July: Day 25: Teaching 1: Saint Olympia the Deaconess

July: Day 25: Teaching 1:
Saint Olympia the Deaconess
 
(The Essence of the Teaching on Christian Philanthropy)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Saint Olympia, whose memory is celebrated today, was the daughter of noble and wealthy parents who lived in Constantinople in the 4th century. Left an orphan from childhood, she was raised by the intelligent and virtuous Theodosia, aunt of Saints Amphilochios and Gregory of Nazianzus. In her early youth, having lost the groom to whom she was betrothed, Olympia wished to devote herself to the service of the Church and her neighbors. However, many sought the hand of the highly educated, rich and distinguished by her beauty Olympia; the Emperor Theodosius the Great himself wished to arrange her marriage with his relative Elpidios, but she refused even such a brilliant marriage, despite the fact that she had to suffer much for this contradiction to the will of the emperor. When Theodosius was leaving for war at that time (in 388), he ordered the prefect of the capital to take custody of Olympia's estate, on the pretext that she was allegedly squandering it... This was hard for her, because she was thus deprived of the means to help the poor, which was a great joy for her. And so, insulted and upset, Olympia decided to write to the emperor: “Sovereign! You have shown me a favor that is worthy not only of a sovereign, but also of a bishop: by the guardianship that you have appointed over my estates, you have freed me from many burdensome cares. But for my greater peace of mind, be pleased to order that all my property be used for the benefit of the Church and the poor. I have always feared vain vanity, to which a man who gives away his wealth is easily inclined. This is a temporary benefit: contentment with myself and the honor of people could deprive me of true spiritual and eternal blessings..." Returning to the capital in 391, Theodosius ordered that Olympias’ estates be returned to her, noting that “such an intelligent and virtuous person as Olympia would be better able than anyone else to manage her property.”

And so, Olympia again began to use her wealth generously for good deeds: she maintained hospitals, ransomed captives from slavery, built churches. Saint John Chrysostom, a contemporary of Olympia, compared her mercy to an abundant river that carries its waters to the very borders of the earth and enriches the sea. Olympia herself limited herself to satisfying only the most necessary and most moderate needs; she voluntarily condemned herself to a life of toil, serving the sick and the poor, and she never indulged in any entertainment or rest. Even a large part of the night she spent in prayer. She treated everyone with love, and "her meekness was such that it surpassed the simplicity of the very children."

Having become famous for such a highly Christian life, Olympia was ordained by the Patriarch of Constantinople, Saint Nektarios, to the rank of deaconess or servant of the Church. And with great zeal and selflessness she fulfilled this position of deaconess, which in many ways was similar to the position of today's Sisters of Mercy.

Olympia wept and grieved together with the other deaconesses when Saint John Chrysostom was expelled from his holy throne.

On the night he left the capital, a fire broke out in the cathedral church and spread throughout the city. Chrysostom's enemies turned their anger on those who were devoted to him, and Saint Olympia had to suffer much for her devotion to the great Saint.

She was summoned to court many times; base servants disgraced her, rebelled against the one who, like a mother, always cared for them, and ruined her estates. Some of her estates were sold at public auction; for others, Olympia was disturbed in the courts. She suffered greatly, and only correspondence with Saint John consoled her and kept her spirits up. “Stop crying, stop tormenting yourself with sorrow,” he wrote to her, “what does it mean to be thrown out of your fatherland, to be transferred from place to place, to be persecuted everywhere, to live in exile, to be dragged through the courts, to be insulted by people who have received thousands of benefits – what does all this mean, when heaven is to be the reward for all this?”

In the last years of her life, Olympia broke off relations with the world and devoted herself entirely to the cares of governing the community of nuns, but human malice did not spare her even in this solitude and reached the point that even the entire community of Olympia's sisters was exiled with her from the capital to the confinement of Cyzicus. And until her very death, Saint Olympia remained in confinement, and reposed in 410. Already in the 7th century, her incorruptible body was transferred to Constantinople, to a monastery.

II. The life of Saint Olympia, entirely dedicated from beginning to end to works of mercy, prompts us to converse with you, brethren, about nothing else but mercy, and to offer you the essence of the teaching on Christian almsgiving.

a) "In a hospitable house, where the poor and orphans, foreigners and pilgrims are received," says Saint Ephraim the Syrian, "Christ is always present." 

"Although Christ," says Blessed Augustine, "has no need of our goods, for He Himself is the Lord of all, yet it pleased Him to feel hunger with the poor in order that we might have the opportunity to prove our gratitude to Him by doing something for Him. Therefore the rich should number Him among their children, or remember that in Him they have a brother in heaven, Who has the right to share in the division of their wealth. He who feeds his brother feeds Christ Himself: give then to him who asks you, for through him Christ asks you for what He gave you, becoming poor for your sake."

b) Following this idea and relying, in addition, on some sayings of the Old and New Testaments, the Fathers and Teachers of the Church gave preference to works of mercy over other works of piety and devotion, and pointed out in them one of the most reliable means of appeasing the Supreme Judge and atoning for the sins of men.

"Almsgiving," says the Blessed Augustine, "lightens and destroys the burden of sin. It has great wings that cleave the air and carry prayer through the firmament of heaven to the very throne of God, as the alms of the centurion Cornelius testify. Whatever your sins, if you give alms, fear not, for it will outweigh them in the scales of the Judge. Riches are a burden that must be laid aside in order to be transported to heaven and pass through the narrow gate; they are a treasure that must be carried out of a besieged city and sent to a place of safety; they are a store of wheat that rots on the damp earth and must be stored in high granaries; almsgiving is a fair wind that drives a ship to the harbor; it is an exchange in which all the advantages are on the side of the rich; it is a loan secured by the surest surety. This is the interest that the lender enjoys from God Himself, this generous money changer, as Saint Paulinus calls him, the money changer, Who promised to repay a hundredfold for the hundredth share that He received.”

c) But, preaching about alms in this way, the Church Fathers could give some Christians a reason to reason thus: if alms are a sure means of appeasing God, then those who generously give alms can safely indulge in sins, in the hope of impunity. And some, recognizing such reasoning as infallible, could be guided by it in life. Preachers of mercy understood well the danger of such a delusion and tried hard to avert it.

"Almsgiving," says Blessed Augustine, "serves for the salvation of one who has corrected his life. If you give only in order to acquire the right to sin with impunity, then you do not nourish Christ in the person of the poor, but try to bribe your Judge."

"It is not the same thing," says Saint Gregory the Great, "to give alms for one's sins, or to sin while promising to give alms. He who considers himself entitled to sin because he gives alms, and, atoning for his sins, commits new ones, hoping to atone for them again, gives his property to God and gives himself over to the devil."

The Fathers of the Church are especially opposed to those who, having acquired wealth unjustly, think to make up for their injustice by dedicating part of this wealth to works of mercy. "If you give," says Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, "give from your own and do not feed or clothe the poor with what does not belong to you."

"There are people," says Saint John Chrysostom, "who, having robbed their neighbor, consider themselves justified in distributing ten or a hundred pieces of gold to the poor. These are Jewish, or rather Satanic favors! - What benefit will it be if you give to one what you have taken from another! You must compensate fourfold the one you have injured; otherwise you remain his debtor." - "Alms given from property acquired unjustly is theft and murder."

III. Through the prayers of Saint Olympia, who won the Kingdom of Heaven for herself through her mercy, may the Lord help us to follow in her footsteps, so as not to be among those who will be told at the Dread Judgment of Christ for their lack of mercy: "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. 25:41). 

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.