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The Fourth Gospel was authored by an anonymous follower of Jesus referred to within the Gospel text as the Beloved Disciple. In the Fourth Gospel's community, the now "anonymous" Beloved Disciple was known to be Mary Magdalene.

Mary Magdalene is the author of the Fourth Gospel in the sense in which antiquity defined authorship The author is the person whose ideas the book expresses, not necessarily the person who set pen to papyrus The Gospel went through several phases of modification. The end result of these modifications was the eventual suppression of her role as author of this Gospel and leader of their community.

One fact is very clear: For some reason, the writer of the Gospel of John wanted to keep the identity of the Beloved Disciple a secret. This disciple was obviously an extremely important figure in the history of their community. Why, then, is the name of this disciple concealed? Was the goal to protect this disciple from persecution? Is it possible that the writer of the final draft had forgotten the name of their beloved founder? Not very likely. This is, indeed, an interesting mystery.

Mary Magdalene remains a most elusive and mysterious figure. Speculation about her role in the development of early Christianity is not new. . this woman who is cited by all four Gospels as being present at both the Crucifixion of Jesus and the Empty Tomb on the morning of the Resurrection.

The identification of Mary Magdalene as the disciple whom Jesus loved is reflected in the Gnostic Christian writings of Nag Hammadi -- e.g., the Gospel of Philip and the Gospel of Mary.

The evidence which links authorship of the Fourth Gospel to Mary Magdalene is found in the Gnostic writings of the Nag Hammadi Library. Of particular interest are the Gospel of Philip and the Gospel of Mary (referring to Magdalene).

These manuscripts belonged to Gnostic Christians. Most scholars cite the mid-second century as the earliest plausible date of composition for these documents. However, a few of the documents are said by some to have been written as early as the late first century -- making them contemporary with the New Testament Gospels

Let's look at excerpts from the Nag Hammadi Library. This first passage comes to us from the Gospel of Philip:
** And the companion of the [Savior is] Mary Magdalene. [But Christ loved] her more than [all] the disciples [and used to] kiss her [often] on her [mouth].
Another passage from the Gospel of Philip reads as follows:
**There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary his mother and her sister and Magdalene, the one who was called his companion. each a Mary

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.

There is "abundant evidence of familiarity with Johannine ideas" in the Gnostic writings of Nag Hammadi. Enough to show that there was obviously much contact between the Johannine Community and Gnostic groups very early on. Therefore, it cannot be mere coincidence that Mary Magdalene is cited in the Gnostic writings as the "disciple whom Jesus loved" in much the same way as the anonymous male disciple is cited as such in the Fourth Gospel.

The passage from the Fourth Gospel which has Mary Magdalene and the Beloved Disciple together at the foot of the Cross reads as follows:

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said... (John 19:25ff)**

The Gospel of Philip makes reference to the same group of women that are standing by the Cross in the Fourth Gospel. However, the Gospel of Philip clearly cites Mary Magdalene as the "companion" of Jesus.

When did Mary Magdalene return to the tomb? There is a broken trail in the travels of Mary Magdalene from one place to another Mary Magdalene is abruptly portrayed as remaining behind weeping at the tomb. However, there is no account of her returning to the tomb in this scene after telling Peter and the "other disciple" that the body of Jesus was missing.the account of Peter and the Beloved Disciple running to the tomb together is "sandwiched between" Mary Magdalene's initial discovery of the Empty Tomb and her first encounter with the Risen Jesus. This "contrivance" let the Gospel retain the tradition that Mary Magdalene was the first to discover the Empty Tomb while still giving the Beloved Disciple prominence as the first person to reach the Empty Tomb and believe that Jesus has risen

Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) (John 20:8-9)

The contrast between "he saw and believed" in v. 8 and "they still did not understand" in v. 9 is peculiar. Verse 9 is clearly making reference to verse 8. However, the reference is contradictory. This appears to be an attempt to blend two different traditions: one in which the disciples did not immediately understand, or believe in, the Resurrection (Matthew 28:17; Mark 16:11,13; Luke 24:11), and another in which Mary Magdalene, changed here to the "other disciple," instantly perceives the truth (Matthew 28:1,8; Mark 16:9; Luke 24:10).

If anonymity in the case of the disciple Jesus loved was so important to the author of John, would indeed the use of masculine gender not guarantee the anonymity in a better way than the use of feminine gender, which would obviously reveal to the readers at least one important feature of the disciple, namely that she is a woman?
a woman being referred to as male perhaps was not so strange at the time, as it would be to us now. spirituality in early Christianity gradually became identified with maleness. She gives several examples of the fact that ‘women whose spirituality was beyond question were described as honorary males’. With regard to Mary Magdalene there is a tradition which speaks of her maleness. In the Gospel of Thomas Jesus promises Peter that he will lead Mary Magdalene in order to make her male ‘so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.’ In the Acts of Philip the Savior praises Mary Magdalene for her manly character. Because of this he gives her the task of joining the weaker Philip on his mission journey. But she is not to join him as a woman. ‘As for you, Mary,’ he says, ‘change your clothing and your outward appearance: reject everything which from the outside suggests a woman.’

