ASHGATE
RESEARCH
COMPANION
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The Ashgate ResearchCompanion
to By zantine Hagiography
Volume II: Genres and Contexts
Edited by
STEPHANOS EFTHYMIADIS
ASHGATE
1Þ L .)Ërt 1r llL-if"-.¡¿-e/^
íä(:
lJ ¡l l'/'i:;ì S
@ Stephanos EfthYmiadis 2014
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Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography: Volume II: Genres and Contexts/
[edited by] Stephanos Efthymiadis.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
l..Christian hagiography - History and criticism. 2. Christian literature, Byzantine -History and criticism. I. Efthymiadis, stephanos. IL Titte: Research companion to
Byzantine hagiography.
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Tun Asøc¿,rr Rrsrencn Cotvtp¡NloN To Bvz¡NrtNn Hactocnepuv
Rochow, I., 'Die aitø der Euphrosyne der ]üngerery das späteste Beispiel des Motivs
der weiblichen Transvestitentums (Monøchopørthenia) in der byzantinischen
Hagiographie' , in Mir Aleksntdrø Køzhdønø, K 9}-letiju co dnia roù,denija, ed. A.A.
Chekalova (St Petersbur g 2003), 259 -7 7.
Rydén, L., Bemerkungen zum Leben des heiligen Narren Symeon aon Leontios zton
Neøpolis (Uppsala 1970).
Rydén, L.,'The Holy Fool', inThe Byzantine Saint (London 1981), 1,06-1.3.
Rydén, L., The Lrf, of St Andrezo the Fool I: lntroduction, Testimonies ønd Nachleben
In di c e s, Stud i a By zantina Up s alien si a 4:2 (U pp s a\ a 19 9 5) .
Rydér¡ L., 'Fiction and Reality in the Hagiographer's Self-Presentation', TM 14
(2002),547-52.
Rydéa L., 'Time in the Lives of the Fools', in IloÃúnÃeupoç vouç. Miscelløneø für
Peter Schreiner zu seinem 60. Geburtstag,Byzantinísches Archiv 19, ed. C. Scholz,
G. Makris (Munich 2003),315-23.
Saward, 1., Perfect Fools: Folly for Christ's Sake in Cøtholic ønd Orthodox Spirituality
(Oxford 1980).
Syrkir¡ 4.Y., 'On the Behavior of the "Fool for Christ's Sake"', History of Religions
22.2 (1e82),1.50-71 .
Vogt, K., 'The "Woman Monk": A Theme in Byzantine Hagiography' , in Greece nnd
Gender, ed. B. Berggreen, M. Marinatos, Papers for the Norwegian Institute at
Athens 2 (Bergen 1995),1,41-8.
Ware, K., 'The Fool in Christ as Prophet and Apostle' , in The Inner Kingdom Yol. I,
ed. idem (New York 2000), 153-80.
362
The Literary Portrait of Byzantine
Female Saints
73
ASHGATE
RESEARCH
COMPANION
Nathalie Delierneux
From the earliest years of Christianity, women distinguished themselves during
times of persecution by suffering the same hardships as men in their confession
and martyrdom. Their struggles earned them great admiration among the faithful,
but if their male counterparts were easily assimilated to 'soldiers' and 'athletes'
of Christ in contemporary religious literature, certain adaptations were necessary
to extend these exclusively masculine comparisons to women, considered weak
and malleable by nature. On the basis of Gsløtians 3: 28 ('There is neither male nor
female, for you are all one in Christ'), the Byzantines affirmed that it was through
the'virility'of their spirit, that is, their'courage'and'energy', that the heroines
could conquer their natural physical frailty and endure the same torments as men.
Once peace had been definitively established within the Church, the category
of the 'virile (female) martyr' did not lose any of its prestige, but it did become
quite difficult to achieve. At the same time, ecclesiastical authorities imposed evergreater
restrictions on the public functions that had previously been carried out by
women within the Christian community, such as the diaconate. The conjuncture
of these two factors oriented the piety of women along a variety of ascetic paths
that allowed them to fulfil their spiritual vocation and that frequently elicited the
admiration of other Christians on account of their extreme rigour.
In the seventh century, however, the Arab invasions cut off Egypt, Syria
and Palestine - provinces from which the most extreme forms of asceticism
had sprung - from the rest of the Empire. Excluding Arab-held Palestine, after
650 we find no noteworthy hagiographic production until the end of the eighth
century. Nevertheless, the ancient models did not disappear. Too attached to their
religious and secular culture to relinquish it entirely, hagiographers would instead
'regenerate' these motifs to align them with contemporary perspectives, offering
models of female sanctity that were innovative from a literary perspective while
still imbued with historical, cultural and social meaning.l
1 Talbot, 'Essere donna e santa', 621; cf . Auzépy, 'La sainteté et le couvent: libération
ou normalisation des femmes?', 17 6-9.
7l
Tur. Asuc,qr¿ Rrsr¿ncu Co¡øpavroN To BvzavrtNe H,cctocRApuv
Female Sanctity within the Monastery
Convents of nuns were relatively numerous from the fourth century onwards.
The ascetic renunciations practised by some of these nuns, often assimilated to a
sort of bloodless martyrclom, were the object of much wonder among their fellow
Christians. Accounts of their hardships were graclually put into writing in order
to provide later generations with models adapted to ideals of womanhood, in
which the authors variously set forth the feminine qualities and virtues considered
essential to the chosen way of life, as well as appropriate to the heroine's sex.
Among many examples, we might cite the case of Olympias (BHG 7374-7375),
the famous deaconess and contemporary of John Chrysostom who preserved her
virginity despite her brief marriage, or that of Melania the Younger (BHG 1241) (ca.
383-ctt.440), who persuaded herhusband to cease all carnal relations following
the death of their child and devoted the rest of her life to charitable works and to
physical and spiritual asceticism.
Within this category, an interesting example is that of Makrina (BHG 1012), who
was born around 327 and probably died in |uly 380; the author of her biography,
set in the form of a letter composed shortly after her death, was her own brother,
Gregory of Nyssa. Born into an illustrious family, Makrina was betrothed at the age
of twelve to an upstanding man, but he died before the marriage and the young girl
rejected all other unions out of fidelity to her prematurely-deceased fiancé (BHG
7072 - ch. 5). This decision allowed her to devote herself completely to asceticism
within her mother's home, and soon afterwards Makrina convinced her mother to
renounce their lavish way of life to lead the life of the slaves. Both women prayed
and fasted unceasingly, such that they came to seem like incorporeal beings despite
the trappings of flesh.
Given his relationship to the subject of his praise, the author himself is
particularly implicated in the account. The literary portrait of his sister is that of a
saint (BHG 1012 - chs. 28, 29, 30, 37, 37) who demonstrates her full spiritual virility,
particularly following the death of one of their brothers, Naukratios (BHG 70T2 ch.
