Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

Why is Paul never mentioned in Mark, despite of so much paulinism in the gospel?

Being inspired by Salm's idea that Paul was modelled on Marcion, I am going to imagine a possible answer:

The entire point of eclipsing Marcion behind Paul is to place temporally a sanitized Marcion (== Paul) after the exploits of an invented historical Jesus.

So we have the following steps in chronological order :

• For Marcion, Jesus was a mythical being crucified by the demiurge.

• The historical Jesus was invented. The paulinism in Mark is really mitigated (=sanitized) marcionism. Note that Paul is not still invented.

• the memory of Marcion was eclipsed behind the invented figure of Paul.

• Some Gnostics (for example: the Valentinians) continued to follow Marcion by reading the epistles of Paul in their catholic version. This was interpreted by Catholics as the legend of Marcion who cries "SOLUS PAULUS!".

This thesis can be proved if we have evidence of the presence of Marcion in Mark, not as "Paul" (who has to be still invented), but as Marcion himself.

Is that evidence found?

In Mark 14:13, Marcion is indeed mentioned:


κ(ε)ράμιον is anagram of Μαρκίων.

The logical implication is that this "man carrying a jar of water" was known by Jesus even before the 12: who could have a such priority over the 12, if not Marcion himself?

He is probably masked as the "beloved disciple" mentioned in the Fourth Gospel. Both the figures are deliberately anonymous. Both are preferred by Jesus, in respectively GMark and GJohn, to the 12 disciples.

The Paraclete figure was already identified by Joseph Turmel as Marcion. However, Turmel didn't identify the man carrying the pitcher of Mark 14:12 with Marcion, despite of the evident function of "paraclete" held by the man carrying the pitcher.

Note that in 1 Samuel 10:3 "wine" is mentioned, not "water":


The reason is polemical: the Marcionite Eucharist was only based on water, not on wine.

So, by having Marcion (carrying water) conceding the room of his house to allow the Last Supper based on wine, "Mark" (author) is saying us that catholicism wins over marcionism.

Giuseppe wrote: ↑Sun Feb 13, 2022 4:17 am
In Mark 14:13, Marcion is indeed mentioned:

So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him,

κ(ε)ράμιον is anagram of Μαρκίων.

This has already been figured by H. Raschke.

The idea is not original of Raschke, however, but of Robert Stahl.

Great work Giuseppe. Any meaning to the nominal similarities between Μαρκίων & Μᾶρκος?

Giuseppe wrote: ↑Sun Feb 13, 2022 4:17 am
κ(ε)ράμιον is anagram of Μαρκίων.

They don't appear to be anagrams.

lsayre wrote: ↑Tue Feb 15, 2022 3:41 am

Giuseppe wrote: ↑Sun Feb 13, 2022 4:17 am
κ(ε)ράμιον is anagram of Μαρκίων.

They don't appear to be anagrams.

Indeed. κ(ε)ράμιον lacks an "ω".

Jagd wrote: ↑Mon Feb 14, 2022 10:00 pm Great work Giuseppe. Any meaning to the nominal similarities between Μαρκίων & Μᾶρκος?

Mark is called in Acts "John Mark".
If he is our Mark, then he, as "John", figures already as the anonymous Beloved Disciple of the Fourth Gospel, since both the two "Johns" have a Mary with them:


(Acts 12:12)


(John 19:26-27)

Hence this makes not coincidentially my point: the anonymous figure who allows the Last Supper in his home was precisely Marcion, the Beloved Disciple of Jesus.

The identification has been obscured by the fact that Marcion rejected Mary as mother of Jesus. But afterall, proto-John denies that Mary is the true mother of Jesus:

As the scene breaks the necessary immediacy between Jesus' embalming (following the prescriptions of Tobit) for the impending death and the eschatological words on the cup, Marcionites would be responsible for this interruption.