acquired Patriarchate up in arms against him. He had changed sides, had denied the very cause of which he had been so great a champion. It was chiefly the monks of Palestine who now declared for Monophysism. There was an enormous number of them — ten thousand. An Egyptian monk, Theodosius, who had been an unwilling witness of the Council of Chalcedon, persuaded his Palestinian brethren that this synod had betrayed the faith of Cyril and Ephesus, had gone over to Nestorius. And their bishop, now returning in the pride of being a Patriarch, was contaminated by this stain. A lady then living in retirement at Jerusalem took the side of the angry monks vehemently. This was the Dowager Empress Eudokia, widow of Theodosius II. She had been a pagan at Athens, named Athenais, daughter of an old professor Leontios. When Theodosius's sister Pulcheria looked out for a bride for her brother, her choice fell on this little pagan girl. Her extraordinary beauty and talent made her not unworthy of the Emperor's love, while her humble station seemed to secure that she would not interfere with her powerful sister-in-law. So Athenais was baptized, taking the more Christian name Eudokia, and was duly married to Theodosius (June 7, 421). For a time she was very powerful; surrounded by Christian influence, she became ardently Christian, went on pilgrimages,[1] and had more influence over her husband than Pulcheria liked. Then came her tragic fall; she was accused, rightly or wrongly, of misconduct with a courtier, Paulinus. The story is all about an apple. Theodosius, master of the Roman world, thought he would give his wife a really handsome present. So he gave her an apple from Phrygia of incomparable size and ripeness. Eudokia, overwhelmed by the splendour of the gift, thought the apple far too fine to be eaten by her; so, alas! she gave it to her guilty lover Paulinus. Paulinus, possessed of this gorgeous object, having no idea whence it originally came, thinks he can curry favour with the Emperor by offering it to him. So the apple goes all the way round and comes back whence it started. Theodosius is naturally furious when his apple comes back to him. He hides it in his robe, goes to find his wife, and asks her what she had done
- ↑ It was Eudokia who brought St. Peter's chains from Jerusalem. See the lessons of the second nocturn in the Breviary for Lammas-day (Aug. 1).