10). In his narrative, Gregory arnplifies the monastic elements; accordingly, the
account of the young Makrina's education, which shuns the contaminating effects
of profane authors, is certainly more ideal than historical. The ascetic Makrina is
exceptional in her piety, humility and charity. She plays a dominant role in the
spiritual direction of those close to her (BHG L012 - ch. 6) and, after the death of her
father, she becomes a father, teacher, tutor, mother and counsellor for her youngest
brother (BHG 1012- ch.72).2
The author also describes his sister as a successor to the early martyrs. At the
moment of Makrina's birth, her mother was told in a dream thai the child would
have'Thekla' as a secret name and that she would follow the martyr's way of life
(BHG 7072 - ch. 2), an allusion to both St Thekla's sufferings and her role as a
spiritual guide. Shortly before visiting his dying sister, Gregory dreamed that he
' On this Life, see Giannarelli, 'La donna e la santità. La 'Vita di Santa Macrina' di
Gregorio di Nissa'; and, more recently, see Silvas, Mncrina the Yotmger, Pl'tilosopher of God.
364
Tue Ltrnn¡Ry PoRTR,4 tr oF Br¿ANTTNE Fuvtate S¿¡rurs
held shining relics of martyrs in his hands. After arriving at her side, he found
that she indeed resembled a martyr, with her mortal form being made resplendent
by the Holy Spirit (BHG 7072 - chs. 15, 19); on that same occasion, he evoked his
sister's sacred remains (BHG 1012 - chs. 30, 35) and God-like countenance (BHG
1072- ch.34).
Although Gregory of Nyssa affirms in his prologue that his narrative,
commissioned by a scholar (probably a churchman himself), would be written
without grace or sophistication (BHG 1.072 - ch. 1), this purely literary cliché
does not prevent the author from making use of rhetorical effects throughout the
account. Thus the prayer that Gregory attributes to Makrina on her deathbed (BHG
1012 - cln.24) is unlikely to have been authentic; it is difficult to see how a dying
woman should have had the strength to deliver such a lengthy and structured
speech. In writing this passage, Gregory was satisfying his contemporaries' taste
for classical rhetoric, despite the distaste that Makrina expressed for such things in
the Liþ itself"
A few centuries later, the image of female monastic sanctity had evolved:
núns were no longer only virgins, like Olympias and Makrina, or wives who
had renouncecl all conjugal ties, such as Melania the Younger; they might also be
widows and mothers entering monasteries after having led a life of the flesh. Thus,
in the ninth century, Athanasia of Aegina (BHG 180), having first been widowed
ancl then forced to remarry by imperial edict 3
convinced her second husband to
adopt a monastic lifestyle. Flowever, unlike Melania the Younger, she waited for
the death of her second husband before becoming a nun. During the same period,
Theodora of Thessalonike, having long mourned the death of her husband, went to
the convent of St Stephen in Thessalonike with Theopiste, the youngest of her three
surviving daughters, where both became nuns.
Unusually for a female saint, Theodora was honoured by both aLiþ (BHG 7737)
and an account of the translation of her relics (BHG 7739), written in 894 by a certain
cleric Gregory. It is quite likely that Gregory was also responsible for the Life; its
authorship is attributed to him in the later rewrite (BHG 1740).4 Gregory was a
privileged witness who participated in the translation of the relics along with his
father (BHG 1737, ch. 17; BHG 7739, ch. 5). His exact relationship with Theodora is
unknown, but he makes use of the testimony of eyewitnesses, including his sister,
who was cured by the saint (BHG 7737, chs. 40, 47, 50; BHG 1739, chs. 18, 20), and
presumably of Theopiste as well. The latter, who became abbess of the convent,
likely commissioned the two accounts from Gregory. Both narratives sought to
strengthen the cult of the deceased woman and to allow the monastery to protect
3 Remarriage, while condemned by the Churcþ was tolerated (see Laiou,'The Role of
Women in Byzantine Society', 235;Patlagean, Pntntreté économiqtLe et pauttreté sociøle ù Byzance
4"-7" siècles, 115-6) ancl the State could force widows to marry following wars (Herrin, 'Public
and Private Forms of Commitment among Byzantine Women', 190).
a For a thorough study of the context of the commissioning and redaction of the Life,
see Kaplan, 'La Vie de Théodora de Thessalonique, un écrit familial'. I warmly thank Michel
Kaplan for sharing a copy of the article with me prior to its publication.
365
Tnr Asuc,qrr RrsE¿ncn Co¡rtpaNroN To Byz,4.NrtNe H,sctocnapuy
its monopoly of the cult against the clergy of Thessalonike (BHG 7737, chs.43,46;
BHG 7739, chs. 2-4). Those close to the saint, all of them ascetics, play an essential
role in the propagation of her cult, and tlne Life places great weight on the sufferings
of Bishop Antony, a distant relative of Theodora, during the iconoclast persecutions
of the ninth century.s The author Gregory thus implicates Theodora indirectly in
these events, even if she did not experience them personally. In the Life, he also
celebrates the theme of submission, which constitutes one of the chief features
of Theodora's asceticism: tr,vice she is severely punished by her superior, Anna,
for having disobeyed one of her orders (BHG 1737 - chs.26-36), and Theodora's
obedience in the face of these sanctions earns her celestial rewards, to the wonder
of the other sisters in the monastery.
Such examples are exceptional in the Life of a saint who generally overcame
temptation through prayer alone; The emphasis on the therne of submission goes
hand-in-hand with the strongly monastic context of the account: according to St
Basil, submission to his superior was the monk's chief virtue. At the same time,
these passages probably reveal aspects of the genuine historicity of the saint: theLife
inadvertentiy betrays a more 'historical' portrait, hidden behind the hagiographic
reworking, of a woman who, despite her own wishes, rebelled against the rigidity
of monastic authority.
Another essential theme in the oita of Theodorø is that of monastic stability, that
is, the theoretical requirement that a monk (or nun) spend his entire life in the
same monastery where he had pronounced his vows. While Theodora, in tlne Life,
proclaims her total respect for this principle, in practice she is driven by God to leave
the monastery on numerous occasions, albeit with the permission of the abbess, in
order to go to market to procure supplies for her fellow-nuns. Later, Theodora does
not hesitate to ask Anna to transfer young Theopiste to a convent with less harsh
living conditions (BHG 1737 - ch. 25). Here again, these contradictory behaviours
surely reveal 'authentic' aspects of Theodora's personality. She remains in the
monastery less out of respect for monastic rules than by her own wishes: a divine
vision suffices to open the convent's doors, with the consent of the abbess.
Inspired to write the Life of a contemporary widow who performed neither
miracles nor spiritual guidance during her lifetime and who seems to have stood
out mainly on account of her obedient character, the author turned Theodora's
weaknesses into qualities admired by God himself. Exploiting the essential aspects
of the female monasticism of the era in order to extol his protagonist - modesty,
absolute submission - he succeeds in turning her into a convincing model for
his contemporaries, despite the inconsistencies that can be glimpsed behind the
idealised rendering.
Another saintly nun of the ninth and tenth centuries who deserves mention
is Irene of Chrysobalanton (BHG 952). The anonymous author of her Life likely
wrote the work under Basil II (976-1025), and like Irene herself, may have been
a member of the Gouber family; this is at least suggested by the author's interest
u Otl these issues, see Talbot, 'Essere donna e santa',64; and, most recently, Kaplan, 'La
Vie de Théodora de Thessalonique'.
366
Tun Ltrnn+Ry PoRTR-Ar'r oF BvuANTTNE Fn¡,tarc, S¿rrurs
in Cappadocia, the family's native region. Even if the phenomenon is rare in
Byzantium, it is possible that the author was an abbess of Chrysobalanton:6 the
attribution to Irene of certain traits of holiness usually reserved exãlusively for male
saints might mark it as the work of a female author anxious to offer some relief to
her subject's asceticism. It was perhaps the clergy of the capital, but more likely a
member of the Gouber family, who ordered the redaction of the text following the
family's reconstruction of the Constantinopolitan monastery. This rehabilitation
should presumably be linked to the contemporary mention of the monastery in the
Pøtriø, the guide to the curiosities of the capital and to the introduction of lrene's
name into tl:.e Synøxnrion of Constantinople.
