With John the Evangelist squeezing past Phoebe 52% to 48%, in a tighter race than predicted by most penitential pundits, the first battle of the Saintly Sixteen is set. John will face Peter in a matchup of Biblical titans.
Today, Mary of Egypt faces Richard Hooker as the 3rd century touches up against the 16th. Impossible to compare these two saintly souls, you cry? This is madness, you declare? Of course it is! Lent Madness! Also, just wait...
In the meantime, we wanted to take a moment to again thank all eleven of our 2018 Celebrity Bloggers. Not all of them have yet had a saint thrust into the glare of the Lent Dome in these early days of Lent. But if you're wondering just who they all are, click on the Celebrity Bloggers tab.
Mary of Egypt
Mary of Egypt is unique among female saints. She is not described as young or beautiful. She is not wealthy or educated, and she does not have important connections. She is not martyred, and she is not a virgin. She does not reject her family. Instead of finding a male mentor or teacher, Mary teaches a famously pious monk about true humility.
Mary was born in Egypt in the third century before moving to Alexandria at the tender age of twelve. The earliest accounts of her life report that she was a prostitute. Some time later, she heard of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to venerate the cross. She sailed for Jerusalem, using her body as payment for the journey. Upon arriving at the church, a powerful force would not let her enter. She realized that her sins prevented entry. She repented, and the Virgin Mary appeared and forgave her. In that moment, Mary of Egypt renounced the world.
Legend has it that while at the church, Mary was given three coins with which she purchased three loaves of bread. She took those loaves across the Jordan River and lived off them for forty-seven years until the monk Zosimus found her. When he happened upon her, she was naked, her body blackened and burned by the sun. She had not had the eucharist in all her time in the desert so she asked Zosimus to return the following Easter with communion.
When he returned, he found Mary standing across the Jordan. She made the sign of the cross and walked across the water. After partaking of the sacrament, she walked across the river and returned to the wilderness.
The next year, Zosimus returned to the Jordan but did not find her. He went to the place where they first met and found her body. Written in the sand was a request to bury her. Zosimus tried but could not dig in the hard ground. A gentle lion then approached, and Zosimus asked the lion to help dig a suitable grave. The lion complied, and Zosimus buried Mary—and then returned to his monastery, glorifying God.
Collect for Mary of Egypt
O God, by whose grace your servant Mary of Egypt, kindled with the flame of your love, became a burning and a shining light in your Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and walk before you as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Richard Hooker
Presbyterians have John Calvin. Lutherans have Martin Luther. Methodists have John Wesley. For Anglicans, the name is Richard Hooker. One of the most influential Anglican thinkers, Richard is credited with creating the theological foundation of scripture, tradition, and reason. His approach to theology has traditionally been regarded as the beginning of the Anglican via media (or middle way) between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.
Born in 1553/54 near Exeter, England, Richard became a fellow at Corpus Christi College in Oxford in 1577 and was ordained a priest two years later. After a few years serving as a tutor and a preacher, Richard became Master of the Temple Church in London, a prominent pulpit at the time. He later served churches in Boscombe, Salisbury, and Bishopsbourne.
When a controversy erupted with the Puritans, Richard published his magnum opus, Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. The book offered a critique of Puritanism and a defense of the Church of England and The Book of Common Prayer. In his book, Richard articulated seven forms of law—from eternal law to ecclesiastical law. He pointed out that minor theological disagreements were adiáfora—a thing indifferent—to God. What was more important to Richard was the piety of the person or people involved.
Richard’s treatises continue to be foundational to Anglican thought today, and his works are credited with influencing not only theology but also political theory and English prose.
He died on November 3, 1600, while serving as rector of a parish near Canterbury. He is buried in the chancel of Saint Mary the Virgin, Bishopsbourne, and his feast day is celebrated on November 3.
Collect for Richard Hooker
O God of truth and peace, you raised up your servant Richard Hooker in a day of bitter controversy to defend with sound reasoning and great charity the catholic and reformed religion: Grant that we may maintain that middle way, not as a compromise for the sake of peace, but as a comprehension for the sake of truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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254 comments on “Mary of Egypt vs. Richard Hooker”
Gotta vote for the Anglican
Mary of Egypt's story has too much of the “women are carnal and unclean” theme for my taste. Richard Hooker played that difficult role in challenging times of an informed moderate.
Richard for me especially being with the Episcopal church, Mary another fact or fiction for me.
Calvin gave his name to the Calvinists. Luther to the Lutherans. So glad our theologian Richard Hooker came along a generation after "Church of England" had already been coined.
!!
Hooker it is!
Mary’s story sounds more like a fable.
