FIFTH SUNDAY OF HOLY AND GREAT LENT: SAINT MARY OF EGYPT, THE MODEL OF PENITENTS

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

Fifth Sunday of Holy and Great Lent: Saint Mary of Egypt,
the Model of Penitents.

Like that of Saint John Climacus, her feast has been transferred from the fixed calendar, where she is commemorated on the 1st of April. Her life, recounted by Saint Sophronios, Patriarch of Jerusalem — it is read, on Thursday in the Fifth Week — sets before us a true verbal icon OF THE ESSENCE OF REPENTANCE. In her youth, Saint Mary lived in a dissolute and sinful way at Alexandria. Drawn by curiosity, she journeyed with some pilgrims to Jerusalem, arriving in time for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. But when she tried to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with the others, an invisible force thrust her back at the threshold. This happened three times. Brought to sudden contrition by this strange experience, she prayed all night with tears to the Mother of God, and next morning she found to her joy that she could enter the church without difficulty. After venerating the Holy Cross , she left Jerusalem on that same day, made her way over the River Jordan, and settled as a solitary in a remote region of the desert. Here for 47 years she remained, hidden from the world, until she was eventually found by the ascetic Saint Zosimas, who was able to give her Holy Communion shortly before her death.

Knowing the significance of repentance, it is most appropriate that we recount the life of Saint Mary of Egypt, the true model of penitence. Our Holy Orthodox Church very wisely placed Saint Mary’s life before us to encourage everyone during this holy season of Lent to repent of sins and transgressions committed by us and seek God’s forgiveness. We believe that no one is without sin but Christ alone. One sins daily, hourly, and from minute to minute, by thought, word or deed. The Church is a place of cleansing and healing. It is a hospital for the spiritually infirm that need a physician and medical attention. Sin injures the soul above all else and therefore the only one who can cure our infirmities is our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ, the Physician of our souls and bodies. The Orthodox Christian is aware that he or she enters the church not only to praise and to worship God but to be restored back to health by Him.

Our life of disobedience of God’s commandments has become a spiritual desert. Without God’s presence and grace life itself becomes a wasteland and a place of death. And just like Saint Mary we wander throughout this desert to find a safe place, an oasis which would provide us with shade from the hot sun, water to drink,to wash off the dust, and cool off, and perhaps even find something to eat in order to survive. All those necessities of life are found in the Church if we truly desire to.

The Divine Mysteries (Sacraments) of the Church offer us vital medicine, cleansing, nourishment, healing, forgiveness, reconciliation and restoration. The Divine Mysteries such as Baptism, Chrismation, Holy Eucharist, Holy Oil (Unction), Confession, are offered to those who believe and are members of the Orthodox Church, the Body of Christ, for their spiritual welfare and salvation. Orthodox Christians benefit from the “Holy Mysteries” through experiencing God’s grace, healing and renewal., as they are understood as tangible expressions of God’s saving power, allowing participants to encounter our Lord Christ and share in his victory over sin and death. The Holy Mysteries of the Church facilitate spiritual growth, healing, and renewal, helping believers to live a life closer to God and to a life in accordance with His will and commandments.

Through participating in the Mystery of Repentance/Reconciliation (Confession) according to the Orthodox Church, the faithful receive forgiveness of sins committed, When we sin, our relationship to God and to others becomes distorted. Sin is ultimately alienation from God, from our fellow human beings, and from our own true self which is created in God’s image and likeness. Through this Mystery (Sacrament), Our Lord Christ continues to heal those broken in spirit and restore God’s agape (love) to those who are lost. According to the Orthodox Church, the penitent confesses to the Almighty God and is forgiven by Him. The priest or father Confessor is the sacramental witness who represents both our Lord Christ and His people. However, the priest is understood not as a judge, but as a physician and spiritual guide or counsel.

The Mystery of the Holy Eucharist, which is known as the Divine Liturgy, is the central and most important worship in the Orthodox Church. Referred to as “the Sacrament of Sacraments,” it is the Church’s celebration of the Death and Resurrection of Christ offered every Lord’s Day (Sunday) and Holy Day. All the other Mysteries lead toward and flow from the Divine Eucharist, which is the center of the life of the Church. Through the reception of Holy Communion the Orthodox Christian receives, “remission of sins and life eternal.” Also, by receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, the believer becomes one with Christ and all those fellow Orthodox Christians who participated. The Eucharist (literally “thanksgiving”) is the Mystery in which the bread and wine of offering are changed by the Holy Spirit into the true Body and Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the believers receive communion of the for a MOST INTIMATE UNION WITH CHRIST AND ETERNAL LIFE. The Lord Christ said: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His Blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood dwelleth in Me, and I in him” (John 6:53-56).

