Mary of Egypt

Saint

Mary of Egypt
Mary of Egypt with her Life. Ukrainian icon, late 17th century. Liskowate village. Collection of the Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum of Lviv.
BornProvince of Egypt
DiedTrans-Jordan desert, Palaestina
Venerated in
CanonizedPre-congregation
Feast
  • Eastern Orthodox and Greek Catholic: 1 April;[1] 5th Sunday of Great Lent
  • Coptic Orthodox: Parmouti 6
  • Roman Catholic: 1 April (Ordinary Form)/ 2 April (Extraordinary Form)
AttributesCilice, skull, loaves of bread
PatronageChastity (warfare against the flesh; deliverance from carnal passions); demons (deliverance from); fever; skin diseases; temptations of the flesh[2]

Mary of Egypt (Greek: Μαρία ἡ Αἰγυπτία; Coptic: Ϯⲁⲅⲓⲁ Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ Ⲛⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ; Egyptian Arabic: مريم المصرية/ماريا المصرية; Amharic/Geez: ቅድስት ማርያም ግብፃዊት; Latin: Maria Aegyptiaca) was an Egyptian grazer saint, said to have dwelled in Byzantine-era Palestine in the 5th century AD (in late antiquity / Early Middle Ages).[3][4]

The hagiography The Life of Our Venerable Mother Mary of Egypt tells her life story through the framing device of her encounter with the hieromonk Zosimas of Palestine near the Jordan River. Mary recounts to Zosimas debauched life of lust so great she traveled from Alexandria to Jerusalem seeking to seduce pilgrims traveling to the Elevation of the Holy Cross. Arriving at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre she encounters the power of an icon of the Theotokos barring her entrance. She receives instructions to cross the Jordan River to seek glorious rest wandering the desert as an ascetic. Mary and Zosimas then part ways resolving to meet by the Jordan one year later so that Zosimas can administer Holy Communion; at this meeting Zosimas witnesses Mary walking on the water.[5][6]

The story concludes with Zosimas waiting one year hence to reunite only to find Mary's deceased body; after praying he receives divine instruction to provide her Christian burial. The hagiography then states that Zosimas told his fellow monks about Mary, and that these monks related the story to the text's credited author Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, in the 7th century.[5]

Later, in the 8th century the hagiography was read into the record at the Fourth Session of the historical Second Council of Nicaea, preserving it. The Council, debating whether to revive the practice of icon veneration amid Byzantine iconoclasm, heard Mary of Egypt's conversion as an argument for the virtues of icons.[7]

The Roman Martyrology of the Catholic Church, Synaxarion of Constantinople of Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Copto-Arabic Synaxarion of the Coptic Orthodox Church each list Mary of Egypt as a saint with a feast day.[8][9][10] The Martyrology characterizes her time in the desert as an act of penitence and mortification. In contrast, the Synaxarion of Constantinople emphasizes her time in the desert as spiritual elevation through self-control.[8][10]

The historicity of Mary of Egypt is uncertain and has been questioned by some historians.[11][12] Historians further note that artists of Medieval and Renaissance Europe regularly conflated Mary of Egypt with Mary Magdalene.[13][14][15]

Life

According to tradition, Mary of Egypt was born somewhere in the Roman Province of Egypt, and at the age of twelve ran away from her parents to the city of Alexandria. There, she lived an extremely dissolute life.[16] In her Vita it states that she often refused the money offered for her sexual favors, as she was driven "by an insatiable and an irrepressible passion", and that she mainly lived by begging, supplemented by spinning flax.[5]

Saints Zosimas, Mary of Egypt, Maximus the Confessor, Macarius of Egypt, and Macarius of Alexandria. Icon, 17th century. Pantocrator. Mount Athos.

