Could the Virgin Mary have been literate?

It’s more than plausible. Mary of Nazareth’s grandmother, Faustina, came from Mt. Carmel north of Jerusalem. This community was a stronghold of the Essenes, the peoples who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls.  In The Cairo Codex, Mary discusses women, writing, and equality with her son, Jesus:

…“Why the papyrus? For writing to family in Palestine?”

“Yes, my son. Family members are hungry for news from us. They ask about how you and your brother are growing up and what it is like to live in this land. They miss us. And your father misses his family.” I take a few clusters of garlic from my pocket to hand to the scribe. My son hesitates before asking the question I knew was pressing on his young mind.

“I have noticed that Rachel and Noha do not write. Can only some women write?”

“All women can write if they are taught how. Just as you were taught to read and write….”

“How did you learn to write, Mother?” my son says, balancing on the edge of the rock and folding his tunic between his tanned legs.

“It is unusual for women to learn to write. You observed well. I was fortunate. My grandmother taught me when I was but a girl. She thought it important for women to be able to do many of the same things men do. Grandmother considered inequality the source of all evil. I wish you could have known her.”

“What did she mean ‘inequality is the source of all evil’?” he puzzles. The tea arrives in two chipped, unmatched cups. I hand the boy a cluster of garlic. My son has an inquiring mind, much like I was as a child. “What do you think she might have meant?”

“I don’t know. To me, most people seem unequal; Noha is not like Rachel, Isaiah is not like Samir.”

“I see the same things. But Grandmother also talked of inequality between the rich and poor, men and women, the educated and uneducated, the old and the young, Jews and pagans, Romans and Israelites. These inequalities lead to misery, hatred and wars, which are evil. Her family came from Mt. Carmel and had many strong ideas about how life should be lived. Many of these ideas I carry with me.”

“But why did God make us unequal if He wanted us to be equal? I don’t understand.”

“I’m not so sure God made us so. Perhaps we did that to ourselves. It is we who choose to obey the powerful and deprive others of their rights. Perhaps God gave us these choices to test our compassion.”

Women, writing, and equality are elegantly interwoven. That is why we are compelled to educate young girls.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 23rd, 2013 at 4:47 pm and is filed under Education, Egypt, Family, Fiction, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.