I'll tell you why because these people already think that the 'heretics' have nothing useful to offer us about the origins of Christianity.
The truth as I have already noted is of course that the 'heretics' only happen to reflect the original theology of Palestine, Syria and the Middle East which became 'heretical' when the Church of Rome attempted to squeeze out all rivals in the Commodian period.
Once this is recognized we should see how important it is to ask questions like 'why did the Marcosians identify Mark 10.38 with their 'redemption' ritual (i.e. as we have noted in previous posts a rite which accompanied baptism but was ultimately separate from it)?
The answer it turns out has nothing to do with 'heresy' as we like to understand it - i.e. an idea that a 'heretic' just dreamed up in his head one day. It turns out that something about the original Aramaic gospel led a number of Aramaic and Syriac speaking Christians to identify the reference in Mark 10.38 as 'redemption' or apolytrosis.
Now I can't explain WHY the Middle Eastern Church made this identification just yet. I am working very hard on this to help bolster my understanding of Secret Mark and LGM 1 in particular. Yet the point is that this is what OTHER SCHOLARS should have been doing, those who get paid for this sort of thing.
In any event, it is patently obvious from Ephrem's Commentary on the Diatessaron that the Marcosians weren't alone in identifying Mark 10.38 as being connected to an apolytrosis. Here is what is found in chapter X:
When two [of the apostles] came in order to choose places for themselves, as though first among their companions, our Lord said to them, Are you able to drink the chalice that I am about to drink? [He said this] to show that [such places] must indeed be bought at a price. 'Like me' [idem] Wherefore God has also elevated and exalted him. [Phil 2:9] There is no one who has humbled himself more, according to his nature, than our Lord, for he was of divine origin. After they learned that [such a place] could only be bought through deeds, he said, 'Now that you have learned that it is through deeds that this [throne] can be acquired there are perhaps those who have run, or who will run, swifter than you. However, in the Father's design, the one who excels all others in his running performance is [already] designated, and his [throne] is prepared for him."
Because they had come so as to take possession of an election not accompanied by deeds, our Lord thrust it aside from him, and showed that he did not have the power to spare one from distress; just as [when he also said], As for that hour, no one knows it [Matt 24.36], so that no one would question him concerning it. It is not yours to know the time or the seasons. [Acts 1:7] He came therefore and explained it to them all, while they were agitated. Whosoever wishes to be your master, let him become your servant. [Matt 20:26-27] This is how all are to have authority. Thus did our Lord place the request of the sons of Zebedee as a crown in [their] midst, so that whoever was victorious in his combat might be crowned with it. [p.164]
As I have already mentioned a number of times this week, I can't get into the detail I would like with this newly discovered material but a couple of things are worth noting:
(a) Ephrem always identifies this discussion in terms of a 'redemption' established between Jesus and John-Mark and his brother.
(b) the Diatessaron seems to naturally lend itself to the understanding that the gospel was an ainos and in particular the pant' ainos in which Achilles gives to those fighting for the prize associated with the funeral games in honor of Patroclus. Only now the contest is between the disciples for the throne and the honor of sitting beside Jesus(more on this much later).
(c) all references to Mark 10:38 in Ephrem's Commentary make no mention of Jesus saying anything about a FUTURE 'baptism by which I will be baptized.' Instead of:
And Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink the cup that I am to drink? and with the baptism that I am to be baptized with, will ye be baptized? And they said unto him, We are able. Jesus said unto them, The cup that I drink ye shall drink; and with the baptism wherewith I am baptized ye shall be baptized: but that ye should sit on my right and on my left is not mine to give; but it is for him for whom my Father hath prepared it.
Ephrem's text seems to have just read:
And Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink the cup that I am to drink? And they said unto him, We are able. Jesus said unto them, The cup that I drink ye shall drink but that ye should sit on my right and on my left is not mine to give; but it is for him for whom my Father hath prepared it.
This is very signficant as I have already suggested that the added reference to them being baptized by 'the baptism I WILL be baptized with' is just a way of obscuring and in fact denying the existence of LGM 1 which must have known to Christians long before Morton Smith's discovery of To Theodore.