After seventeen years of this lifestyle, she traveled to Jerusalem for the Great Feasts of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. She undertook the journey as a sort of "anti-pilgrimage", stating that she hoped to find in the pilgrim crowds at Jerusalem even more partners to sate her lust. She paid for her passage by offering sexual favors to other pilgrims, and she briefly continued her habitual lifestyle in Jerusalem. Her Vita relates that when she tried to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for the celebrations, she was barred by an unseen force. Realizing this was because of her impurity, she was struck with remorse, and upon seeing an icon of the Theotokos (the Virgin Mary) outside the church, she prayed for forgiveness and promised to give up the world (i.e., become an ascetic). She attempted again to enter the church, and this time was able to go in. After venerating the relic of the True Cross, she returned to the icon to give thanks, and heard a voice telling her, "If you cross the Jordan, you will find glorious rest." She immediately went to the monastery of Saint John the Baptist on the banks of the River Jordan, where she received absolution and afterwards Holy Communion. The next morning, she crossed the Jordan eastwards and retired to the desert to live the rest of her life as a hermit in penitence. She took with her only three loaves of bread she had bought, and once she had eaten these, lived only on what she could find in the wilderness.[5][17]

Approximately one year before her death, she recounted her life to Zosimas of Palestine,[18] who encountered her in the desert. When he unexpectedly met her in the desert, she was completely naked and almost unrecognizable as human. She asked Zosimas to toss her his mantle to cover herself with, and then she narrated her life's story to him. She asked him to meet her at the banks of the Jordan on Holy Thursday of the following year, and to bring her Holy Communion. When he fulfilled her wish, she crossed the river to get to him by walking on the water, and received Holy Communion, telling him to meet her again in the desert the following Lent.[5]

Tradition says that Zosimas went to the same spot where he first met her, some twenty days' journey from his monastery. There, he found her lying dead; an inscription written in the sand next to her head stated that she had died the very night he had given her Communion, her incorrupt body miraculously transported to that spot. He buried her body with the assistance of a passing lion. On returning to his monastery, he related her life story to the other brethren, and it was preserved among them as oral tradition.[5]

Veneration

Hagiography

Athonite fresco Icon of 7th century Patriarch Sophronius of Jerusalem, the historical figure credited as writing the hagiography of Mary of Egypt.

The written hagiography "The Life of Our Venerable Mother Mary of Egypt" is stated by several sources to have been written by Sophronius in the 7th century.[5] Later scholarship suggested that the hagiography may have been written earlier "from some other hand."[17]

Documentary evidence shows that in the 8th century the hagiography was read into the record at the Fourth Session of the historical Second Council of Nicaea, preserving it. The Council, debating whether to revive the practice of icon veneration amid Byzantine iconoclasm, heard Mary of Egypt's conversion as an argument for the virtues of icons.[7]

In Western Christianity

Distinct from Eastern and Coptic Christians, Western Christianity from late antiquity to the Late Middle Ages not only translated Sophronius from the Greek to Latin and vernacular languages, but also created derivative and reinterpreted works in both prose and poetry. This process starts with translation of the text of Sophronius to Latin, credited to 9th century monk Paul the Deacon.[19]

Further evidence of the 9th century arrival of Mary of Egypt's cultus in the West can be found in the inclusion of her name in the marble calendar of Naples (which combined Byzantine and Latin liturgical calendars) as well as the rededication of the Temple of Portunus to Mary of Egypt, each approximately dated to the 870s.[20]

Early Middle Ages

The Frankish chronicler Flodoard, priest of the Reims Cathedral, included the narrative of Mary of Egypt and Zosimas as part of his 10th century Latin epic poem On the Triumphs of Christ and the Saints of Palestine about the early church.[20][21] A hagiography in Latin verse is attributed to late 10th/early 11th century theologian Hildebert of Lavardin, with several copies kept by the Bodleian Library.[20][22]

Late 10th century English abbot Ælfric of Eynsham included a hagiography of Mary of Egypt in his Old English compilation Lives of the Saints.[23] According to Hugh Magennis, while Ælfric compiled the work, the hagiography of Mary is the work of someone else due to "features of which suggest that it was originally written in the Anglian dialect area rather than in the West Saxon with which Ælfric is associated."[24]

A brief account of Mary of Egypt's encounter with the icon of the Theotokos appears in the 11th century compilations of Marian miracles by the monks William of Malmesbury and Dominic of Evesham. Although brief and in Latin, scholars note that these accounts use a third-person perspective about Mary of Egypt herself, rather than the first-person narrative of Zosimas.[25]

High to Late Middle Ages
Nuremberg Chronicle image of Mary of Egypt. The palm leaf refers to Mary's pilgrimage.

