The Magdalen
The Magdalen
Magdalen penitent
Upon her knees
Red hair cascading to reveal a curve of breasts
Should it not rather be the painters
Penitent
For using her for their great sanctioned pleasure?
Yet even in such guise
Her image burned with brightness
And she lived on in furtive fantasies of pleasure
Thus unforgotten though maligned
She waited patiently
Until her time would come.
NOTE
" She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary, we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark. And what did these seven devils signify, if not all the vices? ... It is clear, brothers, that the woman previously used the unguents to perfume her flesh in forbidden acts. What she therefore displayed more scandalously; she was now offering to God in a more praiseworthy manner... She had displayed her hair to set off her face, but now her hair dries her tears..."
Pope Gregory the Great’s Thirty-Third Homily, which he delivered in 591 AD, did much to consolidate Mary Magdalene’s image as a penitent prostitute. The Homily continues in a similar vein to the above extract, setting the stage for, amongst other things, the great Baroque paintings of the penitent and lasciviously semi-clothed Mary Magdalene. Gregory’s Homilies were very popular, even becoming incorporated into the liturgies for Holy Week and Easter, thus further fixing Mary Magdalene’s reputation as the repentant sinner in the public imagination. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, however, this Homily, which proclaimed Mary Magdalene a whore, was not officially accepted. Mary Magdalene was revered as one of the myrrh-bearing women (myrrhophores) and as Òravnoapostolnaya which translates as Equal to the apostles, because she was first to proclaim the Resurrection, and first messenger sent to the apostles themselves and therefore to the world.
The following Orthodox hymn to her offers a contrast to Pope Gregory’s Homily:
Kontakion I
When God, who is transcendent in essence,
Came with flesh into the world, O Myrrh bearer,
He received you as a true disciple,
for you turned all your love toward Him
Henceforth you would yourself work many healings.
Now that you have passed into heaven,
never cease to intercede for the world!
Another point of difference between Eastern and Western churches is that the Eastern tradition states that Mary Magdalene went to Ephesus with John the Evangelist and worked together with him there, dying and being buried in Ephesus. This then results in two Mary’s living and dying in Ephesus. The House where Mary the mother of Jesus is said to have lived out her days is now a hilltop shrine just outside Ephesus with a sacred healing spring attached to it and a steady flow of pilgrims drawn by a strong sacred presence at the House. Mary Magdalene is supposedly buried near the Cave of the Seven Sleepers, also just outside of Ephesus, although the place is currently quite overgrown and has more of the feel of a tourist destination. Whether there was confusion between the two Marys, or whether both lived in Ephesus or only one, is now im- possible to tell. In either case, the strong tradition of Mary Magdalene going to Provence in France does not exist in the Eastern Church. In fact, nobody really knows where she ended up so all is speculation. Was it Ephesus, or perhaps Egypt where she figures prominently in non-canonical texts, or Provence after all, in a cave (giving rise to the fight to claim possession of her very lucrative relics)?
However, and quite appropriately, a pilgrimage to the supposed cave of Mary Magdalene at Sainte-Baume inspired Petrarch (1304-1374), to a new vision of woman and of Platonic love in the Sonnets to Laura (Il Canzoniere). Petrarch went back to Sainte-Baume several times be-***** the 1330s and 1353, spreading its fame and writing of Mary Magdalene as “Dulcis amica Dei” the sweet friend of God, an inscription which he is said to have left in her grotto.
The Catholic Church was not prepared to admit that it had been wrong on such a crucial figure as Mary Magdalene at such a delicate time when it was being challenged by the Protestants, so the second half of the sixteenth century saw renewed emphasis on Mary Magdalene in the image of a voluptuously sensual yet repentant and weeping sinner, hair loose and clothes in seductive disarray, as many great paintings of the Baroque attest. This is what is described in the poem.
Magdalen penitent
Upon her knees
Red hair cascading to reveal a curve of breasts
Should it not rather be the painters
Penitent
For using her for their great sanctioned pleasure?
Yet even in such guise
Her image burned with brightness
And she lived on in furtive fantasies of pleasure
Thus unforgotten though maligned
She waited patiently
Until her time would come.
NOTE
" She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary, we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark. And what did these seven devils signify, if not all the vices? ... It is clear, brothers, that the woman previously used the unguents to perfume her flesh in forbidden acts. What she therefore displayed more scandalously; she was now offering to God in a more praiseworthy manner... She had displayed her hair to set off her face, but now her hair dries her tears..."
Pope Gregory the Great’s Thirty-Third Homily, which he delivered in 591 AD, did much to consolidate Mary Magdalene’s image as a penitent prostitute. The Homily continues in a similar vein to the above extract, setting the stage for, amongst other things, the great Baroque paintings of the penitent and lasciviously semi-clothed Mary Magdalene. Gregory’s Homilies were very popular, even becoming incorporated into the liturgies for Holy Week and Easter, thus further fixing Mary Magdalene’s reputation as the repentant sinner in the public imagination. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, however, this Homily, which proclaimed Mary Magdalene a whore, was not officially accepted. Mary Magdalene was revered as one of the myrrh-bearing women (myrrhophores) and as Òravnoapostolnaya which translates as Equal to the apostles, because she was first to proclaim the Resurrection, and first messenger sent to the apostles themselves and therefore to the world.
The following Orthodox hymn to her offers a contrast to Pope Gregory’s Homily:
Kontakion I
When God, who is transcendent in essence,
Came with flesh into the world, O Myrrh bearer,
He received you as a true disciple,
for you turned all your love toward Him
Henceforth you would yourself work many healings.
Now that you have passed into heaven,
never cease to intercede for the world!
Another point of difference between Eastern and Western churches is that the Eastern tradition states that Mary Magdalene went to Ephesus with John the Evangelist and worked together with him there, dying and being buried in Ephesus. This then results in two Mary’s living and dying in Ephesus. The House where Mary the mother of Jesus is said to have lived out her days is now a hilltop shrine just outside Ephesus with a sacred healing spring attached to it and a steady flow of pilgrims drawn by a strong sacred presence at the House. Mary Magdalene is supposedly buried near the Cave of the Seven Sleepers, also just outside of Ephesus, although the place is currently quite overgrown and has more of the feel of a tourist destination. Whether there was confusion between the two Marys, or whether both lived in Ephesus or only one, is now im- possible to tell. In either case, the strong tradition of Mary Magdalene going to Provence in France does not exist in the Eastern Church. In fact, nobody really knows where she ended up so all is speculation. Was it Ephesus, or perhaps Egypt where she figures prominently in non-canonical texts, or Provence after all, in a cave (giving rise to the fight to claim possession of her very lucrative relics)?
However, and quite appropriately, a pilgrimage to the supposed cave of Mary Magdalene at Sainte-Baume inspired Petrarch (1304-1374), to a new vision of woman and of Platonic love in the Sonnets to Laura (Il Canzoniere). Petrarch went back to Sainte-Baume several times be-***** the 1330s and 1353, spreading its fame and writing of Mary Magdalene as “Dulcis amica Dei” the sweet friend of God, an inscription which he is said to have left in her grotto.
The Catholic Church was not prepared to admit that it had been wrong on such a crucial figure as Mary Magdalene at such a delicate time when it was being challenged by the Protestants, so the second half of the sixteenth century saw renewed emphasis on Mary Magdalene in the image of a voluptuously sensual yet repentant and weeping sinner, hair loose and clothes in seductive disarray, as many great paintings of the Baroque attest. This is what is described in the poem.
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