New Testament people named Mary

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The Three Marys at the Tomb by Mikołaj Haberschrack, 15th century

The name Mary (Greek Μαριαμ or Μαρια) appears 54 times in the New Testament,^[1] in 49 verses.^[2] It was the single most popular female name among Palestinian Jews of the time, borne by about one in four women,^[3][4] and most of the New Testament references to Mary provide only the barest identifying information. Scholars and traditions therefore differ as to how many distinct women these references represent and which of them refer to the same person.

Overview[]

Historical frequency of the name Mary[]

Mary was the single most popular female name among Palestinian Jews of the time, borne by about one in four women.^[3][4] The most complete research on the frequency of names is provided by scholar Tal Ilan, who in 1989 and 2002 compiled lists of all known names of Jewish women living in Palestine between 330 BCE and 200 CE. According to her 1989 data, 58 or 59 out of all 247 female names she found were Mary, accounting for 23.5% of all known names, while 61 other women were called Salome. According to her larger dataset of 2002, however, 80 of 317 women were named Mary (25.2%) and 62 women were called Salome (19.6%).^[4] The name Mary, through its Greek forms Maria, Mariam and Mariamme, derives from Miriam, the sister of Moses, and possibly was such a commonly given female in the historical period and region of Jesus because of the popularity of princess Mariamme/Mariamne I the Hasmonean or princess Mariamme/Mariamne II, the second and third wife of king Herod the Great, respectively.^[5][4] In the New Testament Gospels, the frequency of Mary amongst all women who are named (usually numbered 6 or 7 by scholars) is much higher than 25%, while there is only one Salome (the name Salome only appears twice, both in Mark, in reference to the same person), a fact which has puzzled scholars.^[4]

New Testament frequency of the name Mary[]

The original Koine Greek text of the New Testament mentions the name Mary 54 times in 4 different forms: Μαρία (18 occurrences), Μαριὰμ (27 occurrences), Μαρίαν (2 occurrences), and Μαρίας (7 occurrences).^{[1][note 1]} The name Mary is found in 49 verses: in 10 cases, two different Marys are mentioned in a single verse, while in the other 39 cases, there is only one Mary in a verse.^[2]

Identification of the New Testament Marys[]

A common Protestant tradition holds that there are six women named as Mary in the New Testament: Mary, mother of Jesus; Mary Magdalene; Mary of Bethany; Mary mother of James the younger; Mary mother of John Mark; and Mary of Rome.^[8][9]

Roman Catholic theologian F.P. Dutripon produced a Latin Bible concordance (dedicated to the archbishop of Paris in 1838), in which he identified 6 people named Maria (Mary) in the Bible, 5 of whom featured in the New Testament. He equated Mary Magdalene with Mary of Bethany ('sister of Martha and the resurrected Lazarus') as Maria III, and equated Mary the mother of James the Less and Joseph with Mary of Clopas as Maria IV.^{[note 2]}

Some modern scholars state that there are 'six or seven' characters named Mary that can be distinguished in the New Testament.^{[4]: 308 [5]: 269 [11]} W. Thomas Sawyer (1990) posited that Luke 10's Galilean village Mary was John's Mary of Bethany, that Mary of Clopas may have been 'the other Mary' as well as the same person as 'Mary the mother James and Joses', and that the other disputed Marys were all to be identified as 'Mary the mother of James the Younger and Joses'; Sawyer rejected the idea that Mary Magdalene was the sinful woman of Luke 7.^[11] John Painter (2004) numbered 'six or seven different women', listing 'the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, the mother of Jacob the Small and Joseph, the wife[?] of Clopas, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, the mother of John, and another Mary mentioned by Paul (Rom 16:6);' he gave no indication which two Marys were possibly the same person.^[4]: 308 W. T. Dayton (2010) claimed Luke 10's Galilean village Mary actually lived in Bethany like John's Mary of Bethany, 'the other Mary' was 'Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph/Joses' and speculated but didn't definitively conclude that this was the same person as Mary of Clopas, and rejected the idea that Mary Magdalene was the sinful woman of Luke 7.^[5] Raymond E. Brown (1978) pointed out that Mark 6:3 and Matthew 13:55 claim that Jesus' mother was called Mary, and that Jesus also had four brothers called James, Joses (Mark) or Joseph (Matthew), Judas and Simon; these verses show such striking similarities to the verses Mark 15:40 ('Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses') and Matthew 27:56 ('Mary the mother of James and Joseph'), that the latter two verses may in fact be referring to the mother of Jesus as well, not a separate person.^[7]: 68