In the 12th century an anonymously authored poetic version of Life of Saint Mary of Egypt in Anglo-Norman appears in the textual record. According to scholar Duncan Robertson, this poem begins a shift in narratives and descriptions of Mary of Egypt in Western art and literature: it is here she is first described as blond, her sensual beauty and sexual appetite is emphasized (although later disavowed), and her relationship with Zosimas takes on the tone of a platonic love.[26]

The Anglo-Norman poem then inspired adaptations in other European vernacular languages: in 13th century French poet Rutebeuf writes his own Life of Saint Mary of Egypt and further popularizing her cult within France.[25][27][28] A similar poem (Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca) in Castilian Spanish (showing Aragonese influence) was composed in the 13th century.[29]

Mary of Egypt's hagiography was included in the 13th century compilation The Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine, widely believed to be second only to the Bible among books read in the Middle Ages when it was considered authoritative.[30][31]

In the 13th to 14th centuries, several Old Norse versions of Mary of Egypt's story were composed. Notably, in these retellings change the setting from a desert to a forest, and change the animal that helps Zosimas to a wolf.[32]

The 15th century Nuremberg Chronicle includes a brief biography of Mary of Egypt within its section on the Sixth Age.[33]

Post-Reformation period

The Roman Catholic Church in its 16th century Counter-Reformation-period preserved veneration of Mary of Egypt in the Roman Martyrology.[34] Acta Sanctorum, the 17th century Bollandist effort to bring scholarly rigor to hagiography, provides a critical commentary on the accumulated lore about Mary of Egypt.[35] According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the Bollandists concluded Mary of Egypt likely had an earlier birthdate, and that both her cultus and hagiography had origins earlier than Sophronius.[17]

The Church of England altered but did not abolish its recognition of saints. Mary of Egypt was mentioned in the writings of 17th century Anglican cleric Jeremy Taylor.[36]

Iconography

Penitent Mary Magdelene (c. 1515-1520) attributed to Gregor Erhart, uses the iconography of a nude woman clothed in her own hair, a visual cue borrowed from depictions of Mary of Egypt.[37]

In iconography, Mary of Egypt is depicted covered by her long hair or by the mantle she borrowed from Zosimas. She is often shown with the three loaves of bread she bought before her final journey into the desert.[38]

As in hagiographical tradition, the appearance of Mary of Egypt in visual art diverges between the eastern and western Christian traditions: Orthodox, Coptic, and Byzantine Rite Catholic icons preserved the tradition of depicting her as gaunt, elderly and emaciated relatively unchanged. In contrast, the artists of Western Europe often conflated aspects of Mary of Egypt's characterization and story with that of Mary Magdalene (and similar "prostitute saints" such as Pelagia) due to a similar folklore, themes, and appeal.[13][14][15][39]

Consequently, Western artworks have depicted a younger Mary of Egypt than their Eastern counterparts, as well as a "Penitent" Mary Magdalene who is clad only in her own hair.[37]

Examples of such conflations include:

