St Pulcheria’s parents were the
Byzantine Emperor Arcadius and Empress Aelia Eudoxia, who had five children. Flacilla (397) died young. The younger siblings were Arcadia (400),
Theodosius II (401), the future Emperor and Marina (401).
Empress Eudoxia died in 404 and
Emperor Arcadius in 408. Theodosius II
had been proclaimed nominal co-Emperor in 402 and was now Emperor. Anthemius, his Praetorian Prefect, was
Emperor Theodosius’ guardian and the effective Regent of the Eastern
Empire. In 414 he disappears from view
and Pulcheria is proclaimed Augusta and ruled as regent for her brother. Theodosius
“was, vacillating and easily led.[1]” Pulcheria, “by contrast, was strong and
determined, with a love of power for its own sake; but she was also
excessively, extravagantly pious, taking a particular pleasure in the
rebuilding of the ruined Haghia Sophia…her two younger sisters Arcadia and
Marina developed similar inclinations…the prevailing mood in the imperial
palace, it was said was more that of a cloister than a court,…”[2]
“When Arcadius himself died in 408, he left Theodosius in a
precarious situation, with the danger that as Pulcheria and her sisters
approached marriageable age an ambitious politician might arrange a union which
would destroy the independence of the dynasty. Thus in her fourteenth year
(412-13) Pulcheria devoted herself to virginity and persuaded her sisters to do
likewise. According to Sozomen, a contemporary author who presumably knew the
truth, she acted "in order that she might not bring another male into the palace
and might remove every opportunity for competition and plotting."[3]
Pulcheria’s choice of remaining a
virgin, like the Virgin Mary, came out of religious conviction but also
political expediency. She proved herself
to be a strong, astute woman in her dealings with the political and religious
administrators that she as Augusta found herself encountering. She was a stronger ruler than her brother who
was more like their father Arcadius.
However, unlike Eudoxia, their mother, another strong woman, Pulcheria
was overtly Christian and evoked the ire of the religious authorities in
different ways to what Eudoxia had done by her flagarant disrespect of the
Church. Eudoxia had been censored by St
John Chrysostom, the Bishop of Constantinople, because of the golden statue of
herself that Eudoxia had erected outside Haghia Sophia. Pulcherie and Nestorius had a serious
confrontation a few days after Nestorious was appointed Bishop of
Constantinople.
“On an Easter Sunday, probably April
15, 428, only five days after Nestorius was ordained bishop of Constantinople,
Pulcheria appeared at the gate to the sanctuary of the Great Church,[4]
expecting to take communion within in the presence of the priests and her
brother, the emperor. The archdeacon
Peter informed Nestorius of her custom, and the bishop hurried to bar the way,
to prevent the sacrilege of a lay person and woman in the Holy of Holies. Pulcheria demanded entrance, but Nestorius
insisted that “only priests may walk here.”
She asked “Why? Have I not given
birth to God?” He replied: “You? You have given birth to Satan!” And then Nestorius drove the empress from the
sanctuary…In (Nestorius’) view Pulcheria could not claim Marial dignity – that
she had (mystically) “given birth to God” – to justify ceremonial equality with
her brother. Like any woman, Pulcheria
was a daughter of Eve, through whom sin had come into the world.[5]”
This illustrates the way that
Pulcheria identified[6]
with Mary, the Mother of Jesus. As
explained above, her commitment to remaining a virgin was probably an astute
move to protect herself and her sisters from marriage to men who might come
into the palace circle and exploit the situation for their own dynastic
ambitions. This move also enable her to
take power and exercise that power over her brother and the Eastern Empire for
many years. Nestorius’ accusation that
“you have given birth to Satan!” comes from a belief that sin came into the
world only through Eve, the woman, succumbing to temptation whereas Genesis 3[7]
seems to state that both Adam and Eve succumbed to Satan’s temptation and
through both of them sin came into the world.
Prior to the confrontation with
Nestorius on Easter Sunday 428 Pulcheria’s robe had been used as an altar cover
during communion and Pulcheria’s portrait was above the altar of the Great
Church. Nestorius got ride of the robe
and also effaced Pulcheria’s portrait above the altar of the Great Church[8].
