writing_womans_lives_symposium_paper_book_v2

the necessary escort. 10 The third –more literary– text focuses on the virtues that St. Helena
possessed, only to conclude that she was “a mother of a great son, who made it possible for his
mother to be respected by every nation”. 11
A complementary and at times contradictory version of the story is provided by the footnotes of
the publication. It is through them that the readers are informed of the circumstances of St. Helena’s
birth (c. AD 250, at Drepane –later named, after her, Elenopolis (Hersek)–, in Bithynia, to a family of
no distinction) and of certain obscure details regarding her marital status, as well as of the fact that
her husband Constantius broke up with her, to marry in the family of emperor Maximianus. 12
Furthermore, it is stated that Constantinus had his son from his first marriage, Crispus, killed, an act
that caused St. Helena to confront him and may have induced her journey to Palestine, with his
support, as an expiatory pilgrimage. 13 It is also stated that one year earlier, in AD 325, Constantinus –
by then in his fifties, and not in his twenties, as the second text states– had named her an augusta, 14
that while at the Holy Land she founded two churches –and not four, as the same text maintains–
and that, soon after her return, she died, at the age of 80, to be buried in Rome, and not in
Constantinople – as the third text claims. 15
The emperors vs. the patriarchs ‐ St. Nikareti, supporter of the exiled patriarch St. Ioannis
Chrysostomos (early 5th c.)
Despite gradually converting Christianity into a cornerstone of the empire, the emperors of
Constantinople would not cede primacy to the patriarchs of the city. 16 An early example of this was
the case of patriarch St. Ioannis (John) Chrysostomos (i.e. the “Goldenmouthed”), a renowned
preacher and a zealot of faith and virtue, from Syrian Antioch, who criticized the exercise of power by
the emperors Eudoxia and Arcadios, an attitude leading to his dethronement and exile. 17
Quite a few of Chrysostomos’ distinguished supporters had to leave Constantinople, among them
Nikareti, descendant of an aristocratic family from Nicomedia (Izmit), Bithynia. She is described in the
text provided by the Miterikon as “a virgin well known for her virtues”, “totally devoted to divinity,
not at all to earthly cares”; 18 as is noted, although she distinguished herself offering her services,
especially to the poor –supplying medicaments which she devised herself–, she declined to be
ordained a deaconess, a “leader of girls dedicated to God”, although “Ioannis asked her repeatedly to
do so” – and this is celebrated as an indication of her will “to live in humility, completely un‐noticed”.
Nikareti’s strong character was in effect also in exile, since, although largely divested of her
inheritance, she managed to provide not only for herself and her relatives, but for others as well –
and so it is that she is praised for facing adversity with “manly courage” (andreia). 19
As is stated in a footnote of the Miterikon, in the first Christian centuries women (like Nikareti)
could become deaconesses of the Church; 20 however, in the centuries following its incorporation in
the establishment even this minimum participation of women in the hierarchy of the clergy seems to
have been more or less obliterated – a phenomenon observed in many other ideological and political
movements as well.
The spread of asceticism ‐ Three women initiated by the hermit St. Auxentios:
St. Elefthera, St. Cosmia and an anonymous nun (mid‐5th c.)
In the period that followed the end of anti‐Christian persecutions, asceticism (ascesis, Greek for
exercise), an age‐old practice in the Middle East, was met with unprecedented flourishing as an
expression of the Christian faith, mainly in the deserts of Galilee, Syria and Egypt. The participation of
women –finding “an islet of equality, where they could escape being under custody, as well as
household tasks, and seek virtue and personal spiritual life”, as prof. D. Tsamis puts it– 21 was
impressive. Besides individual ascetics –quite often engaged in extreme practices of abstinence and
discomfort–, monastic collectives appeared also in growing numbers.
Bithynia is situated quite far from the deserts and the centers of asceticism, however its spirit was
introduced here by the Syrian hermit St. Auxentios, who settled at about 12 km to the southeast of
Chalcedon (Kadıköy), on Skopa or Skopos mountain, later named, after him, Mt. of Auxentios
(Kayişdağ). 22 Women from Constantinople, on the opposite coast, would be among those who came
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