Does the Gospel of Mary Confirm that Mary Magdalene went to Alexandria?
- Elaine R Kelly
- Feb 10
- 10 min read
The Gospels present Mary Magdala as a devoted disciple, prominent patron, and apostle to the apostles, but her story is not recorded in the rest of the New Testament. Where might she have travelled on her missionary journeys?
Mary was present at key moments with Jesus. After the resurrection, Jesus commissioned her as an apostle to the apostles (John 20:1-18). Early church fathers like Augustine and Aquinas acknowledged that Mary Magdalene was an ‘apostle to the apostles’ because Jesus sent her to tell the apostles that he had risen.
Mary Magdalene is named about a dozen times in the Gospels, more than most of the male apostles. However, after the Gospels, the last possible mention of her is when Jesus appears to women at Pentecost (Acts 1:14). While Acts of the Apostles provides the activities of a few of the male apostles, it says nothing about Mary Magdalene's activities.
Where Might Mary Magdalene Have Gone as an Apostle?
I have previously written about where Apostle Mary Magdalene may have gone on her mission journeys. Early historians, such as Eusebius [1], provide evidence that she went to Rome. In addition, the Orthodox Church preserves the history that Mary Magdalene went to Rome [2]. In Because She Was Called, from Broken to Bold: A Novel of the Early Church, I imagine Mary Magdalene and Junia appearing together before Emperor Tiberius and Mary Magdalene deciding to stay and serve the church in Rome. The Orthodox view is that Mary Magdalene eventually died in Ephesus, and in the 9th century, her relics were transferred to Constantinople (Istanbul) [3]. Some Roman Catholics, those who conflate Mary Magdalene with Martha's sister, teach that Mary Magdalene died in the south of France.
Today, I want to consider the possibility that Mary Magdalene may have also preached in Alexandria. Is it possible that she discussed theology, philosophy, and Plato with contemporaries in Egypt? In Finding Her Voice: Acts of Early Female Apostles, A Novel, I imagine Mary Magdalene in Rome when Philo of Alexandria arrives, returning to Alexandria with him, and later moving to Ephesus.
Is It Possible that Mary Magdalene was in Alexandria, Egypt?
Alexandria was a port city and a first-century centre of learning. It was already the home to its famous library and a place where great philosophers, theologians and free thinkers met to analyze and discuss the many scrolls and manuscripts. Joanna Kujawa notes that Alexandria would have been a welcoming place for a philosopher and visionary seeking wisdom, such as Mary Magdalene [4]. The Bible refers to a woman named Demaris, who was an educator and philosopher at the Areopagus in Athens (Acts 17:34).
Both male and female philosophers met in Alexandria. In her book, Jewish Women Philosophers of First-Century Alexandria: Philo's 'Therapeutae' Reconsidered, Joan E Taylor shows how Philo of Alexandria's Vita Contemplativa describes women philosophers in first-century Alexandria [5]. The Therapeutae was a prominent group in Alexandria, including philosophers, scholars, mystics, and healers, many of them women. The Theraputae chose to live a life of celibacy for the sake of pursuing wisdom.
Some scholars suggest that Mary Magdalene went to Alexandria. In her non-fiction book, The Woman with the Alabaster Jar: Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail, Margaret Starbird argues that Mary Magdalene was Jesus's wife, pregnant at the crucifixion, and escaped to Alexandria, Egypt, for safety [6]. We know Mary Magdalene was close to Jesus, but I believe it is possible to be a devoted disciple without being Jesus's romantic interest. Starbird uses the Catholic idea that Mary Magdalene was Martha's sister who anointed Jesus (Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:3, and John 12:3). The Bible tells us that the chief priests planned to kill Lazarus because his testimony about Jesus raising him from the dead was turning people away from the priests (John 12:10-11). The Golden Legend, a medieval story, describes the siblings Lazarus, Martha, and Mary escaping from the priests' plots and landing in the south of France. Starbird suggests that after Mary Magdalene went first to Alexandria and then to the south of France, where the tombs of Martha and Lazarus are located. I have written elsewhere why I believe the tomb of Mary in France is mislabeled as that of Mary Magdalene, since I believe Mary Magdalene is not the same woman as Mary, the sister of Martha [7].
