St Mary of Egypt
On the 6th day of the Coptic month of Baramouda we celebrate the life of St Mary of Egypt.
She began her life as a young woman who followed the passions of the body, running away from her parents at the age twelve, to the city of Alexandria. There she lived as a harlot for seventeen years, refusing money from the men that she copulated with, instead living by begging and spinning flax.
One day, however, she met a group of young men heading toward the sea to sail to Jerusalem for the veneration of the Holy Cross. Mary went along for the ride, seducing the men as they traveled for the fun of it. But when the group reached Jerusalem and actually went towards the church, Mary was prohibited from entering by an unseen force. After three such attempts, she remained outside on the church patio, where she looked up and saw an icon of the Holy Theotokos. She began to weep and prayed with all her might that the Holy Mother might allow her to see the True Cross; afterwards, she promised, she would renounce her worldly desires and go wherever the St Mary may lead her.
After this heart-felt conversion at the doors of the church, she fled into the desert to live as an ascetic. She survived for years on only three loaves of bread and thereafter on scarce herbs of the land. For another seventeen years, Mary was tormented by "wild beasts, mad desires and passions." After these years of temptation, however, she overcame them and was led by the Theotokos in all things.
Following 47 years in solitude, she met the priest St. Zosima in the desert, who pleaded with her to tell him of her life. She recounted her story with great humility while also demonstrating her gift of clairvoyance; she knew who Zosima was and his life story despite never having met him before. Finally, she asked Zosima to meet her again the following year at sunset on Holy Thursday by the banks of the Jordan.
Zosima did exactly this, though he began to doubt his experience as the sun began to go that night. Then Mary appeared on the opposite side of the Jordan; crossing herself, she miraculously walked across the water and met Zosima. When he attempted to bow, she rebuked him, saying that as a priest he was far superior, and furthermore, he was holding the Holy Mysteries. Mary then received communion and walked back across the Jordan after giving Zosima instructions about his monastery and that he should return to where they first met exactly a year later. When he did so, he found Mary's body with a message written on the sand asking him for burial and revealing that she had died immediately after receiving the Holy Mysteries the year before (and thus had been miraculously transported to the spot where she now lay). So Zosima, amazed, began to dig, but soon tired. A lion approached and began to help him, that is, after Zosima had recovered from his fear of the creature. Thus St. Mary of Egypt was buried. Zosima returned to the monastery, told all he had seen, and improved the faults of the monks and abbot there. He died at almost a hundred years old in the same monastery.

Lessons from this story
A valuable lesson from this story is the truth that before God all are worthy, all are important and all are His chosen loved ones. Our roads in this life lead us far and wide, but the narrow gate to return is only through our heart’s desire to be with Christ, to serve Christ and to live as Christ.
St Mary of Egypt lived naked in the desert wearing only the skin God gave her, nothing else. Hold this truth; you are loved deeply by the Lord Jesus Christ. And what the world will call suffering (the ascetic life of a monk in the harsh conditions of the desert) are in truth freedom to the soul that feeds on the loving kindness of Christ. Ask yourself, what is easier? The constant demands of this life pulling you in every direction at the same time from passion to the next? Or a simple life with Christ serving in...