MARY and EARLY CHRISTIAN WOMEN Hidden Leadership Mary and Early Christian Women Ally Kateusz Mary and Early Christian Women
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Ally Kateusz MARY AND EARLY CHRISTIAN WOMEN Hidden Leadership Mary and Early Christian Women Ally Kateusz Mary and Early Christian Women Hidden Leadership Ally Kateusz Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research Rickmansworth, London, UK ISBN 978-3-030-11110-6 ISBN 978-3-030-11111-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11111-3 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018966131 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019. This book is an open access publication. Open Access This book is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence and indicate if you modifed the licensed material. 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Regarding these commercial rights a non-exclusive license has been granted to the publisher. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifc statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affliations. Cover credit: San Gennaro Catacombs, Naples. Fresco of Cerula. © Societá Cooperativa La Paranza - Catacombe di Napoli. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland For Arielle and Bella In memory of Michel-Jean van Esbroeck, whose unexpected death in 2003 was followed by the even more unexpected disappearance of his completed manuscript edition of John Geometrician’s Life of the Virgin. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Years ago, I discovered womenpriests.org with its layered sources about early Christian women clergy, a site that I have since learned has made a deep impression in the lives of many people, especially women seeking to better understand their role in their own church. It is with deep grat- itude that I now thank the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research in London, which manages the Web site, for assistance in making this book open access. I have many to thank. Massimiliano Vitiello was my toughest debate partner and due in part to his encouragement, early versions of some of the research in this book have already won awards including the First Prize Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza New Scholar Award, Feminae Article of the Month, and the First Place Otis Worldwide Outstanding Dissertation Award. Daniel Stramara, Jr., was my frst guide to early Christianity. Stephen Dilks helped me dig deep into the critical discourse analysis of the Six Books Dormition narratives, and Jeffrey Rydberg-Cox and Theresa Torres provided sources and other help. Mary Ann Beavis has been supportive in many ways, including as Chair of the National Society of Biblical Literature Consultation Maria, Mariamne, Miriam, where some of this research was initially presented. Mary B. Cunningham and Rachel Fulton Brown provided invaluable critiques. Luca Badini Confalonieri initiated and greatly augmented my research on Cerula and Bitalia. Deborah Niederer Saxon was an insightful sounding board from the beginning. Ann Graham Brock unfaggingly inspired me to sharpen my early arguments, especially related to the mother and the Magdalene. vii viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Hal Taussig provided important nuance to my discussion of ritual meals. A decade ago, Stephen J. Shoemaker introduced me to Michel van Esbroeck’s 1986 edition of the Life of the Virgin, and I wish I had been able to persuade him, during our debates prior to his own 2012 edition, about the validity of Mary offciating in its Last Supper scene. Many other colleagues provided valuable sources, questions, or suggestions related to one or more ideas, sections, or pieces of art, including Jeffrey Bennett, Virginia Blanton, Jelena Bogdanović, Sheila Briggs, Judith M. Davis, Paula Eisenbaum, Hans Förster, Steven J. Friesen, Deirdre Good, Verna E. F. Harrison, Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Cornelia Horn, Susan Humble, Karel Innemée, Robin M. Jensen, Dickran Kouymijian, Maria