Forgot Password? Register

The Gospel of Mary

[Gnostic] [2nd Century] [Fragmentary] [Curtis translation]

Mary teaches the other disciples, and Peter objects that she should not. Levi answers him. It is the earliest surviving text in which a woman is the one who understood, and the argument it records — over who is allowed to have received something directly — is the same argument the rest of this codex keeps circling.

Roughly half of it is gone. The only substantial copy is Papyrus Berolinensis 8502, bought in Cairo in 1896. Pages 1–6 and 11–14 are missing from it and from every other witness. Those gaps are shown below rather than smoothed over: what remains opens mid-conversation and breaks off mid-vision, and a version that reads as continuous prose is not the Gospel of Mary.

The LNV Reading

The lawmaker is bound first. “Do not lay down any rules other than what I have given you. Do not establish more laws like the lawmaker, or else you too will become constrained by them.” Said not to rulers but to disciples about to go out and organise — the moment every movement fails. You cannot legislate from outside the system you are legislating. Levi repeats it in the last surviving line, which suggests whoever preserved this text thought it was the point.

There is no sin, only mismatch. “There is no such thing as sin, you only make it appear when you act according to the nature of adultery.” Sin as category is an instrument of control; what the text describes instead is acting against your own nature. That is a condition to be corrected, not a debt to be collected on — and nobody is needed to forgive it.

Authority against direct reception. Peter’s objection is not that Mary is wrong. It is that she received something directly, without passing through him. Levi’s answer — that the Saviour knew her thoroughly — is the whole argument between sovereignty and priesthood, preserved in a single exchange, eighteen centuries before anyone called it that.

Everything dissolves into its own roots. The opening answer is that nothing composite lasts and each thing returns to what it is made of. No permanent structure, no eternal institution — which is why building one to guard the teaching was always going to fail.

From the Source

Two passages worked from the Coptic rather than taken from an English version. Where a rendering is a choice, the alternative is shown — a reading that cannot be checked is only an assertion.

The lawmaker · page 9

ⲙ̅ⲡⲣ̅ⲕⲁ ⲗⲁⲁⲩ ⲛ̅ϩⲟⲣⲟⲥ … ⲟⲩⲇⲉ ⲙ̅ⲡⲣ̅ϯ ⲛⲟⲙⲟⲥ ⲛ̅ⲑⲉ ⲙ̅ⲡⲛⲟⲙⲟⲑⲉⲧⲏⲥ … ⲛ̅ⲧⲉⲧⲛ̅ⲁⲙⲁϩⲧⲉ ⲛ̅ϩⲏⲧⲟⲩ

  • ϩⲟⲣⲟⲥ horos — a boundary stone, the edge of a field. Not “rule” in the sense of procedure. The image is territorial: drawing a line around something.
  • ⲛⲟⲙⲟⲥ / ⲛⲟⲙⲟⲑⲉⲧⲏⲥ nomos / nomothetēs — statute, and the man who writes statutes. Both are Greek civic-legal loanwords carried into Coptic. This is not Torah vocabulary. The warning is about legislation, in the state’s own word for it.
  • ⲁⲙⲁϩⲧⲉ — to seize, grip, hold fast. Physical. “Constrained” is an abstraction of it.

LNV Set down no boundary beyond what I appointed for you, and give no statute after the manner of the legislator — or you will be seized by them.

Sin does not exist · page 7

ⲙⲛ̅ ⲛⲟⲃⲉ ϣⲟⲟⲡ … ⲛ̅ⲧⲱⲧⲛ̅ ⲡⲉⲧⲉⲓⲣⲉ ⲙ̅ⲡⲛⲟⲃⲉ

  • ⲙⲛ̅ … ϣⲟⲟⲡ — a flat existential negation: there does not exist. Not “is not counted” or “is forgiven”. It has no being.
  • ⲛ̅ⲧⲱⲧⲛ̅ ⲡⲉⲧⲉⲓⲣⲉ — emphatic second person plural: you are the ones making it. The contrast is the argument: sin has no existence of its own, and is manufactured.
  • ⲙⲛ̅ⲧⲛⲟⲉⲓⲕ — normally “adultery”. Open question: a live reading takes it as adulteration — mixing what should not be mixed — which would tie it to the opening answer about composite things dissolving. We have not settled this.

LNV Sin does not exist. You are the ones who make sin, when you act after the nature of adultery.

Standard of proof. These are drafts against a remembered text, not against a photographed manuscript. They want checking line-by-line to Till & Schenke’s edition of the papyrus before anyone leans on them. Marked here rather than left implied.

8 surviving manuscript pages · translated by David Curtis · CC BY-NC 4.0
Pages 1-6 are missing

Page 7

[The disciples asked:] "Teach us about the material world. Will it last forever or is everything impermanent?" The Saviour answered: “All that is created, everything that is formed, every natural thing, all exist interdependently in and with each other. Then each will be dissolved again back into its own roots. It is [the way of] nature that everything will eventually decompose back into its own elements. Those who have ears, let them hear.” Peter said to him: “While you are explaining everything to us, tell us one more thing: What is the sin of the world?” The Saviour answered: “There is no such thing as sin, you only make it appear when you act according to the habits of your adulterated nature: that is how what you call 'sin' manifests. This is why the Good has come into your midst, pursuing [the Good] which is in everyone’s true nature, to restore it inward to its root.” Then he continued, saying: “This is what sickens and destroys you: it is your love for the things that deceive you. Those who have ears, let them hear. Whoever can understand, let them understand!"