Mary, mother of Jesus[]

The Madonna in Sorrow, by Sassoferrato, 17th century

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Mary the mother of Jesus, also known as the Madonna, is the most important female figure in Christianity.^[12] The terms Mariology (the academic study of the figure of Mary) and Marian (for example in Marian devotions and Marian apparition) are derived from Mary the mother of Jesus.^[12]

She is mentioned by name twelve times in the Gospel of Luke,^{[note 3]} five times in the Gospel of Matthew,^{[note 4]} once in the Gospel of Mark,^{[note 5]} and once in the Book of Acts.^{[note 6]} Mary's role is most prominent in the Gospel of Luke, which provides the only canonical account of the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, and the Finding in the Temple.^[12]

Nearly all of these mentions by name are within Christmas story, which appears only in Matthew and Luke, not in Mark or John.^{[citation needed]} Only two of the Gospel passages that mention this Mary by name, Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3, are later in Jesus' life,^{[non-primary source needed]} and they are generally accepted as parallel passages describing the same event.^{[citation needed]} In addition Matthew 12:46–50 and Mark 3:31–35 both describe Mary's visit to Jesus as an adult but without mentioning her by name,^{[non-primary source needed]} and Luke 2:48–51 describes an event from Jesus' later childhood with Mary again a major player but not mentioned by name.^{[citation needed]}

The Gospel of John mentions the mother of Jesus twice (John 2:1–12 and 19:25–27) but without naming her, and is the only canonical Gospel to explicitly state that she was present at the Crucifixion.^{[citation needed]} Matthew and Mark both list two women named Mary as present,^{[13][non-primary source needed]} but most traditions do not identify either of these with the mother of Jesus, leading to the conclusion that there were three Marys present.^{[citation needed]} Matthew and Mark also record the attendance of many other women whom they do not name,^{[14][non-primary source needed]} and Luke does not identify by name any of the many women present.^{[15][non-primary source needed]}

All traditions affirm her presence at the Crucifixion.^{[citation needed]}

Mary Magdalene[]

Magdalena by Gheorghe Tattarescu

Mary Magdalene is named three times in Matthew, four times in Mark, twice in Luke and three times in John,^[16] and was given the title Apostle to the Apostles by church father Augustine of Hippo.^[17]

All four Gospels name her as one of the small group of women who found the tomb empty,^[18] all but Luke name her as one of the many women present at the Crucifixion,^[19] and Luke names none of the women who had followed him from Galilee,^[20] which would include her. Matthew and Mark both name her as one of the small group who placed the body in the tomb.^[21]

Prior to the Crucifixion, however, the only explicit mention of her is in Luke 8:2, in which she is one of only three named of the many women accompanying Jesus in his travels. Here she is also described as one of the women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, and as the one from whom seven demons had gone out.^[22]

Several scholars and traditions identify her with other women in the New Testament, but none of these are universally accepted.^[23]

Roman Catholic tradition, in particular, has from time to time identified her with both Mary of Bethany and with the unnamed woman who was a sinner of Luke 7:37–39,^[24][25][26] resulting in the view that she is mentioned more times than Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the New Testament, and also giving rise to the legend that made her a model of a penitent sinner and even, according to Pope Gregory, a reformed prostitute.^[27] This view, which was taken to its extreme in Legenda Aurea (c. 1260),^[28] is no longer affirmed by the Roman Catholic Church^[29] and universally rejected by modern New Testament scholars, but remains in popular devotion and culture.^[22]

Mary (Galilean village, Luke 10)[]

Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary by Harold Copping, depicting the scene from Luke 10

