On Saturday 28 March and Sunday 29 March we had services for the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent and in honour of the great ascetic and model of repentance, Saint Mary of Egypt.  Many people took the opportunity to confess during the Saturday evening service and prior to Divine Liturgy on Sunday.  Receiving Holy Communion for the first time on the Sunday was the newly-baptised infant Thomas Lucas.  In his sermon the parish rector briefly recounted the life of Saint Mary of Egypt before emphasising her model of repentance: heartfelt prayer, departure from the circumstances of sin, and relentless spiritual struggle.  He also spoke of the Righteous Zosima – the hieromonk who met Saint Mary of Egypt in the wilderness and first recounted her life – as a model of humility and of repentance from spiritual pride.