The Greek Life of *Olympias (deaconess and abbess of Constantinople, ob. c. 408, S01414), written by a relative and companion of the hero, recounts the life of an aristocratic woman who founded a large nunnery and charitable house next to the cathedral of Constantinople. It describes the miraculous return of her dead body from Nicomedia to Constantinople and its burial in the monastery church of *Thomas (the Apostle, S00199) at Brochthoi on the Golden Horn. Written at Constantinople in the early 5th c..
E08128
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives
Life of Olympias (BHG 1374, 1375)
[1-2] A worthy successor of *Thekla (follower of Paul the Apostle, S00092), Olympias is the daughter of the comes Seleucus [or Secundus, in other texts], granddaughter of the Praetorian Prefect Ablabius, and wife of the Urban Prefect of Constantinople Nebridius. Her husband, however, dies before their marriage is consummated.
[3-4] She refuses to remarry and is soon accused of mismanaging her fortune. Emperor Theodosius I, who is a relative of hers, attempts to arrange for her a marriage with Elpidius (also a relative of the emperor), but the proposal is rejected by her, and the emperor puts her fortune under the custody of the Urban Prefect Clementinus until she reaches the age of thirty. Under the influence of Elpidius, Clementinus oppresses her freedom excessively, but she welcomes being rid of the cares of property management.
[5] After returning from his war against the usurper Maximus (387), the emperor is impressed by Olympias’ asceticism and restores to her control over her fortune. Olympias donates to the Catholic Church of Constantinople, then administered by John Chrysostom, 10,000 pounds of gold, 20,000 pounds of silver, and all her estates in Thrace, Galatia, Cappadocia Prima, and Bithynia, and her properties in Constantinople, which including the entire Quarter of Olympias (ta Olympiados) near the Great Church (Saint Sophia), a bathhouse, a bakery, her mansion near Constantianae, the so-called house of Euandros, and several suburban estates.
[6] She is ordained a deaconess of the Great Church of Constantinople and establishes a convent at the so-called southern embolos (colonnaded street) of the cathedral. All the buildings and workshops along this street are her property. The first nuns are fifty virgins of Olympias’ entourage (cubiculariae). She is soon joined by her relative Elisanthia and her sisters, Martyria and Palladia. Similarly, her niece, Olympia, and several senatorial women join the nunnery, raising the overall number of the nuns to 250.
[7] Olympias now transfers to the Church of Constantinople the rest of her estates and has Elisanthia, Martyria, and Palladia ordained to the diaconate. The purpose of these ordinations is that her nunnery should now run four diaconiae (charity centres).
[8] The community’s spiritual progress is impressive. The nunnery is completely secluded and only visited by John Chrysostom whom the nuns support in his daily needs – the nunnery is located right next to the episcopal residence. Olympias provides for his sustenance until his deposition and continues to support him and his associates in exile until his death.
[9] The slanders against Chrysostom also affect Olympias who fights to achieve his return to Constantinople and is summoned by the Urban Prefect for interrogation.
[10] She is exiled to Nicomedia where she lives in ascetism down to her death, while her nunnery is entrusted to her relative and god-daughter Marina who remains its abbess until after Olympias’ death.
[11] Shortly before her funeral, Olympias appears in a dream to the metropolitan of Nicomedia and asks of him to put her body in coffin on a boat, let it drift away, and bury her wherever the boat stops. The boat stops at the dock of the shrine of *Thomas (the Apostle, S00199) in Brochthoi (on the Golden Horn). An angel appears to the sacristan and superior of the sanctuary (apparently a male monastery), asking of them to collect the coffin and bury it in the sanctuary of the church, announcing that it belongs to Olympias. They find the gates miraculously open, but initially believe the whole matter to be an illusion. The vision is repeated twice and they believe. Monks and nuns from all the monasteries attend the burial of Olympias in Brochthoi. Several demoniacs and ill people get healed at her tomb. Olympias died on 25 July, during the reign of Arcadius.
[12] Marina carries on Olympia’s work as superior for many years. After her death, deaconess Elisanthia succeeds her.
[13-18] The Life ends with an account of Olympia’s virtues. Her manifold acts of charity reached the whole world, while the beneficiaries of her hospitality and service in Constantinople included several important ecclesiastics including Nectarius of Constantinople, Amphilochius of Iconium, Optimus (of Pisidian Antioch?), Peter (of Sebaste?), Gregory of Nyssa, Epiphanius of Salamis, Acacius of Berrhoea, Antiochus of Ptolemais, and Severian of Gabala. The author points out that he writes as an eye-witness of Olympias’ life, and that he was a close spiritual friend and relative of hers.
Text: Summary: E. Rizos.
Saint’s feast
Cult PlacesBurial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Non Liturgical ActivityComposing and translating saint-related texts
MiraclesMiracle after death
Apparition, vision, dream, revelation
Miraculous behaviour of relics/images
Healing diseases and disabilities
Exorcism
RelicsBodily relic - entire body
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Ecclesiastics - abbots
Aristocrats
Monarchs and their family
Source
For the manuscript tradition of the text, see:https://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/oeuvre/17376/
Discussion
The author of the Life of Olympias claims to be a friend and relative of the saint, writing a brief period of time after her death. This is confirmed by the spirit of the whole text which is essentially an apologia concerning the finances of what seems to have been the greatest single bequest managed by the Church of Constantinople under John Chrysostom, and the foundation of the greatest urban monastery and charity house of his episcopate. Like the Life of John Chrysostom by Palladius and the Dialogue on the Life of John Chrysostom, our text finishes with a meticulous catalogue of the contacts and friends of Olympias in the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the time. It can, therefore, be added to the polemical literature produced by the schismatic Johannites (followers of John Chrysostom) between the deaths of Chrysostom and Olympias in 408 and the restoration of union with the imperial church in 438. This means that the Life of Olympias is the earliest dated biography of a monastic founder of Constantinople.As the text reports, Olympias’ nunnery remained an active institution of the Church of Constantinople after her death, but her remains were buried at the male monastic house of *Thomas at the site of Brochthoi/Brochthos across the Golden Horn. They stayed there until the early seventh century, when they were desecrated by the invading Persians and transferred to Olympias’ monastery. These events are recounted by the Narrative of the Translation of Olympia by Sergia, one of her successors in the leadership of her nunnery (E08129).
Bibliography
Text:H. Delehaye, "Vita sanctae Olympiadis et narratio Sergiae de eiusdem translatione," Analecta Bollandiana 15 (1896): 409-423.
A. Malingrey, Jean Chrysostome. Lettres à Olympias, Vie anonyme d'Olympias, Sources Chretiennes 13, Paris, 1968.
English Translation and commentary:
E. A. Clark, Jerome, Chrysostom, and friends : essays and translations, Studies in Women and Religion 2, Lewiston 1982.
Further reading:
Hatlie, P., The Monks and Monasteries of Constantinople, ca. 350-850 (Cambridge, 2007).
Efthymios Rizos
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00092 | Thekla, follower of the Apostle Paul | Θέκλα | Certain | S00199 | Thomas, the Apostle | Θωμᾶς | Certain | S01414 | Olympias, deaconess and abbess of Constantinople, ob. c. 408 | Ὀλυμπιὰς | Certain |
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