MARY MAGDALENE PENITENT OR DEACONESS? One saint, two truths under the sky of Rome - Couverture souple

Alberici, Valentina

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1079034366 ISBN 13 : 9781079034363

Editeur : Independently published, 2019

Synopsis

Throughout the centuries, on Saint Mary Magdalene’s memorial day, the Church of Rome would commemorate the «famous sinner» pardoned by Jesus. Several cardinals chose the subject of the penitent Magdalene to decorate their opulent residences, by commissioning paintings by successful artists or obtaining artists’ copies of masterpieces that had become exceptionally famous. For these prelates, whose lives were not always morally upstanding, having close to hand an image of a sinner pardoned by Jesus Christ and ultimately «promoted» to sainthood must have offered welcome consolation.And yet, in an abbey at the gates of the Eternal City, Mary Magdalene would be commemorated with very different words: not «sinner» but «deaconess», not «penitent» but a fully-fledged member of the first Christian community. The monks of this abbey had not invented anything; they had simply followed a precious manuscript that they treasured jealously.Thanks to this manuscript, these monks continued to commemorate saint Mary Magdalene without ever allowing themselves to be influenced by the Roman environment.The external appearance of the Abbey of Grottaferrata takes its viewer by surprise, since it looks just like a fortress.Naturally defended by a sheer cliff on the south side, the remaining sides of the abbey are surrounded by the sturdy walls built by Giuliano Della Rovere, abbot of Grottaferrata for thirty years and “warrior” pope from 1503. The moat, the chemin de ronde, the towers and the entry, possible only through the drawbridge, say a great deal about the project Della Rovere had entrusted to his military architects. When events precipitated, the abbey was designed to provide the abbot and the entire community with a place of refuge that could withstand the new assault techniques that were starting to be applied in war. At the same time, the monastery had to be able to use these new techniques in its own defence.In reality the abbey founded by St Nilus never had to be used as a stronghold in the event of a siege. Its work remained that of defending and handing down a tradition from the East that was in danger of disappearing, as had already happened in similar places in Italy and Western Europe.When he copied the life of Mary Magdalene and that of many other saints in the Crypt Beta Gamma III codex, the amanuensis monk of Grottaferrata transmitted in the heart of the Papal States the traditions that for centuries had circulated in the Eastern Church and been gathered in the manuscript of Emperor Basil II.Among the various codices originating from Eastern Christianity and kept at the Abbey of Grottaferrata, there is an ancient manuscript containing the rite of ordination of deaconesses used in the Eastern Church. When the Emperor’s «Book of Saints» describes Mary Magdalene as the «deaconess» of Jesus, this places her in a story alongside the deaconess Phoebe mentioned by the Apostle Paul in the letter to the Romans, a story which continues in the many funeral inscriptions referring to deaconesses found throughout Eastern Christianity, and is confirmed in the forty deaconesses appointed among the clergy of the Cathedral of Saint Sofia.In the earliest Christian communities women could hold positions of great importance, a role that the Fourth Gospel acknowledges to the disciple Mary Magdalene, and this is confirmed by the tradition reported by the patriarch Modestus and by the text copied for Emperor Basil.In its own small way, the archaeological museum of the Abbey of Grottaferrata offers two extraordinary testimonies regarding the «land» in which Christian preaching was soon to take root.To this humanity that has always suffered and questioned itself in the face of the experience of death, the Christians announced the «good news» of the resurrection of Jesus. The good news that is linked inextricably with the name of Mary Magdalene, whose relevance in early Christianity still needs to be fully understood.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Independently published
• Date d'édition: 2019
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1079034366
• ISBN 13: 9781079034363
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 78
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible