A gruta em que Maria Madalena teria vivido

This trail will take me to the cave where Mary Magdalene lived in the south of France, after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The cave is at the top of this rocky wall. I had to turn on the GPS here because there are many paths, trails, and so we could get lost. There is almost nothing around here. I managed to stay in a monastery For more than a thousand years, monks have protected the lands on which Magdalene would have set foot. Before that, I was in the small town of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume to see the supposed remains of Magdalene, one of the most intriguing and important characters in the Gospels. But who really was Mary Magdalene? Mary Magdalene is a key figure in the entire history of Christianity. It was no coincidence that Jesus appeared to her in the first place, and not to the disciples. She was neither the whore nor the prostitute that the Middle Ages portrayed. The first Christians did not see the Magdalene like that. Upon meeting Jesus, Mary Magdalene not only changed her life but also helped change the course of world history. She gained prominence in the Gospels, but the target of defamation, her image was overshadowed in the expansion of Christianity. In a long process of historical review, Mary Magdalene reemerges empowered. Let’s now start a long journey to the south of France to get to know a little more about one of the most extraordinary characters in the Bible. We can place the first references to Mary Magdalene in the 50s, 60s, of the 1st century. Therefore, if we consider that Jesus’ life was located in the first half of the 30s, his death, on average, 20 to 25 Years later, we began to have information about Mary Magdalene. It appears in the so-called Gospel of the Signs, a document that is a predecessor of the so-called Gospel of John, and will also appear in the four synoptic gospels, starting with Mark, then in Matthew, Luke and, finally, in John. She was a woman Firstly, rich. The father was very rich. She was an only child. She inherited everything. She was married, her husband was very hostile to her. She was a woman who knew how to read, write and do math. Because his father had a strong fishing trade in Magdala. On this trip, in search of information about the Magdalene, I look for what many consider to be part of her remains displayed in a basilica in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume. To get there, the best way is to disembark in Marseille. But my itinerary starts in Lyon, the third largest French city. First, I need to get to Aix-en-Provence. The bus journey lasts almost four hours. Looking out the window, I think about the importance that Magdalene represented at the beginning of the Christian era. She stood out even among the apostles. Soon after Jesus’ death, out of fear, they all became secluded. The role of Mary Magdalene and Mary, mother of Jesus, was fundamental soon after Jesus’ death, so that the group did not disperse. Maybe it was easier for women, because women at that time didn’t have much expression, so they could come and go without anyone worrying about them. After arriving in Aix-en-Provence, I board another bus. It’s an hour’s drive to small, historic Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume. where is what many believe to be the saint’s skull. In this part of the trip we will try to understand the size of Mary Magdalene in the early Christian era. How did the other disciples see her? The disciples didn’t look upon Mary Magdalene very favorably because she was… Peter didn’t know how to read, he didn’t know how to write. Most of them. With the exception of Mateus, who was a tax collector. This one does. Not her. She was a literate, studied woman, versed in commerce, knew how to shop. This is Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene occupies a certain primacy when thinking about the participation of women in this movement of Jesus with him alive and, later, this movement of Jesus without Jesus, the multiple Christianities throughout the 1st century. But did this prominence of Mary Magdalene foster any dissatisfaction? Because of Maria Madalena’s leading role in the group? I think this caused discomfort not only to the disciples, but also to some Orthodox Jews who embraced the Christian faith. The four narratives of the Gospels. Mary Magdalene is present at that moment of visiting Jesus’ tomb. She, with other women or alone, has the role of informing that Jesus has risen. In the resurrection, the first person who saw him was Mary Magdalene. She is the one who will tell the disciples that she had seen him. They didn’t believe it. They don’t believe me. Don’t believe me? Woman’s costume. Fantasy? Why wouldn’t he show up for me? He is resurrected. He asked to tell them. And I