Mary Magdalene

Is Mary Magdalene the woman who anointed Jesus?

Genuine disagreement

Common ground. All traditions hold that Mary Magdalene was delivered of seven demons, followed Jesus to the cross when most had fled, and was the first witness of the resurrection. Nothing in scripture describes her as a prostitute.

A Western tradition running from Gregory the Great identified her with the sinful woman of Luke 7 and with Mary of Bethany. The East never made that identification, and the Roman calendar separated them again in 1969.

Roman Catholic

The identification was made in the West from Gregory the Great and shaped Western art and devotion for centuries. The 1969 revision of the calendar separated the three figures again, and she is now honoured as the first witness of the resurrection. Gregory the Great, Homily 33

Eastern Orthodox

Never identified with the sinful woman of Luke 7 or with Mary of Bethany. She is honoured as Myrrh-bearer and Equal to the Apostles.

Anglican

No required position; modern usage follows the distinction.

Reformed / Presbyterian

The figures are read as distinct; the conflation is treated as a later accretion.

Traditions not listed have no position recorded here. That is a gap in what we have written down, not a statement that they are silent.