Secret Mark is Already Known to Jerome

[Secret Alias]

Μάρκος μαθητὴς καὶ ἑρμηνευτὴς Πέτρου, καθὼς τοῦ Πέτρου ἐξηγουμένου ἀκήκοε, παρακληθεὶς ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ παρὰ τῶν ἀδελφῶν, βραχὺ συνέταξεν Εὐαγγέλιον, ᾧπερ ἐντυχὼν Πέτρος ἐδοκίμασε, καὶ τῇ Ἐκκλησία ἀναγνωσθησόμενον αὐθεντίσας ἐξέδωκε, καθὰ 844 συνεγράψατο Κλήμης ἐν τῷ ἕκτῳ τῶν Υποτυπώσεων λόγῳ, καὶ Παπίας Ἱεραπολίτης Ἐπίσκοπος. Μέμνηται τούτου τοῦ Μάρκου καὶ Πέτρος ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ Ἐπιστολῇ, ἐπ' ὀνόματι Βαβυλῶνος εἰκονικῶς Ῥώμην σημαίνων. Ἀσπάζεται ὑμᾶς, φησὶν, ἡ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι σὺν τῇ ἐκλεκτῇ, καὶ Μάρκος ὁ ἐμὸς υἱὸς. Παραλαβὼν τοιγαροῦν τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον (he took therefore the gospel), ὅπερ αὐτὸς συνέταξε (which he himself wrote), καταλαμβάνει τὴν Αἴγυπτον, καὶ πρῶτος ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν κηρύττων, κατεστήσατο ἐκκλησίαν, τοσαύτῃ παιδεύσει καὶ βίου καρτερίᾳ διέπρεψεν, ὥστε πάντας τοὺς ἀκολουθοῦντας τῷ Χριστῶ ἕψεσθαι τῇ τούτου διαγωγῇ. Ὅθεν καὶ Φίλων ὁ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐλλογιμώτατος, ὁρῷν ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ πρώτην ἐκκλησίαν ἔτι Ἰουδαΐζουσαν, ὡσανεὶ εἰς ἔπαινον τοῦ οἰκείου ἔθνους βίβλον περὶ τῆς τούτων διαγωγῆς συνεγράψατο. Καὶ ὥσπερ Λουκᾶς διηγεῖται τοὺς ἐν Ἰεροσολύμοις πιστεύσταντας πάντα ἐσχηκέναι κοινὰ, οὕτως κᾀκεῖνος ὅπερ ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ ἐπὶ Μάρκου τοῦ διδασκάλου ἐώρα γινόμενον, τῇ μνήμῃ παρέδωκε. Τελευτήσας δὲ τῷ ὀγδόῳ τοῦ Νέρωνος ἔτει, ἀπετέθη ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ, διαδεξαμένου αὐτὸν Ἀνανίου.

Mark the disciple and interpreter of Peter wrote a short gospel (βραχὺ συνέταξεν Εὐαγγέλιον) at the request of the brethren at Rome embodying what he had heard Peter tell. When Peter had heard this, he approved it and published it to the churches to be read by his authority as Clemens in the sixth book of his Hypotyposes and Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, record. Peter also mentions this Mark in his first epistle, figuratively indicating Rome under the name of Babylon She who is in Babylon elect together with you salutes you and so does Mark my son. So, taking the gospel which he himself composed, he went to Egypt and first preaching Christ at Alexandria he formed a church so admirable in doctrine and continence of living that he constrained all followers of Christ to his example.

Eusebius Church History 2.15 And thus when the divine word had made its home among them, the power of Simon was quenched and immediately destroyed, together with the man himself. And so greatly did the splendor of piety illumine the minds of Peter's hearers that they were not satisfied with hearing once only, and were not content with the unwritten teaching of the divine Gospel, but with all sorts of entreaties they besought Mark, a follower of Peter, and the one whose Gospel is extant, that he would leave them a written monument of the doctrine which had been orally communicated to them. Nor did they cease until they had prevailed with the man, and had thus become the occasion of the written Gospel which bears the name of Mark.