already told you. Look at the situation! A woman, alone, is the only eyewitness that Jesus was resurrected. That’s a big problem. Why? In the environment of the 4th century, 5th century, a church, from the point of view of its ecclesiastical hierarchies, is a markedly phallocratic Church, The power of the penis. Men are the ones in leadership. But there is the problem of Mary Magdalene. She is also an apostle. So that’s where Pope Gregory the Great or Gregory I comes in. In the Easter sermon of 591, Pope Gregory I identified two anonymous women mentioned in the Bible as Mary Magdalene. When in the early days of the Church, they unified the biblical women of the New Testament, they placed the sinner, who is the one Jesus receives, before the Pharisees and the scribes, and others, and the Jews as a whole, and they ask: “Master, the What should we do?” “The law of Moses says we stone her.” He said, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” This is one of the biblical women. Then there is the sinner, which Luke narrates, that Jesus was at a friend’s house and she arrives, washes Jesus’ feet with tears and wipes them with her hair. There is no name on that woman there. And there is Mary Magdalene. Luke says that seven sins and seven demons were taken away from Mary Magdalene. The seven demons of Judaism could be seven diseases, seven problems. It was not necessarily a sin. So Gregory the Great purposely links the name Mary Magdalene to prostitution. So she became traditionally known as the repentant prostitute. But a holy woman, you know? So there is a certain ambiguity there. This was a necessary construction for the Middle Ages, for reasons of the Church, the issue of the power of kings, that whole thing. So it was necessary to discredit the figure of Mary Magdalene. But not for the first Christians, they saw her as, in fact, the disciple of Jesus Christ. In the Middle Ages, as there was a very strong current in defense of Magdalene: “We have to nullify the figure of this woman.” The medieval period It is as if he swept away, erased, the figure of Mary Magdalene from the history of Christianity. Mainly in this environment of the 4th century, 5th century, and 6th century, where the Church, in its high hierarchies, is gaining a dimension of men being at the head of it, of the Church. And they really need to break this hegemonic role, this uncomfortable role that Mary Magdalene brings with her. He understands? So, I think that’s the key point. All four gospels speak of Mary Magdalene, but John’s gave her a very, very, very exclusive role of announcing that Jesus had risen. So, that has implications and the implications were in the long process of these stories or the history of this movement, history of Christianity, was reading it, labeling her, as a repentant prostitute. Now I’m arriving at Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume. Here I will visit the Basilica that is the guardian of the supposed skull of Mary Magdalene. This is the historic center of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, a small town of 17 thousand inhabitants, in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. As I walk to the Basilica, I think about how the Magdalene could have ended up in this region after the death of Christ, 2 thousand years ago. When Jesus is killed, Rome wanted to kill Jesus definitively. I didn’t want any trace of him. They wanted to end Lazarus’ life. And Lazarus, in order not to die, flees together with his sisters Martha and Mary, Saint Maximinus and another who could have been killed, automatically, was the man born blind healed by Jesus, whose biblical name we do not have, we discovered through tradition French: Saint Sidonius. I can see, brother. And others and others who were in the same boat, went adrift and ended up in Provence. And there in Provence, Saint Lázaro becomes bishop, Lázaro dies, Saint Maximino becomes bishop and Mary Magdalene remains making sacrifices in the grotto. So, in this cave she retreated for a long time and after she died, her remains arrived at the place where the basilica is today. In the Middle Ages, other versions emerged about the location of Mary Magdalene’s remains in France. A skeleton was presented and worshiped in the Abbey of Vizela, in Burgundy, also in France. But the story that prevailed was precisely that of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume. For a long time Magdalene was buried in a deserted place. It was not within the Church. Then the emperor of the time, Charles II, finds the tomb of Mary Magdalene and there is an inscription inside the tomb: “Here lies Mary Magdalene, she who saw the risen Jesus.” So he takes her skull, takes it to Rome and Pope Boniface says: “If it’s her skull, I can prove it.” Pope Boniface VIII believed he had one piece of the puzzle. The