walking towards a large building with doors is also depicted. On the east wall, the feet and bottom garments of five women approach the structure. On the west wall three full women are each carrying a lit candle.3 Admittedly, there is no consensus on the identities of the women in the image, but Gertrud Schiller is convinced that the women are the virgins who guide Mary to the temple (Prot. Jas. 7:4).4 If these two proposals are correct, then the church house at Dura-Europos would appear to display artistically two dominant themes informed by this apocryphal text.
While the Protevangelium’s presence and impact on the Dura-Europos church house is debatable, there is no doubt regarding the Protevangelium’s influence on early Christian traditions, practices, and forms of piety associated with the Virgin Mary. Offering rich details from Mary’s miraculous conception by her mother Anna to her own conception and birth of Jesus, this narrative stands as the foundation for her prevailing depiction as extraordinarily pure and holy, but also for later apocryphal, hagiographical, and liturgical writings. Despite its early date, this document’s contributions to Marian piety and devotion cannot be overestimated.5 Surviving in at least 140 Greek manuscripts and translated into multiple languages including Syriac, Georgian, Latin, Armenian, Arabic, Coptic, Ethiopic, and Slavonic (see section on transmission below), the Protevangelium’s frequent copying attests to its popularity throughout the Christian world.6 Moreover, the text functions as a source for a variety of later writings on the life of Mary, including the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, the Nativity of Mary, the Armenian and Arabic Gospels of the Infancy, the History of Joseph the Carpenter, and Maximus the Confessor’s Life of the Virgin.7 From its use in liturgical readings for various feasts, including Mary’s Nativity, Conception, and Presentation, to its inspiration for numerous artistic representations found in church paintings, mosaics, and sarcophagi, the text enjoyed near canonical status despite its categorization as apocryphal.
As a narrative that features characters and events from the NT text but lacks a presence in the canon, the Protevangelium fits the criteria for extracanonical and apocryphal literature. However, other features attributed to works deemed apocryphal, including its rejection as a possible candidate into the NT canon, seem problematic not least because of its popularity and influence on early Christian practices, traditions, and beliefs. In his study of this categorization process, François Bovon proposed that church leaders, theologians, and ordinary Christians did not simply distinguish between canonical and apocryphal texts or accepted and rejected texts; rather, they were familiar with a third category of writing which were, according to Bovon, “useful for the soul.”8 Such writings functioned as the basis for religious life in the early church and were deeply cherished by the masses and even sometimes relied upon by orthodox leadership.9 Stephen Shoemaker has argued that Marian apocrypha is better understood not as failed scripture but as an accepted part of ecclesiastical tradition,10 and that the Protevangelium in particular should be more appropriately understood as “quasi-canonical” given its vast influence on Christian tradition.11
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
