The Secret Gospel

by Morton Smith

s/t: The Discovery & Interpretation of the Secret Gospel According to Mark
The Secret Gospel gives the 1st real evidence of the method by which Jesus of Nazareth initiated his disciples into the esoteric practices of his teaching, making this is a very important book for the history of humankind. In 1958, Morton Smith traveled to Jerusalem to do research in the monastery library of Mar Saba in the Judean Desert. What he found was no routine corroboration of New Testament history, but a precious fragment of a 2nd-century document that would change the understanding of the work & teaching of Jesus. As exciting as the most suspenseful adventure story, Prof. Smith�s book is a lively readable account of the discovery & unraveling of some of Christianity�s most intriguing mysteries.

Genres: Religion, Christian, Christianity, New Testament

158 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1973

Reviews

[Erik Graff]

A secret gospel attributed to Mark is attested by patristic sources, something like the canonical one having been composed in Rome, the other in Alexandria. Now Morton Smith claims to have discovered a fragmentary copy of a letter by Clement of Alexandria answering questions about this gospel which he had received from a colleague dealing with Carpocratians who were quoting from it to confound him. Clement confirms the existence of the gospel, but says the Carpocratians were misrepresenting it, then goes on to correct those misrepresentations.

Did Smith actually find such a document in 1958? This appears, now that his correspondence has been published posthumously, to be the case. Is it actually a letter by Clement of Alexandra? Here the evidence stems from a style analysis of the writing which Smith claims to be pretty conclusive. Is Clement correctly quoting the text of the Alexandrian Gospel of Mark in this letter? Here we cannot be certain as we have no holographs to compare it to. The Carpocratian version may have been superior.

What Smith presents and what the two sets of photographic reproductions of the text show opens up a host of intriguing questions. First and foremost, the quest to reconstruct the Alexandrine Mark is renewed. References to it in the patristics, variants in the redactions of Mark, all may be studied anew with this in view. Second, what is the connection of this fragment with the story of the raising of Lazarus? Third, what is the connection of this fragment with the naked youth at Gethsemene? Fourth, what of the assertion that something like naked initiations were conducted by Jesus? Fifth, and this Smith, author of Jesus the Magician, covers, what is the contemporary context of such initiation rites and thaumaturgy?

This book is the popular version of Clement of Alexandria and a Secret Gospel of Mark, a longer book which I would read later on in seminary upon the recommendation of one of Smith's colleagues, Cyril Richardson. As such, it is a bit of an adventure novel--if one thinks, as I do, that ferreting out the provenance of antique holograph is adventurous. The longer version, published at the same time, has the Greek citations to the texts supporting Smith's claims.

[Cooper Renner]

The source of decades of controversy—is the letter of Clement, a copy of which Smith claims to have found in a monastery library, real or forgery? If forgery, is it a Smith forgery or a forgery from the past? That question may never be satisfactorily answered, but the implications of what that letter says provide solutions to many puzzling aspects of Christian history and “canonical” documents. Just as fascinating, of course, is the view of Jesus that Smith produces from the implications of the letter, and how that view can be diametrically opposed to the view produced by someone like Reza Aslan looking primarily also at Christian documents. Which means of course that the New Testament is incredibly unsatisfactory at producing a single coherent picture of the life and nature of Jesus of Nazareth.

[Simon]

