Orthodox Tradition teaches us that the Holy Virgin Mary was the only child of Saints Joakhim and Anna, but at John 19:25 we read, "Standing near the Cross of Jesus was His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary of Klopas, and Mary magdala." If our Church history is correct, how could Mary have had a sister? The first clue to our answer is that both women are named Mary. ! No family has two daughters and gives them both the same name! Therefore it is evident that the relationship between the two women has to be something different than our modern English concept of "sister".

The Gospel of Mary (referring to the Magdalene) says the following:
**Peter said to Mary, "Sister, we know that the Savior loved you more than the rest of women. Tell us the words of the Savior which you remember
Clearly, these passages establish as indisputable fact that, at least in some ancient gnostic communities, Mary Magdalene was thought of as having been the "Beloved Disciple" and the companion of the Lord. She is repeatedly singled out as the disciple whom Jesus loved the most. This would seem to contradict the assertion in the Fourth Gospel that the male founder of the Johannine Community is "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (John 13:23). How can there be two strong traditions each identifying two different people as the disciple whom Jesus loved the most? This begins to make sense if we explore the possibility that, in reality, both of these traditions are referring to the juxtaposition of John and Mary as one and the same disciple.

There is no doubt that the Beloved Disciple in the canonical version of the Fourth Gospel is an anonymous male disciple. Yet, as we have seen, the writings of the Nag Hammadi Library reflect a strong tradition repeatedly naming Mary Magdalene as the disciple whom Jesus loved. How do we explain this contradiction? They made references in the text to a "Beloved Disciple," but turned the disciple into an anonymous male. In two passages of the text, the Beloved Disciple and Mary Magdalene seem to be two different individuals by having them appear together in the same scenes. Perhaps they did this because they knew that the Greek-Roman gentile church leaders would not accept the authenticity of a Gospel written by a woman.

The Gospel apparently chose not to confuse or to offend its readers, to arouse suspicions or to strengthen prejudices, by explicitly identifying the witness behind the Gospel as female and by unreservedly presenting female disciples. Instead, it chose to leave both anonymous, making them male, in order to be able to present the thoughts and stories of Mary Magdalene, as the one behind the Gospel, in an acceptable manner.
 

The Gospel of Mary was discovered in 1896 by a man named Dr. Carl Reinhardt. Due to a series of unfortunate events, a translation wasn't published until 1955, when it appeared first in German. It first appeared in English along with the texts from the Nag Hammadi Library in 1977.

The Gospel of Mary is, sadly, missing several pages, so our understanding of the text is somewhat incomplete. Enough survives, however, to draw the conclusion that at least one sect of early Christianity, sometimes classified as "gnostic," held Mary Magdalene in high esteem as a visionary, apostle, and leader.

 

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