how many Marys?

[zaida]

Hi everyone - any experts on the Marys in the new testament.....mary of "mary and martha"......mary magdalen.....the woman who poured oil on Jesus, and annointed him.....the woman who he told to "go an sin no more".....were any/all of these the same Mary?

Thanks!

 

[ZaidaBoBaida]

The Bible doesn't tell us the name of the woman Jesus told to "go and sin no more." She's just called the woman taken in adultery.

 

[Mary of Bethany]

It depends who you ask.

I believe, in the western Christian world, both Catholics & Protestants say that Mary Magdalene (who is believed to have been a prostitute) and Mary of Bethany (sister of Martha & Lazarus) are the same person.

But in the eastern Christian world, Mary Magdalene (who is believed to have been healed of demons, but not a prostitute) and Mary of Bethany are two distinct persons. This is from OrthodoxWiki:

http://orthodoxwiki.org/Frederica_Mathewes-Green

Frederica Mathewes-Green2 writes: "She is not Mary of Bethany (a city south of Jerusalem), the sister of Martha and Lazarus, who anointed Jesus' head. She is not the prostitute who anointed Jesus' feet and wiped them with her hair. These two understandably get confused, and historically in the West all three women are lumped together under Mary Magdalene's name, a confusion continued in the Last Temptation of Christ, The DaVinci Code, and other works."
Karen Rae Keck (cf. External links) writes: "St. Gregory the Dialogist (Pope Gregory the Great) is believed to have begun the tradition in the Western Church, not accepted in the Eastern Church, which identified St. Mary with the 'sinful woman' in the seventh chapter of Luke."

Both are considered to be Myrrhbearers who are honored on the 2nd Sunday after Pascha. The tradition is that Mary & Martha went with Lazarus to the isle of Cyprus where Lazarus was made Bishop, and they all died there. Mary Magdalene traveled to the west. In Orthodox icons she is shown with a red egg, because of this tradition:

(also from OrthodoxWiki)

According to tradition, during a dinner with the emperor Tiberius Caesar, Mary Magdalene was speaking about Christ's Resurrection. Caesar scoffed at her, saying that a man could rise from the dead no more than the egg in her hand could turn red. Immediately, the egg turned red. Because of this, icons of Mary Magdalene sometimes depict her holding a red egg. Also, this is believed to be an explanation for dyeing eggs red at Pascha.

Mary

 

[WarriorAngel]

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Mary Magdalen

Mary Magdalen was so called either from Magdala near Tiberias, on the west shore of Galilee, or possibly from a Talmudic expression meaning "curling women's hair," which the Talmud explains as of an adulteress.
In the New Testament she is mentioned among the women who accompanied Christ and ministered to Him (Luke 8:2-3), where it is also said that seven devils had been cast out of her (Mark 16:9). She is next named as standing at the foot of the cross (Mark 15:40; Matthew 27:56; John 19:25; Luke 23:49). She saw Christ laid in the tomb, and she was the first recorded witness of the Resurrection.

 

[Rhamiel]

it is belived that Mary Magdalene was the woman possessed by demons

 

[ebia]

It depends who you ask.

I believe, in the western Christian world, both Catholics & Protestants say that Mary Magdalene (who is believed to have been a prostitute) and Mary of Bethany (sister of Martha & Lazarus) are the same person.

I dare say they exist but I don't know any biblical scholars who think those two are the same person.

 

[zaida]

So.....am I right in saying the woman who was about to be stoned is not called Mary, and none of the traditions consider her a Mary?

Also - the woman who had demons removed - she is Mary Magdalen - and some traditions have her as Lazurus's sister, others don't. And the one who was at Jesus's cross - she was the same woman (mary magdalen) who had the demons cast out.

How about the woman who annoints Jesus? (with the expensive perfume)?

Thanks!

 

[Rhamiel]

some people think the woman who annointed Jesus feet with oil was Mary Magdalene, I would like to think that it was

I am going to be honest
I think the Bible is true
but it is told in the form of a story
so really, what I look for, is what would be a better story