The Story That Connects Secret Mark to Ancient Egypt

From certain copies of John Moschus's Spiritual Meadow (depicting events from around 540 CE): 

We came to Abba Stephen the Cappadocian, on Mount Sinai, and he related to us, saying: “When I was in Raithou five years ago, on Holy and Great Thursday, I was in the church, and while the Eucharistic offering was being performed and all the fathers were standing there, behold, I saw two certain anchorites entering the church. They were naked. And no one else among the fathers perceived that they were naked, except I alone. So when they had partaken of the Lord’s body and blood of Christ our God, they went out from the fortress; and I went out together with them. When we had gone out, I made a prostration before them, saying: ‘Do me the favor (literally do me the act of love"): take me with you.’ But they understood that I had seen them naked, and they said to me: ‘You are sitting well; remain quiet.’ Again I made a prostration before them, so that they might take me. Then they said to me: ‘You cannot be with us. Stay where you are; you are sitting well.’ And after they had made a prayer for me, in front of me, walking on foot upon the waters of the Red Sea, they departed to the other side of the sea.”

Παρεβάλομεν πρὸς τὸν ἀββᾶν Στέφανον τὸν Καππαδόκην, εἰς τὸ Σινᾶ ὄρος, καὶ διηγήσατο ἡμῖν λέγων ὅτι ὢν ἐγὼ ἐν Ῥαϊθοῦ πρὸ τούτων τῶν πέντε ἐτῶν, ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ καὶ μεγάλῃ πέμπτῃ ἤμην ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, καὶ τῆς ἀναφορᾶς ἐπιτελουμένης καὶ πάντων τῶν πατέρων ἱσταμένων, ἰδοὺ θεωρῶ δύο τινὰς ἀναχωρητὰς εἰσελθόντας ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, ἦσαν δὲ γυμνοί. Καὶ οὐδεὶς ἄλλος τῶν πατέρων ἐθεώρησεν ὅτι γυμνοί εἰσιν, εἰ μὴ ἐγὼ μόνος. Ὡς οὖν μετέλαβον τοῦ δεσποτικοῦ σώματος καὶ αἵματος Χριστοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν, ἐξῆλθον ἐκ τοῦ κάστρου· ἐγὼ δὲ συνεξῆλθον αὐτοῖς. Ὅταν οὖν ἐξήλθομεν, βάλλω αὐτοῖς μετάνοιαν λέγων· Ποιήσατε ἀγάπην, λάβετέ με μεθ’ ὑμῶν. Αὐτοὶ δὲ ἔγνωσαν ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐθεώρουν αὐτοὺς γυμνοὺς, λέγουσί μοι καὶ αὐτοί· καλῶς κάθῃ, ἡσύχασον. Πάλιν ἐγὼ ἔβαλον αὐτοῖς μετάνοιαν, ἵνα λάβωσί με· τότε εἶπόν μοι· Οὐ δύνασαι μεθ’ ἡμῶν, κάθου, καλῶς κάθῃ. Καὶ ποιήσαντές μοι εὐχήν, ἔμπροσθέν μου ἐπάνω τῶν ὑδάτων τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς θαλάσσης πεζεύσαντες ἀπῆλθον εἰς τὸ πέραν τῆς θαλάσσης. (= Mark 5:1) Mark 5:1: καὶ ἦλθον εἰς τὸ πέραν τῆς θαλάσσης — “and they came to the other side of the sea.” Secret Mark: Ἐκεῖθεν δὲ ἀναστὰς ἐπέστρεψεν εἰς τὸ πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου. 

This narrative is found first in the Greek monastic literature of the 6th–7th century. In John Moschus’s Pratum Spirituale (Λειμώνάριον, “Spiritual Meadow”, BHG 1441–42) it appears as chapter 122. The chapter title in Greek reads roughly “Concerning two monks who went naked into church to make their communion, and were not seen by anybody except Abba Stephan” . (Moschus’s Pratum is a collection of ascetic anecdotes composed c. 600 AD.) Modern editions group this under Anastasius’s narratives, but the story as such is Moschus’s (John Wortley’s English translation of the Pratum also includes it). In the manuscripts it runs e.g. “Παρεβάλομεν πρὸς τὸν ἀββᾶν Στέφανον… εἰδὼς θεωρῶ δύο τινὰς ἀναχωρητὰς εἰσελθόντας ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, ἦσαν δὲ γυμνοί” (as edited by Pattenden). Key Greek witnesses belong to the φ and μ families of the Pratum. For example, Florence Laurenziana Plutei X.3 (12th c., φ-group) and Venice Marcianus Gr. II.21 (10th c., μ-group) both contain chap. 122 . (Pattenden 1975 analyzes these families in JTS 26.) Greek sources: The story is chapter 122 of Moschus’s Pratum . It is explicitly printed in Du Duc’s 1624 edition (Fronto Ducaeus, Acta SS.) and in Cotelier’s 1681 Spiritualia with parallel Latin. Migne’s PG vol. 87 reprints the Greek (cols. 2852–3112) and Latin (questio CXXII, cols. 2983–2986) . (In PG 87 the Latin stands under “Questio CXXII”.) The Greek version is also quoted by Anastasius of Sinai in his Narrations (see F. Nau 1902) and by later collections – e.g. Pitra’s Anastasiana lists it as item no.39 of the Cypriot Anastasius’s tales. Latin traditions: A Latin translation appears in the Patrologia Graeca: Migne reprints it under “Questio CXXII” (cols. 2983–2986) . (Fronton du Duc and Cotelier both published Latin versions.) Ambrogio Traversari made a Latin version of Moschus in the 15th c., printed by Rosweyde (1615, Vitae Patrum) as PL 74, cols. 119–240; this too contains chap. 122 in Latin (Vitae Patrum index). The online vitae-patrum.org site reproduces a Latin/English translation of the Pratum. Manuscript witnesses: In addition to Laurenziana X.3 and Marcianus 163 (see above), the story is found in many medieval manuscripts of the Pratum. Pattenden notes that over 100 mss. contain this text . Key witnesses include Paris Gr. 1596 (mixed collection, π-group), Vatican gr. 738 (used by Fronto Ducaeus), and others. Modern catalogs (e.g. the Dumbarton Oaks database) list “Moschus, Spiritual Meadow, Anastasius narratives” with Greek and Latin mss. The Patriarchal Library of Jerusalem has MS 113 (17th c.) containing this story. Modern editions and studies: The Greek text was edited by F. Nau (“Le texte grec des récits du moine Anastase…”, Oriens Christianus 2 [1902] 58–89) , and an English translation by John Wortley appears in Cistercian Studies 139 (1992). R. Pattenden collated the mss. (“The text of the Pratum”, JTS 26 [1975]). Derek Krueger (2011) analyzes the tale (“Between Monks…”, J. History of Sexuality 20(1):28–61), summarizing it as “They were naked, yet none of the other fathers perceived that they were naked except me.” Krueger and others note the motif of naked communion and miraculous crossing of the Red Sea. Summary of variants: In short, the only known versions are those deriving from John Moschus’s account. It is preserved in the Greek Pratum (chap. 122) and its Latin translations; no independent analog in other Patristic works is known. All attestations – Greek manuscripts (φ/μ families), Migne’s PG, Pitra’s catalog entry, and modern studies – stem from that source. Sources: John Moschos, Pratum Spirituale (chap. 122) ; G. H. B. Pattenden, Journal Theol. Studies 1975; F. Nau, Oriens Christianus 1902 ; Migne PG 87; D. Krueger 2011 . (See also Roger Pearse’s summary of the Pratum manuscripts .)