Page 8

“Attachment to matter gives rise to incomparable suffering, because it goes against your true nature. Then the whole body becomes disturbed. This is why I taught you to find contentment at the level of the heart. When you feel disturbed and out of balance, reclaim wholeness in the presence of all the different forms of your true nature. Those who have ears, let them hear.” When the Blessed One had said these things, he embraced them all and took his leave, saying: “Peace be with you! Cultivate my peace within yourselves! Be vigilant, and don't let anyone lead you astray by saying 'Here it is' or 'There it is', for the Son of Man, the Child of Your True Humanity, already lives within each one of you. This is what you should follow! I tell you, those who seek this within will surely find it. Go then and proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom!”

Page 9

“Do not lay down any rules other than what I have given you. Do not establish more laws like the lawmaker, or else you too will become constrained by them.” Once he had said these things, he departed from them. The disciples grieved bitterly, shedding many tears and saying: “How are we supposed to go out preaching to the rest of the world, proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom of the Son of Man? If they did not spare him, then what will become of us?” Then Mary rose up. She embraced them all, kissing them tenderly and began to speak to her brothers and sisters: “There is no need to remain stuck in sorrow, grief, and doubt! For his Grace will be with you all; it will guide you, comfort you, shelter, and protect you. Rather, let us be thankful and praise his greatness, for he has brought us together and prepared us for this. Through him, we too can become fully human.” Saying these things, Mary turned their hearts inward toward the Good, and they began to wrestle with the meaning of the Saviour's words and to discuss his sayings.

Page 10

Then Peter said to Mary, "Sister, we know that you are greatly loved by the Saviour, more than any other woman. Tell us those words of His that you remember, the things which you know and we don't, the teachings we never heard.” Mary answered, saying: “What is hidden from you I shall reveal to you. Whatever is unknown to you, and I remember, I will tell you.” And she began saying these words to them. She said, “Once I saw the Lord in a vision and I said to him: 'Lord, [Rabbouni,] now I see you in this vision.’ He answered me and said: ‘Blessed are you Mary, for you do not waver at the sight of me. How wonderful you are! For this is where the treasure lies - in [that place where heaven and earth meet, where deep understanding arises in the heart and mind], ‘the nous’.” I asked him this: ‘Now tell me Lord, how does a person see such a vision, is it through the agency of their soul or through The Spirit?’ The Saviour answered: ‘It is neither through the soul nor through The Spirit, but through the understanding which arises between the two, that is how the vision is seen.’" Pages 11-14 are missing.

Pages 11-14 are missing

Page 15

And Craving spoke: “I didn't see you descending, but now I see you rising up. Who are you fooling? You're controlled by me!” The Soul responded: [“My friend, it is you who were mistaken!] I saw you, but you never really saw me or knew me. You mistook the cloak I was wearing for my true self, so you didn't recognise me.” Having said all this, the Soul went away joyfully. Again, the Soul came into the realm of the third Authority, which goes by the name of Ignorance. This scrutinised the Soul closely and interrogated it, saying: “Where do you think you're going? You are the slave of malicious habits, trapped and held prisoner by your own wicked inclinations. You lack discrimination, so your judgement is unsound!” The Soul said: “Why are you so critical of me, even though I have not been judgemental? I have been dominated and have lacked my own agency. I was never recognised for my true self, but now I have recognised this: that everything is impermanent, the whole of creation will be dissolved. All worldly things, all heavenly things, everything passes, everything will be released."

Page 16

Liberated from the realm of the third Authority, the Soul continued, and came face to face with the fourth, the Authority of Wrath. This took on seven fearful manifestations. The first was everything obscured; the second was craving; the third, ignorance, the fourth, the longing for oblivion; the fifth, enslavement to the demands of the body, the sixth was foolish worldly wisdom, the seventh, the hot-tempered certainty of anger. These formed the seven-fold Authority of Wrath, which interrogated the Soul, demanding: “Where do you come from, murderer? and, where do you think you're going, deserter?” The Soul responded: “It is what dominated me that has been vanquished, and what was steering me that has been overcome. It's my craving that has come to an end, and my ignorance that has died."

Page 17

I have been set free from one world with the aid of another world, from one pattern through the moulding and shaping of a greater pattern. I have been liberated from the chains of forgetfulness which are both temporary and temporal. From this moment on, now and for all seasons, I am released into silent restfulness, where time rests in the eternity of time.” After saying these things Mary settled into silence: that place of sanctuary to which the Saviour’s words had brought her. But Andrew responded and said to the brothers and sisters: “Tell me, what do you think about all that she has been telling us? Say what you will, but I for one don’t believe that the Saviour would have said such things! Certainly, these are unorthodox teachings, it all seems quite different from his way of thinking.” After some consideration, Peter responded in a similar way. He questioned the brothers about the Saviour: “Did he really speak secretly with a woman and not openly so that we could all hear? Are we just going to turn around and listen to her? Did he really choose her and prefer her to us? Surely, he wouldn't have wanted to show that she is more worthy than we are?”

Page 18

-19 Then Mary wept. She said to Peter: "My brother, Peter, what are you thinking? Do you really believe that I made all this up, or that I would tell lies about our Saviour?" Levi also responded to Peter, saying: "Peter, you have always been hot-tempered from the beginning, and now we see you arguing against this woman as though you were her adversary. Yet if the Saviour deemed her worthy, indeed if he himself has made her worthy, then who are you to despise and reject her? Surely the Saviour's appraisal of her is completely reliable. That is why he loved her more than us. Brothers, we should be ashamed of our behaviour. Let us cloak ourselves with True Humanity. We too can follow his instructions and cultivate this in ourselves. Let us do as we were instructed and proclaim the good news the Saviour taught, never laying down any rules or laws beyond what he himself gave. After Levi had said these things, they started going out to teach and to proclaim the gospel…….