this leaves open the possibility that this figure could be a woman, in spite of the masculine grammar. Perhaps the final proof that the disciple must be male, is not the grammar, but the circumstance that the disciple is called ‘son’? However, John’s Jesus does not address the disciple as ‘son’, and uses no other masculine address, which would have completed the parallelism: He said to his mother: ‘Woman, behold your son.’ Then he said to the disciple ‘behold your mother.’ By leaving out any masculine address, and by only saying ‘Behold your mother’, he instead declares the disciple to represent him as a son; both John and Mary were at the cross. This kind of representation does not necessarily mean that the disciple has to be only a male. A woman may fulfill the function of a son to a mother as clearly seen from the story of Ruth and Naomi. The female neighbors praise the way Ruth cared for her mother-in-law, by mentioning her to Naomi as: ‘she, who has been more to you than seven sons’ (Ruth 4,15). Moreover, the word ‘son’ in John 19,26 does not in any way primarily refer to the disciple Jesus loved, but rather refers to Jesus himself. For the reader who does not know the flow of the story beforehand, the word ‘son’ directed to the mother of Jesus designates her own son: the dying crucified Jesus. The reader thoroughly relates with Mary when hearing Jesus’ words towards her: ‘Woman, behold your son.’ It is only after Jesus’ words to the disciple ‘behold your mother’ that the reader suddenly turns to this second person and begins to grasp that Jesus is inviting his mother to understand the meaning of his death and to join his followers. Turning to the disciple Jesus loved, and hearing those words ‘behold your mother’ the reader is reminded of earlier farewell words of Jesus:

I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. /He who has heard my commandments and keeps them, /he it is who loves me; and /he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love /him and manifest myself to /him. (14,18-21)

This reference to both Marys is to Both the Mother and the Holy Spirit. It is in fact, addressed to both the Spirit and the Bride.

Obviously, after Jesus died, he can be found in those who keep his words and as a consequence are loved by him. His father and he himself will come to them and live in them (14,23). The ultimate importance of the scene in 19,26-27 lies in Jesus’ invitation to his mother to look away from her dying son to find him, alive, in the disciple he loved. At the same time Jesus’ words are a solemn declaration to this disciple: he or she may act on Jesus’ behalf, as if he or she were Jesus himself. To the reader, who remembers Jesus’ prayer to his Father for all those who followed him, and who in their turn will attract new followers - ‘... that the love with which thou has loved me, may be in them, and I in them…’ (17,26) -, the disciple Jesus loved is the first of a vast number of those disciples yet to come. Both Jesus’ mother and the disciple react to Jesus’ words. The disciple by taking Jesus’ mother to him (or her) and the mother by accepting this. Jesus’ words to his mother and the disciple he loved, together with their reaction to them, constitute the beginning of the growing ‘koinonia’ of those who follow Jesus. In this interpretation of 19,26-27 the word ‘son’ in 19,26 does not say anything about the gender of the disciple Jesus loved. The ‘son’ is the dying Jesus, who, alive, can be found in the disciple he loved as the one who may represent him.

Further, there is an ancient tradition that John, Mary Magdalene, and Mother Mary go to Ephesus and live together

The Johannine attitude toward women was quite different from that attested in other first-century Christian churches.The unique place given to women (as proclaimers) in the Fourth Gospel reflects the history, the theology, and the values of the Johannine community. Mary Magdalene as author of the Fourth Gospel does not challenge its apostolic origin. If Mary Magdalene was the leader and hero of the Fourth Gospel's community, then she was probably recognized as an Apostle within that community. Indeed, in recognition of the fact that she was the first to proclaim the Resurrection of Christ, the Roman Catholic Church has honored her with the title apostola apostolorum which means "the apostle to the apostles."

At the last supper the beloved disciple is reclining on Jesus; is this Mary? (John 13;23 )
Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.
It is obvious that Peter recognizes the fact that the disciple Jesus loved is closer to Jesus than he himself (13,23-24 and 21,7.20-23). In the Synoptics there is no disciple closer to Jesus than Peter. In the later non-canonical sources, such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary and Pistis Sophia, Peter and Mary Magdalene appear together, Peter denying rather than recognizing Mary Magdalene’s closeness to Jesus. [59] In these writings Mary Magdalene indeed has a special position. In the Gospel of Philip and the Gospel of Mary she is the only person to whom the other disciples refer to as the one loved by Jesus more than the others and as the one who has a greater insight. [60] In the Gospel of John the two are held in balance, Peter receiving the authority to care for Jesus’ followers in a pastoral way (21,15-19), [61] whereas Mary Magdalene receives and understands the crucial message of the Gospel (20,17; cf. 1,12). At the ressurection Mary and Jesus are reunited lovers. This is the best of all love stories; a story of love reaching beyond death.

It has always been thought to be a high distinction when God has called a man by his name. When he spoke and said, “Moses, Moses;” then it was a sign that he had found favor in his sight. When Jesus said “Mary,” I can imagine that the word brought up all her history before her mind; her bad days, when her distracted mind was tossed on fiery billows; her happy days, when she sat at her Master’s feet and caught his blessed words; the times when she had seen his miracles amid wondered; when she had given him of her substance, and been too glad to minister unto him. If we love Jesus much, and cannot be content without him, we too may expect to hear him in the secret of our soul, calling us by our name. He will say, “I have called thee by thy name: thou art mine.” Then Mary Magdalene had such a manifestation of Christ’s glory us no other woman ever had.

Mary Magdalene, then, is the beloved disciple and the prototype of the perfected soul because, through her favored and unique relationship with Christ, she has entered into the perfect of Adam/Eve, then by becoming a perfected human being, Mary becomes, like Christ, androgynous, a true spiritual being. The Magdalene myth recapitulates the fall of both Sophia and Helen; and in rediscovering her divinity, she becomes a model for the soul who seeks to do the same. Mary Magdalene is the true founder and hero of what has come to be known as the Johannine Community (i.e., Mary Magdalene was one of the original apostolic founders and leaders of the early Christian church).The Fourth Gospel (the Gospel of John) in the New Testament was composed in the Mother Church in Jerusalem and written in Ephesus. This gospel was penned by the disciples of Mary Magdalene and Mother Mary with the Co-authorship of John and the other Apostles.

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