The Life of Blessed Mary of Egypt
19th century
Russian Icon
Moving counter-clockwise from the upper left we see six episodes in the story of this saint:
1. Some one appears to Zosimus and tells him, "Go to the monastery that lies near the Jordan."
2. During his Lenten sojourn in the wilderness, he sees an apparition and tries to follow, but it runs away.
3. The apparition is the hermit Mary of Egypt, who tells Zosimus to give her his cloak because her clothes have rotted away. He does so, and she tells him her story.
4. The following year he returns to give Mary communion.
5. The year after that, he arrives to find her dead. A lion digs her a grave with its paws.
6. At the very top of the icon, an angel takes Mary's soul to Christ in Heaven.
Read more about images of St. Mary of Egypt.
Source: this page at Wikimedia Commons.
