The Secret Gospel of Mark

The Secret Gospel of Mark is a longer edition of Mark’s Gospel that has been known only since 1958.1 While cataloguing manuscripts in the library of the Greek Orthodox monastery of Mar Saba, located south-east of Jerusalem, an American scholar, Morton Smith, came upon a seventeenthcentury edition of the letters of Ignatius. According to Smith’s own account,2 the ﬁnal blank pages of this volume had been used by an eighteenth-century scribe to copy a portion of a letter allegedly from Clement of Alexandria, a church father who lived at the end of the second century and the beginning of the third. In this letter, Clement indicates that Mark had produced two versions of his Gospel, one for church members at large and the other for the spiritual elite who could grasp the full mysteries of the Kingdom. Clement indicates that this second expanded edition, the so-called Secret Gospel, had been entrusted to the Christians of Alexandria, his own city, but that it had come to be misused by members of the Carpocratian sect, a group of Gnostic Christians known for their illicit sexual rituals. Clement then narrates two of the accounts found in the Secret Gospel. The contents of the stories, especially the ﬁrst, show why this version of the Gospel could have seemed so dangerous to the church at large, and so interesting to the Carpocratians. Jesus raises a youth from the dead, who then loves Jesus and begs to be allowed to stay with him (the story is reminiscent of both the raising of Lazarus in John 11 and of the story of the “rich young man” of Matt 17:16–22 and Mark 10:17–31). After six days, the youth comes to Jesus in the evening, clothed with nothing but a linen garment over his naked body (cf. Mark 14:51). They spend the night together, with Jesus teaching the youth the mystery of the kingdom of God. The highly unusual character of this story—in particular its homoerotic overtones—have led scholars to debate virtually every aspect of the “Secret Gospel.” Did Clement of Alexandria actually write this letter,

1 For a full account, which focuses to some extent on the question of whether or not the Secret Gospel, and the letter of Clement that contains it, were forged, see Ehrman, Lost Christianities, 67– 89. 2See The Secret Gospel: The Discovery and Interpretation of the Secret Gospel according to Mark (New York: Harper & Row, 1973).

Translation by Bart D. Ehrman, based on the text in Morton Smith, Clement of Alexandria and a Secret Gospel of Mark (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1973).

NON-CANONICAL GOSPELS

preserved only in an eighteenth-century fragment that is no longer available for examination (Smith published photographs of the document, but the original is inaccessible)? Why is this Gospel, or even Clement’s letter, never mentioned by any other ancient source? Is the letter an ancient forgery? A modern forgery? If the letter is actually by Clement, were the stories that it narrates known before the end of the second century? Do they actually come from a second edition of Mark’s Gospel? Could they, instead, have originally been part of the ﬁrst edition of the Gospel, only to be deleted by orthodox Christian scribes concerned with their ethical implications? Were these stories widely known by Christians already in the ﬁrst century (such as the author of the Fourth Gospel?). Could they, in fact, have actually happened?

The entire letter of Clement is not translated here, but only the quotations that relate to the Secret Gospel. Clement begins the letter by providing the account summarized above, indicating that the apostle Mark produced a second version of his Gospel for the spiritually enlightened in Alexandria, which was wrongfully procured and corrupted by the Carpocratians. He then goes on to indicate two passages that were in this second version, the Secret Gospel, along with one that was not in it, that he had been queried about.

Citation 1 (following Mark 10:34) They came to Bethany, and a woman was there whose brother had died. She came and prostrated herself before Jesus, saying to him, “Son of David, have mercy on me.” But his disciples rebuked her. Jesus became angry and went off with her to the garden where the tomb was. Immediately a loud voice was heard from the tomb. Jesus approached and rolled the stone away from the entrance to the tomb. Immediately he went in

where the young man was, stretched out his hand, and raised him by seizing his hand. The young man looked at him intently and loved him; and he began pleading with him that he might be with him. When they came out of the tomb they went to the young man’s house, for he was wealthy. And after six days Jesus gave him a command. And when it was evening the young man came to him, wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. He stayed with him that night, for Jesus was teaching him the mystery of the Kingdom of God. When he got up from there, he returned to the other side of the Jordan.”

The letter goes on to indicate a passage not found in the Secret Gospel:

Citation 2 But the phrase “naked man with naked man,” and the other matters you inquired about, are not found (in the text).

THE SECRET GOSPEL OF MARK

Citation 3 (following Mark 10:46a) And the sister of the young man Jesus loved was there, along with his mother and Salome. And Jesus did not receive them.

The fragment of the letter concludes with a tantalizing statement that Clement now intends to provide “a true interpretation” of these matters, “in accordance with the true philosophy.” But that is exactly where the letter breaks off.

This page intentionally left blank