Researching my paper I decided to look up all the references to Mary Magdalene in the bible, a logical place to start, and discovered contrary to popular belief, she wasn't a prostitute, sacred or otherwise.

perception of ancient women influenced the way this story has been told through the centuries.   Furthermore from these findings I hope to give you a more rounded portrayal of the woman with whom Jesus spent so much of his time. As well as determine the reason this particular character in ancient text was so wrapped in stereotypes and misrepresentation.   What I’d like to share with you today is the foundation for my theory that Mary Magdalene has, whether intentionally or not, been grown into a symbol for the individual in search of the divine.  Who was Mary Magdalene? The obvious place to start is with her name. In general, Magdalene scholars are divided into two camps: her name indicates her place of origin, and her name is an epithet. The Hebrew word "migdal," from which "magdala" is derived, means "tower" or "fortress, stronghold." It appears a few times in the Bible referring to "the tower of the flock" or "the tower of God" or "the tower of fortune.(3) The epithet theory has recently been popularized by Margaret Starbird, author of The Woman with the Alabaster Jar and The Goddess in the Gospels, who states that since other characters in the Gospels are given nicknames, "Magdalene" is a nickname also. It's true, there are other nicknamed disciples, such as "Simon called Peter," "Thomas the Twin," and "Simon the Canaanite." Margaret's theory is that there was something about Mary Magdalene that was "tower-like," her strength, her stature, that earned her the nickname. This theory, however, isn't a new one. St. Jerome wrote in a letter in 412 C.E. (1) that: "Mary of Magdalene received the epithet 'fortified with towers' because of her earnestness and strength of faith, and was privileged to see the rising of Christ first before even the apostles." HOW MARY MAGDALENE BECAME A PENITENT SINNER (4) So where, where, does this nasty reputation come from?Let’s start out with three people: an anonymous sinner, Mary of Bethany, who is the sister of Martha and Lazarus, and Mary Magdalene. In the Bible there is a scene in which Jesus is anointed by a woman. In one gospel, she's completely anonymous, in one gospel, she's an anonymous woman from Bethany, in one gospel she's called a "sinner from the city," and in one gospel, she's identified as Mary of Bethany. Sometime in the late 2nd century or early 3rd century, Hippolytus, a bishop of Rome as well as an antipope, composed a commentary on the Song of Songs. In his commentary, he referred to the person of Mary Magdalene in an odd combined form, "Martha and Mary" or "Martha-Mary." This was sufficient to combine Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene as one person. It is also this work by Hippolytus that gives us our first glimpse of an image of Magdalene as the Bride of Christ; she is associated with the Shulamite woman and with the ecclesia in search of their Beloved, the Bridegroom, who according to Hippolytus, was represented by Christ. So now, we have two people: Mary Magdalene of Bethany and the anonymous sinner. In light of the dubious identity of the woman in the anointing scene, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see how early church fathers came up with Mary of Bethany as the anonymous sinner. And if Mary of Bethany is Mary Magdalene, well, then, Mary Magdalene of Bethany must be the anonymous sinner as well. Confusion about the identities of these characters occurred as early as the 3rd century, but Pope Gregory the Great struck the final blow with a homily at the end of the 6th century in which he declared that Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany and the anonymous sinner was the same person. So now, there is only one person, Mary Magdalene, the sinner.HOW MARY MAGDALENE BECAME A PROSTITUTE  The anointing scene is chalk full of violations of rabbinical law as it applies to permitted conduct of a woman. The woman's hair is worn loose, something that was associated with adulteresses since only a woman's husband was permitted to see her hair unbound.(7) She kissed Jesus' feet, a flagrant offense in a culture where male / female contact was limited to husbands and wives (or husbands and their mistresses). Although I personally don't see how the innocuous phrase "sinner from the city" equates "prostitute" even after analyzing the passage time and again, when you consider the increasingly hostile attitude held by church fathers against women, it isn't difficult to read "harlot" into the word "sinner." So now that you know how erroneous it is to think of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute, I think it's important to point out that there are reasons why legends endure. The "fallen woman" idea is powerful, and is present in a few other places. The Gnostic Sophia, Simon Magus's Helen, and the Shekinah, to name three. Considering the cultural milieu in which the body of Magdalene myth developed, I tend to believe that her reputation a) wasn't an accident, and b) serves a more meaningful purpose than as an example of penitence. This is, unfortunately, an area where evidence is scant. If I could prove that Mary Magdalene was the anointing sinner mentioned in the Gospel of Luke, my job would be much easier. It would, at the very least, provide a foundation on which the prostitute legend could be based. As it is, nothing has survived through to today that would provide such a basis.FRENCH LEGENDS (life after Christ)(4) Once upon a time, after the crucifixion, a boat with no oars and no sail was launched from Jerusalem. On board, among other people, was Mary Magdalene. The boat landed in France on the beach of what is now known as Saints Maries de la Mer, or "Saint Maries of the Sea." This town is one with an interesting history even *before* Mary and her friends showed up.  