Saint Pulcheria the Empress

Life

Daughter of Emperor Arcadius. She vowed to remain a virgin for life, and as a sign of this vow she built in the cathedral church a holy altar table of gold and precious stones. She was co-ruler with her brother Theodosius the Younger. A great zealot of the Orthodox faith. Through her efforts the Third Ecumenical Council was convened in Ephesus, which condemned the heresy of Nestorius. She built the renowned Church of the Holy Theotokos in Blachernae in Constantinople. After the death of Theodosius she married Marcian, the chosen emperor, but lived with him as with a brother. She found the relics of the Forty Martyrs of Sebastia. She reposed in the Lord on September 10, 453, in the fifty-fifth year of her life.