  • The frescoes of the Magadalene Chapel in Assisi painted by Giotto depict episodes of the life of Mary Magdalene. Nevertheless, they include an episode that is unambiguously from the life of Mary of Egypt (her meeting with Zosimas in the desert).[14]
  • Conversely, paintings by Jusepe de Ribera titled as "Mary of Egypt" include skull iconography associated with Mary Magdalene (originating with folklore about Mary Magdalene's late life in the grotto of Sainte-Baume).[39]
  • The last communion of Mary of Egypt on the capital of a transverse arch dated to mid-12th century, from the collection of the Unterlinden Museum.
    The last communion of Mary of Egypt on the capital of a transverse arch dated to mid-12th century, from the collection of the Unterlinden Museum.
  • Fresco dated to 12-13th-century in the crypt of Taranto Cathedral, Apulia, Italy.
    Fresco dated to 12-13th-century in the crypt of Taranto Cathedral, Apulia, Italy.
  • The Hermit Zosimus Giving a Cloak to Magdalene (1320s) by Giotto in the Magdalene Chapel in the Lower Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi. Although the title and chapel are dedicated to Mary Magdalene, the story of Zosimus giving his cloak is from the hagiography of Mary of Egypt.
    The Hermit Zosimus Giving a Cloak to Magdalene (1320s) by Giotto in the Magdalene Chapel in the Lower Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi. Although the title and chapel are dedicated to Mary Magdalene, the story of Zosimus giving his cloak is from the hagiography of Mary of Egypt.
  • The Life of Mary of Egypt in the Kyiv Psalter, 1397. One of the earliest depictions of Saint Mary of Egypt in the Ukrainian iconographic tradition.
    The Life of Mary of Egypt in the Kyiv Psalter, 1397. One of the earliest depictions of Saint Mary of Egypt in the Ukrainian iconographic tradition.
  • Detail from the Adriaan Reins Altarpiece(1480) by Hans Memling depicting a nude Mary of Egypt with three loaves. From the collection of the Old St. John's Hospital in Bruges
    Detail from the Adriaan Reins Altarpiece(1480) by Hans Memling depicting a nude Mary of Egypt with three loaves. From the collection of the Old St. John's Hospital in Bruges
  • Detail of a miniature of Mary of Egypt, covered in golden hair, receiving a cloak from Zosimas at the beginning of her ascetic life. Origin: Paris, France. Yates Thompson 3, folio 287. 15th century (British Library)
    Detail of a miniature of Mary of Egypt, covered in golden hair, receiving a cloak from Zosimas at the beginning of her ascetic life. Origin: Paris, France. Yates Thompson 3, folio 287. 15th century (British Library)
  • Statue dated to the early 16th Century in Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois, Paris.
    Statue dated to the early 16th Century in Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois, Paris.
  • Saint Mary of Egypt (1582 - 1587) by Tintoretto. Half of the diptych, Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint Mary of Egypt [it]
    Saint Mary of Egypt (1582 - 1587) by Tintoretto. Half of the diptych, Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint Mary of Egypt
  • 16th Century print by Maerten de Vos, S.I 804, Prints Department, Royal Library of Belgium
    16th Century print by Maerten de Vos, S.I 804, Prints Department, Royal Library of Belgium
  • Mary of Egypt with her Life. Ukrainian woodcut, 1639. The hermit is shown full-length, flanked by four scenes from her life: meeting with the hermit Zosimas, Communion, prayer, and burial.
    Mary of Egypt with her Life. Ukrainian woodcut, 1639. The hermit is shown full-length, flanked by four scenes from her life: meeting with the hermit Zosimas, Communion, prayer, and burial.
  • Jusepe de Ribera (1591–1652). Saint Mary of Egypt. 1641.
    Jusepe de Ribera (1591–1652). Saint Mary of Egypt. 1641.
  • Patronal icon of Alexius of Rome and Mary of Egypt painted for the wedding of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and Maria Miloslavskaya in 1648.
    Patronal icon of Alexius of Rome and Mary of Egypt painted for the wedding of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and Maria Miloslavskaya in 1648.
  • Mary of Egypt (1651) by de Ribera from the collection of the Museo Civico Filangieri
    Mary of Egypt (1651) by de Ribera from the collection of the Museo Civico Filangieri
  • The Meeting of Mary of Egypt and Zosimas. Fragment of the iconostasis by Yov Kondzelevych for the Great Skete in Manyava (Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine), 1698–1705.
    The Meeting of Mary of Egypt and Zosimas. Fragment of the iconostasis by Yov Kondzelevych for the Great Skete in Manyava (Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine), 1698–1705.
  • Mary of Egypt with her Life. Ukrainian icon, late 17th century. Liskowate village.
    Mary of Egypt with her Life. Ukrainian icon, late 17th century. Liskowate village.
  • Abbas Zosimas and Mary of Egypt, 17th century, from the collection of the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation
    Abbas Zosimas and Mary of Egypt, 17th century, from the collection of the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation
  • Carved wooden statuette (anonymous, 17th century) from the National Museum of Ecuador, Quito.
    Carved wooden statuette (anonymous, 17th century) from the National Museum of Ecuador, Quito.
  • Saints Zosimas, Mary of Egypt, Maximus the Confessor, Macarius of Egypt, and Macarius of Alexandria. Icon, 17th century. Pantocrator. Mount Athos.
    Saints Zosimas, Mary of Egypt, Maximus the Confessor, Macarius of Egypt, and Macarius of Alexandria. Icon, 17th century. Pantocrator. Mount Athos.
  • Icon of Saint Mary of Egypt, surrounded by scenes from her life (17th century, Bely Gorod).
    Icon of Saint Mary of Egypt, surrounded by scenes from her life (17th century, Bely Gorod).
  • Luis Salvador Carmona (1708-1767). Saint Mary of Egypt. National Museum of Sculpture, Valladolid.
    Luis Salvador Carmona (1708-1767). Saint Mary of Egypt. National Museum of Sculpture, Valladolid.
  • 18th-century icon of St. Mary of Egypt. Kuopio Orthodox Church Museum. Finland
    18th-century icon of St. Mary of Egypt. Kuopio Orthodox Church Museum. Finland
  • "The Conversion of Saint Mary of Egypt" by Théodore Chassériau (1843)
    "The Conversion of Saint Mary of Egypt" by Théodore Chassériau (1843)
  • "The Communion of Saint Mary of Egypt" by Théodore Chassériau, 1843
    "The Communion of Saint Mary of Egypt" by Théodore Chassériau, 1843
  • Fresco by Théodore Chassériau (1819–1856) from the third chapel of the northern ambulatory in Church of Saint-Merriy of Paris, depicting Mary of Egypt being buried by Saint Zosimas, with a lion digging her grave.
    Fresco by Théodore Chassériau (1819–1856) from the third chapel of the northern ambulatory in Church of Saint-Merriy of Paris, depicting Mary of Egypt being buried by Saint Zosimas, with a lion digging her grave.
  • Christ and Mary of Egypt. Ukraine, Podillia region, second half of the 19th century.
    Christ and Mary of Egypt. Ukraine, Podillia region, second half of the 19th century.
  • Icon of Mary of Egypt. Velyki Birky, Ukraine.
    Icon of Mary of Egypt. Velyki Birky, Ukraine.
  • Mary of Egypt. Yuliia Hlushchenko, Department of Sacred Art, Lviv National Academy of Arts. Ukraine
    Mary of Egypt. Yuliia Hlushchenko, Department of Sacred Art, Lviv National Academy of Arts. Ukraine
  • Coat of arms of the town of Corte de Peleas, Badajoz, Spain incorporating an image of Mary of Egypt between two cypresses. Adopted by statute in 1992.
    Coat of arms of the town of Corte de Peleas, Badajoz, Spain incorporating an image of Mary of Egypt between two cypresses. Adopted by statute in 1992.

