The First Witness of Jesus’ Resurrection in the New Testament
The New Testament records that Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus’ important followers, and all four Gospels record her as among the first to see Jesus after his resurrection, so that Christian tradition often calls her the "apostle to the apostles." Historically she was long conflated by Western church tradition (not the biblical text) with a repentant sinful woman, a claim now widely held by modern scholars to lack scriptural basis, and which the Catholic Church formally distinguished and clarified in its 1969 liturgical reform.
The New Testament records that after the Sabbath, Mary Magdalene went early to Jesus’ tomb and found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. At first she wept, thinking the body had been taken, until the risen Jesus appeared to her and called her name; recognizing him, she ran to tell the other disciples, "I have seen the Lord."
Western church tradition long conflated Mary Magdalene with a repentant sinful woman, a claim with no basis in the biblical text, now broadly held by modern scholars to be a medieval attribution; the Catholic Church formally distinguished and clarified this in its 1969 liturgical reform, and this site follows the clarified account.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.
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