The “Effort of Saint Mary of Egypt” – or the Fifth Thursday of Great Lent

By priest Marco Mannino Giorgi

The “Effort of Saint Mary of Egypt” is the name of the Matins service for the
Thursday of the fifth week of Lent (although it is usually celebrated on Wednesday
evening). During this Matins service, the Great Penitential Canon and the Life of the
Venerable Mary of Egypt are read in full. The hagiography is divided into two parts:
the first is read after the kathisma; the second is read after the third ode.
The reading of the Great Penitential Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete is the principal
feature of this Matins service. This practice originated around the 9th century, and its
history is as follows.
On March 17, 790 A.D., Constantinople was struck by an earthquake. The event was
of such magnitude that it was ultimately included in the Menologion of Emperor
Basil II. The Typikon of the Great Church for March 17 mentions a special reading
from the Old Testament for the Sixth Hour and special readings for the Liturgy of the
Presanctified Gifts, such as prokeimena, Old Testament readings, readings from the
Acts of the Apostles, and from the Gospel. Furthermore, special prokeimena and Old
Testament readings for March 17 were read in place of the regular readings.
Considering that the Typikon of the Great Church assigned special readings to only
four days in March aside from the commemoration of the earthquake on March 17,
and that only three feasts—the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, the Holy Patriarch Thomas
of Constantinople (March 22), and the Annunciation of the Most Holy Mother of God
(March 25)—received this honor, it becomes clear that the memory of the earthquake
was an important date in the Menologion.
During the earthquake, the nuns of the monastery of Saint Patapios (a 7th-century
saint commemorated on December 8) in Constantinople went out into the square for
fear of being buried under the rubble and began to read this penitential canon. This
precedent influenced the later association of the Great Canon with the memory of the
earthquake; thus, its ecclesiastical use became primarily linked to the day on which
the liturgical commemoration of the earthquake was held.
It is possible that the Great Canon was first assigned for reading on the fixed date of
March 17. Indeed, the Great Canon, as a penitential work (a model of repentance),
was the ideal liturgical text for such a memorial: in the biblical and Christian
worldview, an earthquake is always perceived as God’s judgment upon a sinful
people, with repentance as the natural response to such an event.
Initially, the commemoration of the earthquake “wandered” through the Triodion,
falling on different dates. Later, due to the inconvenience of such a situation, it wasdecided to associate the service of the Great Canon with a fixed date in the Triodion.
The Thursday of the fifth week was chosen; this occurred in the second half of the 9th
century (however, the Great Canon was firmly fixed to this date much later, since in
the 9th and up to the 11th century it was still read on different days of Lent). Why?
Probably one reason was that during Vespers on Thursday a passage from the Old
Testament concerning the destruction of Sodom is read. With this in mind, it was
decided to commemorate on this day another calamity sent from heaven: an
earthquake.
From the 11th century onward, the hagiography and the troparia in honor of Saint
Mary of Egypt were also added to the Thursday service of the fifth week.
Interestingly, the Typikon of Alexios the Studite (early 11th century) contains neither
the hagiography nor the troparia of the canon of Saint Mary of Egypt. However, the
Typikon of the Evergetis Monastery (late 11th–early 12th century) already includes
both. It is believed that the main reason for adding the hagiography was that it was
conceptually linked to the canon: Saint Mary of Egypt embodied in her life the ideal
of true and profound repentance described by Saint Andrew in his canon. After the
addition of the hagiography, the troparia of the canon were also added. It is worth
noting that these troparia present a special set of prayers; they have their own acrostic
and differ from the troparia of the other two commemorations of Saint Mary of
Egypt: the canon of the menaion for April 1 and the canon of the fifth Sunday of
Lent. That said, the troparia of Saint Mary of Egypt did not immediately take their
present place. The Typikon of the Evergetis Monastery indicates that the canon of
Saint Mary of Egypt was not to be read together with the Great Canon, but at the
pannychis, that is, a late evening office distinct from Vespers (indeed, another canon,
in the Sixth Tone, composed by Saint Symeon the New Theologian, is designated for
use). Moreover, these troparia are even absent in some 14th-century manuscripts,
while the first printed Triodion books do not include troparia to the saint in Ode II of
the canon.
The reading of the Life of Saint Mary of Egypt is a memorable feature of this service.
Furthermore, it is the only reading among the various hagiographies and
interpretative readings prescribed by the Typikon that is still in use in our parishes.
The name “Effort of Saint Mary of Egypt” derives from the fact that, in 17th-century
rubrics, there is still a note prescribing the performance of one thousand prostrations
during the Great Canon, and because the life of the Egyptian saint is read; however,
the name does not appear as the official title of the day, even though it is widely used
in popular tradition.