Mary Magdalene and Mary sister of Lazarus the same?

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peregrinus_WA

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At Mass last night, the priest concentrated his homily on Mary Magdalene as a model of Faith and he gave 3 examples. One of them was the story of Lazarus and stated that Mary was his sister.

I was alway under the impression that Mary Magdalene and Mary sister of Lazarus were two separate Marys. Am I right or are Mary Magdalene and Mary sister of Lazarus the same person?
 
In past times Mary Magdalene, Mary the sister of Lazarus, and a prostitute who washed Jesus feet at the table have been combined in various ways. Current Church teaching denies that there is any evidence relating them.

While it is definitely not Church teaching, I am not sure how firmly it is denied.
 
I am not sure about that. I guess that is a question we will have to ask her if we make it to heaven and get to meet her. I do agree she is a great model of faith and of christ’s forgviness to sinners. I pray to her daily to interecede for me and have a greatly admire her.

have a blessed Easter!:getholy:
 
I believe there are several New Testament women that often become conflated, erroneously or correctly.

Who are the women?
  • Mary Magdalene (MM)
  • Mary the sister of Lazarus and Martha. (ML)
  • The woman caught in adultery (A?)
  • The woman with the alabaster jar of perfumed oil. (J?)
  • The woman who washed Christ’s feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. (W?)
    There are also a number of other unidentified women in the Gospels. For all we know, Mary Magdalene and Mary the sister of Lazarus are different people and the later is the woman who had the issue of blood cured. (I am not suggesting this so please do not flame me.)
Are any of these women that same person? Who knows. Mary Magdalene is identified only as someone whom Christ cast out 7 demons (Luke 8:2).

There has always been much speculation. I believe it was Pope Leo the Great who first connected Mary Magdalene with both the the woman caught in adultery and the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears.

I do not know that Sacred Tradition sheds any more light on this than the scriptures do.

Even if Mary Magdalene is the same woman as the other unidentified ones, it just goes to show (which was Pope Leo the Great’s point) how the grace of God can change a person’s life.

For me, it is not a terribly important point.
 
My understanding is that they were conflated so we would have a fuller picture of the people in the Gospel. If there is more than one story about a person we would know more about them.

My understanding is that the most recent thinking is that when a name is given in the Gospel accounts, either the person is famous [everybody knows Pilate and Herod] or they were or are a member of the community and can be called on to verify what the author wrote.

If a name is given in one Gospel and not another for the same story, then the person was known to those in one of the Gospel communities but not the other. So combining stories of those with names and without from the SAME GOSPEL would not make sense. But it is still possible if they are in a different Gospel (it still may be unlikely)

An example is Simon who helped carry the cross of Christ. In one account, his sons are given yet they are of no importance to the story at all. Hence it is believed that they were members of the community and could be called on to verify that their father did indeed assist the Christ on the via dolorosa.
 
I thought Mary Magdalen was from the town of Magdala, hence her name, while the sisters Mary and Martha, and their brother Lazarus hailed from Bethany. Magdalene is not her surname, but is referring to her place of origin. Jesus is called a Nazarene because he came from Nazareth, while Mary is a Magdalene, because she came from Magdala. So how could Mary of Bethany and Mary of Magdala be the same person?
 
CB_Catholic said:
I thought Mary Magdalen was from the town of Magdala, hence her name, while the sisters Mary and Martha, and their brother Lazarus hailed from Bethany. Magdalene is not her surname, but is referring to her place of origin. Jesus is called a Nazarene because he came from Nazareth, while Mary is a Magdalene, because she came from Magdala. So how could Mary of Bethany and Mary of Magdala be the same person?
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That’s a really good point. I hadn’t thought of it like that.
 