Commemorations

Her feast day is kept by Orthodox Christians and Greek Catholics, according to the Fixed Cycle, on 1 April, and, according to the Moveable Cycle, on the fifth Sunday of Great Lent,[40] on which day it is customary for the priest to bless dried fruit after the Divine Liturgy. The Life of St Mary by Sophronius is appointed to be read during the Matins of the Great Canon of Andrew of Crete on the preceding Thursday, which is accompanied with a canon to her and Andrew sung after each ode of the Great Canon itself.[41]

The Coptic Orthodox Church commemorates Saint Mary of Egypt on Parmouti 6, which is 14 April in the Gregorian calendar.[42]

In the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, Saint Mary of Egypt is commemorated on 1 April according to the 2004 Roman Martyrology (Ordinary Form) and on 2 April in the 1956 Roman Martyrology (Extraordinary Form).[43]

She is venerated by Anglicans and appears on the Episcopal Church liturgical calendar.[44]

Churches

There are a number of churches and chapels dedicated to Saint Mary of Egypt, among them:

  • The Temple of Portunus, Rome, was preserved by being rededicated to Santa Maria Egiziaca in 872.[20]
    The Temple of Portunus, Rome, was preserved by being rededicated to Santa Maria Egiziaca in 872.[20]
  • Church of Santa Maria Egiziaca a Forcella, Naples founded in 1342 to house repenting prostitutes.[45]
    Church of Santa Maria Egiziaca a Forcella, Naples founded in 1342 to house repenting prostitutes.[45]
  • Church of Santa Maria Egiziaca a Pizzofalcone, Naples founded as a offshoot of the church at Forcella for a life closer to the cloistered ideal.[46]
    Church of Santa Maria Egiziaca a Pizzofalcone, Naples founded as a offshoot of the church at Forcella for a life closer to the cloistered ideal.[46]
  • The Belarusian Orthodox Church of Saint Mary of Egypt [ru; be; pl] in Vileyka, Belarus.
    The Belarusian Orthodox Church of Saint Mary of Egypt in Vileyka, Belarus.
  • The Church of Mary of Egypt, part of the Monastery of Our Lady of the Sign [ru; fr; pl] complex in Abalak, Tyumen Oblast, Russia.
    The Church of Mary of Egypt, part of the Monastery of Our Lady of the Sign complex in Abalak, Tyumen Oblast, Russia.

