Photo: Valaam.ru
This is a long service, which happens only once a year. During it, the entire Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete is read from start to finish (during the first week of Great Lent, it was read in four parts from Monday to Thursday), and the Life of St. Mary of Egypt is joined to it.
***
St. Mary lived in the desert for forty-seven years in fasting and prayer, and attained great sanctity. The only person who saw St. Mary after her departure to the desert was hieromonk Zosima. She told him her story.
The service of the Standing of St. Mary. Photo: Valaam.ru
The service of the Standing of St. Mary. Photo: Valaam.ru
The service of the Standing of St. Mary. Photo: Valaam.ru
The service of the Standing of St. Mary. Photo: Valaam.ru
The service of the Standing of St. Mary. Photo: Valaam.ru
The service of the Standing of St. Mary. Photo: Valaam.ru
At age twelve, she left her family and went to Alexandria, where she became a harlot. But one day, after a miraculous incident, she changed her life completely. On the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord, Mary joined herself to a group of pilgrims that was travelling to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem she tried to enter the church, but an unknown force prevented her. The harlot began to pray before the icon of the Mother of God that hung in the church narthex. After praying, Mary was able to enter the church and venerate the Cross. When she left the church, she heard the voice of the Theotokos, who said, “If you cross the Jordan, you will find blessed peace.”
The service of the Standing of St. Mary. Photo: Valaam.ru
The tradition concerning St. Mary of Egypt was passed on orally until the seventh century, when it was committed to writing by Sophronius of Jerusalem. The full text of her life can be found here.
This text, according to the holy fathers of the Fourth Ecumenical Council (692)—and that is when the service of the Great Canon of Repentance of St. Andrew of Crete and the Life of St. Mary of Egypt were compiled—can give hope even to those who think they are in desperate straits, and to those who do not believe that they are capable of worthily finishing the fast and greeting the Resurrection of Christ. The Standing of St. Mary is a service that comforts the suffering, and arouses the faithful to continue their ascetic labor of fasting and repentance.
The service of the Standing of St. Mary. Photo: A.Goryainov / Pravoslavie.ru
The service of the Standing of St. Mary. Photo: A.Goryainov / Pravoslavie.ru