PS. Dont mean to sound disrespectful of the SEC but was pitting Hooker against a prostitute intentional?
I appreciate your ecclesiastical wit in pairing prostitute and Hooker. You had me at "not a virgin." I considered voting for Mary until I realized the story was a fantastical mishmash of tawdry miracles that would have delighted pub goers: a sunburned and charred ("kindled" and "burning" says the collect in an unfortunately literal image) but saintly stick of human firewood is left in the sand as a piece of dessicated barbeque to be buried as inedible by a lion. Gross. Hooker however was a revelation as the source of the via media. I learned about the Anglican "three-legged stool" from an early rector. The via media is quintessentially Anglican. The concept of "things indifferent" reminds me of Thomas Aquinas; it sounds Aristotelian. The effort to find a way forward through the human mind, to come up with a doctrine that unites tradition, reason, and revelation is so worthy in my eyes that I enthusiastically vote for Hooker. When I think of the via media in the light of issues facing us today, I realize that we live in an extremist environment in which the center has fallen apart. "Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world." The via media is a rational principle to guide us, not the reality we live in. But we can see how wide, how far wide, we are from the beloved community and use that principle as an Ignatian "standard" beneath which we can navigate our way toward true democracy and a good society.
Eloquent. Especially compared to my comments, which seem to be tending toward the snarky this season. I’m praying for an extra dose of charity.
We are in need of mighty warriors such as yourself to fight folly during Lent:
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snark!
He left it dead, and with its head
Galumphed back to the ark.
Wishing you victory over all uncharitable forces in this world.
And from the sublime to the ridiculous:
(Sung to the tune of "God Bless America"--I'm missing some of the words in my middle-aged brain. Learned it in choir when I was confirmed some 30 years ago. I offer this song in love and with apologies to my Lutheran and Presbyterian friends.)
I am an Anglican,
I'm C of E,
Not the high church, nor the low church,
(Something something) and sanctified and free.
Not a Lutheran, nor a Presby,
Nor a Baptist white with foam.
I am an Anglican,
just one step from Rome!
I am an Anglican,
Via Media--that's me!
I'm hearing Sting:
I'm an alien, I'm a legal alien,
I'm an Englishman in New York.
I'm an Anglican, I'm a real Anglican,
I'm a member of C of E.
Susan Lee Hauser,
I learned he 4th verse of "I am an Anglican" as "I am Catholic and Protestant and free" and the last verses as as "I am an Anglican, just one step from Rome, I am an Anglican, via media, boom boom."
Love the part about minor disagreements being unimportant. To paraphrase Rabbi Hillel, "Love God, love your neighbour, all the rest is commentary".
Mary has a more moving story in my opinion. I’m also beginning to wonder why this game seems to put women versus men.
Some might think this is adiáfora, but I don't. In the section on Mary of Egypt it is written that the former (alleged) hooker "repented, and the Virgin Mary appeared and forgave her."
I would like to point out that while the Mother of our Lord may have appeared to her Egyptian namesake, she, who is always pointing at her Son in iconography, would have pronounced God's absolution and God's forgiveness of Mary of Egypt's sins. The same Mary that will never be on a Lent Madness bracket because it would be unfair to every other Saint ever, would absolutely know that it is God alone who forgives sin (Luke 7:49). [Yes we can and should forgive those who sin against us, but please show me where it shows that Mary of Egypt sinned against Mary of Nazareth.]
Additionally, I was troubled that Mary of Egypt's response was to go live in the wilderness where she only received Communion once in 40+ years and basically had little opportunity to share the good news of God's love, grace, & forgiveness with others on a regular basis.
Furthermore, Evelyn nicely and Biblically summed up the contrast between the two Saints in her comment.
Richard Hooker & the BCP are our head and heart; he ably rebutted Puritanism and supported the beautiful prayer book—coudn’t not vote for him!
I started the reading thinking Mary was my kind of girl - not young or beautiful, well educated or well connected, not a martyr or a virgin. But then - she was a prostitute? So if a woman is none of the former she is the latter?
Today I choose the saintliness of a life lived in thoughtful and faithful manner. Here, here for the middle way!
Mary for not being a virgin, although I don't think that should even be something to be mentioned one way or the other.
Mary of Egypt was a little exhausting to read about. Whew!
I needed a bit more of a likely (vs. mythical) story this morning, so Richard Hooker it was for me. But I may feel differently another day!
Richard Hooker, for understanding that squabbling about minutiae does not a viable church make.