Oh and for those of you who are wondering still, but why would the Marcosians make such a big deal about Jesus' speaking about John-Mark 'drinking from the cup' that Jesus drank from, why don't you just read what appears in Irenaeus' description of the sect?
pretending to consecrate cups mixed with wine, and protracting to great length the word of invocation, he [Mark] contrives to give them a purple and reddish colour, so that Charis, who is one of those that are superior to all things, should be thought to drop her own blood into that cup through means of his invocation, and that thus those who are present should be led to rejoice to taste of that cup, in order that, by so doing, the Charis, who is set forth by this magician, may also flow into them. Again, handing mixed cups to the women, he bids them consecrate these in his presence. When this has been done, he himself produces another cup of much larger size than that which the deluded woman has consecrated,) and pouting from the smaller one consecrated by the woman into that which has been brought forward by himself, he at the same time pronounces these words: "May that Charis who is before all things, and who transcends all knowledge and speech, fill thine inner man, and multiply in thee her own knowledge, by sowing the grain of mustard seed in thee as in good soil." Repeating certain other like words, and thus goading on the wretched woman [to madness], he then appears a worker of wonders when the large cup is seen to have been filled out of the small one, so as even to overflow by what has been obtained from it. By accomplishing several other similar things, he has completely deceived many, and drawn them away after him.
It appears probable enough that this man possesses a demon as his familiar spirit, by means of whom he seems able to prophesy, and also enables as many as he counts worthy to be partakers of his Charis themselves to prophesy. He devotes himself especially to women, and those such as are well-bred, and elegantly attired, and of great wealth, whom he frequently seeks to draw after him, by addressing them in such seductive words as these: "I am eager to make thee a partaker of my Charis, since the Father of all doth continually behold thy angel before His face. Now the place of thy angel is among us: it behoves us to become one. Receive first from me and by me [the gift of] Charis. Adorn thyself as a bride who is expecting her bridegroom, that thou mayest be what I am, and I what thou art. Establish the germ of light in thy nuptial chamber. Receive from me a spouse, and become receptive of him, while thou art received by him. Behold Charis has descended upon thee; open thy mouth and prophesy." On the woman replying," I have never at any time prophesied, nor do I know how to prophesy;" then engaging, for the second time, in certain invocations, so as to astound his deluded victim, he says to her," Open thy mouth, speak whatsoever occurs to thee, and thou shalt prophesy." She then, vainly puffed up and elated by these words, and greatly excited in soul by the expectation that it is herself who is to prophesy, her heart beating violently [from emotion], reaches the requisite pitch of audacity, and idly as well as impudently utters some nonsense as it happens. to occur to her, such as might be expected from one heated by an empty spirit. (Referring to this, one superior to me has observed, that the soul is both audacious and impudent when heated with empty air.) Henceforth she reckons herself a prophetess, and expresses her thanks to Marcus for having imparted to her of his own Charis. She then makes the effort to reward him, not only by the gift of her possessions (in which way he has collected a very large fortune), but also by yielding up to him her person, desiring in every way to be united to him, that she may become altogether one with him.
But already some of the most faithful women, possessed of the fear of God, and not being deceived (whom, nevertheless, he did his best to seduce like the rest by bidding them prophesy), abhorring and execrating him, have withdrawn from such a vile company of revellers. This they have done, as being well aware that the gift of prophecy is not conferred on men by Marcus, the magician, but that only those to whom God sends His grace from above possess the divinely-bestowed power of prophesying; and then they speak where and when God pleases, and not when Marcus orders them to do so. For that which commands is greater and of higher authority than that which is commanded, inasmuch as the former rules, while the latter is in a state of subjection. If, then, Marcus, or any one else, does command,--as these are accustomed continually at their feasts to play at drawing lots, and [in accordance with the lot] to command one another to prophesy, giving forth as oracles what is in harmony with their own desires,--it will follow that he who commands is greater and of higher authority than the prophetic spirit, though he is but a man, which is impossible. But such spirits as are commanded by these men, and speak when they desire it, are earthly and weak, audacious and impudent, sent forth by Satan for the seduction and perdition of those who do not hold fast that well- compacted faith which they received at first through the Church.
Indeed in case the reader doesn't realize it the Alexandrian understanding of Jesus' words regarding 'let this cup pass from me' is developed by Origen in the exact same manner. Trust me on this.
I will cite Origen's understanding in a moment but for those who aren't aware of it, the Alexandrian Father says that Jesus wanted his cup to literally pass to one of his disciples so that future generations can partake in his grace.
Can anyone out there begin to discern what is really going on here? Does anyone have any doubts about the identity of 'Mark' the gnostic heretic any more?
If you are interested in reading how this observation fits within my greater understanding of the workings of Secret Mark WITHIN the contemporary Alexandrian Church please go here
If you want to read more about how Alexandrian Christianity was rooted in the Jewish traditions of Alexandria, Philo of Alexandria and more feel free to purchase my new book here
