Olympias the Deaconess

Olympias, commonly called Olympias the Deaconess, was a Christian aristocrat of Constantinople whose life spanned the later fourth and early fifth centuries. She belonged to a family of senatorial rank. Ancient sources name her father as Seleucus and connect her ancestry to Ablabius, praetorian prefect of the East in the reign of Constantine the Great. Her mother died while Olympias was still a child, and she was brought up in a Christian household with ties to Cappadocian episcopal families; Theodosia, a sister of Amphilochius of Iconium, is named among those who oversaw her education. No contemporary document records an exact year of birth; later writers place it in the 360s.

While still young she was given in marriage to Nebridius, prefect of the city of Constantinople. Nebridius died after only a short time, leaving Olympias a widow of great wealth and independent legal standing. The emperor Theodosius I sought to arrange a second marriage for her with a Spanish kinsman named Elpidius, but she refused, declaring her intention to remain a widow dedicated to God. Patriarch Nectarius of Constantinople subsequently ordained her to the office of deaconess. The appointment was noteworthy because church custom generally reserved the diaconate of women for widows of more advanced age; Olympias was still in her thirties. From that time she placed her fortune at the disposal of the Church.

She founded and governed a large community of consecrated women whose convent stood beside the cathedral church of Hagia Sophia. Contemporary estimates speak of some two hundred and fifty nuns under her direction. Olympias became famous throughout the eastern provinces for the scale of her almsgiving. She endowed churches and monasteries, supported hospitals and hostels for the poor, ransomed captives, and distributed food and clothing. She enjoyed the friendship of several of the leading theologians of her generation. Gregory of Nyssa addressed to her his commentary on the Song of Songs. After John Chrysostom was translated from Antioch to the see of Constantinople in 397, Olympias became one of his closest collaborators and most generous patrons.

The deposition and exile of John Chrysostom in 404 marked a turning point in her fortunes. Olympias refused to recognize the new patriarchal administration and continued to send money and supplies to the exiled bishop. Seventeen letters written by Chrysostom to Olympias during his exile are still extant and testify to their mutual regard and to her sufferings. Imperial officials confiscated her property, subjected her to judicial examination, and ultimately compelled her to leave Constantinople. She spent her last years in exile, dying at Nicomedia, according to traditional accounts, on 25 July 408. The monastic community she had founded was broken up. Both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church honor her as a saint; her principal feast is kept on 25 July, while the Roman Martyrology also commemorates her on 17 December.