Secret Gospel of Mark

It has been suggested that parts of this page be moved into Mar Saba letter. (Discuss) (February 2022)

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The Secret Gospel of Mark or the Mystic Gospel of Mark^[1] (Biblical Greek: τοῦ Μάρκου τὸ μυστικὸν εὐαγγέλιον, romanized: tou Markou to mystikon euangelion),^[a][3] also the Longer Gospel of Mark,^[4][5] is a putative longer and secret or mystic version of the Gospel of Mark. The gospel is mentioned exclusively in the Mar Saba letter, a document of disputed authenticity, which is said to have been written by Clement of Alexandria (c. AD 150–215). This letter, in turn, is preserved only in photographs of a Greek handwritten copy seemingly transcribed in the 18th century into the endpapers of a 17th-century printed edition of the works of Ignatius of Antioch.^{[b][8][9][10]} Some scholars suggest that the letter implies that Jesus was involved in homosexual activity, although this interpretation is contested.

In 1958, Morton Smith, a professor of ancient history at Columbia University, found a previously unknown letter of Clement of Alexandria in the monastery of Mar Saba situated 20 kilometres (12 miles) south-east of Jerusalem.^[11] He made a formal announcement of the discovery in 1960^[12] and published his study of the text in 1973.^[10][13] The original manuscript was subsequently transferred to the library of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem, and sometime after 1990, it was lost.^[14][15] Further research has relied upon photographs and copies, including those made by Smith himself.^[16]

In the letter, addressed to one otherwise unknown Theodore (Theodoros),^[17][18] Clement says that "when Peter died a martyr, Mark [i.e. Mark the Evangelist] came over to Alexandria, bringing both his own notes and those of Peter, from which he transferred to his former book [i.e. the Gospel of Mark] the things suitable to whatever makes for progress toward knowledge."^[19] He further says that Mark left this extended version, known today as the Secret Gospel of Mark, "to the church in Alexandria, where it even yet is most carefully guarded, being read only to those who are being initiated into the great mysteries."^[19][20][21] Clement quotes two passages from this Secret Gospel of Mark, where Jesus in the longer passage is said to have raised a rich young man from the dead in Bethany,^[22] a story which shares many similarities with the story of the raising of Lazarus in the Gospel of John.^[23][24][25]

The revelation of the letter caused a sensation at the time but was soon met with accusations of forgery and misrepresentation.^[26] There is no consensus on the authenticity of the letter among either patristic Clement scholars or biblical scholars.^{[27][28][29][30][31]} As the text is made up of two texts, a handful of possibilities exist: both may be authentic or inauthentic, or one may be authentic and the other inauthentic.^[32] Those who think the letter is a forgery mostly think it is a modern forgery, with Smith being denounced the most often as the perpetrator.^[32] If the letter is a modern forgery, the excerpts from the Secret Gospel of Mark would also be forgeries.^[32] Some accept the letter as genuine but do not believe in Clement's account, and instead argue that the gospel is a 2nd-century Gnostic pastiche.^[33][34] Others think Clement's information is accurate and that the secret gospel is a second edition of the Gospel of Mark expanded by Mark himself.^[35] Still others see the Secret Gospel of Mark as the original gospel which predates the canonical Gospel of Mark,^[36][37] and where canonical Mark is the result of the Secret Mark passages quoted by Clement and other passages being removed, either by Mark himself or by someone else at a later stage.^[38][39]

There is an ongoing controversy surrounding the authenticity of the Mar Saba letter.^[40] The scholarly community is divided as to the authenticity, and the debate on Secret Mark therefore in a state of stalemate,^[41][32][26] although the debate continues.^[42]

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