Zarah and Jezabel had 15 children and 6 of them died. The 4 that were living at the time of Christ were Lazarus, Martha, Mary (2 years younger than Martha and referred to as silent Mary), and Mary Magdalen who was 5 years younger than her sister Mary (surname came because she inherited and lived in the castle in Magdalum after her dad, Zarah died).
Zarah, their father, was very rich and held a high position under the Syrian king and received much property and wealth for his services in war from the Roman emperor; plus he married a rich woman, Jezebel. This family were responsible for funding many of Jesus’s excursions and had many homes of which Jesus would stay at when he was in town (Jerusalem and in Galilee).
 
dcssky -

That’s more or less what I had understood as well; i.e. that she was the sister of Lazarus and that “Magdal” is simply a title, and that she was a woman of some means (some suggest possibly descended from nobility or even royalty) and it is most probable that she (and perhaps her family) financed many of the historical Jesus’ excursions.
 
Perhaps Mary of Bethany is Silent Mary? From the book, Mary Magdalen, visions of Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich, it is noted that Lazarus had three sisters: Chapter 5. "The eldest Martha, the youngest Mary Magdalen, and one between them also called Mary. This last lived altogether secluded, her silence causing her to be looked upon as a simpleton. She went by no other name than Silent Mary. Jesus, speaking to Eliud of this family, said, “Martha is good and pious. She will, with her brother, follow Me.” Of Mary the Silent, He said, “She is possessed of great mind and understanding; but, for the good of her soul, they have been withdrawn from her. She is not for this world, therefore is she now altogether secluded from it. But she has never committed sin. If I should speak to her, she would perfectly comprehend the greatest mysteries. She will not live much longer. After her death, Lazarus and his sister Martha will follow me and devote all that they possess to the use of the Community. The youngest sister Mary has strayed from the right path, but she will return and rise to higher sanctity than Martha.”
 
rpp said:
I believe there are several New Testament women that often become conflated, erroneously or correctly.

Who are the women?
  • Mary Magdalene (MM)
  • Mary the sister of Lazarus and Martha. (ML)
  • The woman caught in adultery (A?)
  • The woman with the alabaster jar of perfumed oil. (J?)
  • The woman who washed Christ’s feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. (W?)
    There are also a number of other unidentified women in the Gospels. For all we know, Mary Magdalene and Mary the sister of Lazarus are different people and the later is the woman who had the issue of blood cured. (I am not suggesting this so please do not flame me.)
Are any of these women that same person? Who knows. Mary Magdalene is identified only as someone whom Christ cast out 7 demons (Luke 8:2).

There has always been much speculation. I believe it was Pope Leo the Great who first connected Mary Magdalene with both the the woman caught in adultery and the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears.

I do not know that Sacred Tradition sheds any more light on this than the scriptures do.

Even if Mary Magdalene is the same woman as the other unidentified ones, it just goes to show (which was Pope Leo the Great’s point) how the grace of God can change a person’s life.

For me, it is not a terribly important point.
Click to expand...
 
From the book, Mary Magdalen, by Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich: The women at the well was a women named Dina (The Suphanite) or Mary The Suphanite. She was a beautiful middle-age women with 5 devils raging against her. It reads: “She was the intelligent offspring of a mixed marriage that being a Jewish Mother and a Pagan Father. She was born in or near Damascus. Her parents died when she was young and she was raised by a dissolute nurse, by whom her evil passions had been fostered. She had 5 husbands and was living with another. She had 3 daughters and 2 half-grown sons, all of whom remained with the relatives of their respective fathers when their mother was obliged to leave Damascus…”
“The man she was now living with was a relative of one of her former husbands. He was a rich merchant. Dina followed the Samaritan religion. She had induced the man to remove to Sichar, where she superintended his household and lived with him, though without being espoused to him. They were looked upon in Sichar as a married couple. The man was a vigorous man of 36 years with a ruddy face and reddish beard. There were many similar things in Dina’s life to those of Magdalen’s, but Dina fell more deeply. Dina was an uncommonly gifted, open-hearted, easily influenced, pleasing women of great vivacity and impetuosity, but her conscious was always disturbed. Though the people of Sichar did not hold her in contempt, still they did not have much communications with her. Her manners were different from theirs and her costumes elaborate and studied. Dina’s son at a later date joined the 72 disciples.”
 
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