In Luke 10:38–42, Jesus visits two sisters named Mary and Martha in an unnamed village in Galilee. Although there are several similarities between these Mary and Martha and those in John 11–12, there are also significant differences, such as the fact that no mention is made of a brother called Lazarus.^[30] Whether this Mary is also the unnamed woman in Matthew 26 and Mark 14 is not generally agreed.^[23] Moreover, scholars generally agree that unnamed sinful woman in Luke 7 is not Mary of Bethany either,^[31] and Luke 7's text shows that the sinful woman lived in the town/city of Nain, not in an unnamed village as Martha and Mary do in Luke 10.^{[note 7]} Finally, there is no geographic reason to assume that the unnamed village of Martha and Mary in Luke 10:38 should be identified with Bethany in Judea, because Luke's Jesus was on his way from Galilee through Samaria to Jerusalem in Judea (Luke 9:51–53; 13:22; 17:11; 18:31; 19:11; 19:28; 19:41), and did not cross the border between Galilee and Samaria until verse 17:11, so it had to have been a village in Galilee.^[32][30]

Esler & Piper (2006) posited that the author of the Gospel of John deliberately mixed up several separate stories from the Synoptic Gospels, namely that of the Markan–Matthean anointing of Jesus (for his upcoming death) by the unnamed woman in Bethany (Mark 14 and Matthew 26), the Lukan raising of the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7), the Lukan Jesus' visit to Martha and Mary in the unnamed Galilean village (Luke 10), and the Lukan parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16).^[30] The author did not strive to give a historically accurate account of what had happened, but instead, for theological purposes, combined various existing narratives in order to construct Lazarus, Mary and Martha of Bethany as a prototypical Christian family, whose example is to be followed by Christians.^[30]

Mary of Bethany (John 11–12)[]

According to the Gospel of John, this Mary was the sister of Martha and Lazarus, and lived with them in Bethany in Judea near Jerusalem, where Jesus visited them on at least two occasions. Mary and Martha are mentioned by name in John 11:1–12:8. John describes two visits by Jesus to Mary and Martha. In John 11, Jesus raises Mary's brother Lazarus from death. Mary, Martha and Lazarus already appear to be very close friends of Jesus at this time. On a subsequent visit in John 12:1–8, Mary anoints Jesus' feet.^{[citation needed]}

The names Mary and Martha are also mentioned as two sisters in Luke 10:38–41.^{[citation needed]}

Three other passages, one each in Matthew, Mark and Luke, refer to an unnamed woman who anoints Jesus' head (Mark 14, Matthew 26), or an unnamed sinful woman who anoints Jesus' feet (Luke 7). This woman is, or these women are, identified by some, but by no means all,^[23] authorities as this Mary, or as Mary Magdalene, or both. Roman Catholic tradition in particular has identified the sinful woman in Luke with both Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene until 1969, when the Catholic Church officially recognised Mary of Bethany, Mary Magdalene and the unnamed sinful woman as three separate people, following earlier conclusions by scholars and exegetes.^[33]

New Testament scholars have sought to explain how the stories of Luke's Mary and Martha, Mark's woman of Bethany, and other stories were combined into John 11:1–12:11,17.

Matthew 26:6–7 and Mark 14:3 are generally agreed to be parallel passages each to the other.^{[citation needed]} An unnamed woman anoints Jesus at Bethany, this time in the house of Simon the Leper, and she anoints his head rather than his feet. Some traditions also assert that this is the same incident as in John 12, despite the obvious discrepancies.^{[citation needed]}

In Luke 7:36–40, Jesus dines at the home of a Pharisee named Simon (therefore known as Simon the Pharisee), but here the locality is not given. As Jesus had just been in Capernaum (Luke 7:1) and Nein (Luke 7:11), and some time thereafter left Galilee crossing the Sea of Galilee towards Gerasa (Luke 8:22–27), this story was most probably also set somewhere in Galilee.^[30] A woman of the city, who was a sinner anoints his feet, and again her name is not given. Many scholars regard this as the same incident as described in Matthew 26 and Mark 14, again despite some discrepancies. Some authorities identify this person as Mary Magdalene,^[27] and some the event as that in John 12, again with some discrepancies.^[30] Other scholars insist (and since 1969 the Catholic Church recognises^[33]) that these are two separate events and three separate people; Mary Magdalene in particular is never said to anoint Jesus, and appears to have nothing to do with either the Galilean sinful woman in Luke 7, the unnamed woman of Bethany in Matthew 26 and Mark 14, or Mary of Bethany in John 11 and 12.^[34] Bart D. Ehrman (2006) suggested that the author of Luke deliberately changed the account of Mark 14 in order to appeal to his audience.^[34]

Mary of Clopas[]

