www.byzcath.org Forums Mysteries: The Life of Worship Icons & Iconography Mother Mary of Egypt

There are three kind of iconography of this Saint:
- the holy image with the life;
- St. Mary praying to Christ or Theotokos;
- meeting of St. Mary with Zosima and Holy Communion.

Some interesting examples:
http://www.pravmir.ru/svyataya-mariya-egipetskaya-ikony-zhitiya

I love the lion.

There is also an iconographic tradition of depicting St. Mary with St. Andrew of Crete in commemoration of the the fifth Thursday/Wednesday evening at which the Great Canon and life of St. Mary of Egypt is read (which was last night in many places).
[Linked Image]

Thank you, Diak. A very interesting iconography!

So should any who have had their faith enriched through C.S. Lewis Chonicles of Narnia.

I have Googled to find a connection between Sophronias'story and Lewis but there appears to be none known to man.

Does anyone know of a vendor who has the full Life of St.Mary of Egypt icons similar to the second and third from the top on the linked page...the ones with the small images surrounding the large likeness?

For St. Mary of Egypt icons try this supplier:

http://www.uncutmountainsupply.com/

They do wonderful work and I have been very pleased with all the reproduction icons I have purchsed for them. You can read about their organization and their work as part of the Serbian Orthodox community in The Dalles, Oregon.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

21 Interesting Facts About St. Mary of Egypt


Since in 2012 we celebrate a rare dual celebration of St. Mary of Egypt, since today is both her April 1st feast as well as her feast for the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent, I thought I would compile some interesting facts about this great saint.

1. Her life was recorded by St. Sophronios of Jerusalem, who served as Patriarch of Jerusalem from 634 to 638. He says St. Mary lived within the lifetime of the reader.

2. One third of the Life is of Mary's first-person account to Zosimas of her sinful youth, conversion, and flight into the desert.

3. Mary left home at 12-years-old, was a "prostitute" in Alexandria for 17 years, and at the age of 29 converted and left for the desert. During the entire time she was a "prostitute", she never actually received payment for her sexual favors, but survived by begging and by "spinning coarse flax fibers". Her "prostitution" was merely to gratify her sexual appetite.

4. Mary must have been baptized as a child, since there is no record of her having been baptized after her conversion. And in her story to Zosimas, she says: "I am protected by Holy Baptism." Furthermore, we can assume she had some sort of Christian education in her youth, since her first prayer of repentance was addressed to the Virgin Mary.

5. Mary's conversion occurred on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which was on September 14th. We know that in 614 the Persians stole fragments of the Cross from Jerusalem, and it wasn't returned until after the Persian Campaign by Emperor Heraclius himself in 629.

6. The Icon of the Virgin Mary before which Mary of Egypt prayed in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was displayed “on a raised place” in the courtyard before the Church of Constantine; it is mentioned, for example, by the Piacenza Pilgrim (ca. 570) and by Epiphanios the Monk (8th century). Epiphanios states explicitly that he saw “on the left side of Saint Constantine ... the icon of the Most-holy Theotokos, who forbade Saint Mary to enter the church on the day of the Exaltation.” St. John the Damascene references this icon which St. Mary of Egypt prayed before in his defense of holy icons.

7. Before going into the desert Mary received Holy Communion in the Church of St. John the Baptist near the Jordan River. The church, built by the emperor Anastasios I (491–518), was located approximately 8 km north of the Dead Sea (and about 30 km from Jerusalem), at the traditional site of Christ’s baptism by John the Baptist.

8. St. Euthymios the Great in the early 5th century was the first to introduce the practice of monks going into the innermost desert of Palestine alone for 40 days. However, he establish for it to be done on January 14th following the feast of Epiphany, in imitation of Christ who spent 40 days in the desert following His baptism. Through prayer and fasting they thus prepared themselves for Easter. A few decades later St. Savas the Sanctified moved the date of the retreat to after the celebration of the feasts of Sts. Anthony and Euthymios (17 and 20 January). Soon after it was placed to the first week of Great Lent.

9. Mary lived 47 years in the desert, and never encountered a human being all those years. Thus when she encountered Zosimas, she was 76-years-old. Zosimas was 53-years-old when he encountered Mary in the desert, having lived in a monastery since infancy. Mary died when she was approximately 78-years-old. Zosimas died when he was nearly 100-years-old.

10. Mary encountered great temptation in the desert for 17 years, which is the same number of years she lived a licentious lifestyle in Alexandria.

For the rest click here [johnsanidopoulos.com]

But, alas, they do not have any of the Icons depicting the lfe of the saint...only standing or portrait.

Ooo! Great connection! The Lion of Judah? It was the Lord who helped St. Sophronias bury her? BEAUTIFUL!