Homily on Mary Magdalene, by Nicephorus Callistus

Vita Mariae Magdalene, autore Nicephorus Callistus

Standard abbreviation: Hom. Mary Magd.

Other titles: none

Clavis numbers: ECCA 524

Category: Hagiography

Compiled by Tony Burke, York University

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Homily on Mary Magdalene, by Nicephorus Callistus.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/homily-on-mary-m…phorus-callistus/.

Created March 2025.

1. SUMMARY

In the course of his homily, Nicephorus emphasizes (and invents) Mary Magdalene’s role in the Gospel story of Jesus. He heaps praises on Mary, calling her “the second Christ to the apostles” (as the first to see Christ resurrected and announcing it to the apostles) and states that she should be held in the same esteem as the male apostles.

The Magdalene was born in the reign of Augustus to wealthy, righteous parents. By the time she was able to walk, she was entrusted to a teacher who taught her Scripture. She read the psalms and prophets, paying attention to prophetic passages about Christ. After the death of her parents, the Magdalene continued her studies and followed her parents in giving to the needy and taking care of the sick. She also lived as a model of chaste virginity and did not go to festivals. But the Magdalene’s piety made her the target of the Satan. He had heard the words of Isaiah about a virgin who will give birth to the Messiah, so he assailed her with seven demons. But the Magdalene was healed of the demons when she met Jesus. After the feeding of the 4000, Jesus crossed the lake of Gennesaret to Magdala. While he was performing miracles, the people of the town brought him the Magdalene, who was twisted and foaming at the mouth. Upon being cured, the Magdalene immediately became his follower and a close friend of his family as well as the families of Simon the Pharisee and Lazarus in Bethany. The unnamed woman who uttered “Blessed is the womb that carried You, and the breasts at which You nursed!”” (Luke 11:27) is placed here in Bethany and identified as the Magdalene.

Nicephorus recounts more events from the life of Christ, ultimately reaching the crucifixion. The Magdalene was at the foot of the cross with Jesus’ mother and John. She uttered a lament and urged Jesus to speak a word of comfort to his mother. Then he handed over Mary to John. When the soldier with a spear stabbed Jesus in his side, the Magdalene angrily told him, “Restrain your hand, brave soldier, lest the sword sent by God come upon you.” The Magdalene also directed the burial of Jesus by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. She kissed the nails, embraced his feet and hands, and washed his body except for his face which she left for his mother. While the other apostles kept their distance, the Magdalene bravely visited the tomb four times (Nicephorus combines all four canonical accounts). She was present also at the ascension and was with the apostles in Jerusalem at Pentecost.

In time, the Magdalene journeyed to Rome to accuse Caiaphas and Pilate before Tiberius. Along the way she preached like an apostle; accounts of her activities, Nicephorus says, are told in the “works of Italians.” From Rome she traveled all over Italy and France, then Phoenicia and Syria and Egypt. She stayed for a time with Mary in Jerusalem and then evangelized in Pamphylia. Finally, she accompanied Mary and John to Asia. They brought with them a red stone on which the body of Jesus was laid by Joseph. The tears of his mother could be seen on it as well as the footprints of the Magdalene. This stone was later brought to Constantinople. After a short illness Mary passed away and her body was placed in a cave near Ephesus. Some time later, the emperor Leo VI translated the Magdalene’s remains to Constantinople.

Named historical figures and characters: Abraham (patriarch), Adam, Alexander (emperor), Annas (scribe/high priest), Augustus (emperor), Basil (emperor), Beelzebub, Caiaphas, Cain, David (king), Deborah, Esther, Eve, Holofernes, Isaiah (prophet), John (son of Zebedee), Joseph of Arimathea, Joseph (of Nazareth), Lazarus (of Bethany), Leo VI, Lithostratus, Martha (or Bethany), Mary Magdalene, Mary (Virgin), Mary (Wife of Clopas), Moses (patriarch), Nicodemus, Peter (apostle), Paul (apostle), Pontius Pilate, Rebecca (matriarch), Sarah (matriarch), Salome (disciple), Satan, Simon (the leper/Pharisee), Solomon, Susanna, Tiberius (emperor).

Geographical locations: Bethany, Constantinople, Cyprus, Dalmanutha, Egypt, Ephesus, France, Galilee, Gennesaret, Israel, Italy, Jerusalem, Magdala, Mount of Olives, Pamphylia, Phoenicia, Red Sea, Rome, Sidon, Sodom, Syria, Tyre.

2. RESOURCES

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Greek (BHG 1162)

Florence, Biblioteca Laurenziana, Plut. 9.33, fols. 170^r–188^v (14th cent.) ~ Pinakes; Florence

Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale centrale, Conventii Soppressi B.I. 1214, fols. 166^v–182^v (14th cent.) ~ Pinakes

Bandini, Angelo Maria. Catalogus codicum bibliothecae Laurentiana. 3 vols. lorence: Typis Caesareis, 1764–1770 (text of BLM Plut. 9.33, vol. 1, pp. 446–55).

__________. Fasciculus rerum graecarum ecclesiasticarum echibens tractatum Basili Magni De synisactis. Florence: Typis Caesareis, 1763 (pp. 36–73).

Migne, Jacques-Paul. Patrologiae cursus completus: Series graeca. Vol. 147. Paris: Cerf, 1865 (Greek text from Bandini with facing Latin translation, cols. 539–76).

3.1.2 Menologion of Basil II

Preliminary translation: On the twenty-second day, the commemoration of Saint Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene was from Magdali in the mountains of Syria. But when she was tormented by the seven demons, she was healed by Christ. Because of this favor she followed him and and having become his disciple, she ministered to him until his passion. And when she was carrying the ointment together with the other Mary, she saw the first resurrection, when on the evening of the Sabbath she saw an angel, and in the morning two angels in white clothes. And she heard the Lord himself, who she thought to be a gardener, saying to her: Do not touch me. Therefore, after the divine ascension of Christ, she went to the divine John, the apostle and evangelist at Ephesus, and there she fell asleep as a saint, and was deposited at the entrance to the cave in which the seven holy and blessed children fell asleep. Afterwards, under Leo the Wise, the emperor, the remains of the saint were brought and deposited in the monastery of Saint Lazarus, which he had built.

Migne, Jacques-Paul. Patrologiae cursus completus: Series graeca. Vol. 117. Paris: Cerf, 1903 (Greek text with facing Latin translation, cols. 553–54).

3.2 Modern Translations

3.3 General Works

Geerard, Maurice. “Marie-Madeleine, denonciatrice de Pilate.” SacEr 31 (1989): 139–48.

Haskins, Susan. Mary Magdalen: Myth and Metaphor. New York et al.: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1993.

Ludwig Jansen, Katherine. The Making of the Magdalen: Preaching and Popular Devotion in the Later Middle Ages. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.

Taschl-Erber, Andrea. “Apostle and Sinner: Medieval Receptions of Mary of Magdala.” Pages 301–26 in The High Middle Ages. Edited by Kari Elisabeth Børresen and Adriana Valerio. The Bible and Women. An Encyclopaedia of Exegesis and Cultural history 6.2. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2015 (pp. 323–25).