Other ancient manuscripts suggest Mary Magdalene took an active role in reporting Pilate's actions to Rome and possibly travelling to key Roman centres like Rome or Alexandria. The Gospel of Philip and other early Christian texts present Mary Magdalene as a preeminent disciple of Jesus, a special companion sharing a mystical communion [8]. The Gospel of Thomas shows Jesus encouraging Mary Magdalene to grow in the spirit in the same way as the male apostles [9]. The Christian church has largely rejected these ancient texts as being true or God-inspired.
The Gospel of Mary was found in Egypt. Likely written in the 2nd century, these scrolls were written in Coptic and were hidden in Egypt until 1896. They were likely written by followers of people who had heard Mary preaching or teaching in Egypt. They show Mary Magdalene as a disciple with special revelations from Jesus. Karen L. King states that while the canonical Gospels reflect Jewish and Roman influences on early Christianity, the Gospel of Mary highlights how Greeks familiar with Plato may have viewed the life and purpose of Jesus [10].
The Gospel of Mary?
Isn't the Gospel of Mary part of the Gnostic heresy?
No. Gnosticism promoted the idea that salvation comes from receiving special, hidden knowledge rather than through faith in Christ or through following religious laws. Gnostics enforced a dualism where the spirit was good while the material world was bad; logic/reason were good while emotion/intuition were bad; male was good/advanced while female was bad/undeveloped.
James Bean explains that the Gospel of Mary stands in contrast to gnostic gospels, which present a hierarchical and dualistic view of the soul over matter, male over female [11]. The Gospel of Mary presents one God, a unity of soul and body, of male and female, not a hierarchical structure.
Paul speaks strongly against salvation by obeying the laws or by holding onto special, secret knowledge, repeating that salvation is by faith. Paul goes to great lengths to reveal the great mystery of unity between Christ and the church. He encourages everyone to share this knowledge. Just as Christians learned through Peter, Paul, and John's visions and revelations, Mary freely shares her visions; these are not presented as secret knowledge but to show people how to return to God.
Perhaps the church calls the Gospel of Mary heretical because it presents Mary as prominent among male apostles and undermines male authority. The text shows God sending her a dream or revelation, giving Mary Magdalene secret knowledge and a deeper understanding not seen by the male apostles. The New Testament shows the male apostles struggling to understand salvation being by an internal faith and not by an outward action. The text shows Mary sharing the good news that we are one body, unified by one Spirit who lives in each of us, and when we seek the divine Spirit within us, it transforms our actions. The New Testament shows sin as a moral transgression, a rebellion against God. Salvation is insecure and threatened by our sin or disobedience. We rely on an external force, Jesus, for salvation. The Gospel of Mary shows sin as a turning away from God, being disconnected from the Spirit. Salvation is secure because we can choose to turn back, re-orient to the Spirit, and re-focus on following that divine spark within us. This message diminishes the role of the church and its sacraments in our salvation.
Perhaps the church classed the Gospel of Mary with the heretical gnostic texts because it threatened the primacy of Peter. By the 2nd century, the Christian church had become a hierarchy of men in an apostolic succession from Peter, the one with the keys to the kingdom (Matthew 16:19). The Bishop Irenaeus declared “there could be no salvation” outside of the true church. [12]. However, the Gospel of Mary portrays Mary Magdalene with her own apostolic authority, and teaching that we can find liberation by seeking the divine within and not needing church sacraments, confessions to a priest, or organized religion. The Roman Catholic Pope in Rome claims to be the apostolic successor to Peter. Uplifting Mary Magdalene to the level of Peter would threaten the church's claim to Peter's primacy among the apostles. Elizabeth Schrader, a scholar at Duke, suggests there is evidence that early biblical scholars avoided showing the prominence that John's Gospel gives to Mary Magdalene as an apostle. Already, both Peter and Mary were commissioned by Jesus. He sent Mary Magdalene as an apostle to the apostles, just as he sent Peter to "take care of my sheep"? What if Mary Magdalene had a declaration of her faith in Jesus as the Messiah (John 11:27) equivalent to Peter's declaration (Matthew 16:16, Mark 8:27-33, Luke 9:18-21)? In examining the oldest available copy of the Gospel of John, Papyrus 66, the name Mary has been changed to Martha. This apparent change dilutes Mary Magdalene's presence and prominence [13].
