Gospel Of Mary Magdalene 2.1

The Gospel of Mary, a significant text within early Christian Gnostic literature, is housed in the Berlin Gnostic Codex, also known as Papyrus Berolinensis 8502. This ancient collection of Gnostic writings was discovered in the late 19th century near Akhmim, upper Egypt, and subsequently purchased by German scholar Dr. Carl Reinhardt in 1896 before being transported to Berlin.

Dating back to the late fourth or early fifth century, this codex contains Coptic translations of three notable early Christian Gnostic texts: the Gospel of Mary, the Apocryphon of John, and the Sophia of Jesus Christ. The original Greek versions of these texts are believed to date to the second century. In academic discourse, the codex has been referred to variably as the "Berlin Gnostic Codex," the "Akhmim Codex," PB 8502, or BG 8502, leading to some confusion among scholars.

Despite its scholarly importance, the publication of this codex faced delays due to historical events, including two world wars, resulting in its eventual release only in 1955. By that time, additional Gnostic writings had been recovered from the large Nag Hammadi collection. Notably, portions of the Apocryphon of John and the Sophia of Jesus Christ found in the Berlin Gnostic Codex contributed valuable insights to the translations published in the Nag Hammadi Library.

Of particular note is that this codex preserves the most complete surviving fragment of the Gospel of Mary—identified within the manuscript as being attributed to Mary of Magdala. Additional fragments from separate Greek editions were discovered at Oxyrhynchus in lower Egypt. Given that finding three fragments of such an ancient text is quite rare, this suggests that the Gospel of Mary enjoyed relatively widespread distribution during early Christian times and was available in both Greek and Coptic translations.

However, it is regrettable that significant portions of the manuscript are missing; specifically, pages 1 to 6 and 11 to 14 are absent, which included key sections of text up to chapter 4 and parts from chapters 5 to 8. The extant portions begin on page 7, presenting a fragmentary view of this important work.