Sometime in the year 421 or 530, an utterly obscure woman from Egypt fell asleep in the desert of the Holy Land. Her burial place was intentionally unmarked and remains unknown. However, every year in the Orthodox Church, she is remembered by the name of Mary of Egypt and her life (written by St. Sophronios in the 7th century) is read in the Church. One of the Sundays of Great Lent is dedicated to her memory. She is an example of the many thousands of monastics whose lives and spiritual feats remain unknown to the world in which we live. That we know nothing about them makes no difference. And they, of all people, were comfortable with that anonymity.
In the wonderful novel, Laurus, Russian author, Eugene Vodolazkin creates the character of a Holy Fool. Modeled on a variety of persons scattered across Orthodox history, his fool, Laurus, dies in obscurity, falsely accused of a crime. Though vindicated after his death, he left instructions that his body was to be dragged into the forest and forgotten. He doesn’t even request a burial.
In the Sunday Liturgy, Orthodox Churches that follow Slavic practice, sing, “Remember us, O Lord, when you come into Your Kingdom.” There is within that prayer the subtle suggestion that such memory is the only one that matters. I can think of nothing that negates the claims of a secular world more than such a sentiment.
Faced with the threats of Roman power, Christ said to Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” (John 18:36) This, however, is not Christ saying that this world does not matter. The hidden message within His response to Pilate is that His kingdom, though not of this world, is even now entering into this world. It is in light of this kingdom alone that all history will be judged. What Rome is able to do does not matter because the kingdom of God cannot be altered or erased by anything in this world.
That understanding formed the substance of the faith of the martyrs. There is nothing that the powers of this world can do against the kingdom of God. Nothing.
It has become popular in many circles to give place to certain secular claims. We are told be many well-meaning Christians that political action is important. Christians, in sufficient numbers can accomplish great good: write good laws, address injustice, make the world a better place. I know the arguments. I’ve rehearsed them and pondered them for years.
And then there is St. Mary of Egypt. There are the many, many thousands (millions?) of saints unnamed through the ages. Virtually all of them are nowhere to be found on the Church’s calendar other than the feast of All Saints. There is an unwritten belief, rehearsed from time to time, that at any given moment of history, God sustains the universe in existence through the prayers of but three individuals (I’ve seen various small numbers used in this saying). I believe it to be so. I know that my feeble prayers are not numbered among the three. However, I also believe that all prayer, on some level, participates in the power credited to those three.
We do not see nor do we know or remember the good things God has prepared for those who love Him. We all live in obscurity whether we know it or not. To be known of God and remembered by Him is the only true existence.
Remember us, O Lord, when You come into Your kingdom!
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