Chrysostom and Olympias

Pope Sicirius was elected and issued several letters decreeing rules governing religious discipline, including decisions on baptism, consecration, ordination, penance, and continence. His decretal of 386 was the first to institute a requirement of celibacy for priests.  Meanwhile Jerome and the women following the ascetic way of life of the desert monks settled near the birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem, where they erected four monasteries and a hospice for pilgrims.  Marcella, the church leader who had first gathered them in her home on the Aventine Hill in Rome, remained behind. 

Olympias the Younger was born in Antioch in 368 CE to the brother of her namesake Olympias the Elder.  Her parents died when she was very young and she inherited a large fortune that was placed under the Christian protection of Gregory and Theodosia of Nazianzus. At the age of sixteen Olympias the Younger married the Praetorian Prefect of Constantinople who died just two years later leaving her a childless widow.  She took this to be a sign that God wanted her to follow the ascetic way of life of her aunt.

In 396 CE John Chrysostom, the Bishop of Constantinople ordained Olympias to the diaconate and she used her fortune to build a large convent next to the Hagia Sophia.  Three of her relatives and a large number of women entered the convent as soon as it was opened.  Olympias employed her vast financial resources in building hospitals and orphanages throughout Greece, Asia Minor and Syria. When Chrysostum urged her to be more cautious in the administration of her property, outraged clergy began to plot against him.

Olympias befriended a hermit monk who persuaded her to support the pilgrims in the Nitrian desert, while Chrysostom tried to reconcile Constantinople with Rome and Alexandria.  In his popular homilies Chrysostom pointed to Olympias as a model Christian piety and an example for the people to follow.  Though his eloquence earned him great respect among the laity, the elite members of the clergy were offended by his insinuations about the need for reform and plotted to destroy him.  

 

Origen and Pelagius

In 399 CE Anastasius I became pope.  He issued directives calling for priests to stand and bow their heads when they read from the Gospels.  He condemned the writings of Origen and fought against these writings throughout his papacy which lasted only two years.  In 401 CE he was succeeded by his son Innocent I.  Melania the Elder returned to Rome that same year and convinced her granddaughter of the same name take up the way of life of the desert hermits. 

Pope Innocent I defended John Chrysostom and consulted with the bishops of Africa concerning the controversies concerning the teachings of Origen and Pelagius.  In 404 CE, the Patriarch of Alexandria called for a synod charged Chrysostum with heresy and forced him into exile.  His supporters revolted and burned the cathedral to the ground.  Olympias wrote letters calling for the decision of the synod to be overturned, but the clergy accused her of inciting the rebellion that led to the destruction of the cathedral. Despite strenuously denying the accusations, Olympias was arrested.  Her properties were confiscated and she was sent into exile.

Chrysostom wrote her a series of letters reminding her that the Church had been redeemed from such trials in the past.  Her letters were full of concern for his well-being and safety.   Chrysostom wrote, “Do not be anxious on my behalf, nor rack yourself with solicitude, on account of the severity of the winter, and the weakness of my digestion...”

During the first winter both of them suffered and nearly died from a recurrent intestinal disorder. 

Medications sent to them from Constantinople seemed only to exacerbate their condition.  Olympias fell into despair and Chrysostom tried to buoy her spirits, but her condition did not improve.  She began to long for death as a release from suffering, and Chrysostom feared that he if he died first she would give in to despair.  Knowing she needed his support helped him to survive the harshest conditions and the beatings of robbers sent to attack him. 

Chrysostom was confined to his bed unable to digest food for months.  Plagued by perpetual vomiting, headache, loss of appetite, and constant sleeplessness, Olympias began to suffer from hallucinations.  Each of them was more concerned about the other than for themselves.  Olympias continued writing letters to the clergy and nobility of Constantinople, urging them to overturn the synod's charge of heresy against Chrysostom.  

Feeling that her advocacy on his behalf was placing her in danger, he begged her to stop writing.  The elite tried to undermine the popular influence of Chrysostom and Olympias, but their popularity only increased during exile.  The Patriarch had Chrysostom moved to an even more desolate location and he died on the way in 407 CE Olympias succumbed to her illness and died soon after she heard of Chrysostom’s death.  

Melania and Empress Eudokia

In 410 CE Melania the Younger sold her estate in Rome just before the city was sacked by the Visigoths in 410 CE.  Marcella’s home was seized and she was driven to take refuge in the Church of St. Paul where she died the next day.  In 411 CE Pope Innocent I called the Council of Orange and decreed that women could no longer be ordained.  In 417 CE Melania turned the monastery she had built in North Africa over to others and went to Jerusalem to study under the direction of Jerome.  Pope Innocent I died the same year and Zosimus was elected to succeed him. 

Pope Zosimus took part in the flurry of controversies that were divided the churches in Gaul, Africa and Italy.  His reign lasted just one year and another hotly contested election resulted in the brief elevation of Eulalius to the papacy in 418 CE with the support of the Emperor Honorius.  Melania sold another of her grand estates in Iberia and used the proceeds to found a monastery on the Mount of Olives in 418 CE.  Pope Eulalius lost support and was exiled to Campania, and Boniface I was elected to the papacy in 419 CE.  Meanwhile Melania, the younger traveled throughout Egypt visiting monasteries and learning from the desert hermits, deepening her understanding of the ascetic way of life. 

When Pope Boniface I died in 422, he was succeeded by Celestine I who reigned for ten years.  In 431 CE Melania went to the Court of Theodosius II in Constantinople where she won many converts and convinced the Empress Eudokia to return with her to Jerusalem. On the way the Empress dislocated her foot, but when Melania touched the foot, the pain went away.  This was the first of many healing miracles with which Melania is credited.  A year after arriving in Jerusalem in 439 CE, Melania the Younger died having distributed the largest estate in the empire for the benefit of numerous monasteries, convents, hospitals and hospices.