2. And they say that Peter — when he had learned, through a revelation of the Spirit, of that which had been done — was pleased with the zeal of the men, and that the work obtained the sanction of his authority for the purpose of being used in the churches. Clement in the eighth book of his Hypotyposes gives this account, and with him agrees the bishop of Hierapolis named Papias. And Peter makes mention of Mark in his first epistle which they say that he wrote in Rome itself, as is indicated by him, when he calls the city, by a figure, Babylon, as he does in the following words: The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, salutes you; and so does Marcus my son. 1 Peter 5:13

16. 1. And they say that this Mark was the first that was sent to Egypt, and that he proclaimed the Gospel which he had written, and first established churches in Alexandria.

2. And the multitude of believers, both men and women, that were collected there at the very outset, and lived lives of the most philosophical and excessive asceticism, was so great, that Philo thought it worth while to describe their pursuits, their meetings, their entertainments, and their whole manner of life.

Jerome's rewriting of Eusebius seems to imply that in addition to the gospel which he wrote at Rome a doctrine of continence was added to Christian teachings at Alexandria. There is no specific reference to the gospel at Alexandria itself being 'longer' per se. Nevertheless something of the notion in To Theodore is present - namely that where as the gospel in Rome was all about Peter, the gospel or doctrine at Alexandria was all about Mark (cf. Constituit ecclesiam tantâ doctrinâ et vitæ continentiâ ut omnes sectatores Christi ad exemplum sui cogeret--He so adorned, by his doctrine and his life, the church which he founded, that his example influenced all the followers of Christ.).

Clement for his part has the same Rome = Peter, Alexandria = Mark formula:

As for Mark, then, during Peter's stay in Rome he wrote an account of the Lord's doings, not, however, declaring all of them, nor yet hinting at the secret ones, but selecting what he thought most useful for increasing the faith of those who were being instructed. But when Peter died a martyr, Mark came over to Alexandria, bringing both his own notes and those of Peter, from which he transferred to his former book the things suitable to whatever makes for progress toward knowledge. Thus he composed a more spiritual Gospel for the use of those who were being perfected.

Jerome has reshaped Eusebius's original testimony with knowledge or hints of Secret Mark.

[Secret Alias]

But exemplum means "copy" or edition

exemplum ī, n

EM-, a sample, specimen : hominum exempla, i. e. representatives of the race , O.— An imitation, image, portrait, draught, transcript, copy : earum (litterarum), S.: epistulae.— A pattern, model, original, example, precedent, incident, case : simulacrum ab animali exemplo transfertur: litterarum, a draft : exempla ad imitandum: naturae et veritatis: Ex hoc numero (amicorum) nobis exempla sumenda sunt: vir exempli recti: in oculis exemplum erat Fabius, L.: exemplum a me petere, L.: qui exemplum et rectores habebantur, Ta.: spinas Traxit in exemplum

As such the original reference to the Roman gospel written from Peter's gospel isn't necessarily relative to the compositions of the other 3 Evangelists but - more likely - when compared with the exemplum - the copy, the version of the gospel he gave the Alexandrians which taught added teachings of celibacy (like those which Clement frequently cites as according to the Egyptians).

[Secret Alias]

I've noticed this 'pattern' pardon the pun that when one meaning of a Latin or Greek word corresponds to the predominant meaning of the English equivalent (in this case 'example') the translations tend to follow. So the translators here make it seem as if Jerome was saying that Mark provided his own 'example' for them to understand Christ. But the context clearly demands 'copy' or 'edition' of the gospel as the subject is Mark the evangelist.

Finally, the term exemplum reveals the importance of the idea of reproducibility in example, for exemplum denotes both the model to be copied and the copy or representation of that model, a sense that is maintained in the French noun exemplaire as copy (of a book, etc.). This coexistence of apparent opposites is an indication of the way exemplum (and example) is not a static, isolatable unit but the relationship created or assumed between things. When Machiavelli, for instance, says of a certain historical act it has radi esempli, he means that this act has rarely been copied, that it has “few copies” or “few imitations.” But an exemplum or esemplo in the sense of copy is only possible if the act or object in question is seen as corresponding to an earlier act or object that is the same. https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&h ... ponding%22

[Secret Alias]

