Mary Jane Miller : Mary of Egypt and John the Baptist

Miller, Mary Jane

Mary Jane Miller

<p style='text-align: justify;'> The creation of this icon is unprecedented, it appeared suddenly; and the idea and actual image were effortlessly given. The time spent working on the icon opened new meditations and inspired thoughts about women in icons. Few icons in an iconographer's collection underscore personal interior changes like this one did for me. John holds an empty scroll while conversing with Mary of Egypt, their common foundation is cracked or cracking from dryness or age. Finding these two desert mystics in the same icon fulfills one of the great iconographical precepts; icons distort time and space. These two lived at different times and, therefore, did not know one another. John lived at the beginning of our Lord's ministry, delivering his message of repentance to his followers. Legend says Mary of Egypt was a desert mystic filled with wisdom and living the life of an ascetic centuries after the death of Christ. </p>