SAINT OLYMPIAS AND THE TOPIC OF FEMALE DEACONS

Saint Olympias (Olympia) 

Far left

(360-365 until July 25, 408)

One of today's saints is a female deaconess named Olympias (modern: Olympia). There is quite a lot known about her, as she was mentioned in the extant historical references around the turn of the 5th century. I found quite a few icons of her on the internet, and many pages dedicated to her from various sources. (See the list of references, below.)

Why do we know so much about her, while other saints we have previously mentioned remain a virtual mystery, except for their names? Well, it doesn't hurt to be born to a Senator and the daughter of an emperor and to be related to other famous and influential people of the time. In addition, her life was chock full of good works. When her parents died, she distributed their wealth to the poor. She was equally generous to the Church and its charitable institutions and monastic houses.

In addition, she had the admiration of other saints, John Chrysostom, for one, who called upon her and the other deaconesses (Pentadia, Proklia & Salbina) to remain with the church and serve his successor, after he himself was banished.

Sure enough, however, when one becomes famous for holiness, there are always those who will attack the saints, even persons belonging to the faith, human nature being what it is. Patriarch Theophilus (385-412) was so jealous of the devotion of Olympias for Chrysostom that he caused her some hardship for it. Theophilus had been the recipient of much of Olympias's generosity in the past, but his loyalty evaporated from the heat of envy. Even the saints have their frenemies! For me, it is a good object lesson about human nature. One can be doing and saying the most holy, pure and upright things, and still there will be people who will try to make one suffer for it - even those who are supposedly "religious!"

In fact, Olympias and other supporters of Chrysostom were wrongly accused of burning down a large church in Constantinople, and she was made to pay a huge sum of money in recompense, even though she was entirely innocent. The first thing that occurred to me when I read about this incident was that people, even church people, will sometimes go to great lengths to grab money away from innocent persons by accusing them falsely of some crime or character defect.

Obviously, it takes a great deal of self-control and self esteem in order to maintain the extremes of holiness that the saints exhibit.

Olympias's feast day also makes me think about how difficult it is for women to accomplish anything in the church these days, and how they were shoved out of the Diaconate many centuries since. Some people will say that the Diaconate was a different sort of proposition in the early church and that the title of Deaconess for a woman was an honorific or a generic title for a lady who gave much service to the church, but this is a weak argument for continuing to keep women out and for ignoring the feminine voice in the church.

It occurs to me that the current world-wide sex scandals of the church are a reflection of the heavily masculine nature of the hierarchy, but I have no studies to offer that back up my impression. It is just something that occurs to me now and then, and I wonder if the power of the church needs to be more equally divided before we will experience a balanced application of the faith.

Pope Francis opened an investigation into the topic of  women in the Diaconate. I wonder what happened to that?

In any case, Olympias is a wonderful role model and I feel encouraged to count her among the saints to whom I direct my requests for prayers! May she help me simplify my life and better direct it to the work of the Lord. Amen.

Silver Rose

References:

ORTHODOX CHURCH IN AMERICA

NEW ADVENT CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA

CATHOLIC EXCHANGE

LOYOLA PRESS