Blessed Thais of Egypt was a righteous woman of the fifth century, commemorated on May 10. Left an orphan after the death of her wealthy parents, she inherited a considerable estate, which she devoted to charity: the synaxarion relates that she distributed her wealth to the poor and gave shelter to pilgrims on her property. Resolving never to marry, she set herself to serve Christ.
Thais is to be distinguished from the better-known Venerable Thais the Penitent of Egypt, commemorated on October 8. The two share a name, an Egyptian setting, and a tradition of repentance, and have at times been conflated; the Orthodox Church in America preserves them as separate commemorations on separate days.
According to the tradition recorded in the synaxarion, after Thais had exhausted her inheritance she was tempted to acquire wealth by sinful means and fell from her earlier piety. The elders of Sketis near Alexandria, hearing of her fall, sent Saint John the Dwarf to call her back. His words pierced her soul, and she abandoned her former life at once to follow him into the wilderness in penitence and prayer.
The synaxarion relates that on the very night of her repentance a light descended from heaven and angels were seen bearing her soul to Paradise; she was found to have died. An angel is said to have told John that her single hour of wholehearted repentance was equal to many years, because she had repented with all her soul and a contrite heart.