The village is reputed to be on a sacred spring that was once venerated by the Celts, then the Romans, then the Christians, and is currently a holy place for Romanian Gypsies, who venerate the Patron Saint of Stes. Maries de la Mer, Saint Sara. Little is known of Saint Sara, other than that she often assumed to be the anonymous servant of Martha mentioned in "The Golden Legend." Many stories have sprung up around her, but that's beyond the focus of this paper.  The main Christian Magdalene website (6) also states Mary Magdalene, some other fairly important people such as Joseph of Arimethea, Mary Salome, and some guy named St. Maximin, landed in France. Mary Salome and Martha stayed in the village where they landed, and Mary Magdalene and St. Maximin went to an area known today as St. Baume. Mary Magdalene came to the aid of a barren couple who wanted a child by praying on their behalf. The wife became pregnant. This is a theme repeated a few times in the account of Mary Magdalene in The Golden Legend. Even after death, barren couples went to her tomb to pray for children, which they were granted.At some point, Magdalene retired to a contemplative life in a grotto near St. Baume, where she saw neither man nor woman and was fed sweet meats once every hour on the hour by angels. A priest witnessed this from far off, and went to see her. She was dying and told the priest to take her to St. Maximin, who administered last rites and buried her remains.   Not all Christians believe the propaganda fed to them from centuries of lies. Eastern Orthodox Christianity didn't inherit the assumption that Mary Magdalene was the same person as Mary of Bethany and the anonymous sinner, and in fact, have feast days for all three.   Pascha, the Orthodox Easter, is celebrated with retellings of the story of Mary Magdalene's visit to the tomb, how she met Jesus in the garden, and how she told the disciples of the resurrection.(5) This is important because in ancient times women were not able to bear witness, either in a court of law or any other serious matter. Mary was then chosen by Christ because she was a woman to be the first to witness his resurrection and tell the other of it, enabling her ability as a woman to bear truthful witness. Also retold is a legend that after the resurrection, Magdalene traveled to Rome and had an audience with Tiberius Caesar. From here, the details get sketchy. In most versions, she is said to greet him with the words "Christ is risen" while holding up an egg to symbolize a variety of things, including potential and rebirth. In some versions, the egg is red. And in still other versions, there is some kind of mystical transfiguration of the egg from white to red as Tiberius watches, giving proof of Jesus' divinity- So in conclusion, I want to point out Christians are familiar with the character of Mary Magdalene, and are frequently curious about the role she played in their religion. They are intrigued by her maligned reputation. Because remember that this is ancient times and Acceptance of the national religion in antiquity was an obligation incumbent on all citizens; failure to worship the gods of the State was equivalent to treason. This universally accepted principle is responsible for the various persecutions suffered by Christians before the reign of Constantine; Christians denied the existence of and therefore refused to worship the gods of the state pantheon. They were in consequence regarded as atheists.13 even though they felt life the holiest of holy they could be put to death for their beliefs. Thus Mary was in constant harm for her beliefs, but was never put to death for those beliefs.   so she was not a martyr. The Greek word martus signifies a witness who testifies to a fact of which he has knowledge from personal observation. It is in this sense that the term first appears in Christian literature; the Apostles were "witnesses" of all that they had observed in the public life of Christ, as well as of all they had learned from His teaching, "in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts, i, 8).LEGAL BASIS OF THE PERSECUTIONS Yet, it was only by degrees, in the course of the first age of the Church, that the term martyr came to be exclusively applied to those who had died for the faith.   For a long time, I looked at Magdalene and saw a goddess figure but somehow, that didn't really make sense. She really hasn't been set up as THE feminine divine, and I don't think there is anything that should lead us to believe that. What she *does* appear to be though, both textually and legendarily, is fully human, and that is what seems to be missing from modern Christianity. Look at it this way: how spectacular is it for someone who is the Son of God to do amazing things with his life, compared to someone who is fully human? Personally, I find it much more inspiring to hear tales of someone who wasn't supposed to be divine who nonetheless did amazing things. It gives me something to aspire to. Mary was a woman in ancient times from a wealthy family who denied society’s rules and played for that denial with her dignity. Not until Jesus was any type of class or modesty returned to her.   Just over the last three years, the Future Church, an independent Catholic organization that lobbies for the ordination of women, has increased the number of celebrations devoted to Mary Magdalene every year from around 34 to almost 300, involving more than 15,000 people last year. Notes and Bibliography1. New King James Bible2. Goddesses and Christianity in the Early Centuries. Waldo Emery 1992 Penguin Press (page 81)3. Jesus Christ, Sun of God: Ancient Cosmology and Early Christian Symbolism. Fideler, David4. Mary Magdalene: Myth and Metaphor. Riverhead Books 5. A History of Religious Ideas. Eliade, Mircea(I don't have edition info)6. WWW.Magdalene.ORG7. TextbooksExtra Texts- Sharon Clearwater. The Goddesses of Time (1981 penguin press)- Edith Filliette. Saint Mary Magdalene: Her Life and Times (Newton Lower Falls, MA: Society of Mary Magdalene, 1983) 137-139.- Susan Haskins. Mary Magdalene, Myth and Metaphor (New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1993) 96 quotes homily XXXIII of Pope Saint Gregory I.Websiteswww.magdalene.orgChristiananswers.comfeastofsaints.com/anselmmarymag.htmwww.newadvent.org/cathen/09761a.htmwww.beloveddisciple.org