An interesting literary trait of tll.is Life is the unusual nature of the prologue.
Ratl-rer than praise the saint's family and geographic origins (following standard
hagiographic practice), it celebrates the restoration of images by the empresses
Irene and Theodora in the eighth and ninth centuries. According to the editor of
t1ee Life, J.O. Rosenqvist, it is possible that the Life was composed in order to express
the author's grief over an imperial injustice done to a relative. This hypothesis
would seem to be confirmed by the importance given to an episode concerning a
relative of the saint who is slandered before the authorities and savecl only through
Irene's intervention. In this context, the significance of the prologue seems instead
to dwell in the link that it establishes between the saint ancl Empress Theoclora: the
latter was responsible for clefinitively re-establishing peace within the Church ancl
likewise responsible for the arrival of 'Peace' in the capital.
Shortly thereafter, the episode of the three apples of Paradise miraculously
offered to Irene by a sailor seems to fit within a similar framework. This passage
invites comparison with aspects of the narrative of the Cfuonicle of Symeon the
Logothete concerning Empress Theodora, as well as with the latter's Life (BHG
7737), even if it is impossible to affirm with certitude that these passages were the
inspiration for lrene's hagiographer.T According to these texts, Theodora won the
bride-show organised for Theophilos;8 similarly, Irene comes to the capital in order
to participate in that of Michael III. En route, Theodora is foretold of her imperial
union by a hermif while Ioannikios predicts Irene's vocation as a'bride of Christ'.
Theodora receives one apple from the hermit and a second from Theophilos; the
sailor, for his part, offers three fruits to Irene, a sign of her perfect virtue in the
eyes of Cod. Irene thus also wins a'beauty contest', not human but divine. This
association reflects the author's probable need to use his or her ancestry in the
6 Arzépy,'La sainteté et le couvent: libération ou normalisation des femmes?', 175,
n. 3; Rydér¡'New Forms of Hagiography: Heroes and Saints', 546.
7 See Synteonis Magistri et Logothetae, ch. 130, ed. Wahlgrery 216-7; Afinogenov, 'The
Bricle-Show of Theophilos: Some Notes on the Sources', 11; Vinson, 'The Life of Theodora
ancl the Rhetoric of the Byzantir-re Bride-Show',34 and 55-6.
I On the historicity of bride-shows at the imperial court, see the divergent views of
Rydén,'Tlre Bride-Shows at the Byzantine Court. History or Fiction', 183-7;Treadgold,'The
Bride-shows of tl-re Byzantine Emperors'.
367
Tue Asuctrr Rrsr¿ncn Comp¡NroN To BvzeNrtNt Hnctocn¡puv
service of a particular cause: here, hagiographic and political purposes are in
complete harmony.
The Life of lrene of Chrysobalnnton, wrifr.et:. under the guise of historical fiction,
illustrates the hagiographic revival of the ninth and tenth centuries, in which the
genre came to be used to serve the personal interests of the authors.e With great
skill the hagiographer combined literary and hagiographic themes in order to align
political, social and religious pressures. The text thus shows itself to be a work of
impressive quality and demonstrates furthermore the resourcefulness of authors
confronted with a cause to be championed.
From the third to the seventh century, the value placed on feminine virility
also inspired the phenomenon of holy cross-dressing nuns. Having fled their
father's house, usually in order to preserve their virginity, these women spent the
rest of their lives in a male monastery where their true identity was frequently
revealed only upon their death.10 Offering a physical demonstration of their soul's
virility, this type of exploit allowed the protagonists, as was the case for the early
martyrs, to endure an asceticism that was similar and even superior to that of men:
rather than flee from male temptatiory these saints willingly plunged into it. This
situation earned them great respect among the faithful, all the more so since many
cross-dressers were falsely accused of paternity, slander which most bore in silence
unto their deaths. This was, for example, the case of Apollinaria (BHG 148), Marina
(BHG 1763) and Theodora of Alexanclria (BHG 1727-7729), who, unlike most crossdressing
saints, fled her home in order to expiate her infidelity toward her husband.
Among the cases of female cross-dressing, it is worth dwelling on that of Matrona
of Perge (ca. 430-5701515). According to her uita (BHG 1.227), wtilfen probably after
the beginning of the sixth century by an anonymous author,11 Matrona left Perge,
in Pamphylia, in order to settle in Constantinople with her husband. She attended
church day and night, on account of which her husband reproached and even
beat her. Finally, driven by her own desire for purity as well as by her husband's
cruelty, the saint entrusted her only daughter to a pious woman and, dressed as a
man, took refuge in the male monastery of Bassianos under the name of Babylas
in order to hide from her husband. Having been divinely informed of Matrona's
true sex, Bassianos sent her back, chastising her for having ignored the Biblical
requirement that women cover their heads in a church. The account of her exploits
continues, with Matrona fleeing repeatedly in order to escape her husband. Finally,
a vision brings her back to Constantinople, where she becomes the leader of a
female community, performs several miracles, and lives to be nearly a hundred.
This account presents some unusual features when compared with the Liaes of
other cross-dressers. To begin with, Matrona is a wife and mother who flees in order
to escape her husband's beatings, rather than a young girl seeking to preserve her
virginity. Here it is a woman, Eugenia, who is her'spiritual teacher' and leads her
e See Patlagean,'sainteté et pouvoir', 92.
10 On this topic, see Delierneux, 'Virilité physique et sainteté féminine dans
I'hagiographie orientale du rv" au vrr" siècle', 235-40.
11 Patlagean, Pauureté écononùqtLe et pauareté sociale à Byzønce 4'-7' siècles, L35-6.
368
Tur, LtrnnqRy PoRTRAtT oF ByzaNrtNr, Ft¡vt,qtr S¿r¡vrs
to the monastery of Bassianos in Constantinople (BHG 7227 -p.797D-792C).1'zThis
situation is exceptional: even where cross-dressing women are concerned, it is men
of God who orient them toward the male monastery, a way of clivinely validating
a behaviour that was condemned in Scripture and by ecclesiastical legislation,
particularly by the council of Gangra in Asia Minor, held around 350.13
Another unusual feature of Matrona's Life is that her sex is divinely revealed
to Bassianos while she is still alive. Despite his rebuke to her on this occasion, it
should be noted that when the protagonist later returns to the monastery with a
disciple, it is announced to Bassianos that 'Babylas is back with another brother'
(BHG 1221- p. 803E). This phrasing suggests that Matrona was still dressed as a
rnan, and likewise for her companion. Furthermore, on two occasions, the abbot
himself gives men's habits to Matrona, an act that the author explains by the abbot's
desire to act in accordance with God's will rather than man's (BHG 1221- p. 80448;
also p. 812F).
