Mary of Egypt would have been an Egyptian grazer saint dwelling in Palestine during Late antiquity or the Early Middle Ages. She is highly venerated as a Desert Mother in the Eastern Orthodox and Coptic Churches. The Catholic Church commemorates her as a patron saint of penitents.
Icon of Saint Mary of Egypt, surrounded by scenes from her life (17th century, Beliy Gorod).
Icon of Mary of Egypt being handed a cloak by Zosimas, French, 15th century (British Library)
The Temple of Portunus, Rome, was preserved by being rededicated to Santa Maria Egiziaca in 872.
Marie of Egypt (Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois).
The grazers or boskoi are a category of hermits and anchorites, men and women, in Christianity, that developed in the first millennium of the Christian era, mainly in the Christian East, in Syria, Palestine, Pontus, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. However, the majority of them were situated in Palestine and Syria.
Saint Paul, "The First Hermit", Jusepe de Ribera, Museo del Prado (1640)
Russian-style icon of Saint Mary of Egypt, surrounded by scenes from her life (17th century, Beliy Gorod).
Mar Saba monastery, founded by the disciples of Sabbas the Sanctified, a Palestinian grazer hermit and monk
Paul the Hermit, by Jusepe de Ribera (1644)
