The Church’s campaign
in the Middle Ages to stamp out free religious thinking was extremely
successful through its inquisitions of the 12th and 13th centuries, driving underground those
who might challenge the Church’s doctrine and authority and who subscribed to
Gnostic ideology. Gnostics met in secret behind closed doors and the
tenets of their beliefs were not made available to the masses. As a
result, there is little evidence to point a Gnostic revival after the 13th century with the demise of the
Cathars. But Gnostic groups of elite intellectuals continued their
tradition in secret.
In 1372, an
illuminator by the name of Jean le Noir was commissioned by the Duke of Berry,
Jean de France—The Magnificent, to illustrate a book of hours to add to his
vast collection of illuminated manuscripts. Petites Heures (small book of
hours) de Jean de Berry, now housed at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, is
an elaborately decorated devotional Book of Hours created by as many as five
illuminators. But it is no ordinary Book of Hours because within its some
600 pages are sets of illuminations that would have raised eyebrows in the
Church and caused a great deal of problems for the illuminator and for his
patron, Jean du Berry, if discovered.
A number of unique
illuminations convey the ideology of a Gnostic Mary Magdalene tradition that venerated
Mary Magdalene above the Virgin as Jesus intimate companion as well as putting
forth other Gnostic tenets. Interestingly, there are sets of two
illuminations for many of the cycles of the Passion of Christ and Stations of
the Cross, Office of John the Baptist and a number of other subjects common to
Books of Hours. However, the
duplicate illuminations convey a distinctly different perspective and appear to
have been created to offer a comparison between two traditions—Orthodox and
Gnostic. The scene compositions are similar but the characters and their roles
switch in some cases, as I am about to describe.
The Pentecost
The two contrasting
versions of the same event depicted in the illustrations of the Pentecost, portray
two different traditions. The primary subject of their differences was the
position and status given to the two Mary’s. To the Gnostic underground
stream, it was Mary Magdalene as the “Apostle to the Apostles” who had carried
forth Jesus’ ministry. She is depicted in the first illustration with red
mantle and hand at her heart to mention she possessed “gnosis kardias”, the
knowledge attained through an open enlightened heart. She was the one
“who knew all” and whose wisdom was most connected to the Goddess
Sophia. To the Orthodox Church, the Gnostics were heretics for their
veneration of Mary Magdalene over the Virgin Mother and for denying the
Church’s doctrine and defying their authority. It was Our Lady, the
Virgin Mother, who is glorified for her participation in the mystery as
Mother of the Son of God. She is depicted in the second illustration with a
prayer book and hand on her womb, connecting the scene to the mythology of
the Virgin birth. Her womb having given birth to the Son of God through God’s
insemination. The prayer book suggests she is given the central apostolic
position because of her faith, obedience to the scriptural word and for her humility.
The absence of fire from the dove’s beak in this Orthodox version mentions that
the “holy” cannot attain the spiritual light (fire) by virtue of relying on
scripture or other intellectual means. The illuminator is conveying that
they have not achieved “gnosis “ (wisdom) though initiation and direct
conscious contact with the Holy Spirit, because they are going about it the
wrong way.
Three other sets of
two illuminations, Road to Calvary, Descent from the Cross and Entombment exchange Mary Magdalene for the Virgin, to offer an interesting comparison between two very different
traditions—Gnostic and Orthodox. In the Gnostic versions, Mary Magdalene
is posed in intimate contact with Jesus suggesting she was viewed as Jesus wife
and closest companion.
Petites Heures also presents two
versions of the Baptism of Christ. Interestingly enough, again they seem to
depict two opposing traditions with competing ideologies. In both
versions, Jesus stands in the rushing waters of the Jordon flanked by an angel holding a cloth. On the other side is John the Baptist
pouring the baptismal water over Jesus’ head. In the Orthodox version,
the dove, symbolizing the Holy Spirit, descends over Jesus’ head while in the
second version it is absent. Instead, a lamb on its hind legs rests its
forelegs on John’s bent arm. John is holding a holy book signifying his
status as a priest. When we compare the illuminations further, we also
notice the angel’s wings in the Gnostic version are crossed forming an “X”, a significant symbol representing an important Gnostic tenet, the unification of
opposites in the Bridal Chamber. The “X” became an important symbolic emblem of
the Gnostic Church, the underground stream of Christianity, and is also found
in many works of the Renaissance. Some groups of Gnostics such as the
Mandaeans believe John’s ministry was more important than that of Jesus and that Jesus was John's disciple.
The lamb climbing on John’s arm in the illustration perhaps signifies John’s status
as the “Lamb of God”, the legitimate Jewish Messiah. This same motif,
theme and debate we see in later centuries in the work of Leonardo Da Vinci,
who portrayed the John debate in Virgin on the Rocks.
It was the belief of the Gnostics that
Jesus did not die and then resurrect in the flesh. According to their
beliefs, the resurrection occurred before he died and was a transcendent experience,
a rebirth into his divine-self. The Gospel
of Philip explains, “Those who
say that the Lord died first and (then) rose up are in error, for he rose up
first and (then) died.” Therefore, when the myrrh bearers arrived to see
the empty tomb they were not told by an angel that Jesus had risen and gone on
ahead of them to Galilee (Mark 16:6-7). In
the Gnostic illumination of the Empty Tomb, the myrrh bearers are
looking up into a heavenly dimension and Jesus is peeking through an opening
and looking down on them. This Gnostic version of the Resurrection
suggests Jesus ascended to become an “imperishable Aeon” (immortal spirit) after
he died on the cross and did not resurrect in the flesh as he is depicted in
the Orthodox version. The Orthodox version embellishes the account of
Matthew (Mt. 27. 62-66; 28. 4, 11- 1 5), the only version to suggest centurions
guarded the tomb. Jesus is
depicted risen in the flesh, still standing in the tomb holding a staff and
flag, symbolizing his victory over death.
In total, there are at least 13 illuminations
within Petites Heures that I have identified as offering comparisons between Orthodox and Gnostic ideologies. The Gnostics of the Middle Ages, like those of the earlier Gnostic movement of the 2nd century, considered the path of
salvation to be a personal quest for “gnosis” (knowledge) through initiations
and direction experience. The initiate embarked on a self-realizing
path by which he or she perfected himself to realize the god-self. Their tradition was not based on faith,
obedience and worship but on what they believed to be Jesus more secret
teachings. For the Gnostics, Jesus
had achieved the ultimate realizations (gnosis) and had risen in consciousness
to embody his divinity as Christ--a Son of God. He lit the path for his disciples and passed leadership onto Mary
Magdalene who inherited his ministry and who would later be viewed as the leader
of the Gnostic Church in France.
In light of the fact that Petites Heures was commissioned
by Jean de Berry, the son of King
John the Good of France and brother of King Charles V (1338-1380), one might
wonder how many royals of 14th century France were Gnostics. Those who were would have delighted in
the Gnostic illuminations of Petites Heures.
Copyright- Ariadne Green 2013
This blog article is derived from research from my book: Jesus Mary Joseph: The Secret Legacy of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Purchase on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GJW47I4
