The Secret Gospel of Mark: Stalemate in the Academy

A Summary of the Clement Letter

In 1958 Morton Smith discovered a fragment of a letter of Clement of Alexandria (end of the second century) handwritten on the last two leaves in the back of a collection of the letters of Ignatius of Antioch, a collection published by I[saacu]s Vossius (hereafter Isaac Voss) in 1646. ² The scribal hand of these two leaves has been dated to the latter half of the eighteenth century on paleographical grounds. In brief, the letter, written to an otherwise unknown Theodore, describes three versions of the gospel of Mark known in the second century: First, Mark wrote the original gospel in Rome. Later, when Mark came to Alexandria, Clement says he expanded the original gospel, by adding to it "things suitable" to instruct those "being perfected" in the faith; it was read to those "being initiated into the great mysteries." So Original Mark was for beginners; and the more spiritual gospel, dubbed Secret Mark, was intended for advanced initiates in Christian faith. Clement further reports that a copy of Secret Mark was acquired, through dubious means, from a certain presbyter in the Alexandrian church, by the second-century libertine Gnostic teacher, Carpocrates, who added still further material to Secret Mark—material Clement rejected out of hand as "shameless lies." This Carpocratian Mark is the third version of Mark known in the second century.

Clement quotes two brief excerpts from Secret Mark. The first and longer quotation falls between canonical Mark 10.34 and 35. It describes Jesus raising a young man from the dead. The second, shorter quote falls after canonical Mark 10.46a. It describes Jesus refusing to receive Salome and the young man's mother and sister. Theodore had apparently asked Clement about a meeting between Jesus and the young man, which took place after Jesus had raised him from the dead. It seems that Theodore did not have a copy of Secret Mark, so Clement quotes the pertinent passage. Briefly it goes like this: after being raised, the young man saw Jesus, "loved him, and wanted to be with him." After six days, Jesus told him what to do. "And in the evening, the youth comes to [Jesus], wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the kingdom of God." Clement quotes this section from Secret Mark and adds, probably in the very words of Theodore's question, "But 'naked man with naked man' and the other things about which you [i.e., Theodore] wrote are not found" [i.e., in the secret gospel]. Smith's interpretation of the longer quote set off a firestorm of criticism that virtually discredited Clement's letter among New Testament scholars. ³

No Western scholar, other than Morton Smith, had ever publicly claimed to have seen the actual manuscript, but now see the comments below by Guy Stroumsa.

Smith's Publications and the Firestorm of Criticism

Fifteen years after his discovery at Hagios Sabbas (Mar Saba), in 1973, Smith simultaneously published two volumes on Clement's letter and Secret Mark, one a popular book and the other an exhaustive critical study of the manuscript. ⁴ He was severely criticized for both. One reviewer even hinted that the critical book was delayed in order to cash in on the financial "bonanza" of the popular book. ⁵

As someone trying to trace the events at Hagios Sabbas, and reconstruct Smith's activities, however, I found the popular edition far more helpful than the critical edition. If I have any criticism of the popular edition, it is that Smith was not detailed enough about his activities at the monastery, and his photographs in both books clearly could have been better, but, in the final analysis, he used what he had.

Smith's critical study argued that the Christian movement began...