What Does the Gospel of Mary Teach?
The Gospel of Mary contains ideas familiar to those accustomed to Plato's teachings. This ancient text describes Mary receiving visions or revelations that bring special knowledge (gnosis) of God's wisdom as revealed by Jesus.
Mary Magdalene also understood Jesus as a spiritual messiah, delivering changed hearts, not changed rulers. Rather than focusing on rules for morality or religious sacraments, the Gospel of Mary emphasizes self-awareness and the need to focus on returning to God [18]. Rather than seeing sin as a moral transgression, sin is associated with losing focus on God, turning away from God, not following the Way, and not imitating Jesus. It discusses sin as a disorientation, where we lose our attunement with the divine. We lose sight of God, who lives within each of us. Salvation comes from turning towards God, seeking the divine, recovering the divine spark within oneself, and reconnecting with God as a path to liberation. Jesus lived to show us the way to reorient our focus on God, to reconnect with God.
This view of sin and salvation means there is no need for organized religion or rituals, though organized communities can help us reorient our focus on God. There is no need to go through a priest or pastor for confession or forgiveness. Our salvation does not depend on sacraments such as baptism or communion, though we may use them to return our focus to Jesus.
Karen L. King, Professor of Divinity at Harvard University, and author of The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the first woman apostle, says the Gospel of Mary provides:
an intriguing glimpse into a kind of Christianity lost for almost fifteen hundred years...[it] presents a radical interpretation of Jesus' teachings as a path to inner spiritual knowledge; it rejects His suffering and death as the path to eternal life; it exposes the erroneous view that Mary of Magdala was a prostitute for what it is – a piece of theological fiction; it presents the most straightforward and convincing argument in any early Christian writing for the legitimacy of women's leadership; it offers a sharp critique of illegitimate power and a utopian vision of spiritual perfection; it challenges our rather romantic views about the harmony and unanimity of the first Christians; and it asks us to rethink the basis for church authority [14].
Conclusion
We don't have clear records of where Mary Magdalene went as an apostle. However, it seems possible that Mary went to Alexandria and parts of Egypt. Later, as the church sidelined Greek ideas of Christianity, focused on Jesus's teachings and example of love and service, how he uplifted the marginalized, challenged hierarchical powers, and suffered the consequences. The Spirit in us can guide us to follow Jesus's way of living. Mary's followers hid the Gospel of Mary. It stayed hidden until 1896, and the Coptic text was not translated into English until 1955.
Meanwhile, the church developed theologies consistent with Jewish ideas of Christianity, focused on Jesus as the Messiah, how he fulfilled prophecies, and became the ultimate sacrifice for our atonement. Many Christian denominations teach that we are born sinful, but Jesus is our advocate, facing God's anger and taking on our punishment. They may also teach that we could lose our entrance to the kingdom if we do not follow the moral laws in the Bible. The Spirit comes on us to guide and comfort us. Many of these Christian denominations also teach that God authorized men to teach and guide women. As an egalitarian Christian, I believe this idea places men in a role that usurps the role of Christ and the Spirit.