To that end, the original was the 'short gospel' he wrote in Rome and the exemplum here was the Alexandrian version of the gospel with the added instructions about celibacy which clearly the 'according to the Alexandrians' of Clement corresponds. But you see the way these moronic critics behave. On the one hand they will say that Morton Smith could have read Jerome and made up his story from that information. So 'could have' immediately becomes 'did' because it suits their purposes. Yet Morton Smith doesn't mention this passage in support of his gospel. Now 'did' means 'could have' but chose not to (because ...)???? A ha! They will say. 'Oh he hid this because he was hiding the source of his inspiration.' Again did now means 'did with evil purpose.' It's all ridiculous in the humanities. So whenever something supports authenticity (like John of Damascus's reference to a collection of letters of Clement at Mar Saba) we are told 'it is not what it appears to be' and when there is any hint of inconsistency, that's a full blown 'smoking gun' (when in reality all the hidden hands inevitably dissipate).

And the frequent references of Clement to a (secret) gospel with additional instructions for celibacy in the Stromata (i.e. the 'gospel according to the Egyptians')? Doesn't that mean that now that there was a secret gospel of Mark known to Clement and Jerome but which - according to their circular logic - Morton Smith divined and then falsified in a thoroughly modern gospel fragment which he inserted into the letter to Theodore which he again composed and, on a day when he asked for three books from the librarian at Mar Saba, slipped into the pile to make four hoping that the librarian wouldn't notice. It's so absurd! At the very least, even with this ludicrous conspiracy theory we have to admit (a) there was a secret gospel of Mark (or according to Jerome a 'longer copy' of the Roman gospel of Mark at Alexandria) and (b) it necessarily corresponds to the gospel according to the Egyptians. That's where Jerome's logic takes us. What are the odds that Smith uncovers something which belies this reality, never acknowledges he forged anything and which up until now, even his critics don't recognize was a historical reality? It's just too much. Blow up the humanities.

From Wikipedia:

The known fragments of text takes the form of a discussion between the disciple Salome and Jesus, who advocates celibacy, or, more accurately, "each fragment endorses sexual asceticism as the means of breaking the lethal cycle of birth and of overcoming the alleged sinful differences between male and female, enabling all persons to return to what was understood to be their primordial and androgynous state" (Cameron 1982). The familiar question of Salome— "How long shall death prevail?" provoking Jesus' famous answer "As long as women bear children"— has echoes in other 2nd and 3rd century apocrypha and is instanced by Theodotus of Byzantium as if it were commonly known: "67. And when the Saviour says to Salome that there shall be death as long as women bear children, he did not say it as abusing birth, for that is necessary for the salvation of believers." This saying must have had a wide circulation, though it did not suit the purpose of any canonical Gospel. A similar view of the body as an entrapment of the soul was an essential understanding of Gnosticism. The rejection of marriage was also supported by the Encratites and many of the other early Christian groupings praised celibacy, and therefore it is difficult to tell from what group the text originated.

Comparison
Another comparable verse appended to the Gospel of Thomas, probably in Egypt, reads:

"114. Simon Peter said to them, "Make Mary leave us, for females are not worthy of life." Jesus said, "Look I shall guide her to make her male so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter the Kingdom of Heaven" (translation by Elaine Pagels and Marvin Myer in Elaine Pagels, Beyond Belief 2003, pp241f).
The so-called Second Epistle of Clement (12:2) closely paraphrases a passage that was also quoted by Clement of Alexandria (in Stromateis iii):

iii. 13. 92. "When Salome inquired when the things concerning which she asked should be known, the Lord said: When ye have trampled on the garment of shame, and when the two become one and the male with the female is neither male nor female." Clement adds, "In the first place, then, we have not this saying in the four Gospels that have been delivered to us, but in that according to the Egyptians."
The trope appears in the Gospel of Thomas, saying (37):

"When you strip naked without being ashamed, and take your garments and put them under your feet like little children and tread upon them, then [you] will see the child of the living" (Thomas, Layton translation).