jaw that belonged to Mary Magdalene was in Rome and had been removed from the same tomb before the Saracen invasion of Europe in 711. When you took the jaw and forehead, it fit perfectly into the skull. Then, Pope Boniface decreed that that skull was that of Mary Magdalene. By order of the Pope, the skull and jaw were exposed in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, in 1295. Also on display are a lock of hair and a small piece of the saint’s skin that would have been touched by Jesus. Charles II ordered the construction of a Gothic basilica on the site to house the remains of the Magdalene. Charles was king of Naples, count of Provence and nephew of the French king. Behind us we can see the entrance to the Cathedral of Saint Mary Magdalene. It is one of the oldest places of Catholic pilgrimage. The Basilica is magnificent. It’s very interesting because you see a skull that is supposed to be that of Mary Magdalene. Imagine the person who lived with Jesus in Galilee. She would have come here, lived here in this region, in the south of France. And he would also have lived 30 years in a cave. After briefly touring various areas of the basilica, I head to the crypt where the skull believed to be Mary Magdalene is located. The movement of visitors is intense in the small space. This is where people come down to see the skull of Mary Magdalene or what was supposed to be Mary Magdalene’s. What is believed. Let’s go down and see. There’s a ladder here. Here is the crypt. Upon entering the crypt, we can see the skull. The relic is inside a golden reliquary. Based on the skull, we can at least know what that person looked like. What is known is that the skull belonged to a woman of Mediterranean origin, approximately 50 years old. A study carried out by Brazilian professionals created the face corresponding to the skull. The program proportionally covered the skull with tissue and skin projections. The face has been rejuvenated to 20 years. The supposed age that Magdalene would have been when she met Jesus. And so would Mary Magdalene be. According to the work of 3D designer Cicero Moraes. When I saw it, boy, the Jewish aspects were very clear, very clear. I said, “Cicero, try the key.” When he tries the shade, it became even clearer that she was a Jew. If a French mademoiselle had appeared, with all due respect, we would have put it in check. Later, a French team based itself on more than 200 photographs of the skull to suggest another portrait. This would be the Magdalene or the woman referring to the skull. According to the study by biological anthropologist Philippe Charlier, from the University of Versalles, and visual forensic artist Felipe Fróis. After leaving the Basilica, my next destination is the cave where Mary Magdalene would have lived. There is a bus here that takes you close to the cave where she would have lived for 30 years. There is a religious accommodation there and I’m going to try to stay there for one night. This bus only makes two trips a day there. It’s 20 kilometers away, but the journey takes almost 40 minutes. The French driver, of Algerian origin, sings during the journey through the beautiful region. But take advantage of the trip to research the formation of the New Testament, which features the story of Mary Magdalene in 14 quotes. When Constantine declares Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. What did Christianity need? He needed to have an organization. Constantine was the first emperor of Rome to convert to Christianity. He ruled between 306 and 337. Constantine, in fact, asked Eusebius of Caesarea, who is a religious man with an extensive library, that he could prepare a corpus of documents that would provide a basis, give unity to this Christianity. This is how the Bible begins to be assembled. His message, Jesus, when it entered the oral language and began to be established in terms of writing, it was multifaceted. So you have Paul saying that Jesus is going to come back. But in the same synchronic time, in the same timeline, You have Thomas, in his oldest layers, saying that Jesus never died. “Jesus is the one who lives.” And you have the so-called Gospel Q, source, the basis for Luke and Matthew, where it doesn’t even say how Jesus died. So each author gives different weights and dimensions to who Jesus is. This is informing us a priori that readings about Jesus may have convergences, but there are also many divergences. What gave the corpus its connection, what made it exist above all else, are some central points. The first of these points: Jesus needs to die, be buried and on the third day rise again. Documents that do not mention this are left outside. Second point or aspect that will link and unite all the texts that will enter the New Testament corpus: Jesus needs to return, because this is the