Holy Women of Byzantium: Ten Saints' Lives in English Translation (Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Saints Lives)

These ten holy women, whose vitae range from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries, represent a wide variety of Byzantine female saints. From nuns disguised as monks to desert harlots, these holy women exemplify some of the divergent paths to sanctification in Byzantium. These vitae are also notable for their details of Byzantine life, providing information on family life and household management, monastic routines, and even a smallpox epidemic. Life of St. Mary/Marinos Life of St. Matrona of Perge Life of St. Mary of Egypt Life of St. Theoktiste of Lesbos Life of St. Elisabeth the Wonderworker Life of St. Athanasia of Aegina Life of St. Theodora of Thessalonike Life of St. Mary the Younger Life of St. Thomaïs of Lesbos Life of St. Theodora of Arta The ten holy women whose biographies are presented here represent a wide variety of Byzantine female nuns who disguised themselves in male monastic garb; a repentant harlot who withdrew to the desert for forty-seven years of self-imposed isolation; a nun who escaped from Arab captivity to spend thirty-five years as a hermit on the abandoned island of Paros; a wonder-working abbess who slew a dragon; widows who found refuge in the ascetic life of the convent; married laywomen and a queen abused by their husbands. The careers of these holy women demonstrate some of the divergent paths to sanctification in Byzantium, including mortification of the body, unquestioning obedience to a superior, repentance, acts of charity, prophecy, and miracle-working. At the same time, the texts of the Lives reveal the Byzantine ambivalence toward women, reflecting a paradox of civilization that simultaneously denigrated women as daughters of Eve and elevated Mary as the Mother of God and the instrument of mans salvation. These vitae , ranging from the fifth to the thirteenth centuries, also supplement traditional narrative histories by providing information on such aspects of Byzantine civilization as the impact of Arab and Bulgarian raids, iconoclasm, the monastic routine in convents, everyday family life and household management, and a smallpox epidemic in Thessalonike. This collection of sacred biographies is the initial volume in a new Dumbarton Oaks series, Byzantine Saints Lives in Translation. The vitae selected for the series are rendered into English for the first time and are fully annotated. Nuns Disguised As Monks. Life Of St. Mary/marinos / Nicholas Constas -- Life Of St. Matrona Of Perge / Jeffrey Featherstone And Cyril Mango -- Female Solitaries. Life Of St. Mary Of Egypt / Maria Kouli -- Life Of St. Theoktiste Of Lesbos / Angela C. Hero -- Cenobitic Nuns. Life Of St. Elisabeth The Wonderworker / Valerie Karras -- Life Of St. Athanasia Of Aegina / Lee Francis Sherry -- Life Of St. Theodora Of Thessalonike / Alice-mary Talbot -- Pious Housewives. Life Of St. Mary The Younger / Angeliki E. Laiou -- (cont.) Life Of St. Thomais Of Lesbos / Paul Halsall -- A Saintly Empress. Life Of St. Theodora Of Arta / Alice-mary Talbot. Edited By Alice-mary Talbot. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes.