St. Mary Of Egypt Coptic Orthodox Church

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About Saint Mary of Egypt
Saint Mary of Egypt was a wandering women who spent the majority of her life repenting for her sins. She moved to Alexandria as a teen with her parents and started living a very immoral and dissolute life since she was 12 years old. After her parents passed she found herself lost and confused. She later decided to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the cross to try to trick Christians into sinning. Saint Mary found a boat going to Jerusalem, since she had no money, she planned to pay by doing immoral actions. When she came to Jerusalem she wasn't able to go inside the Church, being blocked off by a mysterious force. After praying for forgiveness she was allowed into the church and knelt before the cross of Christ crying for her sins. On her way out of the church she thanked the icon of Saint Mary the mother of God, and miraculously she heard a voice from the icon talk to her and was shown a path to achieve righteousness, by crossing the Jordan river and living in the wilderness. After spending 40 years in the wilderness she was met by father Zosima, who was on a customary spiritual retreat through the wilderness for the lent. Father Zocima was startled at first, because when he first saw Saint Mary of Egypt, her clothing was torn, and he was left thinking she was a demon. She kindly asked for his cowl, which is a hooded cape, to wear. The two began to pray when Father Zosima noticed Saint Mary of Egypt rising from the ground, at this moment Father Zosima realized that this was no ordinary woman and there was no need for his fear. They began to talk about their love for God and how and why she was in the wilderness. Our saint asked Father Zosima to meet her the next year at the Jordan river to give her communion. When he came back to give her the holy communion, he saw her walking across the Jordan to meet him. After taking the communion, she asked him again to come again to the wilderness the following year. When he came, he saw a great lion protecting her lifeless laying body on the sand and the words next to her that roughly stated her name and that she died right after taking communion the previous year. Her body was miraculously kept untouched until Father Zosima came and buried her with the help of the lion. May her prayers and blessings be with us all, Amen.