Mary, the wife of Clopas, is named only once in the New Testament,^{[citation needed]} in John 19:25, where she is listed as one of several women standing by the Cross:

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.^[35]

This passage can be read as there being four women: Mary the mother of Jesus, her sister (or perhaps cousin, the Aramaic words being the same), Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. An alternative reading is that the list is of only three women, and that Mary of Clopas is also the sister (or cousin) of Mary the mother of Jesus, as some traditions and scholars maintain.^[36] The passage could also be interpreted to mean that Mary of Clopas is Clopas' daughter, rather than his wife, but this is not the general view.^{[citation needed]}

Many scholars identify her with the other Mary mentioned twice in Matthew,^[37][38] and also therefore with Mary mother of James (the younger) in the parallel passages in Mark.^[39] This is also the Roman Catholic tradition.^[40]

Some scholars suggest that Clopas is a variant spelling of Cleopas, and that Mary of Clopas is Cleopas' wife and also the unnamed person who is with him when they meet the risen Christ on the Emmaus Road in Luke 24:13–35. This is a minority view.^[41]

James Tabor suggests that Mary of Clopas is the same person as Mary the mother of Jesus, and that Clopas is her second husband, Joseph having died.^[42] This reading of John 19:25 then also shortens the list there to three: This Mary, her sister (or cousin), and Mary Magdalene. This view has not gained acceptance.^{[citation needed]}

Mary, mother of James[]

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There are five passages in the Synoptic Gospels which, in different wordings, seem to refer to one or several women called Mary the mother of James (the younger) and of Joses/Joseph, and two passages in Matthew mentioning 'the other Mary', which may refer either to her or to another Mary. These are:^[7]: 70

1. "Mary the mother of James" according to Mark 16:1 and Luke 24:10.
2. "Mary the mother of James and Joseph" (Ἰωσὴφ = 'of Joseph') according to Matthew 27:56.
3. "Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses" (Ἰωσῆτος = 'of Joses') according to Mark 15:40.
4. "Mary the mother of Joses" (Ἰωσῆτος = 'of Joses') according to Mark 15:47.
5. "The other Mary" according to Matthew 27:61 and Matthew 28:1.

"Mary, mother of James" is mentioned explicitly in four passages:^{[citation needed]}

• Matthew 27:55–56 describing the Crucifixion: "There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee." This is also the only reference to "Mary mother of Joseph".^{[citation needed]}
• Mark 15:40 the parallel passage to Matthew 27:55–56: "There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome." This is also one of two references to "Mary mother of Joses", the other being Mark 15:47.^{[citation needed]}
• Mark 16:1 leading up to the Resurrection: "When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him."
• Luke 24:10 following the Resurrection: "Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles".

Most authorities agree that Mark 15:40 and 16:1 refer to the same person, but traditions and authorities differ as to the Matthew and Luke passages.^{[citation needed]} Some regard them all as a single person, some as two (in various combinations), and some even as three people.^{[citation needed]} If three, then the Matthew and Luke passages are the only explicit references to either of these other two.^{[citation needed]} There is a similar variety of opinions as to exactly which person is referred to as "James" on each occasion.^[43]

Roman Catholic tradition identifies the person in the Matthew passage as Saint Mary Salome. According to this reading, "Mary the mother of James and Joseph" is distinct from the "mother of the sons of Zebedee" who is referred to as Saint Mary Salome, and the other references to "mother of James" refer to Saint Mary of James.^{[citation needed]} Protestant tradition similarly identifies two people as being described as "Mary mother of James", one being the mother of James the younger and the other being the mother of James, son of Zebedee.^{[citation needed]}

In addition to the references to "Mary mother of James" in Mark 15:40 and 16:1, Mark 15:47 states that "Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid." Most authorities identify the person named "Mary" accompanying Mary Magdalene in these three passages as the same person, and hold also that she is "the other Mary" named twice in Matthew, see below, making at least five references to her in total.^{[citation needed]}

If so this person could be unambiguously described as either "Mary mother of Joses" or "Mary mother of James the younger", but despite the former name appearing in both Mark 15:40 and 15:47 as opposed to only Mark 15:40 for the latter, it is "mother of James the younger" which has been generally adopted.^{[citation needed]} She is also sometimes referred to as "Mary, mother of James son of Alphaeus", and identified by Roman Catholic tradition as Mary Jacobe.^{[citation needed]}

The other Mary[]

Two passages in Matthew refer to "Mary Magdalene and the other Mary":^{[citation needed]}

• Matthew 27:61, which is a parallel passage to Mark 15:47 which reads instead "Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses".
• Matthew 28:1–4, which is a parallel passage to Mark 16:1–5 which reads instead "Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James".

