Greek Monks Who Thought the Letter to Theodore was in the Mar Saba Monastery Before Morton Smith Arrives

[StephenGoranson]

Morton Smith:
"....The thing just couldn't be true; it was too important! Why had nobody else ever mentioned the secret Gospel of Mark, if there was one? And why did it have to be my luck to walk into this trap? I couldn't suppress it; I'd already told Scholem...."

[Secret Alias]

"Nobody else ever mentioned."

All the conversations at this forum are never considered part of the memorialized "timeline" of discussions of the manuscript in a bibliography. Smith isn't talking about people in the monastery. He's talking about recorded conversations in scholarly literature. We all do this. Quesnell didn't record his conversations with Kallistos Dourvas or his experiences either. The omission might even been on purpose (i.e. because if he wrote down his experiences they become "mentioned"). "Mentioned" here means, mentioned in scholarly literature which used to matter. It was the only "mentioning" that mattered.

[Secret Alias]

Officially. These are the only conversations that have ever took place with regards to Secret Mark https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christ ... l-of-mark/ None of our discussions are memorialized here or at the other forum. I think our forum is of more value than this https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christ ... l-of-mark/ I think Quesnell's notes from 1983 matter more than this https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christ ... l-of-mark/ Scholars are snobby elitists who discount non-scholarly experiences. Just the way it is.

[StephenGoranson]

Smith by writing "nobody" includes everybody. For example, Seraphim.
Smith wrote that he told Scholem about "it." The antecedent of "it" is "the Secret Gospel of Mark."

[Secret Alias]

No. It wouldn't have included Seraphim. Seraphim wasn't an academic so those conversations and Smith's Greek didn't allow him much depth. Will you admit that the things I write and research on the subject of Secret Mark are of more value and interest than these 800+ articles https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christ ... l-of-mark/ Probably not. But I think it's true. This https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christ ... l-of-mark/ isn't as relevant as it once was. I preserved Quesnell's experience. I memorialized this unmemorialized experience plus much much more. You have to start thinking out of the box more. We distinguish between "all the things we did" and "all the things we told people we did." Smith wouldn't have referenced a conversation in broken Greek or a high five.

[Secret Alias]

Smith wrote that he told Scholem about "it." The antecedent of "it" is "the Secret Gospel of Mark."

Right and I am talking about the Letter. That's my point. The certificate doesn't mention Secret Mark. I don't understand why Andrew goes off on this rabbit hole about "all the contents of the Letter to Theodore." I win the Powerball jackpot. I shout hurray without knowing exactly how much money I won. Smith told his girlfriend and her daughter about the discovery over dinner in 1958 in New York. I don't understand what this obsession with Secret Mark is when the certificate only mentions a letter of Clement. He might have been on the plane back to New York telling everyone next to him "I discovered a letter of Clement." This is crazy to pretend academic conversation were the only interactions Morton Smith had.

[Secret Alias]

This has been the dumbest conversation ever about this letter. THE DUMBEST.

I remember we all went to dinner after he came back from Mar Saba. He was very excited about his discovery. He went on forever about how he came across this letter of the Church Father Clement. Yet at the same time he couldn't stop complaining about the monastery. He was very sick. He never got any sleep. The monks were singing all the time. It drove him crazy. He swore he would never go back."

"He talked about how bad the food was and we all kept eating. It was quite funny in a way. Mentioning soup with the octopus at the monastery and then we were in New York having a wonderful meal at a wonderful restaurant with great service."

"The bad news for my mother was that once Smith came back with this big discovery that became the focus of his whole life. He was consulting with this professor and that. My mother and he just drifted apart. Maybe it was too soon after my father died. I don't know. I think there was some real compatibility between her and Smith. My father wasn't Jewish. He was Episcopalian so marriage wouldn't have been an issue. If he hadn't have found the manuscript, who knows."

The idea that Smith didn't talk about the letter outside of recorded academic discussions. The dumbest thing ever said about Morton Smith and the letter.

[StephenGoranson]

Smith's writing, in this case, is clear. Smith told Scholem about "the secret Gospel of Mark."

[Secret Alias]

[StephenGoranson]

According to Smith, he told Scholem about "the secret Gospel of Mark" before he left Israel in 1958.
That may be significant for more than one reason:
a) Smith already knew then about "the secret Gospel of Mark" claim.
b) Scholem is the first person Smith tells us he told about "the secret Gospel of Mark."