belief, the second coming. And a third point, preferably, is that there is a very positive emphasis regarding the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus, a salvific role. So texts that do not respect Mary are excluded. So there are some criteria there. In total, the New Testament contains 27 books, including the four gospels. When the Church began its systematization, soon after it became the official religion of the Roman Empire, we had what we call the canonicity of the gospels. Canonicity is the process in which the Bible gains legitimacy by being considered divine inspiration. These documents were brought together at the end of the 4th century, in the so-called Council of Carthage, 497 is the year, for the first time, the 27 books. Subsequently, they will gain greater adherence, mainly from the Eastern Churches. But, in any case, it was a process of construction, of elaboration, of a Christian corpus that could give unity, at least to the field of so-called, called or self-described orthodox churches. These churches were located in the eastern part of the Empire, in the regions of Turkey, Syria, Egypt, and also in the North African environment and Rome. Also in Gaul. And what was the biggest criterion? The gospel that was most used. Gospels that were most used were these four. Until then, other gospels were used by different Christian communities, in addition to those authored by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Those that were left out of the Bible came to be called apocryphal, whose authorship is considered doubtful or not inspired by God. Later, we will talk about the apocryphal gospels and how they contributed to creating more mysteries around Mary Magdalene. Finally, I’m arriving at Plan-d’Aups-Sainte-Baume. The road is narrow. Vehicles in the opposite direction give way to the bus and need to reverse for a long distance until they find a shoulder and give way. Now you have arrived at the cave region. I disembark in front of the Hotelaria de la Sainte-Baume, maintained by Dominican monks and located a little away from the urban center. It is located right at the foot of the rocky plateau where the Madalena cave is located. This is the room in the Dominicans’ inn. It cost 49 euros, including dinner. This place here is very interesting, very cool. So for spending a night here to go to the cave. Here is the view of the rocky wall. Finally, now I will walk towards the cave. I have to go through the forest first. So here, starting the walk, to the Maria Madalena cave, a walk of about 45 minutes. It is now almost 4 o’clock in the afternoon. As the day is beautiful, I’ll try to get there early. Next to the entrance to the cave, there is a monastery to protect the sanctuary built more than a thousand years ago. It is embedded in the rock 235 meters high. In this part of the journey we need to understand the impacts of the apocryphal gospels. They were used in Christian communities. We had many apocryphal gospels. Anyone who wanted to write the life of Jesus and their experience of him… that Jesus didn’t just have 12 apostles. The 12 were the closest. In the Middle Ages, mainly, many fictional novels involving Mary Magdalene circulated, many of them in the esoteric field. The apocryphal gospels also helped support many of these stories. The gospels that were left out contained controversial information. But it’s still nonsense, I’ll put it this way, to say that Jesus had something physical with Mary Magdalene. Jesus was God. He did not need to go through sin. But could Mary Magdalene have been Jesus’ wife? We can say neither yes nor no. We do not have a biblical source and a scientific source to prove this. There is no record in the four canonized gospels that she was Jesus’ wife. There are those who say that Magdalene also wrote her gospel, but we don’t know. The truth is that the first gospel that was written, which we call Source Q, was lost. So we don’t have it. It would be the parameter for us to analyze the other gospels. One of the evangelists will say that when Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene, he says to her: “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.” Why does Jesus ask Mary Magdalene not to touch him? There is a huge question mark there. We have theological speculations, but we have nothing precise to say. Jesus wouldn’t say this and neither would the evangelist put it in the Gospel if it weren’t important. Why not touch it? Mary Magdalene never gained this status as Jesus’ wife. This will appear, for example, in a very contemporary literature by Dan Brown, the so-called “Da Vinci Code”. The fiction novel “The Da Vinci Code” was released in 2003. I read “The Da Vinci Code” almost without stopping, without even going to the bathroom, I was so curious. But as a novel, not as a historical