Learn: Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt

Introduction

On the Fifth Sunday of Lent the Orthodox Church commemorates our Righteous Mother Mary of Egypt. The feast day of Saint Mary of Egypt is April 1, however, she is also commemorated on this Sunday due to her recognition by the Church as a model of repentance.

Life of the Saint

Our holy mother Mary was born in Egypt. She had left her parents at the age of twelve to go to Alexandria, where she spent the next seventeen years in debauchery and the greatest profligacy. Living on charity and linen-weaving, she nevertheless offered her body to any man, not being forced to it by dire necessity as were so many poor women, but as though she were consumed by the fire of a desire that nothing was able to appease.

One day, seeing a crowd of Lybians and Egyptians moving towards the port, she followed them and set sail with them for Jerusalem, offering her body to pay her fare. When they arrived in the Holy City, she followed the crowd that was thronging towards the Church of the Resurrection, it being the day of the Exaltation of the Cross. But, when she reached the threshold of the church, an invisible force prevented her entering in spite of repeated efforts on her part, although the other pilgrims were able to go in without hindrance. Left alone in a corner of the narthex, she began to realize that it was the impurity of her life that was preventing her approaching the holy Wood. She burst into tears and smote her breast and, seeing an icon of the Mother of God, made this prayer to her: "O Sovereign Lady, who didst bear God in the flesh, I know that I should not dare to look upon thine icon, thou who are pure in soul and body, because, debauched as I am, I must fill thee with disgust. But, as the God born of thee became man in order to call sinners to repentance, come to my aid! Allow me to go into the church and prostrate before His Cross. And, as soon as I have seen the Cross, I promise that I will renounce the world and all pleasures, and follow the path of salvation that thou willest to show me."

She felt herself suddenly freed from the power that had held her and was able to enter the church. There she fervently venerated the Holy Cross and then, returning to the icon of the Mother of God, declared herself ready to follow the path that the Virgin would show her. A voice replied to her from on high: "If you cross the Jordan, you will find rest."

Leaving the church, she bought three loaves with the alms a pilgrim had given her, discovered which road led to the Jordan and arrived one evening at the Church of Saint John the Baptist. After having washed in the river, she received Communion in the Holy Mysteries, ate half of one of the loaves and went to sleep on the riverbank. The next morning, she crossed the river and lived from that time on in the desert, remaining there for forty-seven years without ever encountering either another human being or any animal.

During the first seventeen years, her clothes soon having fallen into rags, burning with heat by day and shivering with cold by night, she fed on herbs and wild roots. But more than the physical trials, she had to face violent assaults from the passions and the memory of her sins and, throwing herself on the ground, she implored the Mother of God to come to her aid. Protected by God, who desires nothing but that the sinner should turn to Him and live, she uprooted all the passions from her heart by means of this extraordinary ascesis, and was able to turn the fire of carnal desire into a flame of divine love that made it possible for her to endure the implacable desert with joy, as though she were not in the flesh.

After all these years, a holy elder called Zosimas (April 4), who, following the tradition instituted by Saint Euthymios, had gone into the desert across the Jordan for the period of the Great Fast, saw one day a human form with a body blackened by the sun and with hair white as bleached linen to its shoulders. He ran after this apparition that fled before him, begging it to give him its blessing and some saving words. When he came within ear-shot, Mary, calling by name him whom she had never seen, revealed to him that she was a woman and asked him to throw her his cloak that she might cover her nakedness.

At the urging of the monk, who was transported at having at last met a God-bearing being who had attained the perfection of monastic life, the Saint recounted to him with tears the story of her life and conversion. Then, having finished her account, she begged him to come the following year to the bank of the Jordan with Holy Communion.

When the day arrived, Zosimas saw Mary appearing on the further bank of the river. She made the sign of the Cross and crossed the Jordan, walking on the water. Having received Holy Communion weeping, she said: "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy word; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation" (Luke 2:29). She then took leave of Zosimas, asking him to meet her the following year in the place where they had first met.

