EUDOCIA, EMPRESS - 13 AUGUST

EUDOCIA, EMPRESS

A page of one of Fortunatus Hueber's
Saints' books,
"Stammenbuch..." (1693)

The Greeks consecrate a pious memorial to an empress of that name. This can be none other than the wife of Emperor Theodosius II. She was the daughter of the philosopher Leontius (according to others of Heraclitus) of Athens and was actually called Athenais.

Of rare physical beauty, and carefully cultivated by her father, he bequeathed her just 100 pieces of gold, assuming that she would make her fortune through her qualities. The entire inheritance thus went to her brothers. Having unsuccessfully tried to dispute this with them, she finally left the area and went to Constantinople instead.

In A.D. 424 (or 421), she was instructed in Christianity by the Patriarch Atticus there and then baptised, whereupon she received the name Eudocia.

Later she became the wife of Emperor Theodosius II, to whom she bore a daughter, named Lucinia Eudoxia. This daughter had to marry Emperor Maximus and then in 455 summoned Genserich to Italy.

As a result of a vow, Eudocia made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 438, where she marked her stay with charitable works. On the return journey she took some relics of the first martyr Stephen with her.

In 449 (444) Theodosius suspected her of being unfaithful, which is why he had the patrician Paulinus killed. Eudocia therefore asked permission to retire to Palestine. There she spent the rest of her life in works of piety and charity, founding and supporting monasteries and building many churches.

After her death, which took place in the year 460, she was buried in the Church of Saint Stephen, which she had built not far from Jerusalem.

She possessed an unusual talent for poetry, and did write a poetic paraphrase of the first eight books of the holy Scripture, a paraphrase of the biblical books of Daniel and Zechariah, and three books in praise of the martyr Cyprian, who was killed in Rome under Diocletian. However, her writings have not come down to us.

This holy empress is also often referred to as Eudoxia; but she is not to be confused with the scheming Empress Eudoxia, the wife of Emperor Arcadius, who persecuted Saint John Chrysostom and who died in the year 408. (III. 3)

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 2, Augsburg, 1861, p. 101-02)

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

Sources of these articles (in the original German): books.google.co.uk, de-academic.com, zeno.org, openlibrary.org

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