A further complication in the 3 Marys identification is that in western
medieval exegetical tradition the 3 Marys were usually conflated into
one; e.g. by Gregory the Great, who identified the woman from Magdala in
Luke 8.2-3 with the Mary who visited the tomb (Matt 27.56, Mark 15.40,
John 19.25) and with the anonymous woman caught in adultery in John
8.3-12; and by Bede, who went further and identified Mary Magdalene with
Mary the sister of Martha (Matt 26.6, Mark 14.3, Luke 10.39, John 12.3).
The Greek Orthodox and eastern orthodox traditions continued to identify
them as separate people (V. Saxer, `Les saintes Marie Madeleine et Marie
de Bethanie dans la tradition liturgique et homiletique orientale',
Revue des Sciences Religieuses XXXII, 1958.)
Exposure to the eastern tradition caused at least one western pilgrim,
John of Wurzburg (1160/65), to view the exegesis he had been taught
with some doubt.
Andrew Jotischky
Dept of History
Lancaster University
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