Gospel of Mary.

A Coptic Apocryphon - Second Century A.D.

( The first six pages are missing)

  [PAGE 7 ]
1 " What is matter
2 Shall it forever exist ? "
3 The Master answered :
4 " Every thing that is born, every thing that is created
5 all the elements of nature
6 are united and interrelated.
7 Every thing that is composed, shall decompose ;
8 every thing shall return to its roots ;
9 matter shall return to the origin of matter.
10 Who has ears, hear! "
11 Peter said: " As you present yourself as the interpretor
12 of the elements and of the events of the world, tell us :
13 What is the sin of the world ? "
14 The Master said :
15 " There is no sin.
16 You are the cause of sin
17 when you act accordint to the habits
18 of your adultery nature
19 that is sin.
20 That is why Good came among you ;
21 He has taken part of the elements of your nature
22 to re-unite it to its roots. "
23 He continued and said :
24 " This is why you are ill
25 and why you die,
26 it is the consequence of your actions ;
27 you are doing what makes you depart...
28 He that can understand, understand ! "
[PAGE 8]
1 " Attachment to matter
2 generates a passion against nature.
3 Trouble is born.
5 "Stay in harmony..."
6 If you are out of balance,
7 be inspired by representations
8 of your own true nature.
9 He that has ears
10 to hear, hear . "
11 After saying the above, the Blessed One
12 saluted them, saying :
13 " Peace to you; may My Peace
14 rise and be fulfilled in you !
15 Don't be distracted by people
16 saying :
17 " He is here,
18 He is there."
19 Because the Son of Man
20 is within yourself ;
21 go to Him :
22 May those looking for Him, and finding Him
23 Go and march !
24 Annonce the Gospel of the Kingdom. "
[PAGE 9]
1 " Do not impose a rule,
2 excepted for the one of which I am the Witness.
3 Do not add laws to those which make the Law,
4 so that you will not become enslaved. "
5 After speaking, He left.
6 The disciples were in sorrow ;
7 they shed many tears, saying :
8 " How can we go to the pagans and announce
9 the Gospel of the Kingdom of the Son of Man ?
10 They didn't spare Him,
11 how shall they spare us ? "
12 Then rose Maria,
13 she embrased them all and said to her brothers
:
14 " Do not dwell in pain and doubt,
15 because His Grace shall travel with you and protect you
16 Let us, in stead, glorigy His Greatness,
17 because He has prepared us.
18 He is calling us to become true human beings. "
19 With these words, Mary turned their hearts to the Good
;
20 they enlightened the words of the Master.
[PAGE 10]
17 Then I said to Him :
18 " Lord, at this moment, is he who contemplates
19 Thine apparition,
20 seeing Thou by the soul ?
21 Or by the spirit ?"
22 The Master answered :
23 Not by the soul, not by the spirit ;
24 but by intelligence which is between the two,
25 It is Him who sees, and it is Him who [...]"
The next four following pages are missing.
[PAGE 15]
1 " "I did not see you descend,
2 but I see you ascend",
3 said the Desire,
4 " Why do you lie, when you are a part of me ? "
5 The soul aswered :
6 " I did see you,
7 you didn't see me.
8 You didn't recognize me ;
9 I was with you as if I was a vestment,
10 but you didn't feel me. "
11 After having spoken,
12 she left, full of joy.
13 The third atmosphere appeared,
14 it was named Ignorance ;
15 it interrogated the soul by asking :
16 " Where do you go ?
17 Were you not overwhelmed by a bad tendancy ?
18 Yes, you were without discernment, and you have been enslaved. "
19 Then the soul said :
20 " Why are you juging me ? While I never judged.
21 I was dominated, while I never dominated;
22 I was not recognized,
23 but I have recognized
24 that every thing that is composed shall decompose
25 on earth as in heaven. "
[PAGE 16]
1 Freed from the third atmosphere, the soul continued to climb.
2 It noticed the fourth atmosphere.
3 Which had seven manifestations.
4 The first manifestation is Darkness;
5 the second, Desire ;
6 the third, Ignorance ;
7 the fourth, mortal Jalousy ;
8 the fifth, carnal Attachment ;
9 the sixth, transported Wisdom ;
10 the seventh, artful Wisdom.
11 These are the seven manifestations of passion
12 which are oppressing the soul with questions :
13 " Where are you coming from, murderer ?
14 Where are you going to, vagrant ? "
15 The souls answered :
16 " The one that oppressed me was killed;
17 the one that grabbed me is no more ;
18 my desire are now appeased,
19 and I am delivered from my ignorance. "
[PAGE 17]
6 I am going into Silence ". "
7 When she had spoken, Mary remained silent.
8 This is how the Master talks with her.
9 Andrew began to speak to his brethren :
10 " So, what do you think about what she said ?
11 As far as I am concerned, I don't believe
12 the Master could speek in that fashion ;
13 these thoughts are different from the ones we have known. "
14 Peter intervened :
15 " Is it possible that the Master has spoken
16 in such a matter, with a woman,
17 and told her secrets we ignore ?
18 Do we all have to change our habits,
19 and listen to this woman ?
20 Was she really chosen and prefered to us ? "
[PAGE 18]
1 Then Mary cried.
2 She said to Peter :
3 " My brother Peter, what do you have in mind ?
4 Do you believe that, all by myself, in my imagination,
5 I have invented such vision ?
6 or that I could tell lies about our Master ? "
7 Levi said :
8 " Peter, you always have been difficult ;
9 I see now that you are implacable against the woman,
10 as do our adversaries.
11 But, if the Master made her worthy,
12 who are you to reject her ?
13 Indeed, the Master knows her very well
14 He has loved her more than her loved us.
15 Let us have contrition,
16 and become human beings with full integrity ;
17 let Him take roots in ourselves
18 and grow as He asked us to do.
19 Let us go and announce the Gospel
20 without seeking for other rules and other laws
21 outside the ones He witnessed. "
[PAGE 19]
1 As soon as Levi has spoken these words,
2 they all left to announce the Gospel.

END OF THE GOSPEL OF MARY