What Happened to Mary?: Women Named Mary in the Meadow of John Moschus

The various Marys of the New Testament lived on in early and medieval Christian traditions. Apocryphal texts portray Mary of Magdala as a teacher of the disciples or investigate the early years of Mary, Mother of God. New Marys also emerge, such as Mary of Egypt, to this day a popular saint in eastern orthodox Christianity. There are other stories that portray Marys and provide entertainment with a moral teaching. In this article, I discuss several Marys who appear in John Moschus’s Meadow, a collection of monastic stories originating from the late sixth to the early seventh century. These figures