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The Secret Gospel of Mark refers to a previously unsuspected gospel mentioned in a letter that presents itself as written by Clement of Alexandria. The writer quoted two excerpts from a Gospel of Mark that do not appear in the canonical gospel. If Clement's reference is accepted, then there was a version of the Gospel of Mark being circulated privately in 2nd century Alexandria, kept from the Christian community at large. One excerpt quoted in Clement's letter is similar to the biblical story of the raising of Lazarus. No reference to a Secret Mark is to be found in any other surviving public Christian text. Though no variant of any gospel is recorded in any canon list, an alternative gospel of Matthew was known as the Gospel of the Hebrews to Irenaeus, Jerome and others, many of whom indicated that it may have been simply the Hebrew original. The authenticity of the letter itself, the very existence of a secret gospel, and whatever association this work may have had with the author of Mark, are all the subject of ongoing controversy, not the least reason for which is the potential implications for Jesus' sexuality, which many Christians would find seriously offensive. The discovery and disappearanceThe reported discovery by Morton Smith, in 1958 (at the ancient monastery of Mar Saba)
of a fragment of an unknown Secret Gospel of Mark provoked much debate. This Secret Gospel of Mark was quoted in a previously unknown letter of Clement of Alexandria, which had supposedly been transcribed into the endpapers of a 17th century printed book in the monastery of Mar Saba, twelve miles south of Jerusalem. This letter is consequently often called the "Mar Saba letter".When found, the letter was photographed by Morton Smith, and the monks at the monastery separated it from the book, for conservation and separate storage. However, the letter quickly became lost and its whereabouts unknown, prompting accusations of both a cover-up by the monks and fraud by Morton Smith. More recently, black and white photographs of the text, created by the monastery's earlier curator, have come to light. Also, its removal to another Greek Orthodox library has been attested, but it still has not been produced for examination by scholars. AuthenticityDue to both the extremely controversial nature of the contents of the letter, and the implied existence of a Secret Gospel, as well as due to the fact that the original can no longer be examined due to being mislaid, there is much debate surrounding the authenticity of the letter. Reasons in favour of authenticity: - Analysis of the handwriting shows that it is consistent with that of the 18th century; the manuscript appears to be a copy of the original letter, the copy having been found in the flyleaves of a book printed in the 17th century giving it a terminus post quem.
- This sort of material is entirely plausible in an Early Christian context.
- The strong Markan features of the style and vocabulary of the Secret Gospel and the strong Clementine features of the style and vocabulary of the rest of the Mar Saba letter are evidence in
favor of the authenticity of the document. It is unlikely that an 18th century writer forged the letter rather than merely copied it from an authentic source because he could not have possessed definitive knowledge of Clement's style and vocabulary which were only developed by 20th century scholars.
Reasons against authenticity: - The handwriting is quite similar to that used by Morton Smith himself in marginal notes that he added in Greek to his private papers, which he requested to be burnt.
- Many letters show a "forger's tremor", when the writer stopped his pen in the middle of a letter.
- We have no alternative ancient evidence of such a Secret Gospel or of such a letter by Clement, and despite similarities, there are also disagreements between the letter and what Clement says elsewhere.
- The similarities in style and vocabulary to Mark and Clement are certainly striking. However, in both cases statistical evidence has been presented that the similarities are too good to be true and suggest a deliberate imitation rather than an authentic work.
- There are aspects that can be interpreted as clues left by Morton Smith that he had written the letter--a reference to (Morton?) salt, a quoted passage from scripture which skips a verse containing the word "smith".as a different take on it:'One of these techniques is known as intercalation: the evangelist frames one story within another, leading readers to understand the first in light of the second.'
In Mark 10:35, James and John ask Christ for positions of higher honour once Jesus is an Earthly ruler. Jesus responds 'Ye know not what ye ask. Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? And be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?' This baptism is, of course, Jesus' crucifixion. The boy, who Jesus raised from the dead in the Secret Gospel of Mark, was taken privately to learn the secret that was available only to those who had died and were 'reborn', through knowing Jesus. This is, by speculation, the true price one has to pay to enter the kingdom of God. Morton Smith did not see this encounter as sexual in nature but saw it as evidence that Jesus gave a secret initiation to certain people into the kingdom of heaven within, this being what was transpiring in the garden with the young man. This, he says, would have been considered witchcraft, which was punishable by death in Roman law, and Morton Smith speculated that this might have been the real reason for Christ's death sentence, the reasons normally given being controversial because they do not fit in with the strict execution of Roman law at the time. References- Robert M. Grant, A Historical Introduction to the New Testament Harper and Row, 1963:
- Morton Smith, Clement of Alexandria and a Secret Gospel of Mark Harvard University Press, 1973 (the scholarly version)
- Morton Smith, The Secret Gospel: The Discovery and Interpretation of the Secret Gospel According to Mark, 1981 (the popular version)
- Morton Smith, Clement of Alexandria and Secret Mark: The Score at the End of the First Decade. Studies in Homosexuality, Vol XII: Homosexuality and Religion and Philosophy. Ed. Wayne Dynes & Stephen Donaldson. New York & London: Garland, 1992. pp. 295-307.
- Robin M. Jensen The Two Faces of Jesus, Bible Review, Oct 2002, p. 42
- Morton Smith, Jesus, the Magician, Harper & Row Publishers, 1978
- E.R. Dodds, The Greeks and the Irrational, University of California Press, 1951 Geheimes Markus-Evangelium
Evangelio secreto de Marcos Markuksen salainen evankeliumi Hemliga Markusevangeliet
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