Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt

The Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt is celebrated by Orthodox Christians on the fifth Sunday of Great Lent, and also on April 1. St. Mary was a sinful, lustful woman who repented and became devout. She is seen as the least worthy person, who through God's mercy became a treasure chosen by God. She is revered as a patron saint of penitent women. On the fifth Sunday of Great Lent, St. Mary of Egypt is the subject of sermons during the Divine Liturgy. On this day, Orthodox priests typically bless dried fruit after the services. More...

I wonder if anyone can believe the story that St. Mary told about not being able to enter a church in Jerusalem due to a great force impeding her entrance? It seems pure poppycock to me.
Would a just and merciful God intervene in this one instance, but let monstrous atrocities go uncontested?
Primo Levi, a holocaust survivor, was so shocked when he would see a man on his knees to God thanking him for sparing him from the selection process for death only to see that same man selected for death the next day.
Levi faced the same selection process the following day and almost conceded to prayer only to tell himself:
"A prayer under these conditions would have been only absurd but blasphemous, obscene, laden with the greatest impiety of which a nonbeliever is capable. I rejected the temptation: I knew that otherwise were I to survive I would have to be ashamed of It." --The Drowned and the Saved (1986)
I wonder if anyone can believe the story that St. Mary told about not being able to enter a church in Jerusalem due to a great force impeding her entrance? It seems pure poppycock to me.
Would a just and merciful God intervene in this one instance, but let monstrous atrociites go uncontested?
Primo Levi, a holocaust survivor, was so shocked when he would see a man on his knees to God thanking him for sparing him from the selection process for death only to see that same man selected for death the next day.
Levi faced the same selection process the following day and almost conceded to prayer only to tell himself "A prayer under these conditions would have been only only absurd but blasphemous, obscene, laen with the greatest impiety of which a nonbeliever is capable. I rejectd the temptation: I knew that otherwise were I to survive I would have to be ashamed of it." --The Drowned and the Saved (1986)

hail Mary full of grace.

You sound very Catholic johnfl... none of my Church of England friends know this prayer as the Church of England does not accept Mary was a virgin so they do not use it!

To Marguerite: I could not read The Drowned and The Saved. I remember buying it and trying to read it, but having to put it down. Even now, I cannot bear to look at the cover of the book.

Women have always, most generally, been portrayed badly in literature.