Orthodox Icon of St. Mary of Egypt

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April 1st and the 5th Sunday of Great Lent
Troparion (Tone 8)
In you, O Venerable Mother Mary, the faithful image of God shone forth, for you carried your cross and followed Christ. You taught by your deeds how to spurn the body, for it passes away, and how to value the soul, for it is immortal. Wherefore, your soul is forever in happiness with the angels.

Mary the Egyptian lived in Alexandria as a prostitute. At the age of 29, out of curiosity she joined a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, paying for her passage by offering herself to the sailors. Prevented from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre by an invisible force, she saw an icon of the Theotokos who told her to go over the Jordan where she would find rest. There she lived the rest of her life in repentance and was divinely instructed in the Christian faith. A monk named Zosimus met her and heard her story. He brought her Holy Communion on Great and Holy Thursday. She asked him to return the next year. When he returned, he found her dead, with instructions for her burial written in the sand next to her. She reposed about the year 530. Her scroll reads "Man shall not live by bread alone."

Her entire story may be read at the following link. The Life of St. Mary

This icon by the hand of Nicholas Papas is from St. George's Orthodox Church in Altoona, PA.

Order #inp-16