Marie l'Égyptienne
v. 344-v. 421 4th century Feast day: April 1
The turning of a life, and the long patience of conversion.
Who was Marie l'Égyptienne?
A young Egyptian who left early for Alexandria, she long led a dissolute life, until an unexpected force stopped her at the door of a church in Jerusalem. Shaken, she crossed the Jordan and vanished into the desert, where she lived nearly fifty years alone, in repentance and prayer. A monk, Zosimas, gathered her story shortly before her death, and it is through him that she is known.
In their own words
An unseen force kept me from crossing the threshold; and I understood then that it was the weight of my life that held me out.
For seventeen years I struggled in the desert with my desires as with wild beasts.