document. The central plot is inspired by an excerpt of text that is almost 2 thousand years old. This is in the Gospel of Philip, a gospel dating from the second century. It is said that Jesus had a habit of kissing his disciples on the mouth. And in the case of Mary Magdalene this also appears. But what is kissing on the mouth in the type of document like the Gospel of Philip? This is where the theological dimension varies. Among those Christians contained in the Gospel of Philip, kissing on the mouth was much more than an erotic act in itself, it was a way of transmitting pure information from the inside to the inside, without it passing through the world. So, when kissing, pure knowledge was transmitted from within to the other, who also received it through the kiss. Then there would be no contact in materiality. It would be much more of a dialogue in the field of spirituality. It turns out that we remove this from this 2nd and 3rd century environment and bring it to the present time, where the act of kissing on the mouth has to do with an erotic relationship, has to do with a loving relationship. This is what made the “Da Vinci Code” successful. You went to the document, Gospel of Philip, and Jesus kissed Mary Magdalene on the mouth. He’s right about that. It’s written. But the same Jesus, in the same document, also kissed his male disciples on the mouth and this did not mean that this was read as a gesture linked to or in the field of homosexuality. It had absolutely nothing to do with it. You’re welcome. If Mary Magdalene really lived here, She walked through this same place that I am walking through now. Imagine what she ate here? What did she drink? What did she do here during the day? Incredible. Perhaps, occasionally, she would head to a village to exchange some supplies. We always come across tourists, pilgrims. There are even some benches for people to rest. Stone. Let’s go up. Here the path with a wall begins . So it must be close. For historian André Chevitarese, ancient texts, in their diverse origins, bring important information I think it is always good for us to look at these documents as ancient Christian literature. So we avoid the idea of ​​canonical gospels, non-canonical gospels, inspired texts, uninspired texts, a type of apocryphal document. Perhaps the best thing is to think that behind each document from the various fields of Christianity, we have an author, a, slash, a Christian author or Christian producing the text. It may vary from a theological point of view, the dimension that each author gives, to how he reads the figure of Jesus, may vary, but undoubtedly, we are in an environment of ancient Christian literature. So, this idea of ​​a canonical, non-canonical, inspired or uninspired cut in the apocryphal document. This may suggest a document that has a lower weight relative to other documents. So, I think that all literary production contains Christian messages that can and will vary according to the theological dimensions of each author there. Before reaching almost the top of the wall, let’s try to understand how the image of Mary Magdalene was recovered. The problem is that in the long tradition, including in film history in cinema, every time Mary Magdalene is portrayed, her previous life is that of a prostitute, and then comes a process of conversion, of changing her life. But that’s Gregory the Great’s thing, it’s the pope’s thing. I appreciate your invitation, sir. Master, come celebrate with us. I don’t deserve his love. No, it’s not true. Jesus accepts everyone. Keep him in your heart. In the 19th century, the Catholic Church will remove this stain of repentant prostitute. So Mary Magdalene becomes, in her fullness, a saint of the Church, without necessarily being a prostitute. But you can deflate Gregory the Great’s decision, because, by the way, popes don’t make mistakes. Since the 19th century, they have had so-called infallibility. So when the pope says something, it is. So, without denying what Gregory the Great said about Mary Magdalene in a homily, her image as an apostle is also recovered. And the Church continued until the 19th and 20th centuries, with this mentality that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, that she had seven demons and all that. But no, that is not what is really given to the Church. In 1969, Pope Paul VI dissolved this association of Magdalene with the sinner and the prostitute. Saint Paul VI at Vatican II made the correction. Separated, separated them all. They are all separate. Let’s see that Pope Francis has now given Mary Magdalene’s place. always had and deserved, who is a disciple of disciples. Isn’t this construction incredible? Sanctuary of Sainte-Baume. The Dominicans took over from 1295 to 1793 and then from 1840. There we see the entrance to the cave surrounded by a