By DEB PIROCH
There are so many “Marys” in the two millennia of the Church’s history that hearing her name might not trigger an immediate reaction. Yet she is an ancient ascetic dating back to the fourth and fifth centuries.
Today as I write this — before you will read the text in The Wanderer — we heard during the Mass readings for the Second Sunday of Advent about John the Baptist, Christ’s cousin who was the voice crying in the wilderness, making straight the way of the Lord. Naturally, falling now in the Church calendar, the words herald the birth of Christ just as John, himself, did.
We know that John lived an ascetic way of life and that he baptized Christ in the Jordan. He lived simply, holy writ stating he subsisted on locusts and honey. Even today there are ruins on top of ruins marking the spot where the early Christians believed he baptized our Lord.
Some 400 years later another saint-in-the-making would follow in John’s footsteps.
“Now when John had heard in prison the works of Christ, sending two of his disciples he said to him: Art thou he that art to come, or look we for another? And Jesus making answer said to them: Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the Gospel preached to them” (Matt. 11:2-5).
Mary, too, was an ascetic living alone, but rather at the end of her life, rather than at the beginning. Birthplace unknown, she left by choice around age twelve for Alexandria, where she began working for many years as a prostitute. What was so regrettable was that her legend tells she enjoyed her profession, for all its dissolution. She persisted in this vein of work — if we can call it work, for she didn’t even always charge for her services — for 17 years, till the age of 29 or so.
At this time, Rome ruled Egypt. There was to be a pilgrimage to celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross in a church in Jerusalem, and Mary of Egypt decided to join the crowds. Her chief interest was to entrap others in her lustful pursuits and this she did.
However, when their party reached Jerusalem, and she approached to enter the church, she was held back from entering — as if by invisible arms, or chains were attached to prevent her from entering.
She tried some several times to get inside but each time was repelled by a supernatural force. By some turn of grace, she suddenly realized that it was her sinful state barring her admittance. Looking up, she saw a statue of the Virgin, and begged her that if she were allowed to go in and adore our Lord, she would immediately surrender her sinful life. Then she made a last attempt, respectfully and adoringly, and this time was allowed in without any deterrent.
After praying, she sat at the feet of the Virgin and seemed to hear her say that she should cross the Jordan to find peace. This she did, where she found a church dedicated to St. John the Baptist. She must have been baptized, if one account in New Advent is correct; it states she received Communion and then left for the desert in the direction of Arabia. Like St. John she retreated to a “wilderness” where she lived on herbs or whatever was available to her. This continued for 47 years.
Around the conclusion of this period, a Palestinian monk by the name of Zosimus also made his way out into the desert area. He was to pray during what we must presume is the Orthodox Lent (the “fifth Sunday of Lent”) for 40 days of fasting and penance. Whom did he find approaching him one day but Mary! Her hair was white, she was unkempt with skin so dark and wild that he did not immediately recognize her even as a female. She was hiding, and asked him for something to cover herself — for her clothes had long ago fallen to pieces — and told him her story.
The monk was overwhelmed by her testimony. Ashamed yet of her past even fifty years later, she requested that the monk bring the precious Body and Blood of Christ, and promise to do so in one year’s time, arranging to meet him by the Jordan. She predicted that he should not come at the usual time of the Advent fast but instead on Holy Thursday. And this he did.
He arrived a bit late and saw her approach from the opposite side of the Jordan. Before his eyes, she crossed over to him by walking on the water, and she prayed and joyously received the Sacred Species. Then, she cried out the famed words of Simeon in the Temple at the time of the Presentation of Christ:
“Now Lord let your servant die in peace, for mine eyes have seen the glory of your salvation.” And preparing to leave, she asked the monk to return in another year. When Zosimus returned, he found she had passed away immediately after he had departed. She left behind a note for him, thanking him, and explained she was dying joyfully, just after partaking in Our Lord’s Supper. He was at a loss as to how to bury her.
At this juncture it is said a lion appeared, regal and royal and fearsome. The lion is king, ruler of the animal kingdom in nature, but he also appears in Sacred Scripture over a hundred times. There he symbolizes our Lord; His courage, His strength, His might.
As a lion also loves his cubs, and this great Lion came to the aid of a woman who had repented — as St. John the Baptist himself had called for — and she received her reward.
St. Mary of Egypt, please pray that when our Lord comes this Christmas, we are prepared to meet the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Prepare our hearts, minds, and souls, so that like the angels on high, we may cry out with praise and thanksgiving for His eternal and loving sacrifice.
The feast day of St. Mary of Egypt is celebrated on April 3. The Orthodox Churches also venerate St. Mary.
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