> I'm just wondering where 'Abdu'l-Baha might be getting the idea that Mary > Magdalene went to Rome. Is this in any tradition, or is this a matter of > divine Revelation?
Dear David, It is a part of church tradition: "Holy Tradition testifies, that when the Apostles departed from Jerusalem for preaching to all the ends of the earth, with them also went Mary Magdalene to preach. A daring woman, whose heart was full of reminiscence of the Resurrection, she went beyond her native borders and set off to preach in pagan Rome. And everywhere she went, she proclaimed to people about Christ and His Teaching, and when many did not believe that Christ is risen, she repeated to them what she had said to the Apostles on the radiant morning of the Resurrection: "I have seen the Lord!" With this preaching she made the rounds of all Italy. Tradition relates, that in Italy Mary Magdalene visited the Emperor Tiberias (14-37 AD) and proclaimed to him about Christ's Resurrection. According to tradition, she took him an egg as a symbol of the Resurrection, a symbol of new life with the words: "Christ is Risen!" Then she told Tiberias that, in his Province of Judea, Jesus the Nazarene, a holy man, a maker of miracles, powerful before God and all mankind, was executed on the instigation of the Jewish High-Priests and the sentence affirmed by the procurator Pontius Pilate. Tiberias responded that no one could rise from the dead, anymore than the egg she held could turn red. Miraculously, the egg immediately began to turn red as testimony to her words. Then, and by her urging, Tiberias had Pilate removed from Jerusalem to Gaul, where he later suffered a horrible sickness and an agonizing death. >From this, the miracle of Mary Magdalene, the custom to give each other paschal eggs on the day of the Luminous Resurrection of Christ spread among Christians over all the world. On one ancient hand-written Greek ustav, written on parchment, kept in the monastery library of Saint Athanasias near Thessalonika (Solunea), is an established prayer read on the day of Holy Pascha (Easter) for the blessing of eggs and cheese, in which it is indicated, that the Hegumen (Abbot) in passing out the blessed eggs says to the brethren: "Thus have we received from the holy fathers, who preserved this custom from the very time of the holy apostles, wherefore the holy equal-unto-the-apostles Mary Magdalene first showed believers the example of this joyful offering." Mary Magdalene continued her preaching in Italy and in the city of Rome itself. Evidently, the Apostle Paul has precisely her in view in Romans 16:6, where together with other ascetics of evangelic preaching he mentions Mary (Mariam), who as he expresses "has done much for us." Evidently, she extensively served the Church, being exposed to dangers, and sharing with the Apostles the labours of preaching. According to Church tradition, she remained in Rome until the arrival of the Apostle Paul, and for two more years still, following his departure from Rome after the first court judgment upon him. From Rome, Saint Mary Magdalene, already bent with age, moved to Ephesus where unceasingly laboured the holy Apostle John, who with her wrote the first 20 Chapters of his Gospel (John 1-9, John 10-20). There the saint finished her earthly life and was buried." http://www.thenazareneway.com/mary_magdalene.htm I'm not sure how > reliable these traditions are, however. Why assume they aren't? The idea that John and Mary lived > together in Ephesus could easily be fiction. So could the entire Acts of the Apostles or the Four Gospels for that matter! I > I guess I'm a bit of a skeptic regarding 'Abdu'l-Baha and history. Well, He didn't usually just make things up. ;-} 'Abdu'l-Baha said of the > disciples: > > Under the fiercest tortures, they did every one of these holy souls to > death; with butchers' cleavers, they chopped the pure and undefiled bodies > of some of them to pieces and burned them in furnaces, and they stretched > some of the followers on the rack and then buried them alive. > (`Abdu'l-Baha: Secret of Divine Civilization, Page: 45) > > This is interesting, because if you consider the orthodox beliefs of what > happened to the disciples, most were actually not martyred. You'll probably > find a number of Christians who believe that they were all martyred, but > that wouldn't be based on looking into the matter. Oh, where did you get your information from? The church from early history has commemorated Matthew as a martyr, though there is some disagreement as to how he died. Peter is supposed to have been crucified upside down. Andrew is supposed to have been crucified as well. Paul is supposed to have been beheaded in Rome. James Zebedee was beheaded. The other James was marytred in Egypt, though I don't know how. We don't know whether Philip died a natural death or was martyred. Bartholomew was skinned alive. Thomas was speared to death. John is the only one I know who is definitely supposed to have died a natural death. However, I think Abdu'l-Baha is conflating the martyrdom of the apostles with that of some other early Christian martyrs. I know that > 'Abdu'l-Baha is always right, but I don't think history is always what He is > focusing on. He often gives lessons from history, not lessons in history. Right. So don't worry about it. ;-} warmest, Susan ---------- You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://list.jccc.net/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=bahai-st news://list.jccc.net/bahai-st http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist (public) http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] (public)