portal. In this courtyard we have a classic sculpture of Mary with the body of Jesus in her arms and Mary Magdalene a little further down. This is the south of France, the Provence region. It was in this region that Mary Magdalene lived, according to tradition, after leaving Galilee. Here I am at the entrance to the sanctuary of Mary Magdalene. In fact, it is in the cave where she would have lived for 30 years, after Christ’s crucifixion. Let’s go in now. Mary Magdalene would have lived here. Right at the entrance, we see the main hall where masses are celebrated. In this left corner, believers light candles and say prayers. It’s quite big. I thought it was smaller, but… I don’t know what it was like at the time. Now, of course, it has changed a lot. It has the floor. Altars were built, but the cave is very, very vast. A cave, in fact. The difference between a cave and a grotto is the number of entrances. The cave has only one and the cave has at least two. Following to the right, further down, we have another point to light candles. The visitor pays for the candle and lights it in prayer for some request. These stairs lead us to an altar where there is now a restricted ceremony. Let’s go down to the deepest part of the cave. There’s water here. Look. Water falls from here. So Mary Magdalene had somewhere to get drinking water. Visitors throw coins and objects into the water after making a wish. And imagine, folks, that Mary Magdalene could have gotten her hands on those stones. I leave the cave with an obvious question. Would Mary Magdalene really have lived here? This is one of the oldest Catholic pilgrimage sites. It’s a very engaging story . After all, it refers to one of the most important characters in the Bible. According to eastern tradition, which has the bishop and historian Gregory of Tours as its defender, in the 6th century, Mary Magdalene would have moved to Ephesus, in Asia Minor, after the crucifixion, where he would have lived in the company of Mary, mother of Jesus, until his death. There is also another tradition, a little later, according to which Magdalene moved to the same city with John the Evangelist, shortly after Mary’s death. But the tradition about the life of Mary Magdalene in southern France has flourished strongly for centuries. All these buildings embedded in the rock, the presence of monks and the spectacular forest setting make Madalena very present in this place. Look, as we don’t have historical records, it’s kind of difficult to talk. Some say, some theories, they really say that, that she would have gone to the south of France. Everything we had of Mary Magdalene was destroyed, even in the Vatican. For those who have faith, the truth has survived to this day. Oral tradition that passes one by one until it reaches the current situation that we have. But is there any document that could give more credibility to this tradition that Mary Magdalene actually lived in the south of France? What fate met Mary Magdalene? I think that Mary Magdalene, as indeed a larger field of followers of Jesus, we have been quite disadvantaged from a historical point of view in relation to them, and why? We have for the period between the years 66 and 70 the so-called First Jewish-Roman War. Titus’ troops surround Jerusalem and in the year 70 they manage to overcome the city walls. They will tear down some parts of this wall and enter Jerusalem. This has the consequence that the temple will experience a fire, where it will be, the temple of Jerusalem, destroyed. And what you have to see today when you go to Jerusalem. The walls, a part of the walls and a little of what remained of the temple itself. But that movement that was more original to followers of Jesus and spoke Aramaic, this movement, perhaps closer to the historical Jesus, who was a monoglot Jew who spoke Aramaic, this group dispersed without us having any news about where he went. We never heard from that most original field, including the apostles, who were eyewitnesses of Jesus. This group dispersed or was swept away, killed by the Roman incursion into the city of Jerusalem, in the year 70. All we know about this movement are from texts that take us back to the 50s, from the 1st century onwards. And all these texts are written in Greek. Therefore, these are individuals who are relatively distant from the original Aramaic language movement. So, the fate of Jesus’ direct male and female disciples, including Mary Magdalene, is absolutely uncertain. We don’t know what actually happened. If these people, for example, like Mary Magdalene, after the death of Jesus, decide to return to Magdala and live a life as a follower of Jesus there, or if she goes on the road with other apostles, taking the message of Jesus to other places, then there is a big question mark. Unfortunately, we cannot go beyond that.