[Secret Alias]

I wonder how we are to translate the Latin according to this (now the correct) understanding of the passage:

Marcus, discipulus et interpres Petri iuxta quod Petrum referentum audierat, rogatus Romae a fratribus breve scripsit evangelium, quod cum Petrus audisset probavit et ecclesiis legendum sua auctoritate edidit, sicut scribit Clemens in sexto υποτυποσεων libro et Papias Hierapolitanus episcopus. meminit huius Marci et Petrus in prima epistula, sub nomine Babylonis figuraliter Romam significans: Salutat vos quae est in Babylone coelecta et Marcus filius meus. assumpto itaque evangelio quod ipse confecerat (= to make a thing completely ready), perrexit Aegyptum et primus Alexandriae Christum annucians constituit ecclesiam tanta doctrina et vitae continentia ut omnes sectatores Christi ad exemplum sui cogeret. denique Philon, disertissimus Iudaeorum, videns Alexandriae primam ecclesiam adhuc Iudaizantem, quasi in laudem gentis suae librum super eorum conversatione scripsit, et quomodo Lucas narrat Hierosolymae credentes omnia habuisse communia sic ille quod Alexandriae sub Marco fieri doctore cernebat memoriae tradidit. mortuus est autem octavo Neronis anno et sepultus Alexandriae, succedente sibi Anniano.

Would it be?

Mark, disciple and interpreter of Peter according to what he heard Peter referring to, when requested by the brethren in Rome wrote a short gospel, which, when Peter heard, he approved and published on his authority reading by the churches, just as Clement wrote in the sixth book of the Outlines, as well as Papias the Hierapolitan bishop. Peter also mentioned this Mark in the first epistle, under the name of Babylon signifying Rome figuratively: She who is in Babylon, elected together with you, salutes you, as well as Mark my son.1 And so, the gospel which he himself put together he finally completed, he went forth to Egypt and, first announcing Christ in Alexandria, he constituted a church with such teaching and continence of life that it compels all followers of Christ to its edition. Furthermore Philo, most brilliant of the Jews, seeing the first church of Alexandria while still Jewish, as if in praise of his own people wrote a book about their conversation, and, in the same way as Luke narrates that the believers of Jerusalem held all things in common, he thus delivered a remembrance of what he discerned done in Alexandria under the teacher Mark. But Mark died in the eighth year of Nero2 and was buried in Alexandria, Annianus succeeding him.

If so this is remarkably similar to what Clement wrote in the Letter to Theodore. It would seem Jerome is quoting the letter or a parallel understanding he found in some other text possibly the Hypotyposes (where Eusebius says the understanding was very close to what is found in Papias).

[Secret Alias]

I don't even see Jerome listed in the 'Notabilia Varia' in Clement of Alexandria and a Secret Gospel of Mark. He must be in here. But not significant enough to mention in the back of the book.

[Secret Alias]

I don't see anything about it in Carlson's Gospel Hoax either.

[Secret Alias]

The only person who seems to mention Jerome is Crossley:

For our purposes all that need be noted is that, if genuine, this hitherto unknown letter of Clement is another witness to a well-attested view found elsewhere in Clement, namely he believed that Mark was written during Peter's lifetime. If false we would not be losing much as far as Clement's views on the date of Mark are concerned. There may be other witnesses to the tradition that Mark was written during Peter's lifetime. Eusebius gives us a tradition from Origen's Commentaries on the Gospel according to Matthew in a discussion of the four gospels which may imply that Mark's gospel was written during Peter's lifetime, although it is still possible that Origen believed it to have been written after Peter's death (HE 6.25.5; Aland, Synopsis 556). 'And second, that according to Mark, who did as Peter instructed him, whom he also acknowledged as a son in the catholic epistle (1 Pet. 5.13)'. Also worth noting is a tradition that suggests Mark died in the eighth year of Nero, c. 62, in Alexandria when he was succeeded by Annianus. This is explicit in Jerome (De Vir. Ill. 8) but Eusebius only mentions that Mark was succeeded by Annianus (HE 2.24). https://books.google.com/books?id=wfkRB ... 22&f=false

[Secret Alias]

