Is St Mary of Egypt so different from us? Why is this great saint is so important?  Why she has attracted such attention and devotion in both the east and west?  Her story is well known. She is a great example of repentance, a woman who had led an immoral life but found favour with God. Certainly she is an extreme case. She sinned greatly and then lived a rigorous life not expected of many. Her story shows that there is nothing that God cannot forgive.  However, if we set her aside as being different from us we fall into judging another human being. It ought to be a case of: “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7). We are all sinners: “For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.”  (Romans 3:23). 

We cannot set her apart as being worse than ourselves. She has a lot to teach us. The Life of St Mary includes a section about St Zosimas. “(He) began to be tormented with the thought that he was perfect in everything and needed no instruction from anyone, saying to himself mentally, ‘Is there a monk on earth who can be of use to me and show me a kind of asceticism that I have not accomplished? Is there a man to be found in the desert who has surpassed me?’” (Life of St Mary of Egypt by St. Sophronius Patriarch of Jerusalem). St Zosimas was led to meet St Mary. If a holy monastic, who had been in the monastery since childhood, can learn from her then so can we.

St Paul wrote: “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14). For everyone, Christ either comes first or He does not. For those of us who are English this is especially hard; we like moderation.

Children Discussion

What would you do for God?

She might have seemed a mad old woman. Is that how we see her?

Three loaves lasted her a few years. She endured on very little food.

It can be very hot in the desert and cold at night. She managed with no clothes when they fell to pieces.

Do we see madness or holiness in her?

Heroic virtue.

St Mary of Egypt had travelled to Jerusalem to see the elevation of the True Cross. Some force stopped her entering the church. She then stood in front of an icon of the Mother of God, confessed her sins, and asked that the Theotokos allow her admission.  She promised that when she had venerated the cross: “I will renounce the world and its temptations and will go wherever you will lead me.” (Life of St Mary of Egypt).  She was then able to enter the building. St Mary’s prayer of repentance hid nothing; it was like the prayer of the Publican, who we heard of a few weeks ago as we prepared for Great Lent. She did not give into self-justification and therefore was heard by God. Real repentance is honest.

Having venerated the Cross she prayed again before the icon. In her words: “‘O loving Lady, you have shown me your great love for all men. Glory to God Who receives the repentance of sinners through you. What more can I recollect or say, I who am so sinful? It is time for me, O Lady to fulfil my vow, according to your witness. Now lead me by the hand along the path of repentance!’ And at these words I heard a voice from on high: ‘If you cross the Jordan you will find glorious rest.’”  (Life of St Mary of Egypt). She started out immediately, carrying out her vow. She was given some money, which she spent on bread. She received absolution and Holy Communion. Then she went into the desert.

St Mary spent seventeen years subject to temptations. She was tormented by memories of sins, of wine and of food. Repentance is often followed by a temptation to regret giving up certain things, or to back slide. She resisted those temptations even in dire hardship. Things given up for Christ are worldly and temporary. They are nothing compared to the glorious blessings we receive in following Him. 

St Mary said that following temptations: “I used to see light at last which seemed to shine on me from everywhere. And after the violent storm, lasting calm descended.” (Life of St Mary of Egypt). Throughout she had the help of the Mother of God: “Always I turned to the eyes of my mind to my Protector, asking her to extend help to one who was sinking fast in the waves of the desert. And I always had her as my Helper and the Accepter of my repentance. And thus I lived for seventeen years amid constant dangers. And since then even till now the Mother of God helps me in everything and leads me as it were by the hand.” No Christian is therefore ever truly alone. We have the saints and angels to help and protect us if we ask. 

Being in the desert was her calling and for her situation.  The seventeen years of great trial mirrors the seventeen years she spent in Alexandria in a life of sin. It is not helpful to speculate as to why she needed so long to repent.  Treatments for diseases vary and God, usually acting through a spiritual parent, treats each person differently. We are all unique. 

After the trials, St Mary spent another thirty years living in the desert before she met St Zosimas.  She had achieved theosis, union with God. She prayed elevated from the ground and walked across the River Jordan. She was also to assist the monastery by her insights as God worked through her. We read that: “Abbot John, as St. Mary had previously told Abba Zosimas, found a number of things wrong in the monastery and got rid of them with God’s help.” (Life of St Mary of Egypt). St Mary also had great humility, regarding herself as still a sinner. In this she is like St Sisoes, who, on his death bed, said: “I do not think that I have even begun to repent”.

What we are asked to do for Christ varies from person to person. What matters is our response. Whatever our situation we need to be patient, to endure, to trust Christ and to let Him deal with us as He sees fit. Growing nearer to Christ is a life-time’s work. St Mary did what she had vowed to do and so was blessed.  If we are not tested to such an extent let us be thankful that we are spared. We should, however, follow her example in dealing with temptations honestly and in rejecting sin.

I return to the question that I asked at the start. Is St Mary that different from us? If so it is in her holiness, her giving up everything for God and her not being half-hearted. Those are the reasons that we venerate her. We may not be expected to live naked in the desert but we are all called to put Christ first and be prepared to grow in holiness, whatever our circumstances. St Mary was prepared to follow Christ, in the company of the saints, wherever that took her. May we have the grace to do the same.

Holy Mary of Egypt, pray to God for us.