Because sainthood requires a renunciation of worldly attachment, it eliminates the need to stabilize relational identity. The saint identifies him or herself in relationship to God, who has no physical form, requires no social context or explanation, and does not change over time. Instability is an essential requirement of relational reiteration; without shifting landmarks and potential mistakes, there is no need to deploy the form. Mary of Egypt is an exception who proves the rule in this respect. When mistaken by Zosimus for a devil, she reiterates the landmarks of her identity to prove her sainthood: not because she needs them but because he does. Similarly, The Seafarer positions the chronological past as integral to the speaker’s rejection of worldly pleasures, and that rejection as equally integral to his ability to arrive at the “hotter” joys of his destination; thus loss itself becomes a crucial social landmark of the speaker’s identity. Rather than trapping the speaker in a state of stasis, it is through the loss of worldly landmarks that the speaker may find his way to a heavenly realm.