Given that Matrona, a 'historical' saint cited in contemporary sources,la bears
throughout the narrative heretical traits that had been forbidden at Gangra, it is not
surprising that her hagiographer is the only one to explicitly forestall an accusation
of heresy, in this instance by denying any resemblance between Matrona's acts and
the Manichaean disdain for the body (BHG 122L - p. 7918). With this disclaimer, the
author seeks to align contemporary religious demands with the heretical character
of his protagonist. Similarly, when the husbancl of Matrona comes to Bassianos to
retrieve his wife, the narrator attributes to him a declaration of principle on the
sanctity of marriage (BHG 7227 - p.795D), but this fails to provoke a reaction: the
monks simply lie in order to protect Matrona (BHG 7227 - p. 795D-E).
This account clearly illustrates the tensions that existed between orthodox theory
and actual practices in the fifth and sixth centuries. It also reveals the strategies
used by authors to insert their female protagonists into a mould adapted to the
expectations of their contemporaries. For Matrona, the objective was achieved: the
cult of this 'heretic' entered into the Menologiort of Basil II and tlne Synøxørion of
Constantinople, and it probably lasted until the Palaiologan period.15
In later centuries, the model of the cross-dresser did not clisappear entirely from
Byzantine hagiography. The Synaxarion mentions at some length the example of
t2 On the striking presence of women inthe Life of Matronn, see Catafygiotou-Topping,
'St. Matrona and her Friends: Sisterhood in Byzantium',217-24.
t3 This council condemned Eustathios of Sebaste (see Saradi-Mendelovici,'L"infirmitas
sexus' présumée de la moniale byzantine: doctrine ascétique et pratique juridique', 94), who
rejected social, familial, and religious structures ancl proclaimed the equality of the sexes
by allowing women to crop their hair and clress like men (Patlagean, Pnuareté économique
et patnreté sociale à Byznnce 4'-7' siècles, 1,35-7), in spite of the warni-rg rn Deuteronomy 22: 5.
Such practices were championed by a large number of heretical movements, particularly the
Manichaeans. On this issue, see also Constantinou, 'Holy Actors and Actresses. Fools and
Cross-Dressers as the Protagonists of Saints' Lives', this volume.
1'4 See Holy Women of Byzantium, 13-6.
ts Ibid., 16.
369
Tnr, Asucar¿ Rrs¿¿ncn Co¡r,tp¡NroN To ByzaNrtvr Hactocnapuy
Anna the Younger (BHG2027), a saint who probably lived in the ninth century and
who spent part of her monastic life in a male monastery in Bithynia. It is worth
noting that unlike earlier cross-dressing nuns who also faced false accusations of
fornication, Anna was accused of relations with a fellow monk, rather than with
a woman. Even if the text survives only in a later source/ the Synaxnrion, it is
nevertheless an important indication of the evolution of the model during the ninth
century, a period in which monastic homosexuality reached alarming proportions,
if the Stoudites' warnings are to be believed on this point.16
Setting aside this late example, a few non-cross-dressing saints were formally
called upon to adopt masculine garb. Even if this garment was not initially worn
for the deliberate purpose of passing for a man, part of the symbolism associated
with cross-dressing seems present nevertheless in these writings, all the more so
when the oitahas underscored elsewhere the virility of its protagonist.
The first example of this type concerns Makrina, the sister of Gregory of Nyssa.
After the death of the saint her brother discovered that on account of her generosity
she no longer possessed a suitable habit for the burial rites, so Gregory decided to
dress his sister in his own funeral garb (BHG 7012 - ch.29).If this act is obviously
yet another way of paying homage to Makrina's saintly soul, the gesture is also
probably not unrelated to the reference to her virility made by the author himself
(BHG 1,012 - ch. 1).
A somewhat similar example can be founcl in the slightly later Life of Mnry the
Younger (BHG 1164). This account, to which we will return later in the context
of saintly wives, was written by an anonymous author, probably in the eleventh
century (unless a few passages written in the tenth century were subsequently
rewritten in the eleventh). According to the text, after the death of the saint on
16 February 902,17 lner husband Nikephoros discovered that there was no more
clothing in her chests, only that which she was wearing. In order to overcome this
lack, he had her buried in one of his own garments.
Although we are far from genuine cross-dressing here, this choice is not without
interest: the husband could surely have found woman's garb somewhere in the
house with which to dress his deceased wife. In the eyes of the author, this gift
permitted Nikephoros to share in Mary's sanctity, since his garment was probably
preserved intact like the saint's own body (BHG 7764 - p. 697). Moreover, as with
Makrina, the gift of a man's clothing ought surely to be connected with the saint's
virile character, referenced multiple times in tÌne Life. Mary possessed 'the heart of
a man in the body of a woman' (BHG 7164 - p. 693), and the posthumous donning
of men's clothing thus neatly associates her physical and moral features, while also
preserving the conjugal bond even after death.
However, it is also noteworthy that in both of these cases, the'cross-dressing'
takes place only after the death of the saint. Whatever the nature of the saint's
1'6 Delierneux, Anne-Euphèmianos, l'épouse devenne eunuqlle: continuité et évolution
cl'un modèle hagiographiqtte', 125-7 .
1'7 Pratsch, 'Das Toclesdatum der Maria (der Jüngeren) von Bizye (BHG 1164): t 16.
Febrtrar 902',569.
370
Tun LtrenaRy PoRTR 4tr oF BvzANTTNE Frmetr S¿¡¡vrs
virtue, the equality of the sexes within sanctity had its limits, whether in the case of
Makrina, sister of a great orthodox theologian, or that of Mary, the exemplary wife.
Saintly Hermits
Alongside monastic examples, female eremitism also enjoyed a certain popularity
in Byzantine hagiography, especially up until the seventh century. In the case
of women, this way of life was often driven by a desire either to preserve their
virginity by escaping a family-imposed marriage, or to perform penance for
some serious sins. Tlne Søyings of the Desert Føthers,l8 spiritual reflections drawn
from great ascetics, offer the names of three 'Desert Mothers' from the fourth ancl
fifth centuries: the most famous is Synkletike, of whom a fifth-century Life (BHG
1694) also survives. The very existence of these Sayings testifies to the prestige that
these saints acquired in the eyes of their visitors through their harsh asceticism,
an expression of their perfect spiritual virility. Likewise, inhis Philotheos Historiø,
written in the fifth century, Theocloret of Cyrrhus evokes the memory of Marana
and Kyra (BHG 7025), who voluntarily confined themselves to a pen near their
native city of Berea, and of Domnina (BIIG 563), a recluse who dwelled in a hut in
her mother's garden.
Even il after the seventh century, female eremitism rarely appears in its strictest
form, women continued to pursue their personal spiritual development by leading
a harsh and isolated way of life outside of any monastic organisation. Among the
surviving examples, the model of the 'repentant harlot', inspired by the Biblical
example of Mary Magdalen, is particularly notable. Having realised the gravity
of her sin, the prostitute radically alters her way of life, adopting henceforth a
rigorously ascetic regime within the confines of a cell. The most famous example is
surely that of Mary of Egypt (BHG 7042), whose surviving Life, probably written by
an anonymous author in the seventh century, was inspired by earlier versions by
Cyril of Skythopolis and John Moschos.le
A prostitute in Alexandria, Mary travels to jerusalem to ply her trade. At
Golgotha she is miraculously made aware of the depravity of her condition, and
subsequently crosses the |ordan and wanders into the desert with a little bread. She
spends 47 years there, fighting against a demon who reminds her of the pleasures
of her old ways. One day, a monk, Zosimos, finds her, and she tells him the story
of her life. She then asks him to keep silent about her presence in the desert and
to return a year later bringing with him the Eucharist. Zosimos obeys, and then
promises to return for a third time. Upon his third visit, however, he finds her dead
18 PG 65, cols 201A2048 (Theodora); cols 4208.4214 (Sara); cols 421.A-428A
(Synkletike). On these sayings, see Steward, 'The Desert Mothers. The Portrayal of Women
in the Sayirgs and Stories of tl-re Desert'; anci Ward, Apophtegmata Matrum'.
te See Flusiry'Le serviteu¡ caché ou le saint sans existence'.