When the year was past, Zosimas, going to the agreed spot, found the Saint's body stretched on the ground, her arms crossed and her face turned towards the East. His tearful emotion prevented him from noticing at once an inscription traced on the ground by the Saint, which read: "Abba Zosimas, bury here the body of the humble Mary; give what is of dust to dust, after having prayed for me. I died on the first day of April, the very night of the Passion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, after having partaken in the Holy Eucharist." Consoled in his grief by having learned the Saint's name, Zosimas was amazed to discover that she had, in several hours, covered a distance of more than twenty days' march.

After having vainly tried to break up the earth with a stick, he suddenly saw a lion approaching Mary's body and licking her feet. On the orders of the Elder, the beast dug a hole with its claws, in which Zosimas devoutly placed the Saint's body.

On his return to the monastery, he recounted the marvels that God had wrought for those who turn away from sin and move towards Him with all their hearts. From the hardened sinner that she had been, Mary has, for a great many souls crushed under the burden of sin, become a source of hope and a model of conversion. This is why the Holy Fathers have placed the celebration of her memory at the end of the Great Fast as an encouragement for all who have neglected their salvation, proclaiming that repentance can bring them back to God even at the eleventh hour.

Orthodox Commemoration of the Feast of Saint Mary of Egypt

The feast day of Saint Mary of Egypt is April 1, the day of her repose, however the Orthodox Church also commemorates the Saint on the Fifth Sunday of Lent. As a Sunday of Great Lent, the commemoration is celebrated with the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great, which is preceded by a Matins (Orthros) service. A Great Vespers is conducted on Saturday evening.

Scripture readings for the Fifth Sunday of Lent are the following: At the Orthros (Matins): The prescribed weekly Gospel reading. At the Divine Liturgy: Hebrews 9:11-14; Mark 10:32-45.

Saint Mary of Egypt is also commemorated on the Thursday before the Fifth Sunday of Lent, when her life is read during the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete. A canon in her honor is read at the end of each Ode. In parish churches the service and the canon is most often conducted on Wednesday evening.

Hymns of the Feast

Apolytikion: Plagal of the Fourth Tone

In you the image was preserved with exactness, O Mother; for taking up your cross, you did follow Christ, and by your deeds you did teach us to overlook the flesh, for it passes away, but to attend to the soul since it is immortal. Wherefore, O righteous Mary, your spirit rejoices with the Angels.

Kontakion: Fourth Tone

Having escaped the gloom of sin, O blest Mary, and shining brightly with the light of repentance, thou didst present thy heart to Christ, O glorious one, bringing HimHis Holy and all-immaculate Mother as a greatly merciful and most bold intercessor. Hence, thou hast found the pardon of thy sins and with the Angels rejoicest for evermore.

References

Adapted from The Synaxarion: The Lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church, Vol. 4, compiled by Hieromonk Makarios of Simonos Petra and translated from the French by Mother Maria Rule and Mother Joanna Burton (Chalkidike, Greece: Holy Convent of the Annunciation of Our Lady, 2003) pp. 295-298.
Talbot, M. Holy Women of Byzantium, Ten Saints' Lives in English Translation. (Genealogical Publishing, 1996), pp. 65-94.
The Lenten Triodion. Translated by Mother Mary and Kallistos Ware (South Canaan, PA: St. Tikhon's Seminary Press, 1994), pp. 56, 370-416, 447-462.
Schmemann, Alexander. Great Lent: Journey to Pascha (Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1969).
Barrois, Georges. Scripture Readings in Orthodox Worship (Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1977), pp. 68-69.
Farley, Donna. Seasons of Grace: Reflections on the Orthodox Church Year (Ben Lomond, CA: Conciliar Press, 2002), pp. 113-116.
Icon of Saint Mary of Egypt and Saint Zosimas used with permission and provided by: ΕΚΔΟΣΗ και ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ , ΓΑΛΑΚΤΙΩΝΟΣ ΓΚΑΜΙΛΗ ΤΗΛ. 4971 882, ΕΚΤΥΠΟΣΗ Μ. ΤΟΥΜΠΗΣ Α.Ε., http://www.toubis.gr

