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Abstract
The reliance of the apocryphal Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew on the Rule of Benedict has been long acknowledged. The most significant scene to demonstrate intertextuality between the Rule of Benedict and Pseudo-Matthew is chapter 6, which depicts Mary's ascetic life in a community of virgins. This scene adds much that is not in the main source, the Greek Protevangelium of James, based on the Benedictine life of work and prayer. Recent work on the sources of the apocryphal gospel, however, gives rise to questions about the sources involved in Pseudo-Matthew, especially opening up the possibility that the author of the apocryphon looked to multiple texts for various expansions. This article suggests that the author also relied on the Rule of the Master. Thus, the case of the Rule of the Master, Rule of Benedict, and Pseudo-Matthew is one of complex intertextuality with implications for how the text relates to monasticism.