The Standing of St. Mary of Egypt

The Standing of St. Mary of Egypt

The reading of the Great Penitential Canon of St. Andrew of Crete is the main feature of this Matins service. This practice originated around the ninth century and its history is as follows.

Every year, on April 1, the Orthodox Church celebrates the feast of the Holy Virgin Mary of Egypt. She spent 47 years in the desert, ate raw greens and remained naked in the scorching sun, because in a short time her clothes became tattered. Through this repentance and asceticism she received extraordinary graces, because she was seen by the monk Zosima as she was raised from the ground during prayer, and the water of the Jordan passed over her.…

Memory of Venerable Mary of Egypt (1 April) | Orthodox Times (en)

Saint Zosimas (April 4) was a monk at a certain Palestinian monastery on the outskirts of Caesarea. Having dwelt at the monastery since his childhood, he lived there in asceticism until he reached the age of fifty-three. Then he was disturbed by the thought that he had attained perfection, and needed no one to instruct him. “Is there a monk anywhere who can show me some form of asceticism that I have not attained? Is there anyone who has surpass…

St. Mary of Egypt

April 1 is the feast of a little-known saint whose story demonstrates the power of the Church as the home of forgiveness, redemption and mercy. St. Mary of Egypt was a prostitute for 17 years before she received the Eucharist…

Saint Mary of Egypt

St. Mary of Egypt was born in the 4th century in Egypt. At the age of twelve, she left home and spent the next seventeen years living in Alexandria, where she lived a life of extreme immorality. She later admitted that she was not driven by poverty or desperation but by a desire for pleasure. One day, she followed a crowd of pilgrims to Jerusalem, not out of piety, but curiosity. When she attempted to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, she …

April or April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar and one of the four Gregorian months with a duration of 30 days. In April 2025 we have two extremely important religious holidays with a red cross.