Dan Brown - The Da Vinci Code

«Her role?»

«As I mentioned,» Teabing clarified,» the early Church needed to convince the world that the mortal prophet Jesus was a divine being. Therefore, any gospels that described earthly aspects of Jesus’ life had to be omitted from the Bible. Unfortunately for the early editors, one particularly troubling earthly theme kept recurring in the gospels. Mary Magdalene.» He paused. «More specifically, her marriage to Jesus Christ.»

«I beg your pardon?» Sophie’s eyes moved to Langdon and then back to Teabing.

«It’s a matter of historical record,» Teabing said,» and Da Vinci was certainly aware of that fact. The Last Supper practically shouts at the viewer that Jesus and Magdalene were a pair.» Sophie glanced back to the fresco.

«Notice that Jesus and Magdalene are clothed as mirror images of one another.» Teabing pointed to the two individuals in the center of the fresco.

Sophie was mesmerized. Sure enough, their clothes were inverse colors. Jesus wore a red robe and blue cloak; Mary Magdalene wore a blue robe and red cloak. Yin and yang.

«Venturing into the more bizarre,» Teabing said,» note that Jesus and His bride appear to be joined at the hip and are leaning away from one another as if to create this clearly delineated negative space between them.»

Even before Teabing traced the contour for her, Sophie saw it – the indisputable V shape at the focal point of the painting. It was the same symbol Langdon had drawn earlier for the Grail, the chalice, and the female womb.

«Finally,» Teabing said,» if you view Jesus and Magdalene as compositional elements rather than as people, you will see another obvious shape leap out at you.» He paused. «A letter of the alphabet.»

Sophie saw it at once. To say the letter leapt out at her was an understatement. The letter was suddenly all Sophie could see. Glaring in the center of the painting was the unquestionable outline of an enormous, flawlessly formed letter M.

«A bit too perfect for coincidence, wouldn’t you say?» Teabing asked. Sophie was amazed. «Why is it there?» Teabing shrugged. «Conspiracy theorists will tell you it stands for Matrimonio or Mary Magdalene. To be honest, nobody is certain. The only certainty is that the hidden M is no mistake. Countless Grail-related works contain the hidden letter M – whether as watermarks, underpaintings, or compositional allusions. The most blatant M, of course, is emblazoned on the altar at Our Lady of Paris in London, which was designed by a former Grand Master of the Priory of Sion, Jean Cocteau.»

Sophie weighed the information. «I’ll admit, the hidden M’s are intriguing, although I assume nobody is claiming they are proof of Jesus’ marriage to Magdalene.»

«No, no,» Teabing said, going to a nearby table of books. «As I said earlier, the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is part of the historical record.» He began pawing through his book collection. «Moreover, Jesus as a married man makes infinitely more sense than our standard biblical view of Jesus as a bachelor.»

«Why?» Sophie asked.

«Because Jesus was a Jew,» Langdon said, taking over while Teabing searched for his book,» and the social decorum during that time virtually forbid a Jewish man to be unmarried. According to Jewish custom, celibacy was condemned, and the obligation for a Jewish father was to find a suitable wife for his son. If Jesus were not married, at least one of the Bible’s gospels would have mentioned it and offered some explanation for His unnatural state of bachelorhood.»

Teabing located a huge book and pulled it toward him across the table. The leather-bound edition was poster-sized, like a huge atlas. The cover read: The Gnostic Gospels. Teabing heaved it open, and Langdon and Sophie joined him. Sophie could see it contained photographs of what appeared to be magnified passages of ancient documents – tattered papyrus with handwritten text. She did not recognize the ancient language, but the facing pages bore typed translations.

«These are photocopies of the Nag Hammadi and Dead Sea scrolls, which I mentioned earlier,» Teabing said. «The earliest Christian records. Troublingly, they do not match up with the gospels in the Bible.» Flipping toward the middle of the book, Teabing pointed to a passage. «The Gospel of Philip is always a good place to start.» Sophie read the passage:

And the companion of the Saviour is Mary Magdalene. Christ loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often on her mouth. The rest of the disciples were offended by it and expressed disapproval. They said to him,» Why do you love her more than all of us?»

The words surprised Sophie, and yet they hardly seemed conclusive. «It says nothing of marriage.»

« Au contraire. » Teabing smiled, pointing to the first line. «As any Aramaic scholar will tell you, the word companion , in those days, literally meant spouse. »

Langdon concurred with a nod.

Sophie read the first line again. And the companion of the Saviour is Mary Magdalene.

Teabing flipped through the book and pointed out several other passages that, to Sophie’s surprise, clearly suggested Magdalene and Jesus had a romantic relationship. As she read the passages, Sophie recalled an angry priest who had banged on her grandfather’s door when she was a schoolgirl.

«Is this the home of Jacques Saunière?» the priest had demanded, glaring down at young Sophie when she pulled open the door. «I want to talk to him about this editorial he wrote.» The priest held up a newspaper.

Sophie summoned her grandfather, and the two men disappeared into his study and closed the door. My grandfather wrote something in the paper? Sophie immediately ran to the kitchen and flipped through that morning’s paper. She found her grandfather’s name on an article on the second page. She read it. Sophie didn’t understand all of what was said, but it sounded like the French government, under pressure from priests, had agreed to ban an American movie called The Last Temptation of Christ , which was about Jesus having sex with a lady called Mary Magdalene. Her grandfather’s article said the Church was arrogant and wrong to ban it.

No wonder the priest is mad, Sophie thought.

«It’s pornography! Sacrilege!» the priest yelled, emerging from the study and storming to the front door. «How can you possibly endorse that! This American Martin Scorsese is a blasphemer, and the Church will permit him no pulpit in France!» The priest slammed the door on his way out.

When her grandfather came into the kitchen, he saw Sophie with the paper and frowned. «You’re quick.» Sophie said,» You think Jesus Christ had a girlfriend?»

«No, dear, I said the Church should not be allowed to tell us what notions we can and can’t entertain.»

«Did Jesus have a girlfriend?»

Her grandfather was silent for several moments. «Would it be so bad if He did?» Sophie considered it and then shrugged. «I wouldn’t mind.»

Sir Leigh Teabing was still talking. «I shan’t bore you with the countless references to Jesus and Magdalene’s union. That has been explored ad nauseum by modern historians. I would, however, like to point out the following.» He motioned to another passage. «This is from the Gospel of Mary Magdalene.»

Sophie had not known a gospel existed in Magdalene’s words. She read the text:

And Peter said,» Did the Saviour really speak with a woman without our knowledge? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?»

And Levi answered,» Peter, you have always been hot-tempered. Now I see you contending against the woman like an adversary. If the Saviour made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Saviour knows her very well. That is why he loved her more than us.»