Chapels

Relics

A silver and gilded copper reliquary bust of Saint Mary of Egypt (ca. 1690 - 1699) from Church of Santa Maria Egiziaca a Forcella

First-class relics of Saint Mary of Egypt are enshrined at the following churches:

Croatia

  • Treasury Church of Saint Blaise, Vodnjan ("incorrupt" tongue)[47]

France

Greece

Italy

Jordan

  • The Holy Monastery of St John the Baptist on the Banks of the Jordan River, Qasr al-Yahud, Jordan[53]

Russia

United States

Icon of the Mother of God

Two icons of the Theotokos are claimed to be the very icon before which Mary of Egypt prayed for forgiveness. One is kept in the Chapel of Saint James the Just, located on the western parvis of the Church of Holy Sepulchre.[58] The other icon is located in the Cave of Saint Athanasios the Athonite, on the southern tip of Mount Athos.[59]

Pilgrimage site

The cave believed to be the location where Mary of Egypt spent the rest her life following her conversion is a place of pilgrimage.[60][61]

Cultural references

Literature

In the Ben Jonson play Volpone (1606) one of the characters uses the expression "Marry Gip". Commentators have taken this to mean "Mary of Egypt".[62]

Rosa Egipcíaca, an Afro-Brazilian religious mystic and formerly enslaved prostitute, renamed herself in 1798 to honour Saint Mary of Egypt.[63] Egipcíaca was the first black woman in Brazil to write a book, Sagrada Teologia do Amor Divino das Almas Peregrinas ("Holy Theology of Divine Love of the Pilgrim Souls"), that recorded her religious visions.[64]

In Goethe's Faust (1831), Mary of Egypt is one of the three penitent saints who pray to the Virgin Mary for forgiveness for Faust.[65]

The Unknown Masterpiece (1831), a novella by Balzac, contains a long description of a portrait of Mary of Egypt "undressing in order to pay her passage to Jerusalem".[66]

The Anatole France novel At the Sign of the Reine Pédauque (1892) contains comical banter about the nature of Mary of Egypt's sinfulness and saintliness.[67]

Rainer Maria Rilke wrote the poem "Mary the Egypian" ("Die ägyptische Maria") in 1918.[68]

"Thrust back by hands of air from the sanctuary door," is the first line of Maria Aegyptiaca (1963), a poem by John Heath-Stubbs about the saint.[69]

In John Berryman's Pulitzer Prize winning book of poetry, The Dream Songs (1969), poem 47, subtitled "April Fool's Day, or, St. Mary of Egypt", recounts Mary of Egypt's walk across the River Jordan.[70]

Nalo Hopkinson's science fiction novel, The Salt Roads (2003) features Mary of Egypt and takes a historical fiction approach to telling her story.[71]

Music

In the 18th century, Baroque-era composer Francesco Gasparini wrote La penitenza gloriosa nella conversione di S. Maria Egiziaca, an oratorio.

In Mahler's in 8th Symphony (1910), uses the Mary of Egypt's appeal to the Mater Gloriosa from Faust.

Mary of Egypt is the titular subject of several 20th century operas:

