Among the holy icons staring at us from the walls of Orthodox churches, there is one on which the gaze involuntarily stops. It depicts the figure of a woman. Her thin, haggard body is wrapped in an old cloak. The swarthy, almost black from the tan skin of a woman is scorched by the desert sun. In her hands is a cross made of dry stalks of reed. This is the greatest Christian saint, who has become a symbol of repentance - the Monk Mary of Egypt. The icon conveys to us its strict, ascetic features.
The sinful life of young Mary
The holy elder Zosima told the world about the life and deeds of the saint. By the will of God, he met her in the depths of the desert, where he himself went, in order to lead the Great Fourteen in fasting and prayer far from the world. There, on the land scorched by the sun, Saint Mary of Egypt was revealed to him. The icon of the reverend often depicts this meeting. She confessed to him, telling an amazing story of her life.
She was born at the end of the 5th century in Egypt. But it so happened that in her youth Mary was far from unquestioningly keeping the commandments of God. Moreover, unbridled passions and the absence of clever and pious mentors turned the young girl into a vessel of sin. She was only twelve years old when, having left her parents' home in Alexandria, she was left to herself in a world full of vice and temptations. And the harmful consequences were not long in coming.
Very soon, Mary indulged in unbridled debauchery. Her life’s goal was to seduce as many men as possible into seducing sin. By her own confession, she never took money from them. On the contrary, Maria earned her living by honest labor. Debauchery was not her source of income - it was the meaning of her life. This went on for 17 years.
The turning point in the life of Mary
But once an event occurred that radically changed the whole lifestyle of a young sinner. The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross was approaching, and a large number of pilgrims went from Egypt to Jerusalem. Their path lay on the sea. Maria, among others, boarded the ship, but not in order to bow to the Life-giving Tree in the holy land, but to indulge in lust for debauchery with men languishing from boredom during the long sea voyage. So she ended up in the holy city.
In the temple, Mary mixed with the crowd and, along with other pilgrims, began to advance to the shrine, when suddenly an unknown force blocked her path and threw her back. The sinner tried to try again, but the same thing happened every time. Finally realizing that this Divine power for sins did not let her into the temple, Mary was filled with the deepest repentance, beat herself in the chest with her hands and prayed in tears for forgiveness before the icon of the Virgin Mary, which she saw before herself. Her prayer was heard, and the Most Holy Theotokos showed the girl the way to her salvation: Mary had to cross the other side of the Jordan and retire to the wilderness to repent and know God.
Desert life
From this time, Mary died for the world. Retiring to the desert, she led a difficult ascetic life. So, from the former libertine the Rev. Mary of Egypt was born. The icon usually represents it precisely in the years of deprivation and the burdens of hermit life. The insignificant supply of bread taken with him soon ran out, and the saint fed on the roots and on what she managed to find in the sun-dried desert. Her clothes eventually decayed on her, and she remained naked. Mary suffered torment from the heat and from the cold. So forty-seven years have passed.
Once in the desert, she met an old monk, who was away from the world for prayers and fasting. He was a hieromonk, that is, a minister having the rank of priest. Covering her nudity, Mary confessed to him, telling the story of her fall and repentance. This monk was the very Zosima who told the world about her life. Through the years, he himself will be considered a saint.
Zosima told the brethren of his monastery about the insight of St. Mary, about her ability to see the future. Years spent in penitential prayer transformed not only the soul, but also the body. Mary of Egypt, whose icon represents her walking on water, acquired properties similar to those that had the flesh of the risen Christ. She really could walk on water and during prayer she would rise above the ground by her elbow.
Communion of the Holy Gifts
Zosima, at the request of Mary, met with her a year later, bringing with him the blessed Holy Gifts and partaking of her. This is the only time that Saint Mary of Egypt tasted the Body and Blood of the Lord. The icon, the photo of which is in front of you, depicts just this moment. Parting, she asked to come to her in the desert five years later.
Saint Zosima fulfilled her request, but when he came, he found only her lifeless body. He wanted to betray her remains to the earth, but the hard and rocky soil of the desert did not yield to his senile hands. Then the Lord showed a miracle - a lion came to the aid of the saint. A wild beast dug up the grave with its paws, where the relics of the righteous were lowered. Another icon of Mary of Egypt (the photo was taken from her) completes the article. This is the episode of mourning and burial of the saint.
The Infinity of Divine Mercy
The mercy of the Lord is all-embracing. There is no sin that transcends His love for people. No wonder the Lord is called the Good Shepherd. Not a single lost sheep will be thrown to perdition.
Heavenly Father will do everything for her conversion to the true path. The only thing that matters is the desire to purify and deep repentance. Christianity provides many such examples. The most striking among them are Mary Magdalene, the Prudent robber and, of course, Mary of Egypt, an icon, a prayer, and whose life indicated to many the way from the darkness of sin to the light of righteousness.