St. Mary of Egypt is the only saint whose life is read from the pulpit during a special divine service dedicated to her memory. In the fifth week of Great Lent, which is entirely dedicated to St. Mary, a solemn matins is always served, called the "St Mary's Standing", which includes the Great Penitential Canon of St. Andrew of Crete and the life of the Saint. Usually, the story of her life is told the way Zosima, the holy elder who labored in one of the desert monasteries, wrote about her. During Great Lent, when the brethren of the monastery left the monastery walls in order to spend the holy days in solitude, Elder Zosima went into the desert. There, far away from people, in the very heart of the Egyptian desert, he suddenly noticed a strange man, rather, a light shadow gliding along the bed of a dried-up river.

Realizing that in front of him was a great ascetic hermit, the elder wanted to approach the stranger, but when he saw him, he ran away. Finally, Zosima persuaded the ascetic to stop. It turned out that there was a woman who had lived in the Egyptian desert for more than forty years, like an angel, without shelter, clothing, or food provided by humans. Completely surrendering to the will of God, she performed a feat of repentance that brought her closer to divine dispassion.: She rose above the earth during prayer, walked on the waters of the Jordan, understood the Holy Scriptures, never studying.

The monk told the elder about her past life, how, having left her father's house in her youth, she indulged in debauchery and how, thanks to the admonition from the Mother of God, she realized her sin. It happened in Jerusalem on the feast of the Holy Cross, when everyone went to the temple to worship the Life-giving Tree. And today, with her unceasing prayers in heaven, she is able to bring any repentant sinner back to the true path and give strength in faith and chastity.