Olympias of Constantinople

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Olympias of Constantinople (also Olympia or Olympiada ; * around 368 in Constantinople , † July 25, 408 in Nicomedia ) was a deaconess and abbess .

Life

Olympias came from the Byzantine nobility. Her father was the Senator Anicius Secundus, her mother the daughter of Eparchen Eulalios, who was married to the Armenian Emperor Arsak in her first marriage. Her parents died early and her uncle, the city prefect of Constantinople, became Olympia's guardian. She was brought up by the sister of Ampilochius, the bishop of Iconium. At 18, she was engaged to a man named Nebridius, the treasurer of the Emperor Theodosius I was. Nebridius died about two months after the marriage; according to some sources, the marriage was never consummated.

Widowed, Olympias decided to remain unmarried and to dedicate her life and wealth to the service of God and her neighbor.

A relative of the emperor Theodosius wanted to marry the beautiful and rich young widow, but she only had a resolute no to the emperor's direct request, among other things on the grounds that God had freed her from submission to a man through the death of her husband . The offended suitor sued her with the emperor that she was squandering her fortune, whereupon Theodosius had her and her fortune placed under guardianship up to her thirtieth year. The guardian tried unsuccessfully to force her to give in by forbidding her from all spiritual intercourse and even from going to church. She wrote to the emperor that she thanked him for relieving her of managing her property, but asked him to order her guardian to give it to the poor. Thereupon the emperor gave in.

When she regained control of her fortune, she resumed her charity, made donations for the poor far beyond Constantinople, for the ransom of slaves, built an inn for pilgrims and clergy, while she herself lived a very ascetic life.

The Patriarch Nektarios I consecrated her as a deaconess , although she had not yet reached the required age of forty. The spiritual office of the deaconess did not simply correspond to that of the male deacon, but was specially structured; Deaconesses were mostly active in charities and took care of women in preparation and accompaniment for baptism.

When John Chrysostom became patriarch, he became the spiritual father of their monastery, which was right next to the episcopal church. This resulted in a friendly relationship. Chrysostom did not deal with the distribution of their alms himself as Nektarios had, but he exhorted them to focus their charity more on those who were really in need and not give to anyone who asked for money.

She was involved in the intrigue that led to Chrysostom's exile in so far as the four monks who had fled from the Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria and sought refuge in Constantinople were accepted into her hostel. Even after Chrysostom's exile, Theophilus was one of their opponents, although some biographers attribute this less to the accommodation of the monks than to the fact that they did not support him financially according to his expectations.

After Chrysostom's exile, a fire broke out in Hagia Sophia, which his followers were charged with. Olympias was also charged as a result and defended himself very vigorously. As a result, there were numerous other charges. She was sentenced to a heavy fine without trial for consistently refusing to take communion with Arsacius, Chrysostom's successor. She was dragged before public courts, soldiers tore her clothes, the mob ravaged her property. Attikus, the successor of Arsacius, dissolved her monastery and she spent her last years in exile in Nicomedia, where she also died.

She supported Chrysostom in exile, whereby he could help the poor and redeem slaves, and also sent him medicines for his own use when he had health problems.

Olympias was an emancipated woman in her time, highly educated, energetic and strong-willed, who was highly respected by many church fathers of her time. She corresponded with Gregor von Nazianz , Peter von Sebaste , Ampilochius von Iconien , Gregor von Nyssa dedicated his commentary on the Song of Songs to her, and the church historian Sozomenos reported on her in detail. Chrysostom, one of the best theologians of his time, wrote to her in the tenth letter: “You have knowledge that is more powerful than any winter storm, you have the strength of the soul of a philosopher, which is stronger than any thousand soldiers and more powerful than weapons, safer as towers and walls ”.

Remembrance day

Olympia's feast day in the Orthodox Church is the anniversary of her death, July 25, in the Catholic Church it is December 17.

Source edition

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. Manfred Hauke : The history of the deaconesses. Epilogue and literature addendum to the new edition of Martimort's standard work on deaconesses. In: Leo Scheffczyk (Ed.): Diakonat und Diakonisse. St. Ottilien 2002, pp. 321-376.
personal data
SURNAME Olympias of Constantinople
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Olympia; Olympiada
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Deaconess and Abbess
DATE OF BIRTH at 368
PLACE OF BIRTH Constantinople
DATE OF DEATH July 25, 408
Place of death Nicomedia