The Mystery of Holy Baptism incorporates us into the Church, the Body of Christ, and is our introduction to the life of the Holy Trinity. Water is a natural symbol of cleansing and newness of life. Through the three-fold immersion in the water of Baptism in the Name of the Holy Trinity, one dies to the old ways of sin and is born to a new life in Christ. The Mystery of Baptism serves as the door leading into the Kingdom of Grace, or the Church, and it grants access to participation in the other Mysteries. Jesus Christ speaking to Nicodemus indicated the absolute necessity of it for salvation: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Again He says, “Verily, verily , I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” [John 3:3-6].

The Mystery of Chrismation follows immediately after Baptism. As the ministry of Christ was enlivened by the Holy Spirit, and the preaching of the Holy Apostles strengthened by the Spirit, so is the life of each Orthodox Christian sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Chrismation, which is referred to as one’s personal Pentecost, is the Mystery which imparts the Spirit in a mystical way. After a prayer is offered the priest anoints the baptized person with the holy chrism, and he makes the sign of the Cross upon the forehead and the eyes, and the nostrils and the mouth and the two ears and the breast and the hands, and the feet, and says: “THE SEAL OF THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Amen.

In the Anointing of the Sick (Holy Unction) holy oil is used to anoint the faithful. The Mystery of Holy Unction (Gk. Efcheleon) is a sacred action in which, while the body is anointed with oil, the Grace of God which heals infirmities of soul and body is called down upon a sick person. It is performed by a gathering of presbyters, ideally seven in number; however, it can be performed by a lesser number and even by a single priest.
The clearest testimony of the Mystery of Unction is to be found in the Apostle James (Gk. Iakovos) (5:14-15): “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders (presbyters) of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he hath committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”

There are of course other Mysteries such as the Mystery of Priesthood, the Mystery of Marriage, And along with the Mysteries or Sacraments there are many important divine services and blessings offered to the faithful. However, we receive the Grace of God and sanctification through the Mysteries. By the Grace of God, the Grace of Christ, is to be understood the whole economy of our salvation, performed by the coming of the Son of God to earth, by His earthly life, His death on the Cross, His Resurrection, and His Ascension into heaven: “For by Grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast” [Ephesians 2:8-9]. Also, Grace is the name applied to the Gifts of the Holy Spirit which have been sent down and are being sent down to the Church of Christ for THE SANCTIFICATION OF ITS MEMBERS, FOR THEIR SPIRITUAL GROWTH, AND FOR THE ATTAINMENT BY THEM OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

The Holy Church of Christ is a treasure-house filled with the Grace of the Holy Spirit. Saint Mary of Egypt repented of her sins and dedicated the rest of her life, 47 years, atoning for them in the desert. She found God in the wilderness and through Him she found healing of body and soul. Not only was she sanctified but by the Grace of God attained holiness. Abba [Father] Zosimas recounts when he and Mary prayed together he witnessed something most inspiring. He said, “One could not hear separate words, so that Zosimas could not understand anything that she said in her prayers. Meanwhile he stood, according to his own words, all in a flutter, looking at the ground without saying a word. And he swore, calling God to witness, that when at length he thought that her prayer was very long, he took his eyes off the ground and saw that she was raised about a forearm’s distance from the ground and stood praying in the air.”

There so much to learn from Saint Mary of Egypt and her good example of penitence, what it means, and how very necessary it is to truly repent. REPENTANCE or “metanoia,” in Greek, literally means a change of mind and a radical transformation of one’s thoughts, attitudes, lifestyle, philosophy and a return to God, reuniting with Christ through the grace of the Holy Spirit. True repentance is a continuous process of self-examination, confession, and striving for holiness. Repentance is the path to forgiveness and reconciliation with God and is essential for spiritual growth and spiritual maturity. Repentance is the key to breaking free from the power of evil and sin. It takes a total commitment and obedience to Christ’s commandments and to be willing to live a virtuous life. We must emulate the Prodigal son who when he came to his senses said: “I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father…” [Luke 15:18-20]. [Resources: Orthodox Dogmatic Theology]

___________
“Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!”
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George