But, as I asked you in the beginning, so even now I implore you for the sake of the Incarnate word of God, to pray to the Lord for me who am such a sinner.” But the word of God which is alive and active, by itself teaches a man knowledge. I have never even heard anyone who sang and read from them. I have not seen a beast or a living being ever since I came into the desert.
“Believe me, I have not seen a human face ever since I crossed the Jordan, except yours today. After years alone with God, her body and soul lie naked and exposed to the Kingdom of God. When she encounters the monk Zosimas he tosses her his cloak. Without distractions from the world, the Word of God resonates within her heart. She fights the demons within herself, while receiving strong nourishment and consolation from God. Mary of Egypt struggles in the desert alone with God the desert is the setting for a long journey toward her heart. She departs on a difficult journey away from herself and toward God, and this journey lasts for nearly a half century. “If you cross the Jordan you will find glorious rest.” Mary offers another prayer to the Theotokos and receives this direct guidance: Then I came out of the church and went to her who had promised to be my security, to the place where I had sealed my vow.” Throwing myself on the ground, I worshipped that holy earth and kissed it with trembling. I saw too the Mysteries of God and how the Lord accepts repentance.
And so it was I saw the Lifegiving Cross. Having got as far as the doors which I could not reach before - as if the same force which had hindered me cleared the way for me - I now entered without difficulty and found myself within the holy place. I was possessed with trembling, and was almost in delirium. And no one seemed to thwart me, no one hindered my entering the church. And I went again and mingled with the crowd that was pushing its way into the temple. “Thus I spoke and as if acquiring some hope in firm faith and feeling some confidence in the mercy of the Mother of God, I left the place where I stood praying. Turning, with tears in her eyes, she offers a prayer before an icon of the Theotokos. Once again I was excluded by the same mighty force and again I stood in the porch.” It was as if there was a detachment of soldiers standing there to oppose my entrance. I alone seemed to remain unaccepted by the church. Again my feet trod on the doorstep over which others were entering the church without encountering any obstacle. Mary of Egypt freezes on the threshold of the church repelled by unseen forces within her heart, while others around her rush toward the cross. I see this cloak as she approaches the church in Jerusalem with a heavy heart and stops on the doorstep. Sophronios, Patriarch of Jerusalem, in the seventh century. She wears the cloak throughout the story recorded for us 100 years after her death in 522 by St. She wears a cloak in my mind, and the cloak is more than an outer garment given to her by the monk Zosimas when he stumbles across her wandering in the desert.
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