Mary of Egypt

Hagiography

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 [it] (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

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 [es]) 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

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]

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]
• 
  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]
• 
  The Belarusian Orthodox Church of Saint Mary of Egypt [ru; be; pl] 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.

Relics

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

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]

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:

• Ottorino Respighi's Maria egiziaca (1932)
• Sir John Tavener's Mary of Egypt (1992)
• John Craton's Saint Mary of Egypt (2021)