It is generally agreed that these four passages refer to the same person accompanying Mary Magdalene, and also that she is the same person named in Mark 15:40 as "Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses", also in the company of Mary Magdalene on that occasion.^{[citation needed]}

Mary, mother of John Mark[]

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Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark is named only once,^{[citation needed]} in Acts 12:12,^{[non-primary source needed]} which is the first undisputed reference to John Mark,^{[citation needed]} who is then twice named later in Acts.^{[44][non-primary source needed]} This John Mark is identified by some with Mark the cousin of Barnabas,^{[citation needed]} and also by some with Mark the Evangelist,^[45] notably by the Coptic Church.^{[citation needed]}

It has been conjectured that she is the same person as Mary of Rome but there is no general support for this.^[46]

Mary of Rome[]

In Romans 16:6, Paul asks the recipients to Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you. Nothing else is known about this person.^[8]

People allegedly called Mary[]

Several women in the New Testament have no names, or in fact have a name other than Mary, but have nevertheless been attributed the name Mary by later Christians traditions, either by confusion or by comparative analysis of texts.

Head-anointers and sinful woman[]

Nain

Bethany

Alleged locations where women are said to have anointed Jesus in some way

Because of the similarities between the four Gospel stories about the Anointing of Jesus, out of which only John's version names the anointing woman Mary, Christian tradition has attributed the name Mary to each one of them. And because three out of four Gospels set this story in Bethany, a village in Judea, all four women have been labelled 'Mary of Bethany', even though Luke 7's sinful woman anointed Jesus in Nain, a polis (town/city) in Galilee.^{[note 7][30][31]} Although modern theology and scholarship has almost universally agreed that none of these women are to be confused with Mary Magdalene (who therefore was neither a 'sinner' nor a 'prostitute' per Luke 7),^[33][31] and scholars generally agree that Luke 7's sinful woman of Nain (also known as the 'Galilean sinner') is also distinct from Mary of Bethany,^[31] there is no general agreement yet whether or not the women in Mark 14 and Matthew 26 can be labelled Mary (of Bethany) based on their similarities to John 11–12. Esler & Piper (2006) argued that the author of John merely borrowed the names Mary and Martha from the sisters living in the unnamed village in Galilee from Luke 10, which was unrelated to the head-anointing of Jesus by an unnamed woman in Bethany in Mark 14 and Matthew 26, and also has no compelling connection with the feet-anointing sinful woman of Nain in Luke 7.^{[note 7]} Therefore, if there ever was a woman who anointed Jesus in some way, there is no reason to assume that she was actually called Mary, even though John 11–12 claims she was.^[30] Given the relative historical overrepresentation of the name Mary and underrepresentation of the name Salome amongst Palestinian Jewish women in the New Testament, a random woman would more likely be called Salome.^[4] Finally, the hosts receiving Jesus at their house seem to be four different characters across the stories: Simon the Leper in Mark and Matthew, Simon the Pharisee in Luke 7, Martha in Luke 10, and Lazarus of Bethany in John 11–12.^[30][47]

"Mary" Salome[]

The name Salome appears twice in the New Testament,^[53] both times in Mark, and both times in a list of three women, the others being Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James (the younger).^[4]

Roman Catholic tradition identifies this person as Mary mother of John Mark and also as mother of James, son of Zebedee, and names her Mary Salome, thus making her the third of the three Marys at the resurrection.^{[citation needed]} She also therefore becomes the person referred as the mother of the sons of Zebedee (James and Joseph).^{[54][non-primary source needed]}

See also[]

• Mary (given name)
• Saint Mary (disambiguation)
• Mary (disambiguation)
• Matthew 28:1
• The Three Marys
• Myrrhbearers
• New Testament people named James
• New Testament people named John
• New Testament people named Joseph (or Joses)
• New Testament people named Judas or Jude
• New Testament people named Simon
• Women at the crucifixion
• Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron and an important figure in the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament, and whose Hebrew name is occasionally translated into English as Mary

Notes[]

References[]