Indeed it is worth noting that a number of authors have already suggested at least part of this connecting the 'gospel of Mark' preferred by those who said that Jesus was crucified while 'Christ' watched impassably (Irenaeus 3.11.7) with the gospel of the Egyptians mentioned here in Clement's Stromateis. Thus in a very real sense according to these men Clement knew and used a 'fuller' gospel of Mark which was known only (or only used by) the Egyptian Church. The first person to suggest this was Harvey in his critical edition of Irenaeus's Against Heresies and the theory is developed by many authors including F F Bruce. Harvey writes that it did not appear that the heretics:

paid any particular veneration to the Gospel of St. Mark unless indeed they identified with his name of the see of Alexandria, the false gospel of the Egyptians as Hippolytus declares (cf. Philosophumena 5.2) [p.46]

Hitchcock also wonders whether "those who separated Jesus from Christ, saying that Christ remained impassible but that Jesus suffered may have identified the Gospel of the Egyptians which they used (Hippolytus Ph. v. 7) with St Mark the founder of the See of Alexandria." [Irenaeus of Lugdunum p. 212] Morton Smith also noted the similarities [Clement of Alexandria and a Secret Gospel of Mark p. 90]

Perhaps the most interesting observation of all comes from C E Stowe in his the Four Gospels when referencing Origen's reference to the Gospel of the Egyptians alongside the Gospel of the Twelve Disciples (Hom Luke 1) writes:

the first was mainly an Egyptian edition of the Gospel of Mark, and the second nearly identical with the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew. In his preface to Matthew Jerome says "There were many who wrote gospels, .... which, being edited by different authors, became the sources of diverse heresies, as that according to the Egyptians and Thomas, and Bartholomew and according to the twelve disciples"

[andrewcriddle]

Μάρκος μαθητὴς καὶ ἑρμηνευτὴς Πέτρου, καθὼς τοῦ Πέτρου ἐξηγουμένου ἀκήκοε, παρακληθεὶς ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ παρὰ τῶν ἀδελφῶν, βραχὺ συνέταξεν Εὐαγγέλιον, ᾧπερ ἐντυχὼν Πέτρος ἐδοκίμασε, καὶ τῇ Ἐκκλησία ἀναγνωσθησόμενον αὐθεντίσας ἐξέδωκε, καθὰ 844 συνεγράψατο Κλήμης ἐν τῷ ἕκτῳ τῶν Υποτυπώσεων λόγῳ, καὶ Παπίας Ἱεραπολίτης Ἐπίσκοπος. Μέμνηται τούτου τοῦ Μάρκου καὶ Πέτρος ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ Ἐπιστολῇ, ἐπ' ὀνόματι Βαβυλῶνος εἰκονικῶς Ῥώμην σημαίνων. Ἀσπάζεται ὑμᾶς, φησὶν, ἡ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι σὺν τῇ ἐκλεκτῇ, καὶ Μάρκος ὁ ἐμὸς υἱὸς. Παραλαβὼν τοιγαροῦν τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον (he took therefore the gospel), ὅπερ αὐτὸς συνέταξε (which he himself wrote), καταλαμβάνει τὴν Αἴγυπτον, καὶ πρῶτος ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν κηρύττων, κατεστήσατο ἐκκλησίαν, τοσαύτῃ παιδεύσει καὶ βίου καρτερίᾳ διέπρεψεν, ὥστε πάντας τοὺς ἀκολουθοῦντας τῷ Χριστῶ ἕψεσθαι τῇ τούτου διαγωγῇ. Ὅθεν καὶ Φίλων ὁ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐλλογιμώτατος, ὁρῷν ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ πρώτην ἐκκλησίαν ἔτι Ἰουδαΐζουσαν, ὡσανεὶ εἰς ἔπαινον τοῦ οἰκείου ἔθνους βίβλον περὶ τῆς τούτων διαγωγῆς συνεγράψατο. Καὶ ὥσπερ Λουκᾶς διηγεῖται τοὺς ἐν Ἰεροσολύμοις πιστεύσταντας πάντα ἐσχηκέναι κοινὰ, οὕτως κᾀκεῖνος ὅπερ ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ ἐπὶ Μάρκου τοῦ διδασκάλου ἐώρα γινόμενον, τῇ μνήμῃ παρέδωκε. Τελευτήσας δὲ τῷ ὀγδόῳ τοῦ Νέρωνος ἔτει, ἀπετέθη ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ, διαδεξαμένου αὐτὸν Ἀνανίου.