371
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and buries her corpse with the help of a lion. He then returns to his monastery,
where he reveals the saint's existence.
Unlike the other examples we have seen, the hagiographer in this instance is not
a close associate of the saint. He writes in a simple and lively style, and the text is
aimed at a wide audience who would find in Mary the proof of the universality of
salvation, regardless of the gravity of one's sins. Notl-ring had destined Mary for
divine forgiveness until God takes her salvation into his hands. The author sprinkles
his account with numerous dialogues which serve to advance and enliven the
narrative; he also alludes to daily life in Jerusalem and Alexandria and adds exotic
details such as the miraculous intervention of the lion, elements which contributed
to the popularity of Mary's Life in both eastern and western Christendom during
the Middle Ages.2o
Between 913 and 9791920, Niketas Magistros, a lay hagiographer, adapted
this theme to a new protagonist, Theoktiste of Lesbos (BHG 7723-7724).21While
participating in a military expedition to Crete, the author meets the hermit Symeon,
who recounts to him the story of Theoktiste, which a hunter had in turn told him
several years earlier; Symeon further 'orders' that it be put in writing so as to
preserve the saint's memory. Theoktiste, a nun from Lesbos, is captured by the
Arabs during a visit to her sister. They bring her to Paros, where she escapes and
goes on to live for 35 years, fed by God. She meets a hunter, whom she asks to keep
silent about her existence and to bring her communion the following year. The
hunter obeys, but upon returning for a third time to receive Theoktiste's blessing,
he finds her deacl. Rather than bury her, he takes one of her hands as a relic, but
his ship is unable to move until the hand is returned. Once at sea, the hunter tells
his story to his companions; they return to the place of her death, but find that the
corpse has miraculously disappeared.
TL.e aita is written in an elegant and elevated style punctuated by classical
and patristic references, a reflection of its author's sophisticated education. If the
account is inspired by the narrative structure of tlne aits of Møry of Egypt (BHG 1042
- p. 2318), it is certainly not a mere copy. Theoktiste is no longer a prostitute but
a kidnapped nun, an adaptation that conforms to the tenth-century sitr.ration: A.P.
Kazhdan has noted the degree to which the description of Mary's carnal impulses
would be inconceivable in this later period.22
Family ties are also treated differently in the two accounts: Mary renounces
parental love at twelve, out of a thirst for depravity (BHG 1042 -p.3709D), whereas
Theoktiste is captured by Arabs while visiting her sister (BHG 7723-7724 - p.
229A). This divergence reflects a shift in the relationship between asceticism and
familial bonds. In the tenth century, these bonds resisted the traditional pressures
of monastic separation, even for women, a situation which can also been seen in the
20 See Holy Women of Byznrttium, 65-8.
tt Otl the models that might have served as inspiration to the author of the Lr/e, see
Jazdzewska,'Hagiographic invention and imitation : Niketas' Life o{ Theoktiste and its
literary models'.
22 Kazhdary'Hagiographical Notes (9-12)', 50.
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Tur LtrenARy PIRTRAIT op Byz,qNTrNE Fuøarr, S¿¡Nrs
example of Theodora of Thessalonike and her daughter Theopiste. Similarly, the
stolenhand incident is absent in the ol ta of St Mary; this literary motif was presumably
added to spice up the account, perhaps because this gesture corresponded to a
natural attitude of the faithful toward relics in the tenth centr-rry. The episode of the
vanished body could serve to buttress the authenticity of a saint of whom no relics
were preserved, whereas the Liþ of Møry was based on the existence of a tomb that
predated the birth of her cult.23
Saintly Wives
The model of sanctity within marriage appears from the fourth century onward,
starting with the elegy written by Gregory of Nazianzos, presumably around
370, to mark the first anniversary of the death of his sister Gorgonia (BHG 704).
As in the case of Gregory of Nyssa and his sister Makrina, the aim of Gregory of
Nazianzos is hagiographic, seeking to demonstrate by her example that earthly life
is worthwhile only when one seeks to transcend it. Given that he is writing about
a relative, however, Gregory cannot ignore certain'historical' realities, such as the
fact that his sister was married. Like the hagiographer of Theodora of Thessalonike,
Gregory turns this aspect to the aclvantage of his subject. In order to clo this, he
explains that his sister reconciled the best of both celibacy and marriage, joining
the loftiness of the first to the security of the seconcl. She thus demonstrated that
neither celibacy nor marriage bound one completely to God or the world and,
conversely, that neither status separated one from God or the world, either (BHG
704- ch.8). Exemplary in her charity, Gorgonia was also a chaste, temperate, pious,
discreet and modest wife. Like Makrina, Gorgonia was a teacher who converted
her husband and household and produced a line of pious offspring. Whatever the
situatior¡ Cod was paramount in her thoughts: I-rer marriage therefore came to be
a source of satisfaction for God himself, while she could be considerecl as the ideal
wife in her virility, such as it was described in Proaerbs 3L.
A few centtrries later, we find that the model presented by the Life of Tlrcmails of
Lesbos (BHG 2454), as well as that of Mary the Yowtger, which we have already seen,
differs markedly from Gorgonia's. The anonymous Life of Thomai's was likely written
in the first half of the tenth century, since the saint is already cited in the Synøxørion
before the turn of the millennium. Like the Life of Mary the Yowtger, it was perhaps
rewritten in the eleventh century. The text was to be read on the feast of its subject
(BHG 2454 - p. 23a\ in order to glorify her tomb and the Constantinopolitan
monastery that housed it; it is likely that community that commissioned the writing
of the aitn. The focus on the Byzantine capital suggests that the hagiographer was
writing there and that he was familiar with its topography. He repeatedly cites the
names of people healed by the saints and/or the place where they lived, as well as
the sites where other miracles occurred. The hagiographer must have written soon
23 Rydén, 'Literariness in Byzantine Saints' Lives', 51-2.
J/,)
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Tue Asucarr Rrsr¿ncu CompaNroN To Byzevrtvr, Hactocnapuy
after the death of his protagonist and must have met eyewitnesses of her deeds, if
he was not himself among them. This would be an additional argument for dating
its composition to the tenth century (BHG2454-p.2378;238A;239F;2408;241AD).
The anonymous author of the Ltfe of Mnry the Younger seems to have been an
educated layman, whom the clergy of the saint's hometown of Bizye commissioned
to write the account; he attaches great irnportance to her marriage and conversely
omits any mention of her ties to a monastery. In his prologue, the author affirms that
all humans, whether celibate or married, can struggle toward divine virtue, unlike
in an earthly context, where only men can fight battles (BHG 7764 - p. 692A8; 699D).
