Mary of Egypt was a 5th-century Christian hermit from Alexandria who lived in the desert of Palestine. According to her hagiography, she led a dissolute life in her youth before experiencing a profound spiritual conversion at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Seeking penance, she retreated to the wilderness to live an ascetic life. She is famously remembered through her encounter with the monk Zosimas, who witnessed her miraculous walking on water. Her story became a significant historical argument for the veneration of icons during the Byzantine iconoclasm period.