I wrote: > >There are a number of reasons for Magdalen's supposed link to prostitution > >(which, interestingly, does not exist in the Eastern Orthodox Christian > >church's view of Magdalen, who is highly revered). But yes, there are > >similarities in the stories, and apparently some cross-fertilization, > >which becomes evident in the art as well, when you look at paintings of > >Magdalen in her wilderness-hermit phase.
Pierre added: > Just to make things clear, Mary Magdalene is equally revered in the > West. She is considered one of the greatest of the saints. While > there is debate whether she was the prostitute/adulteress who was > saved from stoning by Jesus (and most theologians and historians > believe she was not) such an identification doesn't imply that she is > tainted somehow. It would simply point out the magnitude of her > conversion and salvation. Oh yes, and I didn't mean to imply otherwise. And I do want to underscore your reminder that the Western Church today doesn't support the identification of Magdalen as a reformed prostitute -- but that connection is pervasive in the art of the period I study, which is medieval ... and as you point out, the magnitude of her rise from the "lowest of the low" was part of her appeal to ordinary sinners. However, after so many years analyzing medieval Magdalen images, where understanding the prostitution connection is vital, I was quite surprised to find out that this is absent from her backstory in the Eastern church. And that affects her representation in Eastern Christian art. Of course, I've also found that almost everything I know about iconography goes out the window when I'm looking at Eastern Christian art. Normally I can identify a saint at 50 paces, but I stood in my husband's newly decorated Greek Orthodox Church, turning around and around looking at the icons, utterly mystified because I didn't recognize the attributes for most of them, and I couldn't read the Greek labels. --Robin _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