Il at the start of the narrative, the union of Mary and Nikephoros is a happy
one, their tranquility is shattered when Mary's brother- and sister-in-law accuse
her of fornicating with a slave and squandering household resources, charges
which she denies, citing her wifely duty to obey and respect her spouse (BHG 7764
- p. 693A-695F). This accusation introduces the hagiographic motif of slanderous
accusations of fornication, particularly common in the Liaes of cross-dressing
saints. In this case, the interest lies in the author's remodelling of a venerable
literary theme: here the false charge concerns not a failure of ascetic continence but
rather of conjugal chastity. This in turn allows the author to affirm the sacral nature
of the marriage bed and Mary's own sexual moderation, a quality also attributed to
another saint-wife, Gorgonia.
From that point on, Nikephoros becomes violent and has his wife watched by
guards. Injured, ill and divinely foretold of her impending death, the saint calls for
her husband and once again denies the accusations. She then asks him to sell off
her cloak and use the proceeds to pay off her creditors, a gesture that underlines
her wish, as a good wife, not to cause expenses for her husband. Nikephoros
advises Mary to leave her cloak instead to her children, while he himself will pay
her debts (BHG 1764 - p. 6958-696E); the saint dies in peace following this marital
reconciliation, which is further reinforced by Nikephoros' aforementioned gift of a
funeral shroud to his wife.
The situation of Thomaïs presents a number of marked differences from that of
Mary, which would appeil to contradict some scholars' suggestion that one of the
two accounts inspired the other.2a To begin with, Thomaïs marries Stephen at the
late age of 24. Wishing to preserve her virginity, the protagonist resists marriage
for as long as possible2s - an element missing from Mary's Lífe. Second, Thomaïs'
hagiographer does not mention any childrery while the Life of Møry emphasises the
theme of procreation and sexual relations between spouses. Nikephoros and Mary
have four sons, and in her protests against the accusation of adultery, the saint
evokes the unique and sacred character of sex within marriage. After her death,
Mary appears to a painter and asks him to depict her accompanied by two of her
24 According to Paul Halsall, these two accounts are distinct literary creations, and their
apparent similarities are but superficial (see Women's Bodies, Men's Souls: Sanctity and Gender
in Byzantiun4 24041,;390-94 and table A 2.1).
25 lbid.,242; 415, n.64; Laiou, 'The Role of Women in Byzantine Society', 236, n. 16.
J/1
Tun Ltrrn+Ry PoRrRArr oF ByzaNrmr Fnmtte S¿¡rurs
sons, and at the end of her aitø, the author remarked that she could be found facing
the Trinity with the 'precious choir' of her children (BHG 7764 - p. 6998C; p. 7054).
A third difference between the couples is that the union of Thomaïs ancl Stephen
is stormy from the start, with Stephen beating his wife unceasingly on account of her
charity (BHG 2454 - p.235237A; p.239A-E). Unlike Mary, Thomaïs is called 'the
virgin bride of Christ' (BHG 2454 - p. 2398), while Stephen is described as an 'evil
and wicked'husband, and even an'illegal' one, since it is Christ and not Stephen
who is the true spouse of Thomaïs. The motif of being 'Christ's betrothed' is certainly
not new. Indeecl, all sanctity is founded on a basis antithetical to marital union:
from the very beginning, ascetics of both sexes were seen as spiritually betrothed to
Christ. \A/hat makes this theme interesting in the case of Thomaïs is its expression in
reference to a wife, probably a sign of historicity; as with Theodora of Thessalonike
and Gorgonia, the hagiographer ingeniously exploits the historical fact of the subject's
marital status and uses it to reflect her virtues vis-à-vis her celestial fiancé.
This opposition is also reinforced by the Life's repeated plays on the meaning
of Stephen's given name, which means 'crowned' in Greek. The crowning of the
spouses is the most characteristic element of the Byzantine marriage rite,26 and
the allusions to the contrasting relationship of the man and his name underscores
the opposition between Thomaïs' two'unions'. At a time when engagement was
often equated with rnarriage,2T her hagiographer certainly glorifies the conjugal
union - but it is the celestial one rather than its earthly counterpart that is praised
here. If Gorgonia's marriage is pleasing to God, that of Thomaïs, whose sanctity
demonstrates itself despite her marital travails, remains a handicap in her quest for
perfection and is even'adulterous'with respect to Christ. Like Mary the Younger,
Thomaïs seems to have died from her husband's beatings (BHG 2454 - p.2374-B).
As such, the hagiographer describes the saint as a'martyr' and specifies that, in
his eyes, she surpasses in this respect even the ancient heroes of the faith, since the
hardships she endured were at the hands of her own husband rather than some
stranger; here again we find the two established hagiographic motifs of feminine
courage and martyrdom being twinned.
While the theme of the abused wife appears already in the sixth century with
the example of Matrona of Perge, it is worth noting the evolution that has taken
place. If Matrona did not hesitate to flee from the husband who beat her, a few
centuries later we find the abusive marriage described as a sort of martyrdom;
rather than be abandoned, it is to be used as a means of achieving virtue through
the endurance of hardships.2s In the first half of the fourteenth century, the Lífe of
the empress Theodora of Artø (BHG 1736), wife of Michael II Doukas Komnenos (cø.
7237-cct. 1,267168) offers a final image of conjugal sanctity. Like Matrona, Theodora
leaves her marital home, but it is her husband who chases her, pregnant, from his
26 See HoIy Women of Byzantium,303, n.52.
27 Beaucamp, 'La situation juridique de la femme àByzance',168.
28 In the late ninth centurp Euthymios the Patriarch dissuaded Theophano from leaving
Leo VI. In order to secure eternal blessings, she had to endure her conjugal hardships rather
than escape from them: see his oíta (BHG 651),37-9.
375
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Trtr Asucar¿ R¿s¿encu CompaxroN To Bvz¿xrtvr, Hacrccn¿.puy
palace, in order to consort more easily with his mistress. The saint spends five years
wandering like an animal, trying to scrounge up food for her child.2e Here again
we find this type of sanctity evolving into a new combination of ancient models,
illustrating very strikingly - and well beyond mere hagiographic embellishment the
realities of irnperial life during those troubled years of Byzantine history.
Imperial Sanctity
Along with nuns and hermits, several empresses were also found worthy, for a
variety of reasons, of joining the Byzantine roster of saints. Their aitøe are generally
highly politicised30 and the portraits of women presented in them often bear little
relation to standard hagiographical depictions. From a historical, social and literary
perspective, however, these narratives are of interest as a means of understanding
the complex motives that could lead the State to encourage the writing of such
accounts, as well as the authors' own purposes and the literary methods used in
their composition.
The anonymous hagiographer of the Empress Irene (BHG 2205) (cø. 753-
803) presumably wrote in the thircl quarter of the ninth century, alter the reestablishment
of icons in 843. The account is almost a verbatim copy of the account
of Irene's reign in the chronicler Theophanes the Confessor. Given that the only
passage of tll.e Life that was not drawn from the Chronicle concerns the convent of
the Princes' Islands, where Irene spent some time following her deposition and
before her definitive exile to Lesbos, it is possible that the account was written for
this institution, perhaps by a nun.31 Aside from this passage, the author proves
himself to be a poor hagiographer, putting rather little effort into sanctifying his
heroine. He does not omit from his account the blinding of Constantine VI, too well
known to be left out. However, in describing the arrival of the Athenian Irene in
Constantinople, he omits the passages of Theophanes concerning the riches aboard
the ships and the warm welcome that she received in the capital; moreover, when
affirming that, following lrene's deposition by Nikephoros I, the day turned icily
cold, the hagiographer follows Theophanes by attributing these to the usurper's
wicked intentions rather than the sadness provoked by lrene's exile (BHG 2250 - p.
23), even though a skilful exploitation of these elements would have strengthened
the narrative's hagiographic quality.
It is rather Irene's political role that predominates. Aside from her participation
in the Seventh Council of Nicaea in787, whose outcome was largely coordinated by
the (male) religious authorities (BHG 2250 - p. 11), the saint does not demonstrate
the pious iconophile fervour mentioned in other ninth-century hagiographic
2e On this late female saint, see Patlageary 'Une sainte souveraine grecque: Théodora,
impératrice d'Épire (XIII" siècle)'.
30 See Talbot,'Essere donna e santa', 65.
31 See Herrin, Women in Purple: Rtiers of Medieunl Byznntitun, I27.
376
Tur LnnnaRy PoRTR 4 n oF Br¿ANTTNE Fnm,+tr S¿¡Nrs
sources. If the author praises Irene upon her deposition for her defence of the true
faith, her downfall has nothing whatsoever to do with holy images. What makes
Irene worthy of renown is solely her decision to re-establish icons and the pity
inspired by lrer exi1e.32 Nothing more is needed for her to merit a uitn (probably
commissioned after Ba3 by the victorious iconophile rulers), even if it hardly
conforrns to the expectations of the genre.
Like tlrat of lrene, the sanctity of the empress Theodora (BHG 7737*7735)
(ca. 815-after 867) is markedly political in nature, particularly in terms of the
restoration of icons of 843, of which she was the avowed instigator. Even if the
author of tlne Life of this saint (BHG 773I) is anonymous, the fact that this text is
essentially imperial panegyric is an indicator that her sanctity, rather more political
than religioLrs, was orchestrated from the top. This is further underscored by the
absence of pilgrims at her tomb or of a popular cult rnore generally.33 The positive
image offered of Michael III in the narrative corresponds to the wishes of Leo VI,
who sought to rehabilitate the man whose assassination had brought his own father
(Basil I) to the throne, in order that he might strengthen his own dynasty - tied as
it was to that of Michael III. Intended as a demonstration of the new dynasty's
legitimacy to the opponents of images, the cult of Theodora also emphasisecl the
continuity between the past and present, particularly with regards to icon worship.
As in the aitø of Empress Irene, this narrative includes a wealth of politico-historical
details. Flowever, even if the narrative has little in common with a traditional Life,
Theodora's hagiographer goes to greater lengths than lrene's to sacralise the image
of his subject, whom he presents as a good wife and mother, pious and obedient to
masculine authority, who finishes her life in a convent, although she does not seem
to have adopted the habit or pronounced monastic vows, even on her deathbed.3a
The case of Theophano differs from those of Irene and Theodora in that she was
not a restorer of images. Written in the late ninth or early tenth century, her rtitawas
written in honour of the Martinakioi, the family to which Theophano belonged.3s
Even if the author's identity is unknown, the text offers a few clues. FIe was an
aristocrat (whether layman or monk is unclear), Theophano's contemporary and a
friend of her father, though we do not know whether he ever met the saint herself.
His father, a bureaucrat, was charged with the decoration of the church of St Elias
in the Great Palace and possessed his own church. The author was also able to
borrow the ring of Theophano, preserved at the church of the Holy Apostles, in
order to cure his wife (BHG 1794 - p. 17-8). The author states that he was witness
to the posthumous fame of his subject and benefitted personally from her healing
powers (BHG 1794 - p. 7; p. 17), but this affirmation poorly hides the limited
success enjoyed by the cult of imperial relics. Probably writing at the request of
32 Hakin, 'Deux impératrices de Byzance' ,5.
33 See Vinson, 'The Life of Theodora and the Rhetoric of the Byzantine Bride-Show',34;
Talbot, 'Essere donna e santa',62.
31 See Byzanthte Defenders of Innges,354.
35 See, for example, Vinson, 'The Life of Theodora and the Rhetoric of the Byzantine
Bride-Show',57.
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the saint's family, the author tries to emphasise her relatives' shared part in her
holiness. The account notably turns the empress' unhappy marital history into an
idyllic one, and from her birth, divine signs announce her imperial destiny while
simultaneously reinforcing her aura of sanctity. Her stunning victory at the brideshow
organised for Leo VI further strengthens this rosy portrait, even if, in reality,
the only factors that led Theophano to tl-re throne were her high birth and her
relationship to Eudokia, Leo VI's mother.36
Within the context of irnperial sanctity, one further case should be considered,
that of Theodora of Arta in the thirteenth century. Alice-Mary Talbot has already
discussed the example of this empress, wife of the emperor Michael II Doukas
Komnenos; her case will be discussed but briefly here, especially since its analysis
is rendered all the more difficult by the scarcity of known female saints after the
tenth century.rT
It is worth noting, however, the degree to which this saint's Lifeweavestogether
common themes of earlier hagiography. An unhappy empress like Theophano, she
was also a pious and philanthropic wife like Mary the Younger and Thomais of
Lesbos. If she suffers at the hancls of her husband, it is because of the depravity of
the latter, who drives away his pregnant wife so that he can live with hiJ mistiess,
forcing Theodora to wander in search of food for herself and her child. This element
recalls the wanderings of those cross-dressers falsely accused of fathering children
who endure the slander and devote their lives to caring for a child who is not their
own. After five years, a repentant Michael recalls Theodora to him. Later she founds
a monastery that she enters after being widowed, like Athanasia and Theodora of
Thessalonike, and in which she spends the remainder of her life in pious asceticism.
The example of Theodora, who, along with Matrona of Chios (BHG 1220) in
the fourteenth century, is the last Byzantine female saint, offers clear evidence of
the enduring nature of hagiographic literary models.3s Whatever the circumstances
or nature of the sanctity, authors of the Liaes remained faithful to the earlier
models that had served for the leading figures of Byzantine holiness from the
very beginning. However, their fidelity did not preclude originality: unceasingly
revised and adapted, the ancient models acquired through the writings of these
authors a new vigour and value.
36 on this Life, see the studies by Alexakis., 'Leo vI, Theophano, a Magistros called
Slokakas, and the Vita Theophano (BHG 1794)'; CesareLti, 'Un leitmotiv narrativo tra Ia Vita
di santa Teofano (BHG 1794) e il Menologio di Basilio II (cod. vat. gr. 1613)'; strano ,'Lavit6
di reofarro (B}{G 1794) fua agiograha e propaganda'. see Talbot, 'Family Cults in Byzantium:
The Case of St Theodora of Thessalonike', 64.
37 See Holy Women of Byzantium,323-5.
38 on this paucity of female saints in the Palaiologan era, see Talbot, 'Hagiography in
Late Byzantium (1204-1453)', in ARCBH I, 1BB-9.
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Tnr LrunneRy PoRTRA tr oF BraANTINE Ft¡vtett S¿rivrs
Female Martyrs
While the Christianisation of the Empire markedly recluced the opportunities
to shed one's own blood for Christ, we still find some female martyrs in Persia,
witnesses to Christianity's unfailing interest in this form of sanctity: Golindouch
(BHG 700) was a relative of the Persian king Khusro II (5901597-628), at the end
of the sixth century. Shortly after being put to death for refusing to abjure her
Clrristian faith, Eustratios the Presbyter wrote her Greek Life, probably based on
a Georgian original. Sira (BHG 1637), a relative and contemporary of Golindouch,
suffered martyrdom under the same circumstances. Her Greek Life, adapted fuom
a Syriac original, probably dates from 593-609 (and 628 at the latest).
