Was Jesus married?

Professor and Hollis Chair in Theology at Harvard University Karen King has released research into a previously unknown fragment of a Coptic manuscript in which Jesus tells his disciples about his wife. The papyrus fragment dates back to the fourth century AD. However, scholars consider it a copy of an earlier text, presumably written around 150 AD, writes Harvard Magazine .

Karen King's discovery

The manuscript—4 centimeters high and 8 centimeters wide—contains eight lines of text in Coptic (a dead language of Upper Egypt whose writing is based on the Greek alphabet - editor's note). However, only fragments of the text have been preserved.

Translation of PublicPost by Harvard Magazine

First line: "My mother gave me" (presumably life)
Second line: "The disciples said to Jesus"
Third line: "Deny. Mary is worthy of it" (or not worthy)
Line four: "Jesus said to them, 'My wife.'
Fifth line: "She can become my student"
Line six: "Let angry people swell"
Line seven: “As for me, I abide (live) with her so that”
Eighth line: “Image” (similarity) - broken papyrus, traces of ink

“This is the only extant text that explicitly describes Jesus speaking to his wife,” says King in an abstract of her speech at the Tenth World Congress of Coptic Studies. The full text of the report will be published in January 2013 on the pages of the university almanac Harvard Theological Review. However, King believes that the text should be taken not as evidence that Jesus had a wife, but as evidence that some early Christians believed that he did. According to the theologian, this text, like other second-century manuscripts speaking of Christ's celibacy, was written too late historically to be used as evidence or refutation of Jesus' marriage.

Fake or original?

In addition, the origin of the manuscript itself remains unknown. There is information only about the last two owners. The previous one, under the name Laukamp, ​​transferred the manuscript for research to the Free University of Berlin, as evidenced by a note from 1982, which is attached to the manuscript. Then scientists came to the conclusion that the manuscript could serve as evidence that Jesus had a wife. However, the further fate of their scientific work is unknown.

The manuscript was handed over to King by the last owner, who asked the scientists not to give their name to the press. All that is known about him is that he collects ancient texts. He decided to give the manuscript to scientists after reading Professor King’s monograph “The Gospel of Mary Magdalene: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle.” In 2011, scientists had the opportunity to see the ancient manuscript for the first time. In addition to Professor King, who specializes in the history of early Christianity, the manuscript was examined by Princeton University papyrusologist Anna-Maria Luijendijk and the director of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University, Roger Bagnall, one of the most respected papyrusologists in the expert community. Scientists agreed that, most likely, the ancient manuscript is not a fake, based on the fact that the manuscript was made using technology used in the fourth century (papyrus in scrolls was cut into pages and bound into a book), in addition, part of the manuscript was eaten away by insects . “All of this is almost impossible for a forger to recreate,” says King. However, the papyrus will continue to be checked for authenticity. Due to the impossibility of radiocarbon dating (the manuscript may be damaged), the chemical composition of the ink is now being analyzed.

Other texts and versions

Previously, supporters of the idea that Jesus may have been married to Mary Magdalene, one of his disciples, referred to the apocryphal Gospel of Philip : “Three walked with the Lord all the time. Mary, his mother, and her sister, and Magdalene, the one who was called his companion. For Mary is his sister, and his mother, and his companion [...] And the companion (of the Son is Mary) Magdalene (the Lord loved Mary) more than (all) the disciples, and he (often) kissed her (mouth). The rest (of the disciples, seeing) him (loving) Mary, said to him: “Why do you love her more than all of us?” The Savior answered them, he said to them: “Why do I not love you like her?”

In addition, similar evidence is contained in the apocryphalGospel of Mary Magdalene : “Peter said to Mary: “Sister, you know that the Savior loved you more than other women. Tell us the words of the Savior that you remember, which you know, not we, and which we have not heard.”

Jesus' wife in culture

This version is also reflected in artistic culture. In the book "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" by Michael Baigent, Richard Lee and Henry Lincoln, published in 1982, the descendants of the children of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, together with the descendants of noble French families, found the Mirovingian dynasty, as well as the mysterious organization Priory of Sion, members which guards the Holy Grail. This plot was developed by Dan Brown in the bestseller The Da Vinci Code.

The romance between Jesus and Mary Magdalene became one of the plot lines of Martin Scorsese's film adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis' novel The Last Temptation of Christ.

In the Orthodox tradition, Equal-to-the-Apostles Saint Mary Magdalene is considered one of the myrrh-bearing women who followed Christ after he cast out seven demons from her. Magdalene was also the first to see Christ after the Resurrection and spread this good news. In the Catholic tradition, with the light hand of Pope Gregory the Great, who suggested that the seven demons cast out by Jesus correspond to the seven deadly sins, there is also a version that Magdalene was a repentant harlot.