Icon of St. Mary of Egypt -21st c. - 00STME07

Feast Day/Commemorated: April 1

The Journey of Saint Zosimas and the Penitent Mary of Egypt

Saint Zosimas, a monk who had lived an exemplary ascetic life since childhood in a Palestinian monastery, became troubled by a thought of his own spiritual perfection. An angel appeared to him, instructing him to leave his home, like Abraham, and go to a monastery by the Jordan River to learn other paths to salvation. Zosimas immediately obeyed, settling into the new community where he found elders of great spiritual sobriety. This monastery observed a unique custom: on the First Sunday of Great Lent, after receiving Holy Communion, the monks would enter the desert individually, each taking only a minimal amount of food, to spend the entire fast in solitary ascetic struggle, returning only on Palm Sunday. Following this custom, Zosimas ventured deep into the wilderness, hoping to find a hermit who could offer him greater spiritual benefit.

After twenty days of walking, Zosimas encountered a naked, dark-skinned human form whom he pursued, believing it to be a fellow desert dweller. The figure, which turned out to be a woman, fled until Zosimas implored her to stop, calling her a "sinful old man." The woman, who possessed spiritual foresight and knew Zosimas's name and priesthood, asked him to toss her his cloak to cover herself. She identified herself as a sinful woman and eventually, after mutual entreaties for a blessing, began to recount her story. She revealed that she was an Egyptian born in Alexandria who had lived a life of unrestrained sensuality and fornication for seventeen years, doing it all for free. She even paid for her passage to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross with her body.

Upon reaching Jerusalem, her life of sin prevented her from entering the church to venerate the Cross, as some unseen force repeatedly blocked her at the threshold. Realizing her sins were the cause, she wept and prayed before an icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, vowing to renounce the world and commit to perpetual chastity if allowed to enter. After her vow, she was able to enter the church without hindrance. Before the icon again, she heard a voice commanding her, "If you cross the Jordan, you will find glorious rest." She immediately followed this guidance, bought three loaves of bread, crossed the Jordan River, and entered the deep desert where she had lived for the past forty-seven years. The first seventeen years were a fierce battle against mad desires and temptations, which she overcame through constant weeping, striking her breast, and praying to the Mother of God, until a blessed light dispelled the evil thoughts.

Zosimas was astonished not only by her story but also by her ability to quote Holy Scripture (from the Books of Moses, Job, and the Psalms) from memory, which she had never read or heard recited by another person. The woman, whom Zosimas now knew was named Mary, requested that he keep her story a secret until after her death. She then gave Zosimas a prophecy: he would be unable to leave the monastery during the next year’s Great Lent, but she requested he bring the Holy Mysteries (Communion) to her on Holy Thursday on the near side of the Jordan. Zosimas complied the following year, and he witnessed Mary cross the Jordan by walking on the water. After she received the Eucharist and recited the Creed and the Lord's Prayer, she asked Zosimas to return in a year to the spot where they first met.

Returning one year later, Abba Zosimas found Saint Mary's body peacefully reposed, with a message written on the ground identifying her as "humble Mary" and indicating she died on April 1st, the night after she received Communion. Realizing she had been transported instantaneously to the deep desert after receiving the Holy Gifts, Zosimas then struggled to dig a grave in the hard ground. An enormous lion suddenly appeared, which Zosimas commanded to dig the grave, and the beast obediently dug a hole deep enough for the burial before departing. Zosimas returned to his monastery and related the wondrous story of Saint Mary, which was later recorded by Saint Sophronius of Jerusalem, ensuring the miraculous account of repentance and God's boundless mercy was passed down for generations.

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