Thereafter the female martyr mostly disappears, aside from the opportunities
presented in the eighth and ninth century by the struggle to defend images. If this
silence hints at the possibility that women were less fervent iconophiles than has
been thought, it also suggests that despite female clevotion to holy images, their
efforts - in the eyes of the iconoclasts - were negligible as compared to the vigorous
stances of male ascetics.3e
Only Mary the Patrician (BHG1195), Theodosia (BHG 1773y-7774e) and Anthusa
of Mantineon (BHG 2029h) achieved sanctity through their clefence of images. But
the first two, commemorated for their protection (in7291730) of the famous icon on
the Chalke Gate (Brazen House) that was supposed to be destroyed, are probabiy
legendary, one dependent on the other and both invented long afterwards in
order to serve the ideological purposes of the victorious iconophile party.a0 With
regards to Anthusa, an eighth-century saint whose name is commemorated in the
Synaxarion of Constnntinople, it is possible that she was actually an iconoclast whose
memory was appropriated by the iconophile tradition.4l
Aside from these rather dubious cases, hagiographers also evoked other forms
of 'torture' willingly endured by saints out of their love for God; such themes
testify once again to the enduring importance of martyrdom, even well after the
triumph of Christianity was complete. Aside from the aforementioned cases of
Makrina or Thomaïs, it is also worth dwelling for a moment on the example of
Theodora of Thessalonike, who was ordered by her abbess to spend the night in
the freezing courtyard of the convent on account of her disobedience. Faced with
Theodora's meek submission to this punishment, a central theme of this monastic
Life, tlne superior declares to the nuns that God will count Theodora among the
martyrs; one nun/ a relative of the saint, affirms that she saw a crown descend
from heaven and heard a voice proclaim that the crown was Theodora's. The saint
thus experienced a sort of 'at-home martyrdom', created by the abbess in order to
3e On this issue, see Kazhdan, Talbot, 'Women and lconoclasm'.
40 On this matter, see Auzépy, 'La destruction de l'icône de la Chalcé par Léor-r III:
propagande ou réalité?'.
41 See discussion and bibliography in Talbot, Byznntine Defenders of Images, 13-5; ar-rd
Auzépy, 'La sainteté et le couvent: libération ott normalisation des femmes?', 186.
379
Tør, Asructrr R¿sr¿ncu Cotwp¡NloN To ByzaNrtvr, H,q,Gtocnapuy
secure her the crown of obedience - an element that is not unrelated to the duties
of Theodora's monastic kindred in the spreading of her cult.
Another example of this type comes from the Ltf, of lrene of Chrysobalanton.
During a night spent in prayer, Irene's dress caught fire but she herself remained
immobile. \rVhen a nun rushed to her rescue, the saint reproached her for having
deprived her of a crown that an angel had been offering her (BHG 952 - p. a6-S).
In the same episode, Irene's hagiographer noted the indescribable effluence that
flowed out of her burnt garments, similar to that emitted by holy bodies after death.
Here the literary originality derives from the fact that this fragrance is produced
while the saint is still living. Following a moment in which the saint almost - and
quite willingly - gave herself up to deatþ this perfume proves that this mortal
sacrifice, even if incomplete, had been approved by God; Irene's flesþ sanctified by
the flames, had been blessed with the same sign of grace as the bodies of dead saints.
As with Theodora of Thessalonike, this passage adapted a venerable model in
an original manner, allowing a saint who no longer had the possibility of suffering
torture to enjoy, through an'accident', the glory attached to martyrdom. Even as
late as the reign of Basil Il (976-7025), torture continued to inspire as much interest
as did cenobitic sanctity, and hagiographers did not pass up an opportunity to
skilfully adjust this ancient theme to fit the contemporary heroines whose memory
they were extolling.
Conclusion
Far from attempting to be exhaustive, the present chapter has merely sought to
illustrate through a few brief examples how the literary models of female sanctity
presented in tlne Liaes could be both traditional and innovative at the same time.
Throughout the entire Byzantine period, authors emphasised the importance, for
a female saint, of overcoming her natural weakness by demonstrating the'virility'
of her soul. This motif finds its Christian origins in the age of persecutions, when
women often showed themselves to be more courageous than men, and it is
found everywhere in hagiographic literature, whether the aita concerns a nun, a
hermit, or a wife. In each case, the authors could find various ways of extolling
this essential quality.
Flowever, hagiographers also had to take into account the evolution of the
attitudes and expectations of their contemporaries. If the hagiographers of the early
centuries frequently described extreme forms of female asceticism, originating in
regions far from the capital and sometimes even at the limit of Orthodoxy, later
centuries - following the Arab invasions - saw sanctity increasingly centred on the
capital. Given this shift, and in the context of a hagiographic production that had
become rather more sober as far as women were concerned, authors developed a
tendency to'socialise' their subjects, seeking to integrate them into society rather
than exclude them from it, as had been the case in previous centuries. Such a
compromise was necessary if the authors were not to lose all credibility among
380
Tnr Ltrr.naRy PoRrR tr oF Br¿ANTINE Fn¡vtatn S¿¡Nrs
their audiences and those who commissioned the Liaes, the latter often being close
relatives of the saint and drawn from the highest social ranks (as in the case of the
saint-empresses, for example).
Even where saints are concerned, social constraints retain their power: it is often
through their obedience, humility, modesty. and chasteness that female saints,
ideal models of feminine behaviour, acquire the right to be described as'virile' by
their hagiographers. For the most part, it is only after their death that male society
attributes sanctity to them and, in certain cases, especially where married women
are concerned, that attribution is seriously challenged by authorities.
It is no longer the repentant prostitute but rather a nun fallen victim to the Arab
invasions who spends long years in the desert. Even if martyrdom continues to
enjoy enormous prestige in Byzantine hagiography, in tribute to Christianity's early
centuries, and many others exploit the theme to praise their protagonist, regardless
of the nature of her suffering, the context for such torments is transformed. In the
eighth to eleventh centuries, it is within the confines of her monastery or her own
home that an exemplary nun or wife bravely faces hardships; we can see this as
a irrìeans of reintegrating asceticism into a more social understanding of sanctity
based on the sufferance of one's situatiory whatever it may be.
Starting from the cliché of womantaintedby Evebut glorifiedby the VirginMary,
hagiographers set themselves to juxtaposing Biblical, patristic and hagiographic
elements, erecting from this mixture a multifaceted image of sanctity. Every ounce
of the authors' literary ability was wielded in their efforts to adapt and renew these
models according to their own talents, the possibilities offered by their imagination
and the specific historical details of their subjects' lives. Due to their similarities
across the centuries, these literary representations might seem at first glance to be
lacking in originality. But a closer examination reveals the many variations that
could be played on the shared themes of female sanctity, unchanging and endlessly
remodelled as they were'
(Translated by Rowan Dorin)
381
Tun Asuc¡rr Rrsrancu CoMp,a.NroN To Byz¡NuNn H¡ctocrupuy
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PART III
HAGIOGRAPHY AND SOCIETY
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