As a highly influential text about the most prominent woman in Christian history, the Protevangelium’s traditions were widely disseminated in later popular literature such as the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and its derivative, the Nativity of Mary, each of which are witnessed in at least a hundred manuscripts. Instead of being perceived as a rejected scripture, it was received with some authority for helping understand questions about how Mary was conceived, what she was like as a child, and why she was chosen to give birth to the son of God; in addition, the text provides understanding of her role in salvation history and how and why she should be venerated.
Summary
Since Mary stands as the unequivocal center of the Protevangelium, the narrative’s contents are marked by the various stages in her life and are shaped by a deep desire to understand her for her own sake, particularly why and how she came to be praised for holding the paradoxical role of Virgin Mother. The text is dependent upon and clearly reworks elements of the canonical gospels of Matthew and Luke, but Jesus’ nativity scene, which commences during the last quarter of the narrative, comprises only a fraction of the text. The narrative focuses squarely and deliberately on Mary’s character and her role and contributions to Christian history. The following summary serves not only to describe the basic plot of the narrative, but also to point out several comparisons to its canonical sources as well as to other literary influences on the text.
Mary’s Pre-Story and Conception
The Protevangelium opens with information about Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anna, the circumstances of Mary’s birth, as well as the community in which they lived—precisely the information lacking in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Reminiscent of great biblical couples (e.g., Sarah and Abraham; Elizabeth and Zechariah), we discover that despite their good standing in the community and their wealth (Prot. Jas. 1:1), Joachim and Anna suffer from infertility. The initial scene is set at the Jerusalem temple wherein Joachim’s double offering of sacrifice is rejected because of his childlessness (1:5). After confirming in the “Book of the Twelve Tribes of Israel” that he alone stands childless, Joachim runs off into the wilderness, fasting forty days and forty nights, to lament and wait for an explanation from God for his situation (1:6–7).
Aware that childbearing is a blessing awarded to the righteous by God (Gen 3:14), Anna too responds by wailing not only because of her barren state but also because she believes she is now a widow given Joachim’s disappearance (2:1). Anna’s cries elicit a rebuke from her slave girl that sends Anna into the garden to offer a poignant lament over how she alone is fruitless in such a fruitful world: “because even the [birds, beasts, animals, waters, earth] reproduce before you, O Lord” (3:1–8). Anna’s pain and embarrassment ceases, however, upon the arrival of an angel of the Lord who informs her that she will indeed conceive and that her child will be “spoken of throughout the whole world” (4:1). Anna immediately dedicates her child to life-long service to the Lord (4:2), confirming that her childlessness was the result of unlucky circumstances rather than a deficiency of righteousness.
Joachim also is the recipient of an angelic visit when he is informed of his wife’s new status (4:4), prompting him first to gather his flocks for a sacrificial offering (4:5–7), and only secondarily to return home to celebrate with his wife (4:8). Joachim’s righteousness is separately confirmed upon presenting his gifts at the temple and finding “no sin” indicated on the prophetic leafed headdress worn by the priest (5:2). Straightaway, the Protevangelium establishes Joachim and Anna as righteous and pious people fit to parent the child who would be the mother of the son of God.
Mary’s Birth, Infancy, and Stay at the Jerusalem Temple
In due time, Anna gives birth to her miraculous child and makes clear she is honored by her daughter, whom she names Mary (5:5–8). As expected of the “miraculous child being born to a once barren mother” motif, Mary’s life is immediately marked as exceptional—particularly with respect to her purity, but also by her agility and physical growth. In addition to waiting the prescribed days before nursing Mary (5:9), Anna is said to have transformed Mary’s bedroom into a sanctuary so that no “profane or unclean” person or thing can make contact with her daughter; Mary’s only companions are the “undefiled daughters of the Hebrews” (6:4–5). After Mary amazingly walks seven steps at the age of six months, Anna swoops her up, vowing her feet will not touch the ground again until she is taken up to the temple (6:1–5). Contact with the outside world takes place during a magnificent banquet in honor of Mary’s first birthday (6:6). At the celebration, Mary is given a double blessing (first by the temple priests and second by the high priests), the first of which is followed by an “amen” from all the people, reinforcing universally the blessed status and role of Mary (6:7–9). After the banquet, Anna sings another prayer, but this time the tone is joyful, thankful, and full of hope (6:11–13). When Mary reaches the age of two, Anna and Joachim discuss their vow to send Mary to the temple, but ultimately decide to wait one more year (7:1). The year passes and then the undefiled daughters of the Hebrews are summoned to help Mary with the move from her parent’s house to God’s house (7:4–5). Anna’s and Joachim’s fear that Mary will have a difficult transition are alleviated upon seeing her dance at the altar, receiving love and blessings from the priests and the whole house of Israel (7:9–10). Mary spends her childhood at the sacred Jerusalem temple, nurtured like a dove and fed by a heavenly angel (8:2).
Mary’s Adolescent Years: From Girlhood to Womanhood
After a nine-year time lapse, Mary’s approaching twelfth birthday sets the scene for the second part of the narrative. However, unlike the banquet celebration of her first birthday, this anniversary is marked by the fear of the priests that Mary’s transition from childhood to womanhood might “defile the temple of the Lord our God” (8:4). Concerned for both the sanctity of the temple and Mary’s well-being, the priests have Zechariah, the high priest, pray for guidance (8:5). Zechariah’s prayer is answered when an angel of the Lord appears and instructs him to gather all the widowers in town to determine by lot who should be chosen to guard Mary (8:7–9). Leaving Mary’s fate to God, the priest pays heed to the instructions, facilitating the arrival of Joseph on the scene, who is depicted differently and more fully than the canonical Gospels—he is old and already a father of sons (9:8). Reminiscent of Num 17:1–9 where Aaron’s staff buds to signal the selection of the proper priestly line, Joseph is chosen by God’s will when a dove springs from his rod and then lands on his head (9:5–6). Though resistant to the selection at first, Joseph is warned of the consequences when God’s intentions are disregarded and takes Mary (now described as the Virgin of the Lord) home under his guardianship (9:11–12).
The Annunciation and Mary as the Lord’s Virgin
Immediately after returning home, Joseph departs to build houses, leaving Mary under the watch of the Lord alone (9:12); Mary is soon summoned back to the temple to help weave the temple curtain. Reinforcing Mary’s royal lineage, the high priest remembers to include her among the other virgins found from the tribe of David to spin (10:1–6). By lot, Mary is given the scarlet and pure purple threads (10:7), symbolic of virtuousness and royalty, respectively. While working on her part of the curtain, one day Mary ventures out to a public space to draw some water (from a well or a spring)—a drastic contrast to the previous depiction of her private and enclosed childhood bedroom chambers and her stay at the temple. Only in this outdoor space is Mary first called upon by a bodiless voice that offers her greetings and blessings. Unable to locate the voice’s source, Mary returns to her house frightened (11:1–4). Perhaps to distract herself, Mary returns to her spinning only to be physically approached by an angel of the Lord who tells her not to fear because she is favored by the Lord and has been chosen to “conceive from his Word” (11:5). As in the Annunciation scene in Luke, but in a more creative manner and with additional details, Mary converses with the angel over how this conception will transpire given her status as a virgin. After the angel explains that she will not give birth like other women and that the power of God will overshadow her, she is instructed to name her child Jesus because “he will save his people from their sins” (11:7).
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