Lidova, Matthew John Milliner, Linda E. Mitchell, Michael Peppard, Elizabeth Schrader, Kay Higuera Smith, Joan E. Taylor, Harold Washington, and John Wijngaards. Deborah Brungardt Alani, Chalise Bourquart, and Shirley Fessel aided in making the manuscript more accessible to readers, and Claus Wawrzinek provided excellent technical support for the images. I am especially appreciative of my Palgrave Macmillan editor, who contacted me after reading my 2017 Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion article on women priests, Amy Invernizzi. Finally, I am deeply grateful for Jane Gilbreath, my mother and reader, and for my husband David Edward Kateusz, traveling companion and supporter for this work in too many ways to count. CONTENTS 1 Background and Perspective 1 Mary Magdalene and the Mother of Jesus 2 Mary, a Jew 3 Mary Remembered in the Extracanonical Gospels 5 Methodology 9 The Power of Bio-Power 10 Breaking the Box of Our False Imagination of the Past 13 2 More Collyridian Déjà vu 19 The Old Rule-of-Thumb: lectio brevior potior 22 Redaction Analysis of Mary’s Liturgical Leadership 24 A Scene of Mary Exorcising Demons 27 Women Using Censers and Incense 29 Kernels of Historicity: Women Using Censers Liturgically 33 Redaction Analysis of the Markers of Women’s Authority 43 3 Women Apostles: Preachers and Baptizers 49 Assembling a Jigsaw Puzzle—The Apostle Mariamne in the Acts of Philip 50 Sexual Slander as Evidence of Women in the Clergy 52 Irene, Apostle of Jesus 54 The Long Narrative About Irene’s Life 55 Male Re-Baptizers and the Apostle Nino 56 ix x CONTENTS Irene Baptizes and Seals 57 The “Apostle” Thecla Baptizes and Seals 58 Dating Controversy: When Was the Life of Thecla Composed? 60 The Thecla Tertullian Knew 62 Cultural Context 64 4 Mary, High Priest and Bishop 67 Jesus’s Mother Versus 1 Timothy 68 Mary in Art: High Priest and Bishop 70 Mary with the Episcopal Pallium 81 Mary with the Cloth of the Eucharistic Offciant 89 Women with the Cloth of the Eucharistic Offciant 94 5 Mother and Son, Paired 101 Mother and Son Paired on Objects Used in the Liturgy 103 Dividing the Mother-Son Dyad: The Maria Maggiore Mosaics 112 The Mother-Son Dyad in Art Prior to the Council of Ephesus 120 Mother and Son Paired in Third- and Fourth-Century Funereal Art 124 6 The Life of the Virgin and Its Antecedents 131 The Oldest Text of the Life of the Virgin 135 The Annunciation to Mary in the Temple 138 Mary at the Baptism of Her Son 140 The Women at the Lord’s Supper 144 Partaking at the Temple Altar in the Gospel of Bartholomew 145 Gender Parallelism in the Liturgy in the Didascalia Apostolorum 145 The Ritual of Body and Blood According to the Apostolic Church Order 146 7 Women and Men at the Last Supper: Reception 151 Female and Male Christian Presiders from the Second Century Onwards 151 Writings That Paired Male and Female Clerical Titles 153 Women Overseers or Bishops 154 Cerula and Bitalia, Ordained Bishops 156 Contents xi Historicity of Pulcheria Inside the Holy of Holies of the Second Hagia Sophia 161 Female and Male Clergy at the Altar Table in Old Saint Peter’s Basilica 164 The Ciborium in Old Saint Peter’s Basilica 167 The Altar in Old Saint Peter’s Basilica 169 Possible Identifcation of the Male and Female Offciants at the Altar Table 172 Theodora and Justinian in San Vitale: Modeling Mary and Jesus at the Last Supper 175 Third-Century Evidence of Gender Parity at the Offering Table 178 8 Modes of Silencing the Past 183 Modes of Silencing the Past 184 Breaking the Box of Our False Imagination of the Past 186 Notes, Abbreviations, and References 193 Index 283 LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 1.1 Oldest art of the nativity of Jesus. Jesus swaddled in a manger fanked by an ox and a donkey. Third-century sarcophagus lid, Saint Ambrose Basilica, Milan. © Fratelli Alinari Museum Collections, Florence 6 Fig. 1.2 Leadership. 300s. MARIA on gold glass, Rome. Perret, Catacombes, pl. 4:32.101 11 Fig. 1.3 Queenly. 900s. Maria in Pallara Church, Rome. Wilpert, Römischen Mosaiken, pl.