Jesus' wife was Mary, according to a scrap of papyrus dated to the fourth century which has written on it in the ancient Coptic language, "Jesus said to them, my wife...," reigniting the debate as to whether he was married or not.
The papyrus was made public in Rome on Tuesday at the International Congress of Coptic Studies by Karen L. King, a a professor of divinity at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who has published several books about new Gospel discoveries. The writing in black ink is in the language of Egyptian Christians, on a fragment of about 1.5 by 3 inches which is smaller than the size of an average business card.
King said in a statement that the earliest claim that Jesus did not marry is from 200 A.D. Early Christians did not always agree on whether they should marry or be celibate.
The fragment does not prove that Jesus was married or that if he was that it was to Mary Magdalene, according to the draft paper.
"One of the things we do know is that very rarely in ancient literature was the marital status of men discussed," King said in a conference call with reporters. "Silence in marital status is normal."
In an interview, the Times writes, King "repeatedly cautioned that this fragment should not be taken as proof that Jesus, the historical person, was actually married. The text was probably written centuries after Jesus lived, and all other early, historically reliable Christian literature is silent on the question," she said.
"This fragment suggests that some early Christians had a tradition that Jesus was married," King told the Times. "There was, we already know, a controversy in the second century over whether Jesus was married, caught up with a debate about whether Christians should marry and have sex."