The church largely discounts the Gospel of Mary as heretical, associating it with gnostic texts. It has some gnostic ideas, such as placing a value on seeking knowledge and wisdom, but these are consistent with the Bible's teaching us to seek wisdom and to seek God. The gnostic gospels promote a dualistic view of spirit being good and world being bad; logic being good and emotion being bad, male being good and female being inferior. This heretical dualism seems evident in some Christian churches today. However, the Gospel of Mary promotes a unified view: one God, calling both the spirit and the world good, both male and female good, which is consistent with the Bible.
Mary Magdalene was a prominent patron and disciple, a reliable witness to Jesus's life, and an apostle who received visions from God and a model woman leader in the early church. In my fiction, Because She Was Called, Mary Magdalene travels to Rome to testify and to teach at the young church. In Finding Her Voice, I imagine Mary Magdalene meeting Philo of Alexandria in Rome and returning with him to Alexandria to discuss theology and teach the way of Jesus.
Elaine Ricker Kelly Author is empowering women with historical fiction about women in the Bible and early church and Christian articles about women in leadership, church history and doctrine. Her books include:
Forgotten Followers from Broken to Bold, Book 1, A Novel (2022)
The Sword: A Fun Way to Engage in Healthy Debate on What the Bible Says About a Woman's Role (2023)
Because She Was Called from Broken to Bold, Book 2, A Novel of the Early Church (2024)
Walk with Mara on Her Healing Journey: 21 Steps to Emotional Resilience (2024)
Finding Her Voice from Broken to Bold, Book 3, Acts of Early Female Apostles: A Novel (2025)
Sources:
Elaine Kelly, Mary 14, 2025, https://www.elainekelly.ca/post/apostle-mary-magdalene-s-missionary-journeys
Makary (Veretennikov), Archimandrite. “Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene.” OrthoChristian.Com, Alpha and Omega magazine, 4 Aug. 2022, https://orthochristian.com/122857.html
"Myrrhbearer and Equal of the Apostles Mary Magdalene," Orthodox Church in America, Accessed March 17, 2024, https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2001/07/22/102070-myrrhbearer-and-equal-of-the-apostles-mary-magdalene
Joanna Kujawa, "(Essay 2) In the Footsteps of Mary Magdalene: Alexandria", Return to Mago E-Magazine, February 18, 2020, https://www.magoism.net/2020/02/essay-2-in-the-footsteps-of-mary-magdalene-alexandria-by-dr-joanna-kujawa/,
Pieter van der Horst, Philo of Alexandria “On the contemplative life”: introduction, translation, and commentary, Bryn Mawr Classical Review, November 8, 2021, https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2021/2021.11.08/
Margaret Starbird, The Woman with the Alabaster ar: Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail, Bear & Company, 1993.
Elaine Kelly, December 15, 2021, https://www.elainekelly.ca/post/who-was-mary-magdalene
Elizabeth Lerner Maclay, "The Magdalene code", UUWorld, May 15, 2026, https://www.uuworld.org/articles/magdalene-code
Elizabeth Lerner Maclay, ibid.
Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur, “The Gospel of Mary of Magdala by Karen L. King, 2022, EBSCO, https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/literature-and-writing/gospel-mary-magdala-karen-l-king
James Bean, “The Gospel of Mary Magdalene is Not a Gnostic Gospel”, Medium, August 11, 2021, https://sant-mat.medium.com/the-gospel-of-mary-magdalene-is-not-a-gnostic-gospel-7be69111d394
Edmund, "'God's truth' and the Gospel of Mary Magdalene", Medium, December 29, 2024, https://medium.com/@mundsworld/gods-truth-and-the-gospel-of-mary-magdalene-e04d5946eee3
Eric Ferreri, "Mary or Martha?: A Duke Scholar's Research Finds Mary Magdalene Downplayed by New Testament Scribes", Duke Today, June 18, 2019, https://today.duke.edu/2019/06/mary-or-martha-duke-scholars-research-finds-mary-magdalene-downplayed-new-testament-scribes
"Gospel of Mary", Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Mary. last updated 17 December 2025, quoting from Karen L. King, "The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the first woman apostle", (Introduction p. 3), Polebridge Press, 2003
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