Encounters with Medieval Women: Mary of Egypt
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Zosimus and Mary in the Bible
Even towards the end of the text, Mary remains this prey, and Zosimus is hunting her. I think there's a kind of larger symbolism perhaps that Mary has been this bestial figure who hasn't achieved perfection. But then as he's attempting to bury her body, this lion appears, and interestingly in the Old English text, it's a female lion. So it's a similar kind of trope in the sense that, you know, here's this beast from the natural world aiding in God's work.
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