Mark the disciple and interpreter of Peter wrote a short gospel (βραχὺ συνέταξεν Εὐαγγέλιον) at the request of the brethren at Rome embodying what he had heard Peter tell. When Peter had heard this, he approved it and published it to the churches to be read by his authority as Clemens in the sixth book of his Hypotyposes and Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, record. Peter also mentions this Mark in his first epistle, figuratively indicating Rome under the name of Babylon She who is in Babylon elect together with you salutes you and so does Mark my son. So, taking the gospel which he himself composed, he went to Egypt and first preaching Christ at Alexandria he formed a church so admirable in doctrine and continence of living that he constrained all followers of Christ to his example.

Eusebius Church History 2.15 And thus when the divine word had made its home among them, the power of Simon was quenched and immediately destroyed, together with the man himself. And so greatly did the splendor of piety illumine the minds of Peter's hearers that they were not satisfied with hearing once only, and were not content with the unwritten teaching of the divine Gospel, but with all sorts of entreaties they besought Mark, a follower of Peter, and the one whose Gospel is extant, that he would leave them a written monument of the doctrine which had been orally communicated to them. Nor did they cease until they had prevailed with the man, and had thus become the occasion of the written Gospel which bears the name of Mark.

2. And they say that Peter — when he had learned, through a revelation of the Spirit, of that which had been done — was pleased with the zeal of the men, and that the work obtained the sanction of his authority for the purpose of being used in the churches. Clement in the eighth book of his Hypotyposes gives this account, and with him agrees the bishop of Hierapolis named Papias. And Peter makes mention of Mark in his first epistle which they say that he wrote in Rome itself, as is indicated by him, when he calls the city, by a figure, Babylon, as he does in the following words: The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, salutes you; and so does Marcus my son. 1 Peter 5:13

16. 1. And they say that this Mark was the first that was sent to Egypt, and that he proclaimed the Gospel which he had written, and first established churches in Alexandria.

2. And the multitude of believers, both men and women, that were collected there at the very outset, and lived lives of the most philosophical and excessive asceticism, was so great, that Philo thought it worth while to describe their pursuits, their meetings, their entertainments, and their whole manner of life.

Jerome's rewriting of Eusebius seems to imply that in addition to the gospel which he wrote at Rome a doctrine of continence was added to Christian teachings at Alexandria. There is no specific reference to the gospel at Alexandria itself being 'longer' per se. Nevertheless something of the notion in To Theodore is present - namely that where as the gospel in Rome was all about Peter, the gospel or doctrine at Alexandria was all about Mark (cf. Constituit ecclesiam tantâ doctrinâ et vitæ continentiâ ut omnes sectatores Christi ad exemplum sui cogeret--He so adorned, by his doctrine and his life, the church which he founded, that his example influenced all the followers of Christ.).

Clement for his part has the same Rome = Peter, Alexandria = Mark formula:

As for Mark, then, during Peter's stay in Rome he wrote an account of the Lord's doings, not, however, declaring all of them, nor yet hinting at the secret ones, but selecting what he thought most useful for increasing the faith of those who were being instructed. But when Peter died a martyr, Mark came over to Alexandria, bringing both his own notes and those of Peter, from which he transferred to his former book the things suitable to whatever makes for progress toward knowledge. Thus he composed a more spiritual Gospel for the use of those who were being perfected.

Jerome has reshaped Eusebius's original testimony with knowledge or hints of Secret Mark.

It seems likely that Jerome is reshaping Eusebius' claims about the Therapeutae. In Eusebius the Therapeutae (Jewish ascetics in Egypt) described by Philo are the first Egyptian Christians and according to Eusebius

...Philo, when he wrote these things [about the Therapeutae], had in view the first heralds of the Gospel and the customs handed down from the beginning by the apostles...

i.e. the asceticism of the Therapeutae comes from following the original preaching of the Gospel in Egypt based on Mark.

Andrew Criddle