Abstract
At the time of the formation of Christianity as a state religion in the early Byzantine special place was occupied by women. They carried Christian ideas to the real everyday life of every Orthodox family. Frequent transitions of noble women to the ranks of servants of the church - the nuns, deaconesses are known to science. This historical phenomenon characterizes the religious side of life of the privileged class representatives - the pursuit of spiritual and moral perfection. There were several areas of activity of noble women without entering the ministry: charity, construction and improvement of monasteries, help the sick and the poor. The enormous sums, sometimes comparable in percentage to the size of the entire treasury of the empire were spent on charity. The memory of many of these women survived through the centuries. They are honored today. Their examples of social mobility have general historical value for understanding of social and public hierarchy. Social mobility was carried out by means of community ministry, marriage, as well as approach to the imperial court. The social status of the woman was defi ned according to the social status of the husband or a family. Women’s social status was determined in accordance with the social status of her husband or her family. In the history of the Early Byzantine Empire there are many examples when the peasant who achieved considerable success was elected as the emperor.
Next to him in most cases there was a woman who belonged to the Imperial family. Antique traditions by which the great influence had an origin remained. Most noble women of that period were educated, corresponded with church hierarches and became an example of spiritual perfection.
Keywords
The deaconesses, monks, charity, social status, Christian holies
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