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Ἡ Ὁσία Μαρία ἡ Αἰγυπτία. 1 Απριλίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
  2. ^ Claude Lopez-Ginisty, A Dictionary of Orthodox Intercessions (Saint John of Kronstadt Press, Liberty, Tennessee, 1994, ISBN 0-912927-80-1).
  3. ^ "Learn: Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt - Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America - Orthodox Church". Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Retrieved 2025-11-14.
  4. ^ "Byzantine Era". egymonuments.gov.eg. Retrieved 2025-11-14.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Sophronius; Townsend, John. "The Life of Our Venerable Mother Mary of Egypt". St. Mary of Egypt Orthodox Church. Archived from the original on 2025-07-19. Retrieved 2025-10-31.
  6. ^ Curtin, D. P. (May 2019). The Life of St. Mary of Egypt. Dalcassian Publishing Company. ISBN 9781088279298.
  7. ^ a b Council of Nicaea (2nd : 787) (1850). The seventh general council, the second of Nicaea, held A.D. 787, in which the worship of images was established : with copious notes from the "Caroline books", compiled by order of Charlemagne for its confutation. Harvard University. London : W.E. Painter.
  8. ^ a b "Acta sanctorum Novembris : ex Latinis et Graecis aliarumque gentium monumentis servata primigenia veterum scriptorum phrasi collecta digesta; commentariis et observationibus illustrata : Pr (1902) Synaxarium ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae : e Codice Sirmondiano nunc Berolinensi; adiectis synaxariis selectis / opera et studio Hyppolyti Delehaye". gutenberg-capture.ub.uni-mainz.de. 1902. Retrieved 2025-11-17.
  9. ^ "St. Mary of Egypt - CopticChurch.net". www.copticchurch.net. Retrieved 2025-11-17.
  10. ^ a b Martyrologium Romanum (2004). Vatican Publishing House. 2004. p. 214.
  11. ^ Sonia Velázquez (2024). Promiscuous Grace: Imagining Beauty and Holiness with Saint Mary of Egypt. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 2. ISBN 9780226826080.
  12. ^ "Life of St. Mary of Egypt", in Alice-Mary Talbot (ed.), Holy Women of Byzantium, Dumbarton Oaks Press, Harvard University, 1996.
  13. ^ a b Michalska, Magda (2025-01-10). "Why Is She So Hairy? Iconography of Mary Magdalene". DailyArt Magazine. Retrieved 2025-11-17.
  14. ^ a b c Perspective (2020-05-16). Who Was The Real Mary Magdalene? Art's Scarlet Woman (Waldemar Januszczak Documentary). 21:56 minutes in. Retrieved 2025-11-17 – via YouTube.
  15. ^ a b Karras, Ruth Mazo (1990). "Holy Harlots: Prostitute Saints in Medieval Legend". Journal of the History of Sexuality. 1 (1): 3–32. ISSN 1043-4070.
  16. ^ Claudine M. Dauphin (1996). "Brothels, Baths and Babes: Prostitution in the Byzantine Holy Land". Classics Ireland. 3: 47–72. doi:10.2307/25528291. JSTOR 25528291.
  17. ^ a b c MacRory, Joseph (1910). "St. Mary of Egypt" . Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9.
  18. ^ It is possible, based on Sophronius' Vita, that Zosimas was from the same monastery by the Jordan where Saint Mary had taken Communion many years before.
  19. ^ Donovan, Leslie A. (1999). Women Saints' Lives in Old English Prose. Cambridge: Brewer. p. 98. ISBN 978-0859915687. Retrieved 22 Aug 2016.
  20. ^ a b c d Harvey, Paul B. (2004-01-01), Knoppers, Gary N.; Hirsch, Antoine (eds.), ""A traveler from an antique land": Sources, Context, and Dissemination of the Hagiography of Mary the Egyptian", Egypt, Israel, and the Ancient Mediterranean World, BRILL, pp. 479–499, doi:10.1163/9789047413691_027, ISBN 978-90-474-1369-1, retrieved 2026-04-16{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  21. ^ "De triumphis Christi sanctorumque Palestinae (Flodoardus Remensis) - Wikisource". la.wikisource.org (in Latin). Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  22. ^ "Hildebert, Archbishop of Tours, 1056?–1133: Vita metrica S. Mariae Aegyptiacae [Latin] - Medieval Manuscripts". medieval.bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-04-16.
  23. ^ "Ælfric's Lives of Saints/Death of St. Mary of Egypt - Wikisource, the free online library". en.wikisource.org. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
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Further reading

  • Ælfric of Eynsham (1881). "Death of St. Mary of Egypt" . Ælfric's Lives of Saints. London, Pub. for the Early English text society, by N. Trübner & co.
  • Amy Frykholm (2021). Wild Woman -- A Footnote, the Desert, and My Quest for an Elusive Saint. Minneapolis, Broadleaf Books.
  • Curtin, D.P. (2019). The Life of St. Mary of Egypt. Dalcassian. ISBN 978-1-0882-7929-8.
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