In Constantinople, in the fourth century, a newly-widowed noble woman of enormous wealth
found herself at a monumental crossroads.
Either she could marry a wealthy suitor, arranged for her by the Emperor himself, or dedicate
her life to consecrated virginity, prayer, and almsgiving.
A conventional life of comfort or a prophetic life of hardship and adversity.
For Olympia, the decision was easy--she would flee her life of wealth and luxury and devote
herself wholeheartedly to her Heavenly Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, spending the rest of her days
distributing her wealth with great liberality to the poor of the imperial city.
Additionally, she would become the greatest friend, confidante and spiritual child to
the golden-mouthed or Chysostomos orator of Constantinople, the Archbishop John.
Little is known of the details of Olympia’s life, yet her journey, however hidden, is
bejeweled with the virtues of self-effacing love and patient endurance.
Born in 362 into a pagan family of the upper aristocracy of Constantinople, Olympia’s
parents died when she was young, leaving her to the care of her uncle Ablabius and a governess
Theodosia; both pious Christians, who raised her in the love of Christ.
She inherited an enormous fortune from her paternal grandfather, who was a senator during
the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great.
Likewise, she received a great spiritual inheritance from her uncle and governess, surrounded as
they were by fellowship with pillars of the Church such as Saints Basil the Great, Gregory
of Nyssa, and Gregory the Theologian.
St. Gregory the Theologian, for example, took great interest in Olympia after he arrived
in Constantinople in 379 when, at the age of 17, she became one of the great benefactors
of the Church of the Anastasis where Gregory preached his renowned orations against the
Arians.
Olympia sought the counsel of St. Gregory of Nyssa concerning the Song of Songs, thus
prompting him to write his acclaimed Commentary.
In its prologue he greets “the most worthy Olympias” by humbly deferring to her great
spiritual stature: “I do not offer you anything that would benefit your conduct, for I am
persuaded that your soul's eye is pure from every passionate, unclean thought, and that
it looks without hindrance at God's grace by means of these divine words of the Song.
However, I hope that my commentary will be a guide for the more fleshly-minded, since
the wisdom hidden in the Song of Songs leads to a spiritual state of the soul.”
At the age of twenty one she married a man of high rank named Nebridius, but their relationship
ended suddenly, when he died soon after, leaving Olympia as a young widow, alone in the world
bearing the burden of an enormous family fortune.
Olympia decided to devote herself to virginity for Christ.
Emperor Theodosius desired to marry her to one of his relatives, but Olympia adamantly
refused, expressing her wishes to devote herself to consecrated celibacy.
As a result, he threatened to take away her inheritance until the time that she would
either agree to marry his suitor or turn thirty years old.
He changed his mind, however, after hearing her bold and unexpected response:
“You have demonstrated toward my lowly person a kindness most becoming an emperor and commendable
in a bishop when you entrusted this great burden, which has been my worry, to proper
administration.
You will do much better should you order it to be distributed to the poor and the churches.
I have been praying for quite a while that i be set free from the embarrassment of vainglory,
which would be mine if I distributed it to charity.
Let me not be so seduced by earthly things as to lose the soul’s true riches.”
From then on her life was dedicated to caring for the poor, serving the Church as an ordained
deaconess, and growing in her relationship as spiritual child and confidante to the great
John Chrysostom.
Years before the Gold Mouth theologian would come to Constantinople, however, Olympia established
a monastery in a palace on one of her many properties.
There she directed 250 female monastics as their abbess, modeling a life of extreme asceticism
and fervent prayer to God.
After she turned thirty years old, she was ordained to the diaconate by Archbishop Nektarios,
St. John Chrysostom’s predecessor, due to her many virtues and in spite of the imperial
and scriptural prohibitions against consecrated widows under the age of 60.
While the full extent of her duties as a deaconess is not clear, it is known that she was tasked
with tending to the needs of women as well as for those who were bedridden or sick.
Her anonymous biographer, writing only decades after her repose, beautifully captures the
entirety of her Christian devotion in the following way:
“She lived faultlessly in unmeasured tears night and day, ‘submitting to every ordinance
of man for the sake of the Lord,’ full of every reverence, bowing before the saints,
venerating the bishops, honoring the presbyters, respecting the priests, welcoming the ascetics,
being anxious for the virgins, supplying the widows, raising the orphans, shielding the
elderly, looking after the weak, having compassion on sinners, guiding the lost, having pity
on all, attending with all her heart to the poor, catechizing many unbelieving women and
making provision for all their material necessities of life.
Thus, she left a reputation for goodness throughout her whole life which is ever to be remembered.
Having called from slavery to freedom her myriad household servants, she proclaimed
them to be of equal honor as her own nobility.”
And so, after the blessed John Chrysostom took up residence in Constantinople in the
year 398, it is no surprise that Olympia found a spiritual friend, mentor, guide, and confidante
in the great ascetic, preacher, and pastor from Antioch, who was 13 years her senior.
Among the many admirable qualities that Olympia exhibited, St. John was most impressed by
the strength of her resolve to never remarry, which reminded him of his very own mother
Anthousa, who chose the same path after losing her husband.
Olympia tended to the physical needs of her beloved spiritual father during his time in
Constantinople, and became his constant servant and spiritual companion.
But jealousy and human rivalries would soon disrupt the sweet wine of friendship that
was shared between them.
John was uncanonically deposed at the Synod of the Oak, which had been called and orchestrated
by two of his bitterest antagonists, Bishop Theophilus of Alexandria and Empress Eudoxia.
The saintly pastor and teacher was sent into exile following the meeting of bishops, but
was recalled only after a few days due to the Empresses’ fear of having punished such
a powerful spiritual leader.
He faced gruelling persecutions and pressure from his opponents and many of the clergymen
in the Great City who resented his personal austerity and fiery preaching to reject the
pleasures of this world and flee to Christ for comfort and meaning.
The matter came to a head when the Empress Eudoxia ordered a silver statue of herself
to be erected directly across from the Great Church of Hagia Sophia.
Shortly thereafter, on a feastday of St. John the Baptist, Archbishop John proclaimed fearlessly
“Again Herodias dances, again she calls for the head of John,” pointing poetically
towards the austentatious act of the Empress.
This opposition paved the way for the Empress’ final expression of hatred towards the unpretentious
preacher -- his next and final exile in June 404 A.D.
Many of the so-called ‘Johnites’ fiercely protested this injustice, among whom was the
devout deaconess and follower of St. John, Olympia.
Twice put on trial, Olympia exonerated herself by proclaiming: “My past life ought to avert
all suspicion of me, for I have devoted my large inheritance to the restoration of the
temples of God.”
Despite her inner fortitude and desire to follow Christ, Olympia was tempted by despair
and despondency, which became the subject of many of the letters that her beloved spiritual
father wrote her from exile.
In light of the persecution of St. John Chrysostom’s supporters, Olympia fled Constantinople in
405 and settled in Nicomedia, dedicating herself to charitable works, leaving her sisterhood
to the care of her spiritual daughter, Marina.
Two years later, the Golden Mouth died on a forced march towards more remote exile in
Asia Minor on September 14, 407.
As if to bind herself to her beloved spiritual mentor and confidante in a final act of solidarity,
Olympia died only a year later in Nicomedia on July 24.
A great patristic scholar remarked that, of the numerous correspondences that St. John
carried out while in exile, “The longest and most cordial are the seventeen communications
which he wrote to the widow and deaconess Olympias.”
Born for adversity, and living in fellowship with saints, Olympia is truly an icon of patient
endurance, faithfulness, and loving loyalty.
St. Olympia, servant of the Church and friend of holiness, please pray to God for us.