Curious about the "Secret Gospel of Mark" and claims that it is a sophisticated scholarly hoax, I read Morton Smith's original popular account of his discovery and interpretation of the manuscript. In 1958 he found in the library of the monastery of Mar Saba near Jerusalem, a 17th century edition of the letters of Ignatius of Antioch. On blank pages at the back of this book someone using an 18th century handwriting style had copied a lost letter of Clement of Alexandria. This quotes two short passages from an extended version of the Gospel of Mark used by the church in Alexandria in the 2nd century (St Mark is traditionally credited with the evangelisation of Egypt). The problem is that Smith's analysis is based on photographs he took of the text. The monks have since secreted the book in Jerusalem where it is unavailable for further study. Bart Ehrman is suspicious of Smith's dedication of his popular book "FOR THE ONE WHO KNOWS", as if this implies only Smith knows whether he forged the letter or not (though in a Gnostic context, where salvation comes through self-knowledge, this dedication seems acceptable to me). I was, however, disturbed when Smith says in his preface, "I am shocked to find how much of it I have already forgotten. No doubt if the past, like a motion picture, could be replayed, I should also be shocked to find how much of the story I have already invented. Memory is perhaps more fallacious than forgetfulness. But here, at least, is what I think I remember." Is he playing games with the reader? To be fair to him the book is well-written, easy to follow and focuses on exploring whether the letter could be a forgery. At the end of his book in a footnote he ridicules some scholars' claims that he "forged the whole thing". His speculation that Jesus initiated converts into the Kingdom of Heaven through a secret baptismal rite is interesting (and surely not so shocking as to deserve suppression by Smith's opponents). In fact he is rather reserved in the expression of his ideas in view of the distinctly homoerotic implication of the longer of Clement's two quotations from the Gospel (this is perhaps understandable in a religious book published in 1973). The only solution to this controversy is the scientific dating of the ink used to copy the letter into the 17th century volume. That is presumably precisely why the monks, with a vested interest in discrediting Morton Smith's discovery, have made the book disappear.

[Steven H]

SMITH'S ACCOUNT OF HIS "DISCOVERY" OF A "SECRET GOSPEL OF MARK" FRAGMENT

Morton Smith (1915-1991) was an American professor of ancient history at Columbia University, who has written other books such as Jesus the magician. He wrote in the Preface to this 1973 book, "This book is the story of a series of discoveries---not only the discovery of a manuscript (which I found in 1958 at the Monastery of Mar Saba in the Judean desert), but also the events that led to the finding and the steps by which, after I had the text, I gradually discovered its significance for the history of the life of Jesus, the course of early Christianity, and the interpretation of the New Testament. The whole story spans more than thirty years... I am shocked to find how much of it I have already forgotten. No doubt if the past... could be replayed, I should also be shocked to find how much of the story I have already invented... here, at least, is what I think I remember." (Pg. xii)

The manuscript contains statements such as the following: "[As for] Mark, then, during Peter's stay in Rome he wrote [an account of] the Lord's doings, not, however, declaring all [of them], nor yet hinting at the secret [ones], but selecting those he thought most useful for increasing the faith of those who were being instructed... he yet did not divulge the things not to be uttered, nor did he write down the hierophantic teaching of the Lord...

"[The secret gospel] brings the following [material] word for word: 'And they came into Bethany, and a certain woman, whose brother had died, was there... she prostrated herself before Jesus and says to him, 'Son of David, have mercy on me.' But the disciples rebuked her. And Jesus, being angered, went off with her into the garden where the tomb was... Jesus rolled away the stone from the door of the tomb. And straightway, going in where the youth was, he stretched forth his hand and raised him... the youth, looking upon him, loved him and began to beseech him that he might be with him. And going out of the tomb they came into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days Jesus told him what to do and in the evening the youth comes to him, wearing a linen cloth over [his] naked [body]. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the kingdom of God.'" (Pg. 14-17)

Smith asserts, "To summarize: pagan and Jewish tradition alike represent Jesus as a magician, while Christian tradition represents him as what a successful magician would have claimed to be---the possessor of the holy spirit and himself a supernatural being, the son of a god. These reports are confirmed by the many minor magical traits of the miracle stories and, more importantly, by the whole outline of Jesus' career and the essential content of most of the stories about him... Further confirmation comes from the history of Jesus' followers, who repeated and improved the legend of his magical prowess, continued themselves to practice magic, and were punished for it by the Roman authorities." (Pg. 107-108)

He suggests, "One of [the Book of Acts'] purposes was to persuade his Roman readers that Christianity was morally admirable and politically innocent... Therefore the libertinism, usually scandalous and occasionally criminal, was concealed. And no writings from the libertine side of primitive Christianity have survived---an understandable misfortune. Consequently scholars have denied the existence of the libertine side and have treated the references to it in the New Testament as references to particular abuses in practice or corruptions in doctrine peculiar to the single churches..." (Pg. 124)

