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Gospel of Mary · 1 of 6
P.Oxy.5577: A Possibly Related Fragment
[Editorial note: This fragment may belong to the Gospel of Mary, but the identification is disputed. It is presented here for comparison, not as the established beginning of the gospel. One proposal places it within Mary’s lost account of her vision. Brackets mark missing or restored wording; the identification of John is a restoration.]
1.“[…] will fall onto the earth.”
2.[John] said: “I bathe you [with water], but a man will come, and he will bathe you with fire and spirit.
3.This is why I say to you, Mary: Seek to co[mmingle] water and fire, and you will cease ap[pearing] as a fleshly image.
4.Instead, (you will appear) as an image of the indestructible ete[rnal] light, [uni]ting together [for y]ou, Mary, the things of noetic [spirits] from two interm[ixed] and dissolved eleme[nts] […].”
[A separate surviving portion of the fragment follows.]
5.“[…] good Father to the […] the singular and indestructible form.
6.This is why I say, Mary: I was revealed as a mind-constructor in flesh, filled with the mind of the indestructible Father, awakening with my goodness the concealed life of the Father […] and […] form and […].”
Asked of Guide
Why does John tell Mary to 'commingle water and fire'—what will that do for her?
John tells Mary to “commingle water and fire” because baptism with water is provisional; the coming one will bathe with “fire and spirit,” and joining those elements shifts her identity from a “fleshly image” to “an image of the indestructible eternal light.” The chapter stages baptism as a transformative craft: mixing two elements dissolves the old, sensible self so noetic spirits can unite within her.
John also frames himself as a revealing agent who awakens the concealed life of the Father by filling the flesh with divine mind, which supports the call to transformation. This echoes themes in the Gospel of Thomas about inner knowledge as rebirth and in the Gospel of Philip about sacramental union of opposites.
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