convulsed him up; he fell upon the ground and rolled, foaming. And he interrogated his father, For how much time has it happened like this to him? But he said, From infancy, and often it throws him into even both fire and water, to destroy him. But if you can, help us—feeling for us! But Jesus said to him, “If you can”—everything is possible to one who believes! At once the father of the child shouted and was saying, I believe: help my unbelief! But Jesus saw that a crowd was running together, and scolded the unclean spirit, saying to it, Dumb and deaf spirit, I direct you, get out of him and no longer enter into him. It shouted and convulsed a lot, and got out; and he became as if dead. Result: many said that he had died. But Jesus held his hand fast and raised him, and he arose. He entered into a house and his students interrogated him privately, Why were we not able to throw it out? And he said to them, This sort can go out by nothing except by prayer. [Mark 9:14-29]
He was in Bethany in the home of Simon the scabby, recumbent, and there came a woman who had an alabaster of genuine, expensive nard ointment. Smashing the alabaster, she poured over his head. But there were some angry among themselves. Why has this waste of the ointment happened? Because this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarü and given to the poor! And they were upbraiding her. But Jesus said, Leave her: why are you making problems for her? She has done a fine deed with me. Because you always have the poor with yourselves, and whenever you want, you can do them good, but me you do not always have. She acted with what she had; she undertook to oil my body for burial. Amen I say to you, wherever the message is proclaimed in the whole world, what she did will also be spoken of in memory of her. [Mark 14:3-9]
But there were also women perceiving from a distance, among whom were Mary the Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the less and Joses, and Salome, who when he was in Galilee followed him and provided for him, and many others who had gone up with him to Jerusalem. It already became evening, and since it was preparation (that is before Sabbath), Joseph from Arimathea—a reputable councilor who also expected the kingdom of God himself—came and dared to go into Pilate, and implored the body of Jesus. But Pilate was surprised that he had already died, and, summoning the centurion, interrogated him, Did he die long ago? He knew from the centurion and granted the corpse to Joseph. He purchased linen, took him down, wrapped him in the linen and placed him in a tomb which was carved from rock and rolled a stone upon the opening of the tomb. Yet Mary the Magdalene and Mary of Joses perceived where he was placed. [Mark 15:40-47]
And when Sabbath elapsed, Mary the Magdalene and Mary of James and Salome purchased spices so they could go anoint him. And very early on the first of the Sabbaths they come upon the tomb when the sun dawned. And they were saying to one another, Who will roll the stone away from the opening of the tomb for us? They looked up and perceived that the stone had been rolled off (because it was exceedingly big). They went towards the tomb and saw a young man sitting on the right appareled in a white robe, and they were completely astonished. But he says to them, Do not be completely astonished. You seek Jesus the crucified Nazarene. He is raised; he is not here. Look—the place where they laid him. But depart, tell his students and Peter that he goes before you into Galilee; you will see him there, just as he said to you. They went out and fled from the tomb, because trembling and frenzy had them. And they said nothing to any one; they were afraid, because— [Mark 16:1—8]
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