He adds after quoting numerous NT passages [e.g., 1 Cor 5:2, Phil 3:18, Eph 5:1-20, 2 Pet 2-3], "These clear passages are enough to show that libertine Christianity was widespread and ancient... Therefore, in our picture of pre-Pauline Christianity, alongside the legalistic interpretation of the religion we must set the libertine... The libertine interpretation went back to Jesus himself and preserved and developed elements of his esoteric teaching." (Pg. 130-131)

He argues, "Why did so very many gnostic sects spring up so early in so many parts of the Christian Church? Groups that seem gnostic occasionally appear in paganism or Judaism, but nowhere else is there anything like the quantity and vigor of the Christian development. This has to be explained, and the explanation must be something in Christianity. What else but the secret tradition?" (Pg. 137)

Smith's "Secret Gospel" is widely thought of as a forgery; for more details, you can read 'The Gospel Hoax: Morton Smith's Invention of Secret Mark,' 'The Secret Gospel of Mark Unveiled: Imagined Rituals of Sex, Death, and Madness in a Biblical Forgery,' and 'Mark's Other Gospel: Rethinking Morton Smith's Controversial Discovery.'

[John Fredrickson]

This is a seriously baffling book. The author purports to have discovered a fragment of a secret gospel of Mark in his travels in a monastery, but the fragment is just that, a fragment, and now the document, thought its existence has been attested to by some others, now appears to be lost.

One of the maddening aspects of the book is that it feels like rampant speculation throughout. Smith ends up pointing to a baptismal initiation as being the core of the 'secret' teaching, but also alludes consistently to libertine practices involving nakedness. The notion of Jesus as a shamanic magician that uses some type of potentially sexual practice as a means for entrance to the kingdom of heaven feels quite sacrilegious, and is not well-supported by the text of the book.

[Roberto]

Naturalmente un manoscritto

Chi come me continua ad essere affascinato dal racconto delle “Tre Versioni di Giuda” contenuto nelle “Finzioni” di J.L.Borges, non potrà non essere sedotto da questa storia, che - per inciso - è degna di un romanzo d’avventura.

Ho sentito menzionare Morton Smith per la prima volta in “Lost Christianities”, il brillante e godibilissimo saggio di Bart D. Ehrman sulla proliferazione di fedi cristiane “eretiche” tra primo e il terzo secolo dopo Cristo, poi estintesi con l’avvento del Credo Niceno (325).

Morton Smith (1915-1991), brillante e rispettato filologo classico, amico di Gershom Scholem, nel 1958, nella sua seconda visita al monastero di Mar Saba in Palestina nei pressi del mar Morto, mentre cataloga i testi della biblioteca, scopre il frammento di una lettera di Clemente di Alessandria (150-215 AD) che accenna alla polemica con i Carpocraziani, una oscura setta gnostica fiorita ad Alessandria all’inizio del II secolo.
La scoperta rivoluzionò la parabola intellettuale di Smith, che dedicò allo studio della lettera 15 anni della sua vita: essa consisteva nella menzione un cripto-evangelo di Marco, di cui venivano anche riportati alcuni passi e i cui insegnamenti esoterici e apparentemente scandalosi potevano cambiare la comprensione della storia del primo Cristianesimo.

Tale scoperta alimentò grande curiosità e un muto scetticismo, che dopo la morte di Smith talora si tradusse nell’accusa di falsificazione. A complicare la storia fu la scomparsa del codice, che riapparve solo nel 1977.

A favore dell’autenticità vi sono molti aspetti. La grafia del manoscritto databile intorno al XVIII secolo; il lessico, lo stile e le argomentazioni della lettera sono attribuibili a Clemente, lo stile e il lessico dei brani citati del cripto-vangelo sono genuinamente marciani. E non solo: i passi del Vangelo si possono inserire perfettamente nel procedere del vangelo a noi pervenuto. E se anche questo non bastasse, sappiamo anche che una collezione delle lettere di Clemente esisteva nel monastero di Mar Saba nell’VIII secolo. Tre passi tratti dalle lettere di tale collezione furono citati da Giovanni di Damasco che visse e lavorò a Mar Saba dal 716 al 749. Non ultimo, era nota la polemica tra Clemente e la setta di Carpocrate.