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On Iconography

Byzantium: Faith and Power

His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

Speech of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the dinner of the Exhibit "Byzantium: Faith and Power" (1261-1557) at the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts (March 15, 2004)

Your Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios of America, beloved brother in Christ,
Most erudite Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Most honorable and beloved friends of art and sponsors of this exhibit,

It is with feelings of great joy and deep emotion that we take part in the inaugural ceremony and dinner of this exhibit, which unveils select works of art from the last period of the Byzantine Empire, namely, from the period between the years 1261 and 1557.

We wholeheartedly congratulate the parties who took the initiative to make this exhibition a reality, namely, AlphaBank and the three very important Greek Foundations of Costopoulos, Levendis, and Niarchos, for their sponsorship. This exhibition is the third one in a row, following two other exhibitions that took place in the recent past and that had a similar theme. We also want to congratulate the organizers, sponsors, and all who labored for the gathering, transportation, successful display, and secure protection of the exhibition articles originating from many countries.

The title of the exhibit brings the idea of material might to our mind, which is a most needed tool for the maintenance of an empire, like the Byzantine Empire. In this case, though, these articles come from a period of time during which the Empire was not at its mightiest. Thus, one’s attention should be aimed at the spiritual power instead, which was kept intact in spite of all the destruction that Crusaders had inflicted upon the Empire. It is precisely this spiritual power that created the dazzling artifacts displayed in this exhibit.

It has been historically observed that when empires lived in times of political decline, the arts that had been cultivated within these empires did not necessarily follow the same declining course; these, instead, could be flourishing. This phenomenon is attributed to the fact that the tradition of culture extends beyond any material destruction.

The period in which these works of art were created is not considered to be one of the shiniest, according to worldly evaluations. It is thought of, though, as one of the most productive and creative as far as spiritual accomplishments are concerned. Spiritual power continued to be vigorous the same way that faith was vigorous. The cultured Byzantine man had reached the peak of his capabilities, receiving reinforcement by his robust faith. The power that derives from faith, and the spiritual accomplishments that this power enables, are preserved for centuries, whereas material might becomes the object of envy and fatefully ends up in the hands of the strongest. The material means that the Spirit needs in order to create its works are but a few; the needs of an empire to sustain itself, though, are multiple and hard to find.

The world of Byzantium was characterized by an element that is not as widespread in our era. Here, we refer to the element of Christian faith. Today, what rather prevail are secularism and the great emphasis that is attributed to material power and its ensuing results in very many areas. Byzantine Civilization and its works, which are so very different than ours, are ones for us to focus our attention upon.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate constitutes the living continuation of Byzantine Civilization and feels a particular joy upon realizing that you have, for a long time, been concerned about the history of its existence. We believe that the modern world has a great need to acquire the faith of the Byzantine people. Their faith is worthy of our acceptance not because of all the remarkable artistic artifacts that the period of the Empire had yielded, but because it has given salvaging answers to questions that relate to metaphysical quests.

The human being of today, particularly the one who lives in the most economically and culturally developed areas of the world, faces a detrimental enemy, namely, the lack of meaning of life. The abundance of material goods does not fill the heart of today’s human being with the type of assurance which nests within the poor but faithful man’s heart.

Therefore, the meaning of faith, which is opportunely projected by the name of this exhibit, constitutes a great need for all. Moreover, the material power that one finds in excess in today’s world cannot substitute for the lack of faith. The only true power is spiritual power, and true faith is its only supporter.

May the works in this exhibit lead us to the right path of true faith from which true spiritual power derives. This spiritual power, in turn, is the creative power behind these displayed works of art. Most importantly, it is the creative power behind works of life that are less glamorous, but nevertheless are works that produce love for one another, joy and hope in life.

We wholeheartedly pray for the success of this exhibit, and we will consider as a great accomplishment, the true realization of the message conveyed through its title, in its true dimension: Faith and Power. Amen.

On Fasting
On Great Lent »