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Mary Magdalene, the 13th Apostle
by Sister Usha
Some people may find it curious that we at Divinely Female, a non-Christian religious group, should chose to honor as an Honored Soul Mary Magdalene, a woman so intimately connected with Christianity. I shall explain why we do so.
First, let me state that while we at Divinely Female are non-Christian, we are not anti-Christian. We do not believe that Jesus was the son of God worthy of worship, but we do maintain that he was a wise and noble teacher worthy of respect and admiration. He taught peace, love, and tolerance, and he died for these beliefs. Many people in the past 2000 years have twisted his words in ways that would have appalled their speaker. But the fact that others pretending to be Christians have misused Jesus's legacy does not negate the wisdom and enlightenment contained in his original message.
Jesus was accompanied on his travels by a group of 12 trusted aides and proteges called "apostles." These 12 men carried on Jesus's message after he died, ensuring that his beliefs would not die with him. They wrote the gospels, the portions of the Bible containing a biography of Jesus and a summary of his message, as Jesus himself did not write down any of his teachings. The apostles also founded the first churches.
Mary Magdalene was according to the Gospels a functioning member of this group. She was for all practical purposes a 13th apostle though very few Christians refer to her by this title. According to the gospels, she was the first person to see Jesus alive after he had been resurrected from the dead. It is apparent that the only reason that she is not counted among the apostles is simply because of her gender.
Many people have said that Mary was a prostitute, but there is no good evidence to support this. There is a paragraph in the gospels where it says that Jesus talked to a prostitute one day, and for some reason some people have assumed that this woman was Mary Magdalene. Historical records outside the bible suggest that she was actually a rather wealthy woman living in Jerusalem.
After the Crucifixion, there was much persecution of the Christians by the Romans. The apostles scattered. It is not entirely certain what happened to Mary, but some evidence says that she went to Egypt and became one of the leaders of the Gnostic branch of Christianity. The Gnostics were more mystical than other branches, and more avowedly egalitarian with respect to theology and gender relations. One of the so-called "Gnostic Gospels" discovered in Egypt in the 1950s is called the "Gospel According to Mary" and is believed to have been written by Mary Magdalene.
The Gnostic branch of Christianity gradually died as other branches became dominant in the Roman Empire. Egypt of course became moslem several centuries later, erasing much of the Gnostic legacy.
It is apparent from this that Mary Magdalene led a noble and honorable life. She supported Jesus's teaching of compassion for the poor despite having been rather wealthy herself. She persisted in this belief even after it had become dangerous, fleeing to another country to avoid persecution. She became a religious leader herself, helping create the Gnostic movement, which despite its short life represented a positive step in the evolution of faith in the world. At a time when many other religions including other branches of Christianity regarded women as inferior to men, the Gnostics were unequivocally teaching that we are not.
Thus Mary Magdalene deserves a place on our list of honored souls. We wish her peace and eternal bliss.