Di converso in tutta la storia del cristianesimo non vi è alcun accenno diretto - nelle tante fonti a noi pervenute - all’esistenza di una versione più ampia e segreta del Vangelo di Marco e desta stupore che una lettera che nelle intenzioni di Clemente doveva rimanere segreta, sia poi stata inserita nella edizione del suo epistolario.

La tesi era sconcertante: il primo Cristianesimo portava con se un insegnamento esoterico, limitato agli iniziati ed uno essoterico ad uso delle folle. Gli iniziati ai riti esoterici erano “liberati” dall’osservanza della Legge attraverso un rito simile al battesimo:
“...alla sera il giovane andò da lui indossando un panno di lino sul [suo corpo] nudo. Ed egli rimase con lui quella notte perché Gesù gli insegnasse il mistero del regno di Dio”
Questo rito secondo Clemente era stato “frainteso” dai seguaci di Carpocrate:
“….ma “[uomo] nudo con [uomo] nudo” e le altre cose a proposito delle quali mi hai scritto, non ci sono”

Il saggio si può grossomodo dividere in due parti, delle quali la prima, ovvero la storia della scoperta e lo sforzo filologico di verificare il testo, è senza dubbio la più interessante e discorsiva.
La seconda parte invece è un tentativo – un po’ ingenuo e talora anche un po’ datato nel taglio antropologico – di reinterpretare il primo Cristianesimo alla luce degli indizi che si colgono da questo testo, integrandolo con le tante suggestioni che qua e là affiorano dai testi del primo Cristianesimo.

Nel complesso un libro godibilissimo a metà tra narrazione autobiografica e saggio sulla storia del primo Cristianesimo.

Notevoli i passi sulla fascinazione della liturgia greco-ortodossa:
“…Le sei ore di tenebre con le quali aveva inizio il giorno non erano lunghe, erano eterne. Il servizio religioso non procedeva verso una conclusione, ma semplicemente continuava come aveva fatto dall’eternità e avrebbe fatto per sempre. E come si perdeva la cognizione del tempo, così si perdeva quella del luogo….”
E la descrizione – forse un po’ oleografica - della Palestina durante la sua prima visita e del monastero dove “non che fosse rifiutata l’esistenza del mondo esterno: semplicemente non vi si faceva cenno”
-*-
Il primo Cristianesimo è stato terreno di scontro e di incontro, di mescolanze e di rifiuti, di eresie e di ortodossie, di persecuzioni anticristiane e di persecuzioni cristiane.
Ancora più dei riti pagani iniziatici, il Cristianesimo richiamò fin dall’inizio enorme interesse perché cercava di rispondere al bisogno innato dell’uomo di dare un significato alla propria vita compiendo una scelta esistenziale radicale.

Per chi fosse interessato dal tema, mi permetto di segnalare alcune suggestioni di lettura, sul versante narrativo:
“Le Tre Versioni di Giuda” in “Finzioni” di J.L.Borges
e il bellissimo e purtroppo quasi dimenticato "Il Quinto Evangelio" di Mario Pomilio
e sul versante storico-filologico:
"Lost christianities" di Bart D. Ehrman
“The New Q” di Richard Valantasis

[Ario Escher]

La scoperta è di una certa importanza, da una idea molto diversa del Gesù cristiano: un maestro e mago a capo di una setta che è contemporaneamente essoterica ed esoterica: I discepoli più stretti, e da lui ritenuti meritevoli, tramite un 'particolare' battesimo accedono ai 'misteri del regno di Dio'. Il rituale segreto sembra indicare una forma di magia sessuale, un Gesù in imbarazzante intimità con uomini.

[M]

If true, proof that the Gospel of Mark may have been written shortly after the death of Jesus thus giving the gospel far more historical reliability. To me, it also supports the theory of Jesus's close relationship with the theology of the Essenes.

[jeremy bradner]

read this because they talked about it in holy blood holy grail. interesting.