Using the title of ‘Theotokos’ (Mother of God) or ‘Christotokos’ (Mother of Christ) was an
indicator of the user’s belief about the nature of Christ. In Constantinople Pulcheria strongly
supported those who referred to the Virgin Mary as ‘Theotokos’ such as Proclus[9]
and Cyril of Alexandria. The ensuing
controversy led to the Council of Ephesus (431) which was held in the Church
dedicated to St Mary. This council was
primarily to discuss the nature of Christ although one of the decisions of the
council was to give the Blessed Virgin Mary the title of ‘Theotokos’. But that wasn’t
the prime purpose of the council.
Pulcheria adopted
the 433 Formula of Union as the key to the Christological riddle: “For there
has been a union of the two natures; wherefore we confess one Christ, one Son,
one Lord.”[10]
Theodosius,
Pulcheria’s brother died in 450 as a result of a hunting accident. She was barred from continuing as Augusta
after her brother died so she married Marcian, an elderly soldier. Marcion was Emperor in the east from 450 to
457.
Pulcheria’s actions
and plotting are well documented in records written at the time or soon
after. She was a powerful woman who took
action in affairs of religion and state in order to achieve the ends she believed
in. She also had a hand in the Council
of Chalcedon which met in 451. Chalcedon
is just across the Bosphorus from Constantinople in the Asian Side suburb of
Kadıköy. The Council was supposed
to convene in Nicea[11] but in order that Marcian, the Emperor and Pulcheria’s
husband could attend it’s meeting place was transferred to Chalcedon. There is evidence that suggests Pulcheria
used her influence to ensure that only compliant Bishops and Clergy attended[12].
During the course of the deliberations
the Bishops called out their acclamations of Pulcheria and Marcion: “The
Emperor believes thus! The Augusta
believes thus! Thus we all
believe!” They greeted Emperor Marcian
as the “New Constantine, New Paul, New David” and praised Pulcheria because she
had restored harmony:
“Many years to the Augusta! You are the light of orthodoxy! Because of
this there will be peace everywhere!
Lord protect those who bring the light of peace, those who lighten the world!”[13]
The assembled clergy identified
Pulcheria with the famous mother of Constantine the Great:
“Marcian is the New Constantine,
Pulcheria the New Helena! You have shown
the faith of Helena! You have shown the
zeal of Helena! Your life is the
security of all! Your faith is the glory
of the churches!
But all is not good:
“From the inception of the Eutychian
crisis, this woman had acted in the manner of her grandfather Theodosius,
convinced that the Christological formula she had adopted was correct, and that
to restore harmony she had to impose it on her subjects. For this reason she had returned from ascetic
retreat and had married after her brother’s death, that she might prolong her
dynasty sufficiently and secure the necessary military backing. During the year of Chalcedon she directed
preparations from the palace, and the council unfolded according to her
plan. The Fathers of Chalcedon admitted
as much in the warmth of their acclamations, but they did not declare this to
be Pulcheria’s council or recognize in it the ultimate dynastic victory of the
Theodosian house.”[14]
Holum’s damming inditement shows
Pulcheria’s involvement as political, motivated by the desire for power to
achieve her own pre-conceived ends. A
Christian becomes so by a personal commitment to faith, faith involves personal
choice, personal commitment not being told by the Augusta, the Empress, what to
believe. It is easy at first glance to
think that Pulcheria is of pure motive and pure faith in her commitment to
staying a virgin. Yes, probably an
astute move to protect her and her sisters from unwanted sexual advances but
neither she nor others had the right to dictate a particular belief, even
though it was an orthodox belief. No
right to bully or harass those who thought otherwise.
History leaves us with the perception
of Pulcheria being a person consumed with a love for power rather than
motivated the power of God’s love.
[1] Image from: https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2016/09/saint-pulcheria-empress-of-romans.html
John Julius Norwich, Byzantium: the earlier centuries,
(London: Penguin Books, 1990), p. 140
[3] K
Holum, Pulcheria’s Crusade and the Ideology of Imperial Victory, Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 18
(1977) 153-172
[5] Holum
K Theodosian Empresses (University of California Press, USA, 1982) p 153-4.
[7]
It’s no accident that the entry of sin into the world is referred to as ‘The
Fall’ – ie The Fall from Grace.
[8]
Holum K op cit p. 153
[9] He
had been ordained Bishop of Cyzicus by Sisinnius but was unable to enter his
see because the local clergy and people elevated their own candidate. See Holum p.155
[10] ibid p 199
[11]
Modern day Iznik.
[12]
Holum op cit p.213
[13]
Ibid p.215
[14] Holum op cit p.216
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