I decided to vote for Mary this morning. Not because Mr. Hooker (ironic?) isn't deserving, but because I think I will vote for every female candidate for the Golden Halo whose resume starts with prostitution. I can't help but wonder why? Is it because she was an eager prostitute? In which case, prostitute to sainthood, a path to be hugely admired. Is it because she was a victim of her time, and the only way she could survive and support herself was by prostitution, for which she would be condemned by all around her who gave her few other options? Or, was she disruptive and the only way the men in power could deal with her was to call her a prostitute, thus diminishing her power and naming her evil. I wonder about these things, but don't have time to research her this morning. I doubt I would find much of herstory available anyway.
I'd have to say I was not moved by Mary's story either. It is all too sad. Fantastic, yes, particularly that "gentle lion," but normally that is the sort of thing I appreciate in these stories. But Richard Hooker's foundational work in Episcopal theology, plus as others have mentioned his regard for piety as opposed to dogma, made the difference in my vote. Of course, that he's also a Richard is key, too!
I recall reading somewhere that Richard Hooker defended the faithfulness of former (Roman) catholic English - such as the parents and ancestors of those living in his time - when it was alleged that they must not have been saved because of being papists and such. I hope someone else can either find a reference for this or rule it out - but his charity in this instance moved me. The Reformation in England was brutal at times, as we look at the faithful martyrs on every side of the various controversies. I love the Episcopal Church and our Anglican heritage, but I marvel at someone like Hooker who managed to keep both his head and his heart.
No contest for me here. Christian unity (or the lack thereof) is an issue close to my heart. Hooker's articulation of the via media and his view of adiáfora endear him to me. Apart from the obviously legendary aspects of Mary's story, I will pretty much always vote for a saint who serves the Lord within society over a saint who seals her-/himself off from society as a hermit.
DAMN Mary. I can’t compete!
For an Episcopalian, it has to be Hooker. And my father's name was Richard.
Mine’s was Fred, but I voted for Richard anyway. There is a St. Fred, but it’ll be a dry season in the Lentorium before he turns up in these pages.
I believe there have been many calls for Mr. Rogers to be included in the saintly lineup. NEXT YEAR PLEASE. That will be an excellent opportunity to vote for St. Fred.
Haha, I didn't know you two were in the Fred-for-the-halo group!
No contest! Hooker! If folks thought Quiteria was impossible, Mary joins her in that slot!
Voting for Mary of Egypt cuz she was unknown to me before this!
Also, I want to quibble with the word use of the blurb. First, which Alexandria did she move to at 12? Second, yes, her story is about going from being a sex worker to living alone in the desert for the most part, but I would like to read more value neutral language about it. Instead of reading, “using her body as payment for the journey [to Jerusalem]”, I would feel much more comfortable reading something that did not imply that her passive body was being sold as an object for trade, but rather something along the lines of: she sold sexual services to pay for her pilgrimage.
In honoring Mary of Egypt, it is important to honor every part, accurately describing her agency in following her call. God, I am sure, was with her every step of the way.
I had to vote for the man who ranked "reason" as important as "tradition" and "Scripture." We need that now more than ever.
Hear hear.
As an Episcopalian, I’m aware that Hooker is the closest thing we have to a patron saint, so I feel like a bit of an infidel in not voting for him! (Not voting AGAINST him, mind you, just voting for Mary of Egypt instead.) Hooker has already gotten centuries of recognition, after all!
But I can’t resist such a fantastic story of repentance and redemption as Mary’s, even if it is a flight of someone’s fancy...
Haha, didn't recognize it at first, but knew it must be Lewis Carroll.
And Davis, if that is what you sound like when you think you're being snarky, I'd hate to be caught in the fallout of your full-out snarkiness!
It is indeed vorpal.
A terrific point. Flights of Fancy win souls, after all!
I love Mary's story. I really wanted to vote for her for all the reasons put forth. I'm sure prostitution was her way to keep from starving and then, when she knew the Lord, He gave her enough bread for over 40 years. And the lion showing up to help dig her grave is great--I have big dogs who would do that for me. But I voted for Richard. Gifts to the church, common sense, etc. etc. Will put Mary of Egypt with Christina the Astonishing as favorites that I didn't vote for.
As someone who has struggled with sexual sin, Mary's story resonates with me. I voted for her, but Hooker is pretty important for Anglicanism.
I found Mary’s story to be a bit much but I appreciate Richard’s work to find middle ground.
47 years on three loaves? Really?
Even though I am of the Anglican (Episcopal) tradition and love the idea of the "media via," I sympathize with Mary of Egypt whose story includes depiction as a prostitute. Having recently read Mary Beard's Women and Power, I can't help but wonder how much of Mary of Egypt's backstory was embellished and filled in by men who perhaps assumed that the only way an unmarried woman could make her way in the world was through selling herself. On the other hand, in a patriarchal ancient society, this was often the only available way.